Anyone looking to get some IT experience on their resume

snokerpoker

If you are currently in the dreaded position of wanting to put something....anything... IT related on your resume, I have a suggestion for you. Syntechs. Synergy Technical Solutions is the company's name and Welcome to Syntechs is their their website. The the pay is fairly low (30-35$) per ticket with no expenses such as gas, etc. But... on the other hand it is some experience to put on your resume. I am not trying to sell them up or anything, its just that I see all kinds of posts with people struggling to get a start in the industry and this company may work for you. Basically what you will be doing (if you do the desktop support or in house tech work) is do warranty work on Dell pc's. It is mostly break/fix hardware work on desktops and notebooks for users in their homes or at work. I knew a guy who did this and I considered working for them until I got lucky and found my first job. All that is required is A+ and you need to have a car to drive to customer sites. Again, i'm not trying to sell them or say they are great, but as far as I know, they are always hiring techs and are based all over the US. Good luck.

earweed

I had prepared a long post but I know it would get removed for flaming. The Syntechs technician website (at least the PC portion) hasn't been updated since 2003. I was told when I started that I would be doing PC repair and it is kind of hard for that to happen when Syntech has no contract with Dell(at least not in this region)
They'll be lucky to have a contract with Visio (yes the HDTV's) after I report the practices Syntechs uses with techs in the field (after my 30 day contractually required notice is up) which since the mods will probably remove this post any way I wont waste my time typing.
The common practice (and yes I have found and communicated with past and present techs) is that after a few months you will have no "area" calls which means you bid and no incentives for doing the job same day parts arrive or return parts quickly. Your bid includes your estimated milage AND yes they like to give you the estimated milage themselves before you bid ,and they pressure you to bid right now, but it will be anywhere from 30 - 70 miles less than the actual milage (I'm talking 1 way milage)
I posted here with the requirements you have to have before starting (your own tax ID and business insurance) but don't feel like wasting my time searching for the post but the replies were overwhelmingly, with no dissenters, against my taking the job and I should have listened.


I've been working there for 6 months now and would not recommend this company to the most hard up entry level unemployed living in their car person unless I just did not like them.

eansdad

Tell us how you really feel...lol

earweed

eansdad wrote: »

Tell us how you really feel...lol

The filters catch most of those words..lol
I got the job being told it was PC Repair. I've fixed a bunch of HDTVs and that's all. Going in you will be told a bunch of half truths and downright lies. The recruiter will tell you what tools you need (sodering iron, DVM, general toolkit) and after they hook you then you see the 10 page contract which basically covers Syntechs butt and leaves you with an out in the cold empty feeling.
The tool list they require IN WRITING includes (don't have room for whole list) laptop with Aircard, Portable Table, 48 item tool list, HDMI and AV cables, DVD player with HDMI/AV/composite output.
You are an individual company (they require you to have a tax ID and business license) and have to have business insurace. Your paycheck (paid once a month) is addressed to your business.
They were once a company which had contracts with HP, Dell, and other PC manufacturers but judging by the PC section of the website (the part of the site I can see but you can't) they haven't had a lot of PC contracts in a while.
They require a 30 day notice when leaving and even stipulate that you will be held responsible (meaning they'll take some, if not all, of your last paycheck) for jobs in your area which are asssigned to out of area contractors.
I could go on but I feel that I should warn any newbies. I do list this as experience on my resume but in my heart and my head it has been a bad one.

snokerpoker

earweed wrote: »

The filters catch most of those words..lol
I got the job being told it was PC Repair. I've fixed a bunch of HDTVs and that's all. Going in you will be told a bunch of half truths and downright lies. The recruiter will tell you what tools you need (sodering iron, DVM, general toolkit) and after they hook you then you see the 10 page contract which basically covers Syntechs butt and leaves you with an out in the cold empty feeling.
The tool list they require IN WRITING includes (don't have room for whole list) laptop with Aircard, Portable Table, 48 item tool list, HDMI and AV cables, DVD player with HDMI/AV/composite output.
You are an individual company (they require you to have a tax ID and business license) and have to have business insurace. Your paycheck (paid once a month) is addressed to your business.
They were once a company which had contracts with HP, Dell, and other PC manufacturers but judging by the PC section of the website (the part of the site I can see but you can't) they haven't had a lot of PC contracts in a while.
They require a 30 day notice when leaving and even stipulate that you will be held responsible (meaning they'll take some, if not all, of your last paycheck) for jobs in your area which are asssigned to out of area contractors.
I could go on but I feel that I should warn any newbies. I do list this as experience on my resume but in my heart and my head it has been a bad one.

Earweed: I am sorry if you felt I was misleading newbies with my post. I'm also sorry you feel that way about syntechs in general. I only posted this as I once knew a guy who worked form them and said it wasn't that bad. I constantly see posts not only on this forum but all over the web and get asked in life how to "break in" to the IT field. I thought by sharing this, it would help someone at least put something on their resume. From your account, I can see why you dislike them. It appears in the past few years they have changed. The person I knew worked for them at the time when they did have contracts with Dell, HP, etc and never had to work on TV's which was about 3 years ago.

earweed

Nothing personal snokerpoker. I just saw this and since I have recent (as in right now) experience with them I offered my take on the experiences with syntechs.
Well one positive thing is that if I'm vague with the description of what I do it looks like IT. The company itself isn't good. If you have no IT experience and you are already doing tech work and are willing to have to deal with what I have this could be a good resume filler.

erpadmin

snokerpoker wrote: »

Earweed: I am sorry if you felt I was misleading newbies with my post. I'm also sorry you feel that way about syntechs in general. I only posted this as I once knew a guy who worked form them and said it wasn't that bad. I constantly see posts not only on this forum but all over the web and get asked in life how to "break in" to the IT field. I thought by sharing this, it would help someone at least put something on their resume. From your account, I can see why you dislike them. It appears in the past few years they have changed. The person I knew worked for them at the time when they did have contracts with Dell, HP, etc and never had to work on TV's which was about 3 years ago.

From earweed's account of this company, the IRS would have a field day with companies like Syntech. They do their best to make their "employees" Independant Contractors. They treat them like employees but legally (or maybe illegally) they are not so that Syntech doesn't have to pay any payroll taxes or social security taxes. If the IRS ever did some sweet looking-into into their books, I am sure that they probably didn't do a good job of covering their tracks.

This is the kind of company (from what earweed has described) our current Federal administration would love to make an example of.

snokerpoker

earweed wrote: »

Nothing personal snokerpoker. I just saw this and since I have recent (as in right now) experience with them I offered my take on the experiences with syntechs.
Well one positive thing is that if I'm vague with the description of what I do it looks like IT. The company itself isn't good. If you have no IT experience and you are already doing tech work and are willing to have to deal with what I have this could be a good resume filler.

That is true....... But hopefully one day you'll so much experience you can remove it if you want.

earweed

Well they did it to me again! And their multipage contract covers them to do it. I'm on the last month with Syntechs and since they have in the contract that I can get charged during my last month for any of my area calls that have to get done by an out of area tech they did not send me the check that I should have received.
This means that while I normally wait a month to get paid on the month that youy give them your 30 DAY notice you will not receive that check until the following month. Yes you only get paid monthly and on your last month they will screw you. I had 2 service calls during my last month, on the last 2 days of my 30 day notice. If I had been working and not been able to do them or not checked the website that day (the only way you find out about calls) then they would have completely kept the money instead of just retaining it for an extra month.
Being able to post this as IT experience is not worth what they will do to you. Just be warned that if you start a job that has an employment contract that resembles a short book it is not written for your benefit but for the compnies benefit and you will likely get the short end of the stick (I wont mention where you'll get it as that will get censored)

earweed

Update:
I checked my website at syntechs and for some reason the 2 jobs I did in November are notated that I'll get paid for them in January. Another stab in the back. I hope the company gets investigated and closed down. Keeping checks like this are NOT in the contract and it is completely uncalled for and is probably illegal.

earweed

I found this Login before starting at Syntechs and should have known better before starting there. Hopefully someone else will see this forum thread and avoid the problems I've had with them.

SephStorm

are there any other reviews of them online? Most companies will have negative reviews posted elsewhere.

snokerpoker

I did some research on them (after my post) and found that there were quite a few negative comments about them online. I was surprised by this as the person I knew who worked for them in 2006 said they were fairly decent, but not great. Most of the reviews I saw on them were from 2009 to present so it is possible that within the last couple years things with them have changed dramatically........ most of the negative posts out there seem to be related to how they pay.

earweed

SephStorm wrote: »

are there any other reviews of them online? Most companies will have negative reviews posted elsewhere.

I've found several but you know they must be bad when there is a forum dedicated to them. Bad thing is I found the forum before starting to work for them and didn't use my own common sense and avoid them.
To sum up my latest experiences for work performed early October they say I'll get that check late December and the work I did mid November I'll get the check late January. They say it is to verify I have returned parts and that I didn't damage them. The returned parts are all defective boards. Does it take 2 months to look at a board.
The little thing they did with my 30 day notice period has me steamed still. The contract requires a 30 day notice and if Syntechs has to hire an out of area tech I have to pay for it. During my 30 days I got 2 calls 1 in area and one out of area both on day 29 of my notice. If I hadn't checked the website that day they would have just kept my check (which they are holding fora month anyway) Those 2 calls I did they have no reason whatsoever to hold my pay until January.

snokerpoker

earweed wrote: »

I've found several but you know they must be bad when there is a forum dedicated to them. Bad thing is I found the forum before starting to work for them and didn't use my own common sense and avoid them.
To sum up my latest experiences for work performed early October they say I'll get that check late December and the work I did mid November I'll get the check late January. They say it is to verify I have returned parts and that I didn't damage them. The returned parts are all defective boards. Does it take 2 months to look at a board.
The little thing they did with my 30 day notice period has me steamed still. The contract requires a 30 day notice and if Syntechs has to hire an out of area tech I have to pay for it. During my 30 days I got 2 calls 1 in area and one out of area both on day 29 of my notice. If I hadn't checked the website that day they would have just kept my check (which they are holding fora month anyway) Those 2 calls I did they have no reason whatsoever to hold my pay until January.

Wow, that sounds awful. Glad you are done with them.

earweed

They wanted to know if I wanted to stay on as a floater to take out of area calls. After finding out that I'd have to wait 2 months to get paid for calls I had to say no to that.