Why am I not getting calls (Entry level network administrator or service/help desk)

Make sure you're updating your resume weekly. The more recent resumes go to the top of search results. I like to put a new copy of my resume up every Sunday night.

You might also want to try a few more job ad sites. There's Indeed, job.com, glassdoor, simplyhired, and probably some local sites by you (I use manhattanjobs in my area). You can also check craigslist if you live by a major metropolitain area. Tho I don't post my resume, I sometimes check to see what's up and send out applications.

You often get an option to name your resume on these sites. The name of the resume should be the job title you're looking for. My current resumes are named "Junior Cisco Network Admin NOC" or something of the sort. I'm looking for either a Junior Admin or NOC position, and looking to work w/ Cisco. So I put that in my resume title as keywords.

Do you have a LinkedIn? On these job sites, even tho you have your resume up, did you complete the associated profile? Make it easier for recruiters/employers to find out a little bit more about you. Of course, what you choose to include or not include is up to your discretion. But I'm personally under the philosophy that the more the better, even if a majority of it never actually gets read. (Recruiters/employers spend just a few seconds looking over your resume/credentials until they actually decide to set up an interview.)

I'd also revise your resume a bit. Try out different things and see how recruiters'employers respond. Remember that they are finding you based on keyword searches, so make sure your resume is tailored towards the position you want. Personally, I'd also split your "Highlights" section into 2 separate "Certifications" and "Skills" Section. And try to elaborate on your experience a bit. You have a bit of experience and certifications that complement it. Don't be afraid to hit 2 pages if you need to.

Does updating your resume really work? I've been on these sites for about 2 or 3 years and the 2 or 3 times I seriously looked for a job I noticed I got the better job offers after about a month of my resume being up on there.

It certainly works for me. If I reload the same exact resume up I immediately start getting emails. I assume as DoubleNNs pointed out newer resumes come up first in the searches.

Spaced

The only thing I can see off the bat is that you might want to remove that you recently graduated high school. List the MCSA, but not that you got it in high school. Seeing that up front makes me think you can't have much experience. Plus later down it lists that you did some community college which seems contradictory. You might have attended concurrently or just a semester, but it comes off a little confusing. You want them to know you have a high school diploma but not make it sound like you just graduated. That's my two cents. Otherwise not bad.

How about saying "Graduated Highschool in 2010 w/ MCSA." Because I do want to point out that I got it early on to imply that I have a good understanding of these things, and I did attend some college after highschool but I'm just not feeling it will work out for me.

pitviper

I’d leave the date off – I’m not sure what the general consensus is regarding certs obtained in high school, but I can see this potentially being a turn off for some old school hiring managers.

JaneDoe

Take "graduated high school recently" out of your highlights and just include your MCSA certification. It's assumed you didn't drop out of high school, and that sentence makes it look like you're 18. Add a sentence to your highlights section saying how many years of experience you have working in Enterprise Windows Environments. Also reformat everything in full sentences and don't use abbreviations like "w/". Spell out all of your certifications, for example "Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate" instead of just "MCSA", and add them to a certifications section.

At this point you have 3 years of experience, highlight that not what you did in high school. Minimize that you don't have a college degree; make the person read the bottom of the resume to see that.

I agree to remove the date as well as that you recently graduated high school.

Instead, say what your MCSA was in. You simply put "(Server Administrator)." Instead, why not try "MCSA: Server 2008". 2008 was 6 years ago. Your employer will know that you got the certification within the last 6 years, but they'll have no idea whether it was 5 years or 5 days ago. And quite frankly, why does it matter? As long as you have the certification and the complementary experience, they'll expect you to know the material regardless.

JaneDoe

If you add a certification section as I recommended you can add the date you completed each certification there.

I've made those changes, but I'm still having an annoying time finding positions that I'm not overqualified for. I live in the DC area.

This is so annoying. Thinking about getting a college degree in Information Security or a Masters in Business but still going into the IT security field.

Thank you everyone for your input thus far.

It's been 2 days. Things don't move that fast. Plus, you might not have made enough changes.

I did a dice search using a DC zip code. I see plenty of open Systems Admin positions. I also see plenty of high-level support jobs.

Have you spoken to any recruiters? Maybe you might want to speak w/ some local recruiters and see what any of them can do for you.

I've had a few interviews and they keep selecting someone else...you lack experience... I do this job on par with most 3 year techs and even some 5 year techs.

Life is not fair, study they said, learn, for nothing. Only to be shot down. And told you have no experience.

unfbilly11

I would do what others have suggested and find a recruiter. A lot of times, the recruiter will help you with your resume, which I think is what is causing you to have troubles. You might also want to recertify since it's been about 4 years. Are you Server 2003 or Server 2008 certified? Maybe try to upgrade it to 2012 and show the employers that you have recently passed a test.

How do you feel like the interviews went when you did get them?

I'm also inexperienced in the tech world but, to me, if I were looking to hire a network admin, I would not hire someone with any references to high school on his or her resume. Network/system admins are usually in charge of everything for some companies so people are going to want someone that has a lot of experience. You have 3 years, you should highlight that more.

N2IT

I'm just curious why you have MCSA ~3 times on your resume? You list extensive experience Windows XP - 8, I wouldn't take for granted that they assume 7 should fall in between there. I would consider saying XP, 7 and 8 or something like that. You never know with HR/Recruiters.

xenodamus

You say you're overqualified for the offers you've gotten, but the jobs you're shooting for say you lack experience. There's a disconnect somewhere.

Honestly, the description of your "Tier 2 Service Desk" position made me raise an eyebrow. The title immediately says helpdesk and/or desktop in my mind. But the duties start off with mid to Sr. level System Admin tasks....then go back to tickets and KB management. If I were a hiring manager with no knowledge of you or your skillset, I would assume you have desktop support level experience and are throwing around terms like Group Policy and ADFS to score a higher level position. I hope you don't take that the wrong way. I obviously don't know you, and may be totally wrong in that assumption. But that's what I would assume if I were sifting through 100 resumes to fill my sysadmin position.

To combat that, go into more detail. The more you can tell me about what you did with Exchange, ADFS, and Group Policy, the more credibility you build in my mind.

The cert might have been for 2003, however I haven't touched 2003 since the cert and have been using 2008 for the most part with some 2012 mixed in.

Active directory, group policy & Exchange: User groups, permissions, account creation, deletion, suspension. And I'm learning about mailboxes and load balancers at home in VMs.

DNS, firewalls, lync iOS, Android: just trouble shooting it from general knowledge, I understand the basics of how DNS works and firewalls. And some of that could count as administering it also, basic things like setting up DNS on user's computers, host files etc.

The reason I didn't expand on these things was because I felt from a tier 2 stand point these are the kinds of things you would be doing if you were resolving issues relation to them and administrating them.

As for being overqualified, I keep getting calls for tier 1 stuff ... routing tickets and field tech positions/dell driving tech... Or being offered $15/hr. Getting job offers whose description doesn't have half the stuff I've done and being offered way less.

Also for whatever reason after about a month I will only have 3-7 views on dice, and the same on monster where as career builder will be about 30-40. Does that seem normal to you guys? I didn't apply to jobs on career builder or monster, but I applied for about 30 positions on dice.

I'm a little confused by reading your posts and looking at your resume. How much actual professional experience do you have? From reading your resume you don't have that much experience but you make it sound like you have quite a plethora of experience.

You claim you made changes to your resume. How about posting the newest version?

In addition, if you're making changes, what happened before the changes are irrelevant. You want to focus on how your recent revisions are being received.

If you're being told you don't have enough experience during an interview, you want to focus on what you said during that interview and see why they believe that. They brought you in for an interview thinking you might be a good fit. Something during the span of the interview made them think otherwise.

If you have MCSA 2003, list it. In fact, since it's an older cert it'll make it seem like you have more experience when viewed on your resume. However, also because it's an old cert you'll most likely want to elaborate under your experience that you've used Server 2008 and 2012 since at your job.

networker050184 wrote: »

I'm a little confused by reading your posts and looking at your resume. How much actual professional experience do you have? From reading your resume you don't have that much experience but you make it sound like you have quite a plethora of experience.

Just what I've posted in this thread, I feel that if I went into a net admin role currently I'd likely be challenged, but the jobs I'm being offered are get your foot in the door jobs. I think a solid troubleshooting/service/help desk position is where I would be best suited currently. But I havn't been given any of those offers and when I apply to them I don't get replies back normally. One I did hear back from but we both agreed I needed more exchange and VMware experience for that. This one I decided to email and setup a time to talk, and he didn't ask any technical questions, and dropped me after I told him that I don't have a degree. I could go into that job comfortably tomorrow.

Didn't mean to come off as arrogant, just having trouble getting positions that will help me grow.

Double I'll post my updated resume tomorrow after making the changes suggested today.

Thanks all

Well maybe it's time to reflect a little. If every employer you talk to feels you are under qualified maybe you do need to take one of those jobs you feel are beneath you. This field is all about what have you done not what can you do unfortunately. You have to get some stuff on the resume before you are taken seriously. Especially as a recent high school graduate.

So your suggesting I take on less responsibility, instead of developing my skills I do the exact opposite, and I leave my current better job for a worse one. And instead of figuring out why I'm not getting hits, I jump ship.

I'll pass. I'm not too concerned about being a recent highschool graduate I've seen various "recent graduates" doing well, even cisco making in the 90s by the time their 23.

No, I'm suggesting you find a job to start building your resume. Even if you might feel it's below you some varied experience on your resume will go a long way to making someone take a chance on you. I know you might not be concerned about being a recent high school grad, but I can guarantee you the people interviewing you are. Trust me, you aren't the first young confident, inexperienced guy they have seen.

And I know, people do very well in this field at a young age. I'm in my 20s and I've been making good money for years. I'm just trying to give you the advice I think will help you get there as well. No offense, but what you are currently doing obviously isn't working.

Oh, what kind of work do you suggest

Help desk, customer service, NOC tech, hell anything you can get! The more experience the better.

docrice

I'm going to be blunt. Being in IT, especially in a position that can impact very noticeable cross-sections of an organization, requires an understanding of how businesses function internally and a certain level of maturity and discipline to collaborate with various business units in order to ensure that your influences are a benefit, not a detriment. Your attitude, aptitude, and the wisdom you gain through experience working your way up and paying your dues defines the package which employers look at.

If you think you're over-qualified but keep getting turned-down, there's a reason for it. Based on your responses, I sense a hint of entitlement. A corporate network is not equivalent to a lab, as I'm sure you're aware. Labs you can break and rebuild. It's much, much more messier in a real living environment and a single break has serious business and political consequences and many employers who are interviewing you may feel that you are too much of a risk for the positions you seek because you lack the insight on how complex systems work. No one's going to let you fly the plane until you've spent enough hours in the simulator.

If you're conveying an attitude to the hiring managers that's interpreted as cocky (even though you may not realize it), that would be an immediate red flag to most. Another factor that's hindering your job search might also be the competition in the job market. I don't know what your area is like, but there may be a ton of other people selling themselves better. At the end of the day, you must demonstrate the value you bring to a prospective employer, not just your raw skills. Anyone can learn technical minutia, but the real differentiators are people who can extract the gold to increase the business proposition. This typically folds in your personal presentation, the ability to articulate difficult concepts and jargon into layman's terms, and so on.

This sort of reminds me of another thread from a while back which I responded to:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/77709-why-negative-feedback-ccna-no-experience.html#post637940

As unfair as it sounds, it may simply be something like your apparent young age which is causing you to get turned down. This bias isn't without merit since professionals who have been doing this for a decade or more have gone through very bad instances when someone relatively less-experienced made an assumption and brought down the network. These memories are painful and ones we don't forget. If you negatively impact the business, it becomes a resume-generating event, if not a career-limiting move. If you're going to survive in IT, you must learn to gain the trust of the people who are considering whether they should hand you some of the keys to the kingdom.

xenodamus

If I were in your shoes, I would be looking for a desktop support spot in a large organization. If you can land in the right environment, they'll let you troubleshoot issues all the way up to the point where you interface directly with the System/Network Admins and prove your knowledge level to them and their management.

That was my path. I was the "super desktop tech" who came to the Admins telling them what I needed them to do for me, rather than dropping a problem in their lap and asking for a solution. I coupled that performance with lots of studying in my off time and they gave me a chance to prove myself on the Network/System team 2 years later. Making that jump from desktop to Systems is the hard part, as you're finding. You've got to find someone willing to give you a shot, though. Because at this point, your experience is really at a desktop support level. I understand that you're studying, learning, and labbing. But what you need is someone to give you that first opportunity at the next level.

JaneDoe

I would go for a helpdesk at a small company with a small IT department. Whenever I've worked for small companies with small IT departments they've been willing to let me try something new when I thought I could do it, meaning I had a lot space for professional development.

olaHalo

Lots of good info in this thread thanks everyone