Just Finished BIS @ Uni and searching for a job..

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

Hi forum members.

I just finished my 3 year university stint, and i really thought that the job prospects would be greater, with regards to having a degree in Business Information Systems (Combined honours that is). I severely lack experience because i didn't opt for the sandwich program, and I became disheartened because all jobs advertised, except for graduate programs with companies, need some real programming skills, which i didn't receive during my years at university.
So its either you don't have practical programming experience, or you do, but lack certification. Another option i came across with regards to IT training (software developer and business analyst roles) was the FDM academy, which provides free training, and on successful completion of the exams, will guarantee job placement with a blue chip or financial company. The catch is that I would have to fund myself, which I am not able to do since i just finished with uni.
Thus, I decided to order some courses (MCSA, CIW, A+) in order to build up my skills, get certification, and work on my portfolio.
I was wondering if anyone on the forum has been through an IT graduate scheme, and whether it's worth the long application hours. Or is it just better to get some IT certification, and then apply for IT jobs.
Also, i was wondering, is anyone on the forum a business or a systems analyst?

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

Hi, welcome to the forum.

I wouldn't be too disheartened. I would suggest you apply for jobs now - keep the search open as far as you are prepared to travel. You could even open up the search if you are prepared to move.

Try to study for certs which are practical, you are interested in and in demand (you can check sites like reed.co.uk for this).

Employeers appreciate the level of experience you have - you have been working full time at uni and not in full time employment.

Good luck.

Simon

 

Hi Welcome

I did a similar thing to you I didn't do the sandwhich business computing course at uni.

Getting certs will help you although I would hold off an the MCSA as you do not have the experience to do it. You should have years experience in Adminstration before doing that, and having certs passed your experience can be detrimental to your job seeking as employers will throw out peoples applications with higher certs and no xp.

I am not sure about programming but CIW is mentioned alot round here also consider compTIAs A+ and N+ and MCDST as these are entry level certs.

 

Unfortunately, the career field of IT is very frustrating at times especially when looking at things from your present situation. However, don't let that get to you so much as you have gained a high respectable qualification that does not expire and is admired by a lot of companies.

I'd say start applying for the graduate scheme as well as helpdesk first line support roles through www.jobserve.com and or www.jobsite.co.uk, lastly www.monster.co.uk is not bad either. Put in the effort, time and hard work and it would soon pay off. Best regards

 

I was in the same boat as you, and I did apply for the alot of IT graduate scheme's and managed to get down to the final few places on quite a few occassions and did managed to get one eventually. They are very hard to get as a lot of graduates will go for them and as you have to have a degree to apply for it you need other skills to really make you stand out from the rest. Also the application process is very long the application form's are usually very long winded and on top of that I had to have at least three interviews for a few of the roles usually a test, an interview and sometimes a day where you and the otehr candiates work in groups compelting tasks. The best thing to do is keeping applying for jobs, look at geting some entry level certs and maybe some volunteer work, every interview you take will be good experience so do not give up.

 

Hi there and welcome to CF

 

What I *don't* know about Business Analysts and what they do would fill volumes but it seems to me that having a freshly minted degree but no practical experience with the actual technology would be limiting. Of the business analysts I've met, they all seemed to have a background in programming so it might not hurt to move in that direction yourself. As far as your ideas for course work (MCSA, CIW, A+), be selective. The CIW might not be the best of all possible selections. The A+ while foundational, won't directly apply to your degree (unless like a lot of people who graduate, by the time you finished your program, you discovered you really wanted to do something else).

Before making any more hard and fast decisions, take a look at the IT industry in general (including any career paths that aren't strictly IT but are related), look at your career goals, current accomplishments and current skill sets, and try to discover what you need to do to get from where you are to where you want to be in a year...in five years, and so on.

BTW, welcome to the forums.

-Trip