Advice for Job Hunt

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I would always say, if you don't try, you won't know. They may throw your CV in the bin, but then they may invite you to an interview. Either way, it's experience.

These things spring to mind:

1. You can get experience by volunteering, do a search on this site. There are many threads/posts on volunteering and organisation/websites to help you with this.

2. The job adverts that you're looking at aren't entry level ones. There are entry level jobs out there, as well as trainee positions, apprenticeship posts. You just have to keep your eyes open. Don't only use 1 source for job hunting, use everything at your fingertips, eg local/national newspapers, free mags like Computerweekly, council websites, job agencies, forums like this & Edugeek, etc... Just don't expect to walk into a job at £18k pa. It took me 5 years to get into IT, but it was worth it.

3. Network with people/professionals. You can do this by joining professional associations, joining a professional network like Linkedin, befriending the people in the IT Dept where you work/study, etc...

Apart from that, other certs that you may want to look at would include: Comptia's Network+, the MCDST, MCTS Vista & the MCAS Vista. Just be mindful of the following:

1. Certifications are not there as a substitute to experience.

2. Professional certifications are there to reflet your job role and responsibilities, that is why we recommend the above certs as they are aimed at entry level/1st tier. There is a growing number of IT managers who are disregarding the higher level certs of candiates when the experience does not match the certs...

Hope that's helpful...

-Ken