How many times did you have to interview in IT before you acquired your first IT job?

Armymanis

Thought this would be an interesting topic. How many times did you have to Interview in IT before you acquired your first IT job?

So far I have interviewed twice at two different companies for two different entry level IT positions. How about you guy's? Were you guy's ever asked if you could set up a domain?

Hypntick

If you consider help desk to be IT, most people do, it was a single interview. Heck it wasn't even really much of an interview, I took a test that the company had set up. They called me to come get the drug screen documentation and an offer letter. Now for getting out of the help desk, it took a total of five, which I think is pretty good considering.

millworx

I usually interview no more than 2-3 times before getting a job offer in net eng. But I might just be unique

mikedisd2

None for my first job. I did work experience at a local retail shop. A few weeks/months later they offered me a role. Did that with my first 3x IT related jobs. Get yourself known through people you know and present yourself as likable and hirable (could be a word).

drew726

Like 5 times

djfunz

I find that having connections and good interview skills gets one a job at the first company of ones choice.

N2IT

First interview I landed a deskside support job.

If you have the confidence and the skills go for it now. Don't wait around to aquire X amount of certifications. Almost everything I learned was on the job including my current position which essentially is a junior project manager / team lead / engagement manager.

With that said I am pro certification, but make sure you tactifully choose them. Sometimes less can be more.

N2IT

djfunz wrote: »

I find that having connections and good interview skills gets one a job at the first company of ones choice.

+1

This has always been one of my strongest skill sets. I've always used this skill to leverage myself into positions.

Qord

I did about a dozen real interviews for professional IT jobs before I got hired.

I had done plenty of "IT" work before, but that was all for friends, beer and pizza, not for real, so I don't count it as IT work, just relevant experience.

MickQ

None. I was called in by a family member to fix something, when I was much younger. Got a job in a company run by the wife of one of other staff.

RomBUS

I probably did a total of about 5-6 between jobhunting myself and interviews setup by my schools job placement program. It took me nearly a year after graduating to get my foot in the door.

rsutton

My first IT job was offered to me from the school I was attending to maintain their network (help desk). I've never really gotten stuck interviewing for lots of jobs, not because I'm smarter than others, but I'm better than average at the interview song n dance.

earweed

I interviewed at a bunch of places without getting hired. It's when I got more relaxed and confident for interviews that I finaly landed a job. Didn't even have a formal interview for my present job, really. Just an informal telephone conversation with the hiring manager with a few technical and no-technical questions.

VAHokie56

Got the job offer on the spot at my first job...should of known it was a trap, gawd awful call center but hey it was experience. My current role (net engineer) I had two interviews.

NinjaBoy

Armymanis wrote: »

Thought this would be an interesting topic. How many times did you have to Interview in IT before you acquired your first IT job?...

My first job, lost count - took me about 5 years to get my foot in the door.

-ken

darkshade9

I went through a few interviews with an agency to get me a contract job with a helpdesk, it's not much but it got my foot in the door and valuable experience

BradleyHU

NinjaBoy wrote: »

My first job, lost count - took me about 5 years to get my foot in the door.

-ken

yeah i lost count too...it took me 3 years from after i graduated from undergrad to when i got my IT gig.

blargoe

I think my first job was actually the second place I interviewed.

sambuca69

My first IT job was the first place I interviewed. This was back in 1999 when the Y2K Apocalypse was upon us all.

Deathgomper

NinjaBoy wrote: »

My first job, lost count - took me about 5 years to get my foot in the door.

-ken

Lost count too. I started looking for a job in April of 2009 when the economy was on the downside and not on the upside. but July of 2010 I got my first break.

I made sure I learned something from every interview, that's what got me the job!

Armymanis

Guess I should update this thread. I got my first 2 month contract job after 2 interviews and applying to 100+ places. Man do i feel accomplished!

Did I mention its for imaging windows 7?

pizzaboy

Got my first job after 3 interviews 3 different companies.

Everyone

I had job offers from 3 different companies when I was leaving the Air Force. I only had 1 interview for each of them.

One was a financial company with a big office in the middle of nowhere Montana that I was stationed at during the time. I was unable to accept the offer because they wanted me to start before I was officially out of the Air Force.

Another offer was from a defense contractor for a job out in DC. They offered me what I thought was a lot of money until I looked at the cost of living.

The offer I ended up taking was from Lockheed-Martin to work at the base I was leaving. I ended up sitting at the same desk, but doing different work. I left work Friday for the last time in a military uniform, and showed up Monday morning as a civilian contractor wearing khakis and a polo. The salary was a lot lower than the DC offer, but the cost of living in middle of nowhere MT was really low and I already owned a house there.

Finding the job I'm in now took a little longer. I had a ton of calls offering me short term contracts, but I only wanted full time permanent employment. I turned down an offer in Boston because when I researched the company I found they were in the middle of filing bankruptcy. I had a couple of interviews with a major Law Firm in Chicago only to get told they wanted someone with experience in the legal industry. Eventually I got a call from a recruiter asking if I'd be interested in moving back to the area I grew up in to work at a hospital. I had 2 phone interviews, and was hired sight-unseen after the 2nd interview. I got a pretty good offer, and they paid all my moving expenses.

geeksquad09

I got my 1st I.T job aka My "Current" job by starting as a warehouse worker. Showed the company my resume and ive been doing all sorts of computer work since then. Been at the job for about a Month or so now.

W Stewart

I interview twice to get my first IT job. The first job was for an ISP do in house technical support. I had a little knowledge about cisco but didn't have that foundation of A+ level knowledge. When they told me most cisco students didn't I knew I wasn't getting the job and I knew I needed to rethink my career path. On top of that, most of the entry level jobs in my area are for computer technical support with very few networking jobs. I almost had an interview doing microsoft technical support but I was wasting my life at a sales job and missed the phone call. I was unable to get the guy back on the phone and eventually the voicemail changed to some woman as if he didn't work their anymore. My second interview was the lucky one for me. I decided to do the smart thing and make sure I knew the basics. I got my A+ and my first IT job on the same day.

ramirer

The second company I applied to called back, did two interviews (tech and soft skills) with them and got the job.

tpatt100

Once but it was help desk and the dot.com boom was still going and back then a potted plant could get a job in IT.

kingslayer

Finished my degree in May, got my first IT job in November.

I had an excel spreadsheet tracking my entire job search process, I dont remember the exact numbers but I did about 200 applications at an average pace of 3 per day excluding weekends.

I got about 15-20 call backs from recruitment agents, failed most of those initial phone screenings, from those 15-20 calls I got:

1 interview for an IT technician role in a Hospital. Rejected due to them looking for someone more experienced.

1 interview for Desktop Support for a BIG global corporate. Rejected due to being 'too network focused'.

1 interview for 1st line helpdesk for a medium size finance company. Rejected due to 'not conveying my personality enough in interview'.

1 phone interview for a support role for a small company, was invited to interview the next day (face to face interview + aptitude tests) was offered the job 1 hour after.

It was a big learning curve for me, the first couple months I was getting almost 0 feedback - I kept improving my resume and reading books about job hunting. During this time I also studied and passed for the A+ and Network+ to beef up my resume.

Towards the end I was getting more callbacks, and after accepting my job offer I received another 2 calls for interviews which I had to politely decline.

toshinden5

kingslayer wrote: »

Finished my degree in May, got my first IT job in November.

I had an excel spreadsheet tracking my entire job search process, I dont remember the exact numbers but I did about 200 applications at an average pace of 3 per day excluding weekends.

I got about 15-20 call backs from recruitment agents, failed most of those initial phone screenings, from those 15-20 calls I got:

1 interview for an IT technician role in a Hospital. Rejected due to them looking for someone more experienced.

1 interview for Desktop Support for a BIG global corporate. Rejected due to being 'too network focused'.

1 interview for 1st line helpdesk for a medium size finance company. Rejected due to 'not conveying my personality enough in interview'.

1 phone interview for a support role for a small company, was invited to interview the next day (face to face interview + aptitude tests) was offered the job 1 hour after.

It was a big learning curve for me, the first couple months I was getting almost 0 feedback - I kept improving my resume and reading books about job hunting. During this time I also studied and passed for the A+ and Network+ to beef up my resume.

Towards the end I was getting more callbacks, and after accepting my job offer I received another 2 calls for interviews which I had to politely decline.

You sound like me also! I finished my bachelor's degree last may, it took a while to get a job. The job I wanted was a network engineer/admin, but had little to none experience in it. At first, I wasn't getting any calls at all, I applied 3-4 times a day to each job posting I can find regards to networking or desktop support and maybe even help desk. I reworked my resume until I find it fitting. Months later I would get calls from recruiting. Failed some due to inexperience. At the end I got a call for a contract for a junior network admin, but only worked a couple weeks until I got called for a full time help desk. Took the full time job.

cxzar20

For my current position I moved up in house. I had a nine hour interview marathon with 9 different co-workers. It left me exhausted but I was called into my old Supervisors office and told that I had received an offer from the engineering and design team. I made the transition from the NOC three weeks later.

powerfool

I never interviewed for my first IT job. I was recruited because I knew how to make web pages and a local consulting company was looking to get into that line of work when few knew the concepts. Someone there knew me and knew I was capable... hired me at 18; although I didn't get paid much more than my shift manager position at Burger King... it was nice to get away from that.

The second job was the same. The first place was closing up shop and here was a mass migration to a new place and they asked me to come over.

My third job, I applied for just one job and I was interviewed and received it.

Honestly, I am fairly selective about what I apply for. Whenever I am in the market for a new job, I tend to only apply to one or two places, and I tend to get an interview and even an offer from all that I apply to.