Why It Is So Hard To Get A JOB

llllvllll

Hello Everyone,

I have completed my B.tech in Information & Technology in year 2011 and i want to make my carrier in Networking field.But sadly i was not aware of IT Sector , wherever i went for interview all they were intrested in was "If i was Certified or Not". No, I am not certified but i have a very good knowledge of Networking.
Why do company hire those with good comm skills and guys with 70% + marks? In Networking field its even worse, you need at least 1-2 year exp too,now how am i supposed to get that exp when no one is willing to give me a chance?
I have a vast knowledge in (RIP v1 an v2 , EIGRP , OSPF , Switching L1 and L2 ,Trunking,Vlans,Frame- Relays) working knowledge of BGP as well as MPLS etc. For all my life i thought only knowledge is required to get success but i was dissapointed again .
Yes i am a fresher without an exp , i know you guys will say complete your CCNA certification but guys i dont want to spend more of my Dad's hard earned money. I have gone through the ccna syllabus and i know i have done lot more then it offers by my own(Self Study) why dont companies realise this fact that if a guy who is a fresher can speak 15 min on MPLS or BGP or even firewall , he deserve a chance to explore this Networking world?

PS:- If you think i would be suitable for some position in your company please mail me the details .

Experience:- 1year in doing nothing + searching jobs

Essendon

IT isnt easy to break into, I feel your pain. Keep applying and eventually something will bite. I can English isnt your first language, maybe you should put your resume up here and we can critique it.

It took me about 8 months to find a job in IT after my Master's, if that's any consolation. Keep applying mate, you'll land a job one day and there'll be no looking back after that.

Trifidw

If you have at least CCNA knowledge of routing and switching and it is holding you back so much why not just book the exam? I'm sure your parents will be happy to pay for it if they supported you so far?

alxx

hard ?
No, opposite for me. Keep getting offers especially when I don't need them.

Just started a new job 3 weeks back. Going fulltime from July.
Hardware development/optical networking with fpgas.
Still finishing my undergraduate degrees (Computer Systems Eng and Physics).

Worked for Qantas for ten years as Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Avionics in Avionics Modifications and Heavy Maintenance.

You need experience and a cert or two or be a specialist in an area with not to many others. The certs are to get you past HR .

Thought about volunteering to get experience ?
Some charities and community organisations are always on the look out for people.
Even working general help desk to get your foot in the door.

Just searching for jobs is the wrong way.
You need to make yourself stand out from the other candidates.

MickQ

What alxx said. As hard as it is, you will need at least one cert in order to get into the companies you're looking at. That's their proceedure.

If you don't want to get a cert (can't afford it - I understand that pain), then look at smaller IT companies who do services for local businesses. It will give you more experience in more things than just networking.

Of course, you could always dress up, be confident and walk into the office and ask to speak to an engineer in there by name. Ask them for 5 minutes of their time and get a quick interview there. It might be enough to bypass HR filters the first time around.

MrBishop

All I can say is go for the certifications to make yourself more marketable. I learned this the hard way and the more time you waste complaining the more time it will take you later to obtain them while trying to work. If you have the free time now, you should use it wisely. You're not the only one who faces the x amount of years experience is needed but with the right attitude and certifications you will land the job. Employers will also try to exploit the fact that you have no experience when it comes to your salary. Just wait until you get a job and the guy next to your with years of experience and no educational background doesn't no much more that you but just how to follow company policies and procedures of how they want it done. It all about learning how they do things and once you learn that, which won't take long, you'll be asking yourself, why is this person getting paid more than me?

One last thing to remember is that, employers get discounts for hiring certified people. Its all about the might dollar and they're going to save money whenever possible, especially when they gotta pay for your huge salary requirement. LOL

NetworkVeteran

llllvllll wrote: »

wherever i went for interview all they were intrested in was "If i was Certified or Not". No, I am not certified but i have a very good knowledge of Networking. I have a vast knowledge in (RIP v1 an v2 , EIGRP , OSPF , Switching L1 and L2 ,Trunking,Vlans,Frame- Relays) working knowledge of BGP as well as MPLS etc. For all my life i thought only knowledge is required to get success but i was dissapointed again .

I doubt you have a very good knowledge of networking without a certification or experience, but if that's the case, pay a few hundred bucks to sit the exams and get your certifications up to whatever your level of knowledge is. The return on investment will be almost immediate.

know you guys will say complete your CCNA certification but guys i dont want to spend more of my Dad's hard earned money.

If he's providing a roof for you, $350 to take the CCNA exams and get yourself out on your own will likely cost him less than hosting you another month or two. If you're really concerned, you could get a waitering/waitressing job. It will improve your communication and customer service skills, help you pay your dad back, and you should earn $350 within a week or two. I know several folks who went from near minimum wage to big salaries.

Why do company hire those with good comm skills and guys with 70% + marks?

That should be obvious--higher grades are correlated with a better understanding of what they teach in a degree. Better communication skills will make you more capable of understanding and fulfilling customer needs.

In Networking field its even worse, you need at least 1-2 year exp too

Nah. There are many entry-level positions. At any company there's work no experienced engineer wants to touch and that wouldn't be cost-effective for them to touch given how much they're being paid.

he deserve a chance to explore this Networking world?

PS - Sorry, mate. The world doesn't owe you a living. See Aesop's fable about the Grasshoper and the Ants.

NOC-Ninja

llllvllll wrote: »

Experience:- 1year in doing nothing + searching jobs

This is going to hurt you but if you take this seriously then you will become a better person. Let me be blunt.

You're lazy. Its the same reason why you cant find a job because you are stubborn and you cannot adapt to the world.

You mentioned that "i dont want to spend more of my Dad's hard earned money". I'm guessing your dad paid your college tuition? You used "i dont want to spend more of my Dad's hard earned money" as an excuse for you not to study the CCNA test. You should be studying for the CCNA test rather than doing nothing. Seriously, a year of doing NOTHING? Damn, there are CCIE/CISSP/RHCE/MCITP/CCNP/CCNA candidates here that will be so happy to have a dad that will support us while we do nothing for a year and study for our test. A lot of us here work full time, study when we get home and still knock out certs. Some have families, work full time, still study at home and still knock out certs. Some knock out certs while working on their degrees. What's your excuse again for not studying and doing nothing for a year? Yup, Laziness.

Here you are complaining like a little kid that you dont want to waste your dad's hard earned money while you should be acting like a man and should be working at geek squad or any job so you can save and afford paying for your OWN CCNA test.

Somnipotent

removed unnecessary quote...responding to OP original comment

Met and sat in interviews with plenty of guys like yourself. Looks great on paper,you know it all but when it comes down to the wire, you really don't. Until you get your feet wet treat yourself like you know nothing. Just because you have a degree or even some certs, you can't just assume people want to snatch you up. You live in India, I'm sure you could find some entry level jobs with lead ins to other positions. I took a job in a call center when I first graduated college and worked my way up to my position, collecting certs along the way. Time wasted can never be recovered. Do yourself a favor and suck it up and take whatever comes at you.

llllvllll

Ok i have gone through all the comment and i guess u guys are right i really need to get a CCNA cert. MR "Networkveteran" I was not kiddin when i said i have a vast knowledge of those protocols. I remember when i went for HCL for chat & email support (For AT&T) they rejected me and said i was too much technical for them and our customer wont understand a word like this.

I tried working in the technical call center as well (IBM) within 2 months i got promoted as a L2 engineer as my troubleshooting skills were very good. But the problem was that the pay scale was so low that i used to borrow some money from my dad and after i got promoted i used to work for 12-13 hours a day and didnt get any time to study. So i gave up on that job. English is not my primary language so its getting hard for me to get a job in a technical support like (Arricent etc)
Now you guys must b wondering y i left IBM it was good for experience. Yes i know feel that too i made a mistake but at that point i used to think i need to have good knowledge and i had to quit this as i was not getting any good experience , everyday i used to tackle same problems,there was nothing to learn. Installing windows,software troubleshooting,Hardware issue i used to do these stuff when i was in class 8th . There was nothing related to hard core networking. Then i went to Tech Mahindra which a nice comp as well , i cleared apptitude test as well as the technical interview but my resume is still on hold as i dont have 60% marks in my degree

I forgot to mention in my above post that i was not sitting idle in my house i was living away from my house and was constantly searching for job. For 6-7 months i used to get up early make sure i had 10 coppies of my resume and then used to visit like 12-13 companies a day asking them if there were any vaccancies but had no luck.

Now can someone suggest me what should i do? Any companies in India that hire people who are willing to work for free just for nice exposure?

dead_p00l

There really is no easy answer. I worked for 4-5 years in the IT/networking field before the economy took a **** back in 2001. I had no certifications but several years of experience and still couldn't find a job in the industry. I ended up working construction for a year and then starting over with a new communications company on the ground floor. I did customer support and installs for a couple of years and worked my way back up into the networking side of things. Unfortunately with the current economy there are a lot of jobs available but there are also a lot of qualified applicants. Certifications will certainly help you get an interview in a lot of cases and might even open the door to a job. Most companies are looking for something that makes you stand out above other applicants. You might want to try doing some freelance/contract work as well as working on some certs to make yourself more marketable. There are some companies that do internships for no/little pay but they are few and far between. Hopefully some of this will help.

MickQ

Move home. Study there. Spend the rent money on certs and (as the others have said) getting experience with the equipment.

I made pizzas to get the travel money to get myself to uni and back. I could afford one pint of beer a month (and I'm Irish!). Suck it up, do any job. Sit down with your income and expenses and figure out how you will get those certs and experience (even your own lab is a start) to get a start in a company.

You have a degree. Congrats. Doesn't mean I'd let you near my networks or servers. In fact, I definitely wouldn't. Most of the people I graduated with had no sys admin or network admin experience or knowledge. Some could fix their own computers.

You know how to speak with engineers? Good. That will be useful, later.
In the meantime, learn how to work with systems and networks. Get someone else to look over your CV/resume and clean it up. Don't think yourself above getting any kind of job you can get.

Also, try to read some English books. They'll help you with the language problems.

hackman2007

Agree with what everyone else said, it is tough to get a job.

You might have to just take something to get some work experience and then eventually move up.

Or if you are willing to relocate, I know the company I work for has an office in Bangalore (not networking, but a start).

Concerned Water

dead_p00l wrote:

There really is no easy answer. I..snip....

Exactly dead_pool. HR just needs things that separate candidates because of the large volumes of people applying due to the horrible economy. If you put a CCNA or CCNP with you degree, I'm willing to bet you'll get more interviews. There is no lack of qualifications in this economy, which means there will be highly qualified people applying (because of layoffs) as well as you. That's why you need to put some certs with your degree.

Essendon

llllvllll wrote:

Ok i have gone through all the comment ....snip....

What you all need to do is change the way you think you are going to get into IT. No one is going to hand over the keys to their network to you when all the experience you have is reading from books. Not even a small business with 2-4 computers, a switch, a router and a server. Would you fly with a pilot whose only experience with flying is playing Dog Fight 2 on addictinggames.com??

Get any helpdesk/technical support/call centre/computer support or whatever they call it in India. You need some experience to move onto the next role. Most people on this site worked on the helpdesk for a while, some for a few months and some for years. I worked in a tech support for 4 months, then a year or so in a desktop support role, a few months in a network support role following which I was able to get my current role in which I have been in for 4 years.

Learn some English too as people have suggested. Communication skills are key in the corporate world. Good luck with whatever you do.

P.S. Search for a guy called Gobind Singh Gill, a 19 year old CCIE. Read his story, very similar to yours. Very inspiring.

cyberguypr

Welcome to reality. If you did your homework properly you would've quickly discovered that IT is one of those fields were experience is king. Some of us have been doing this for a while and will tell you that we would rather hire a guy or gal with experience rather than someone fresh out of college top of their class but no hand-on experience. Not saying that it doesn't happen or that frshh grads don't excel, just that is not the norm. Try to see it from their point of view. You have pending to get done, projects to complete and you want someone who has done this before and can hit the ground running. No two environments are alike. No matter who you hire it will take some time for this person to get up to speed. For someone with no experience this may take considerably longer.

Many of us recommend gaining some experience and grabbing a few certifications while studying precisely to avoid the issue you are experiencing. I gotta say i am extremely confused with your "vast knowledge" and then complaining about spending money for CCNA. As Trifidw said, if you know so much just go ahead and book the exam. If your dad spent a lot of money on the college degree I highly doubt he would complain about the cost of the test.

A degree helps but is not everything. The magic formula for success in IT is college+certs+experience.

Sidenote: today I finished my last deliverable to complete my BS in Networking. 14 years doing IT on a professional level and I was never questioned on why I didn't have a degree. YMMV.

MickQ

Congrats cyberguy. Here's hoping it goes well.

As he pointed out, a degree is one thing. Knowledge is another. Industry certs and training is another.
If someone came up to me looking for a job, who had a CS degree, I'd ask them some basic questions.
Things such as "you get an ip address of 169.254.24.85 and my flight ticket in 3 hours time isn't printing from the network printer. Fix it." From my experience, they wouldn't know the answer.

You say you know a lot. Perhaps you do. The problem that you have is that you need to get past HR, and prove it to the technical people. A degree will get past one HR filter, but having no industry certs will not.
Save up, do an exam or two, and try again.
Also, check out other Indian websites and fora for their tips and advice. Techexams is global and each region is different in how things are done.

MrBishop

llllvllll wrote: »

I remember when i went for HCL for chat & email support (For AT&T) they rejected me and said i was too much technical for them and our customer wont understand a word like this.

You have to adapt to what the customer wants and not the other way around. Being technical in an interview with other technical people is where you want to shine, not on the phone with customers.

llllvllll wrote: »

I tried working in the technical call center as well (IBM) within 2 months i got promoted as a L2 engineer as my troubleshooting skills were very good.

Now you guys must b wondering y i left IBM it was good for experience.

No, actually I don't because I gave up a good job to gain experience because of two things. One the people at the job were in the same roll for years I mean like 5 plus years and all of them said you'll never get out of this department. Now, this is a big shipping company BIG!

I just graduated with an associates degree and was happy to get the job, then really started to hit me. Gas prices sky rocked over hear up to around $5 per gallon. My commute has 140 miles round trip per day and the go to guy was never going to get promoted and he's been there 10 years. I mean, he did other things for the company but when things got tough, they went to this guy first. I know this guy is still working there because when I contracted with a large telecommunications company his name came up.

I'm guessing he never got that promotion out of the NOC team even though he was the go to guy in that NOC department. WHY? I don't know exactly, but it probably had to do with his attitude and no degree. The top tier guys were all CCIE's and degrees and probably didn't like his know it all attitude and yes he thought he knew it all! He would be pissed at not getting promoted and would complain that he did a bulk of the big troubleshooting problems while these guys sat upstairs doing nothing.

So remember it more than just one factor that will make or break a candidate and this guy's pompous attitude didn't win him any points even though management liked him.

Basically, I left this company because I seen very little room for a promotion. Yes, I could have gained the experience but at a cost to my educational goals. I know I made the right decision and will make up for those years of lost pay with a higher degree and additional certifications.

Sometimes the biggest hurdle is getting past recruiters who don't have a lot of knowledge when it comes to a job and are just looking for the best candidate in the shortest amount of time. I had a conversation with a recruiter that once said "the guy looked good on paper, but when it came to the interview process he got rejected because they said he was to rigid." No personally at ALL! Its about adapting to your surroundings.
[/QUOTE]

Valsacar

llllvllll

Go look at Keonig Solutions, (Dehli, Gao... and two other places in India). They're one of the best training centers I (and many I work with) have ever been to... a co-worker just came back from there with CCNP (bootcamp and test) and he said it was hands-down the best training he's every gotten. They're expensive for us, but they have reduced (and depending on need free) courses for Indians. They have all of the equipment on hand so you can get some real experience on the gear and not just theory.

BigMevy

Honestly your lack of experience is probably hurting you more than a lack of certs. I would recommend going with what some others have said, see if you can get in some volunteer work for a non-profit needing IT help. It'll build your resume to help you get in somewhere else.

paul78

NOC-Ninja wrote: »

You're lazy. Its the same reason why you cant find a job because you are stubborn and you cannot adapt to the world.

Isn’t that comment a bit harsh and presumptuous? Are you really that intimate with the mores and cultural norms of the Punjab to assume that the same job-searching concepts apply to northern India.


@llllvllll – I am unfamiliar with the job market in your area. But most fresher programs of multi-nationals such as IBM that you referenced are going to place a high requirement on language skills. Your writing does seem adequate. If conversational English is not a forte of yours, that could hamper your options.

If you are at Tech Mahindra now, that is supposed to be a decent organization. And given their size, I imagine there are opportunities there. It not clear to me what you meant by your “resume on hold”. Are you working at Tech Mahindra now?

NOC-Ninja

paul78 wrote:

Isn’t that comment a bit harsh and presumptuous? ...snip....

It was harsh but I am helping him by being blunt. I dont like sugar coating it. Its not about punjab or northern india. I will be harsh even if its a different culture. We both know that life is harsh so we work hard and study hard to become successful. The truth is, I expect more from him since he is from a 3rd world country. I came from a third world country so I went through the same poverty. Now if you look at my previous posts, I said that TE people here have families, kids, goes to work, school and still knock out certs.

I understand that he was looking for a job for 6-7 months. The problem there was he needs CCNA. You cant just apply for a job if you knew that they want you to have CCNA. Thats being stubborn... The same reason why some college grad here gets CCNA even they have a bachelors or a masters.

I will be harsh but if he takes my advice seriously then you will become successful.

Essendon

I'll have to agree with Ninja on this, he needs to get the CCNA. In a country which teems with qualified people, he needs to get some cert to stand a chance or else the resume sits in the huge pile of the to-be-discarded or check-for-later resumes.

1. Work on your English.

2. Work on your CCNA. You got to make a start somehow, look up ebay for used books. Beg, borrow or steal a couple of switches and a router or two. Here's a link to a 2950 switch on ebay: Cisco WS-C2950G-24-EI Catalyst 2950 Series 24-Port | eBay

3. Start researching, spend less time on internet forums/facebook/chat rooms are whatever else you indulge in.

The world aint all sunshine and rainbows, it's a cruel place and unless you find a way to stand up to it, it'll be beat you into a corner and keep you there. Rise, my son, rise.

Valsacar

Essendon wrote: »

2. Work on your CCNA. You got to make a start somehow, look up ebay for used books. Beg, borrow or steal a couple of switches and a router or two. Here's a link to a 2950 switch on ebay: Cisco WS-C2950G-24-EI Catalyst 2950 Series 24-Port | eBay

I used packet tracer to practice for mine, not as good but a whole lot cheaper. Passed with a 933, so I think it was good enough :P

llllvllll

Thank you all again for your remarks.

I'll definetly get a CCNA cert ASAP
@paul78 No i am not working with Tech Mahindra. They have my resume with them,what i meant was that they do not hire people with below 60% marks so the resume is currently with higher authorities and their decision is still pending.

@hackman2007 mate can you please give me some more details of the company ? that would be great.

@cyberguypr gratz mate i hope you get more success in future

froggy3132000

If you take what noc-ninja said and think about it you will go and get your CCNA. If you want a network job that is almost a must. You need to have something to get in the door, if not you better know somebody that can get you in. My advice to you, you need to get experience. I would get any IT related job and work hard while looking for something else. I will never claim to know anything about the India job market but you still need credentials.

hackman2007

llllvllll wrote: »

@hackman2007 mate can you please give me some more details of the company ? that would be great.

I am not sure what you are looking for and I am not sure what the India office is like, but do know that if you like doing a billion things at once, have an interest in the healthcare field, and love to learn new things, they are a great place to work. You will work a ton of hours and make work irregular hours as well.

As of now, I have no complaints.