Hitting wall in interviews. Unsure of next step.

I've done 3 interviews for entry level help desk type jobs this past month and got a bad response in all of them. The problem I'm having is that they want experience with active directory, and windows server usually. Even for helpdesk level it seems like it's a catch-22. Since I have barely any experience they don't want to hire me but to get experience I need to start somewhere.

I'm reconsidering my plans. I had thought WGU sounded good what's the point if you can't apply at the school's help desk or for internships in order to get experience to begin with. No degree is going to you hired without experience.

I wonder if I should I just keep trying to apply for interviews. Do I just need to try harder and say go through 10 interviews if I really want that entry level job? Is it that or am I just not good enough to get it and no amount of interviews will accept me until I get real experience?

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Danielm7

I'm assuming they are calling you in for interviews because of the certs? Having zero experience is difficult, people hit that wall with most industries I think. Have you considered doing some volunteer work you can put on your resume? How about installing Windows Server yourself and doing some lab work with AD? Have they specified what they want you to know in AD? Maybe it's just account unlocks, password resets, etc, you could teach yourself that pretty easily, looking at the certs you've done already you're obviously capable of leaning new tech concepts.

Since they are bringing you into interviews knowing that your resume says you don't have any experience yet, do you think the interviews just aren't going well for any other reasons?

srabiee

Don't let something like this discourage you from going to school. Not only is obtaining a degree important, but you would learn a lot going through the WGU program. I also recommend you shoot for MCSA: Server 2008 or MCSA: Server 2012 if you want/need to gain knowledge in AD and Windows Server OS. Just keep working at it and don't give up.

lsud00d

Since your certs are largely network oriented why not go for a NOC or hybrid NOC/HD position?

I agree with Danielm7 that your best bet to get the basics is to lab it via VM's...typically HD AD experience is very light and basic. When I was HD I just maintained certain OU's, requested GPO's from the sys admins, pre-staged new machines/did domain joins, and unlocked accounts. The PW reset was handled outside AD via mainframe, which I also did.

Good luck!

jamesleecoleman

Keep going for it.

I had an interview today and in the requirements it talked about AD. I was asked about my experience with AD and I told the truth. I had a class on it a few years ago with server 03 and that I downloaded the Server08 Data Center and started to play around with AD and DHCP. I even told them the problem I had with setting up DHCP in Server 08 while using VMWare. It sucks to say that you don't have experience in something but sometimes showing that you're playing around with some type of technology that they're asking about helps.

Don't give up on school and keep applying for interviews. Do you try to work in that you like to learn about things when you're at the interview?

fredrikjj

If it's something you want to work with, lab AD like crazy at home and prepare to answer any questions. Maybe read a book on it.

stryder144

At the request of a friend, I interviewed for a desk side support position recently. They use AD quite extensively, which I have no experience with. I told him that I had tinkered with GP related items (used to lock down a computer that my kids use). They asked about how to set up a printer to be shared in a work group. I said that I didn't know but that I would figure out how to enable printer sharing and then set something up that would allow the other computers in the office to share them. They asked about imaging of hard drives using an enterprise program, I said that I had helped a friend ghost a drive. Essentially, I answered only one question with the experience they were looking for. Then, the interviewer told me that he could teach the technical skills, it was the soft skills he was looking for.

So, my demonstrated desire to learn, mixed with my friendly attitude, sealed the deal. Thus, experience isn't always king. It doesn't hurt, obviously, but there are organizations that are looking for the right personality, too. Hang in there, you will find a job.

BGraves

stryder144 wrote: »

So, my demonstrated desire to learn, mixed with my friendly attitude, sealed the deal. Thus, experience isn't always king. It doesn't hurt, obviously, but there are organizations that are looking for the right personality, too. Hang in there, you will find a job.

Completely agree with Stryder here. I'd much rather look at hiring a good team member who could learn things over the tool that no one on the team is going to want to work with. Personality and attitude go a long way! Whenever I'm being interviewed, I like to make it clear that I don't know everything about everything but I learn things quickly and even faster if I have someone to show me!

It seems to me that if AD is what you believe is shutting you down, download a copy of Windows Server and make yourself an AD lab.

Most helpdesk level jobs will want you to know how to operate within AD without accidently deleting stuff. Things like account unlocks/disable/enable, password resets, generating new user accounts, etc are helpdesk level tasks and you should be familiar with how to do so. Learning the difference between containers and OU's, being able to open the group policy management console and link/unlink a gpo, read a gpo and learn what it does, be able to determine where your password policy is set and what those settings are and who it applies to, etc.

These are pretty basic things and I'm sure if you use google you can find all of this information and more. This could be accomplished in a matter of days, additionally if you were a really quick learner/determined and did all of this, a follow up letter to those interviewers explaining that you noticed they were highlighting experience you didn't have at the time of the interview, so you felt it important to put your hands on that technology right away and start learning it and list out some of the tasks you are now proficient at. Could be seen as desperate but if I were to interview someone and two weeks later get a letter like that, I'd want to talk to them again....

Best of luck, don't give up!

Ivanjam

stryder144 wrote: »

At the request of a friend, I interviewed for a desk side support position recently... Thus, experience isn't always king. It doesn't hurt, obviously, but there are organizations that are looking for the right personality, too.

Perhaps, it was more the former than the latter that got you the job?

stryder144

Ivanjam wrote: »

Perhaps, it was more the former than the latter that got you the job?

Perhaps. He is a relatively new hire himself, so I'm not certain. The director I interviewed with was practically gushing when I went out the door, so I would say at least 51% me, 49% friend...at least that is what my ego requested I write...lol.

Akaricloud

Honestly I'd take a deeper look into how you respond to them when they talk about AD experience. Consider the difference between the following two answers and who you would pick if interviewing people for a job.

Candidate 1: "No I don't have any AD experience."

Candidate 2: "I haven't yet had the chance to work with Active Directory in a professional environment but would love the opportunity get more hands on experience. I've recently started reading <insert book here> on AD and am committed to expanding my knowledge on the subject."

Helpdesk interviews are rarely about what you know but rather more about your ambition and ability to learn.

ande0255

I'd suggest spreading yourself across as many staffing agencies as possible, making a Linkedin and connecting with as many people as possible, and put your resume on monster.com. If you do all that you should eventually find something, that's usually how most people have to get their first position.

draught

I was just having a bad day and it's just frustrating because I'm currently working a retail job that has little to nothing to do with IT and I really want to get out as it's an utter waste of my time.The interviews themselves make me incredibly nervous to the point where it's hard to think on my feet and give them a good answers and it's always three people which doesn't help.

My experience is about 3 months and my last IT related job ended months ago.I was locked me in an extremely limited role so I didn't learn very much and does not help selling that in an interview. "What did you use as tracking software?" An excel spreadsheet...

In the future for the next interview I can research their skill requirements a bit whether it be active directory or exchange and at least give some basic answers on what those skills are. That would probably help with overall confidence. I realize I could probably youtube this stuff and know just enough for helpdesk level. Seems the good answer would be: While I don't have that skill I would love to be given the chance to learn that skill and help your company.

I'd love to start with a real networking position but I think I'd need a degree first and a lot of luck. That's why I'm doing voice because I might be able to get help starting an entry level position.

I've heard about but not tried linkedin yet. How does that work exactly? My understanding is I build a profile and then try to connect with as many IT recruiters as possible basically?

Bloogen

Like others have said, your certs focused on networking but you are applying for a position that uses very little of that knowledge. You are then lacking confidence because of the disconnect between their requirements and your ability.

You need to take a moment to focus and take a definitive action. If you are going to try to get a standard helpdesk job, identify what the common core requirements are and work hard at becoming competent. Like others have said, that means creating a lab environment with AD and managing users. groups, OUs, group policy watching videos (ITFreeTraining.com) etc. Every time you fail an interview think "Ok that's interesting, I found some more things to learn and lab and I'm going to know this inside-out next time."

If you decide you are moving towards networking, specifically target entry level NOC/datacenter jobs. Determine what the core requirements will be again in this case and focus hard at becoming competent. You don't need another cert or to continue to change your specialization/focus thinking that's where the problem lies. Take a moment to commit to what you want to do and stick to that, at least for a short time.

Definitely create a LinkedIn profile and list your qualifications and summary. You will naturally discover how to best use it but basically sell yourself in your profile (nice picture, certs, education, summary etc), connect with other people, research companies and people (quick background on people/companies before interviews?) and look at the job boards. It will also become useful as your IT network increases to be able to stay in touch with professional contacts.

Don't give up and avoid becoming discouraged. Keep in touch with people on these forums as many have been in the same spot as you and are now on the other side.

Tremie24

I understand your frustration, I'm in the same boat, still trying to land that first IT gig. I don't have much IT experience either, but you have to stay positive and keep applying to jobs. The more interviews you do the better you'll get at it, and you'll know how to approach and answer the different questions. I've taken classes that involved Windows Server 2008, so I familiar with it and know how to navigate, some what definitely not an expert. Like someone else said when they ask those questions, tell them that you have delt with in class or on your own, and the you're eager to learn more about it and gain that experience. Sometimes that's what companies want someone that is eager and willing to learn.

I just was past up yesterday because they went with someone that had a little more experience. But I'm going to keep applying, and hopefully getting interviews. Keep trying.

cruwl

draught wrote: »

I was just having a bad day and it's just frustrating because I'm currently working a retail job that has little to nothing to do with IT and I really want to get out as it's an utter waste of my time.The interviews themselves make me incredibly nervous to the point where it's hard to think on my feet and give them a good answers and it's always three people which doesn't help.

My experience is about 3 months and my last IT related job ended months ago.I was locked me in an extremely limited role so I didn't learn very much and does not help selling that in an interview. "What did you use as tracking software?" An excel spreadsheet...

In the future for the next interview I can research their skill requirements a bit whether it be active directory or exchange and at least give some basic answers on what those skills are. That would probably help with overall confidence. I realize I could probably youtube this stuff and know just enough for helpdesk level. Seems the good answer would be: While I don't have that skill I would love to be given the chance to learn that skill and help your company.

I'd love to start with a real networking position but I think I'd need a degree first and a lot of luck. That's why I'm doing voice because I might be able to get help starting an entry level position.

I've heard about but not tried linkedin yet. How does that work exactly? My understanding is I build a profile and then try to connect with as many IT recruiters as possible basically?

Did any of the interviewers give you their contact info? Email or desk number or anything?

If they did I would call them or just email and thank them for the opportunity to interview and ask them directly for some feed back on how you could improve your interview skills, what they thought you were lacking in ect.

My old boss would give every interviewee his card and tell them they could contact him for what ever questions ect and he was very sincere about it.

My 2nd piece of advice is to ask almost as many questions as the interviewer does. Show up with a notepad with some pre thought our tech questions, questions about their environment, what software they use ect. This helps to get a conversation going, shows you really thought about this and are truly interested.

Legacy User

The way I see if if they keep asking questions about active directory and windows server why don't you learn the ins and out of it? Build a lab with vmware running forests and all of that good stuff while studying for the mcsa. If the employers keep looking for certain skills make sure you know those skills.

Legacy User

Akaricloud wrote: »

Honestly I'd take a deeper look into how you respond to them when they talk about AD experience. Consider the difference between the following two answers and who you would pick if interviewing people for a job.

Candidate 1: "No I don't have any AD experience."

Candidate 2: "I haven't yet had the chance to work with Active Directory in a professional environment but would love the opportunity get more hands on experience. I've recently started reading <insert book here> on AD and am committed to expanding my knowledge on the subject."

Candidate 1: "No I don't have any AD experience."

Candidate 2:"I haven't yet had the chance to work with Active Directory in a professional environment but would love the opportunity get more hands on experience. In my free time I created a lab environment with a 2 separate parent and child domains. I replicated the users in active directory from the parent domain into the child domains..etc. I established a trust relationship between the 2 separate domains which allows certain resources from the 1 domain to be accessible with the other domain.

I'm sure you get my point. You make it sound like you really are an administrator for a real world network and sound enthused as you explain it.

draught

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. My plan is still to go through WGU starting in January and the network admin route. With the MCSA I'd be getting along the way I'd really be set with both cisco certs, microsoft certs, and a degree to top that all off.

In the meantime however it's on me if I want to understand active directory but I can be prepared for that when the next interview comes.

Bloogen wrote: »

Like others have said, your certs focused on networking but you are applying for a position that uses very little of that knowledge. You are then lacking confidence because of the disconnect between their requirements and your ability.

You need to take a moment to focus and take a definitive action. If you are going to try to get a standard helpdesk job, identify what the common core requirements are and work hard at becoming competent. Like others have said, that means creating a lab environment with AD and managing users. groups, OUs, group policy watching videos (ITFreeTraining.com) etc. Every time you fail an interview think "Ok that's interesting, I found some more things to learn and lab and I'm going to know this inside-out next time."

If you decide you are moving towards networking, specifically target entry level NOC/datacenter jobs. Determine what the core requirements will be again in this case and focus hard at becoming competent. You don't need another cert or to continue to change your specialization/focus thinking that's where the problem lies. Take a moment to commit to what you want to do and stick to that, at least for a short time.

Definitely create a LinkedIn profile and list your qualifications and summary. You will naturally discover how to best use it but basically sell yourself in your profile (nice picture, certs, education, summary etc), connect with other people, research companies and people (quick background on people/companies before interviews?) and look at the job boards. It will also become useful as your IT network increases to be able to stay in touch with professional contacts.

Don't give up and avoid becoming discouraged. Keep in touch with people on these forums as many have been in the same spot as you and are now on the other side.

Funny enough most of the NOC jobs I'm looking at also list active directory so I think the lesson here is that I really need to learn active directory!

I see an interesting listing but 2 years experience is asked for give it a shot anyway.

Unsure what this is

Monitor and manipulate production batch for the following platforms: IBM z/OS (MVS), UNIX, and MS-Windows

I'm thinking they want the technician to monitor the scripts that go through on those platforms? Heck what UNIX would actually be on.