Experience ????

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Hi all,

Just wanting to see if anyone else out there is in the same boat as me, and if anyone has any possible advice!?

I have been applying for entry level positions for a few months, and have had no luck so far. The thing is, almost all of the adverts state that they want 6 months to a year's worth of basic experience, but how are us newbies supposed to gain the experience needed if no-one is willing to take on newcomers without any!???

This is really frustrating!!

Does anyone know of any possible ways to overcome this???

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

I'm in exactly the same boat, I've just been offered a job in customer services (mobile phone/ broadband company) this will get me experience of sorts for a future helpdesk position but also they must have someone who looks after their systems and it will be a case of getting to know the right people and I may get an IT position that way. Either way my C.V is still out there and I'll be able to add customer services to my experience which will help with MCDST type roles.

Another job I've applied for is customer services , just arranging times for technicians to carry out work, but it is with a company that deals with telecoms, isp, network installation , support etc... It's a foot in the door and it gets you closer to the action, so to speak. They get to know you , they know what your studying and what your capable of .

Your not alone, good luck.

 

You can get hands on practical experience which you can put on your CV by building PC's for friends and yourself.
The A+ would give you a solid route to attaining the above also start looking for call logging helpdesk positions.

I know it is tough without experience but it is still very possible to land the above listed roles if you applied yourself and keep working hard and stay focused. Best wishes and cheerio

 

It may seem like everyone wants 6-12 months of experience, but there ARE true entry-level IT jobs out there. Just keep looking, ask around (people who are already in IT are GREAT resources for this), and most importantly, don't give up.

 

Voluntary work always looks good on the CV!

AW

 

Yes an *entry level* job should not require experience, as an experienced person would not be seeking an entry level job.

 

Now I really understand the whole stage idea in schools.

 

I can suggest trying the contracting route, there are quite a few online sites available to stick your cv online. Most lower end contracting jobs just need bodies to be available but it adds experience to your cv. It worked for me ;)

Steve.L

 

this mite sound a bit crappy to say mate but it really makes me smile to see that some body is in the same boat as me. it is so true what you said about, how you supposed to get experience until somebody gives you a chance!!!!. i must have sent off at least 300 (supposedely, entry level) applications online, and all i get is "sorry mate but you aint got enuf experience"... .
i noticed that you posted this a while ago, have you had any luck yet

 

alreet mate jus checked out your links for voluntary work. cant find any i.t jobs on them, do you know any that are i.t specific

 

cheers mate. in the meantime, ANY advice no matter how obvious/trivial, will be well received. i really am pulling my hair out at the mo, jus dont understand why nobody is willing to giv poeple like me a job when im willing to be office rent boy.
rite thats the last winge youll hear from me now, im boring myself

 

I found that my friends experience helping me host and run LAN parties for up to and over 100 people has helped him get those entry level positions, nothing quite compares to setting up a LAN for 100 people in 3 hours on a friday night, especially when you have QoS, Vlans and other such features going on for performance enhancements!

I cant speak from direct experience as i did work experiance in a Net Cafe and that turned into my first IT job, by the time i left that part time job i had three certs, had done NT migrations and Windows roll outs, as well as basic network design

 

If that's what they're telling you, then you're applying for jobs that are outside your experience level. You should be looking for entry-level IT jobs, which, by definition, require no experience.