Advice - admin job in IT dept

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Admin Job in the IT Department

One of the girls I’m friendly with in the IT department sent me an email last week saying that they were going to be advertising for an Administrator to join the department. Whilst this is obviously a sideways move from secretarial to admin, she thought it might be a step closer to the Helpdesk for me.

The IT dept here isn’t that big and as such they’re all in the one room and up till now have really been doing their own admin between them so this is a completely new post. It will be largely co-ordinating in-house IT training (of which we do lots so this would take up most of the time I suspect), issuing mobile phones to fee earners, filing software licenses etc, as well as providing general administrative support to the department and the manager.

I’m thinking of applying for it. I know it’s a sideways move but I prefer admin work to secretarial (although they seem the same on the surface there are big differences between these types of roles) and whilst I would obviously prefer to be working on the helpdesk, working in the IT department in any capacity would be preferable to working in one of the legal depts as I currently am.

BUT

It would be working normal office hours again which is great apart from one big thing – I have arranged to observe on the Helpdesk before/after work when I’m not on a 9am – 5pm shift and by going back to working 9am - 5pm only I wouldn’t be able to do this anymore.

Also, if/when a Helpdesk vacancy arises (they’re going to have to expand at some point as they’ve only got 2 full time and 1 part time people on helpdesk for a firm of 800 people – they get complaints re this all the time and they’re starting to think about restructuring IT hence this position) I’m obviously going to apply for that but wouldn’t that look bad – several jobs within the same company within a short space of time? Wouldn’t HR take one look at that and throw the application away? Or if I apply for this job and get turned down, could that negatively affect my chances if/when a helpdesk vacancy comes up?

I’m conflicted about it but to be honest I think I’m going to apply anyway. I’m not happy in my current role and desperately want to be part of the “IT Crowd” lol but I am worried about the above items so would appreciate any advice…

~Duckie

 

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You could always voice your concerns to the HR department about your thoughts for the future vacancy(s) on the helpdesk and see if they would indeed take that kind of approach, it may be that they see it as someone trying to position themselves better now, ready for future progression, which is a good thing.

 

Go for it.

The extra exposure you will get to the IT dept can only be a help to you, and if the job is IT admin (paperwork, filing, etc?) you will get to deal with all sort of things and probably some terminology that you haven't came across before, meaning you can ask questions as to what it is, and what it does.

 

Maybe you could try going to the HR dept and asking them what qualifications and experience you might need for either of the positions. Not only do you find out what you need but you let them know that you are interested in this field and it might be easier for them to promote internally.

 

From experience (at least in a non-IT sense) I'd say go for it. Most interviewers will not look at job swapping WITHIN a company as not all that bad. If you can put over that the IT job is your prefered job and the admin was a way to be in that environment I'm sure that will actually count in your favour.

Being in the right place at the right time counts for a lot also. Most employers will prefer to promote from within (Ie; people who know how the company operates etc) and get people from outside in at lower levels (people they can train from scratch cheaply). Being IN the IT Dept means your more likely to get that elusive helpdesk role rather than not.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I’m going to put in for it. I’ve been updating my CV this morning lol Perhaps not the most constructive use of work time but to be honest there is no work here today whatsoever and the boredom is killing me. Both of my fee earners are out of the office and have been all week and the rest of the department seems just as quiet so no-one needs a hand with anything.

I was talking to one of the helpdesk lasses this morning about the admin job and she was very encouraging and definitely thinks I should apply and that it wouldn’t hurt my chances when a helpdesk vacancy does eventually come up.

Apparently, whilst it’s not an official part of the job description, she was saying that it was hoped that whoever gets the job might eventually help the IT Trainers out by doing the odd training session when they’re booked to capacity. That would be interesting and a great opportunity. The training sessions they run aren’t that difficult – just basic user training on Word, Outlook, Power Point, and then the basic training on the legal software we use. I’ve done IT training on all those systems previously so hopefully that will give me an edge.

~Duckie

 

All i can say is GOOD LUCK DUCKIE!! Hope it works out. sounds like a good oppertunity so go for it.

 

Duckie,

Maybe it might be embarking on a different path, but do you know about the "Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor" certification? You can find out information about it at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/officespecialist/instructor/default.asp . It may help you become deeply knowledgeable about Office enough so that when you become promoted to help desk, then you'd be able to answer Office related questions more efficiently. It may also help you when you become desktop support?

I myself am currently taking a course called "Comprehensive Word II" and I'm learning wow, darn, wheee that Word 2003 is a highly complicated application. The entire sequence of Comprehensive Word I/II/III will prepare me to take the "Word 2003 Expert" Microsoft Office Specialist exam. This course is actually a course requirement for the "Paralegal Studies" program though Cuyamaca College.

I wish you luck with this position.

 

I've been thinking about doing the MOS exams but I hadn't realised there was an Instructor certification as well. I'll look into it, thanks.

~Duckie

 

Duckie, I would say go for it. If they are shorthanded then you can offer your services to help out and hopefully sidestep into an IT position or do a hybrid job of both. Good luck with it.

 

Hi Duckie,

If you were offerd the job, it is probably yours. You never said what experience you had. But, obviously the person that suggested it, thinks that you have that knowledge.

Make the time for the experience for a couple of weeks, then go with the MOS master and then the MCDST, only if your company is using Win XP Desktop and Office 2003.

If you want to be an instructor your will have to have some sort of teaching experience/qualification to go the Microsoft route (MCT)

Office Cert is the best place to start, (your need to pass all 5 exams) the version of Office that your company is using. Local college, if available to get a teaching qualification.

Go for it,

Keimos