Is it because Iam a Carpenter

Discussion in 'Employment & Jobs' started by Georgiesickjitz, Dec 13, 2010.

  1. Georgiesickjitz

    Georgiesickjitz Byte Poster

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    Hi all. My name is Georgie, I have been A+ certified since august, an now studying towards the N+. I would say iv applied for 300 jobs,all first line.My C.v is pretty good,having been helped from some of the guys on here. I am a hardworking carpenter wanting to make a great big change in my life,to actually do some thing I have a passion for{Computing}. Obviously its tough out in the job market right now,and especially before christmas,but I havnt even had an interview yet:blink. Its kind of getting frustrating now. To an employer how would they look at my C.v. No experience,is he moving from the building trade because of the recession.and he would be a rough swearing lout.ok the louts a bit harsh. I just need that one oppotunity to get my foot inthe dorr,and i am sure they would be impressed with my work ethic,drive ,enthusiasm leadership skills and humble aproach to taking orders.....sorry guys just thinking out loud.merry christmas,and I hope you all have a brilliant holiday with friends and family.
     
    Certifications: CompTIA A+,CompTIA Network
    WIP: CCNA
  2. greenbrucelee
    Highly Decorated Member Award

    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    Not being funny but 300 applications is nothing. It took me 8 years to get into IT with a 3 year break for being pissed off and I believe it took Ken (wagnerk) 5 years.

    IT is extremely difficult to get into you just need to keep trying.

    My main mistake was applying for jobs beyond my experience level make sure you dont do that.
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, Security+, 70-270
    WIP: 70-620 or 70-680?
  3. Georgiesickjitz

    Georgiesickjitz Byte Poster

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    8 years,really.lol, thats shocking.I am applying for jobs at the lower end of the spectrum.ie junior.Most applications say experience needed,how am i supposed to get experience without already being in I.t. GB my point is I do not want to be looking for 8 years,I want to do as much as I can to give my self a chance.my second point was Being from a totally different backround{the building industry}to an employer,how does that look.as opposed from a uni grad.
     
    Certifications: CompTIA A+,CompTIA Network
    WIP: CCNA
  4. greenbrucelee
    Highly Decorated Member Award

    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    get some entry level certs and keep trying, thats all you can do really.

    Some people have gotten into IT by volunteering their free time helping out at charities, any experience is good experience. Once these people have got some experience then they have gotten paid for jobs.
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, Security+, 70-270
    WIP: 70-620 or 70-680?
  5. LukeP

    LukeP Gigabyte Poster

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    That's how I got into IT. 8 months of voluntary work on a CV did look good indeed at the time. Keep trying mate, you'll get there eventually.
     
    WIP: Uhmm... not sure
  6. Kitkatninja
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    That's right... And that was way before the recession... Now I'm an IT Manager :)

    -ken
     
    Certifications: MSc, PGDip, PGCert, BSc, HNC, LCGI, MBCS CITP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCE, A+, N+, S+, Server+
    WIP: MSc Cyber Security
  7. nugget
    Honorary Member

    nugget Junior toady

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    Unfortunately in this recession there will be another 150 guys applying for the same job and most will have experience of some sort. The top 30 will get looked at and the top 5 will get an interview.

    Don't give up though.
     
    Certifications: A+ | Network+ | Security+ | MCP (270,271,272,290,620) | MCDST | MCTS:Vista
    WIP: MCSA, 70-622,680,685
  8. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    "Is it because I'm a carpenter..."

    Probably doesn't help if you're up against people with years of experience in IT, just like their IT experience wouldn't help them get a carpenters job...
     
  9. cosway

    cosway Nibble Poster

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    Don't give up, and don’t look at your skills as a carpenter as a drawback.

    I used to drive buses for a living (with a HNC, MCP, MCDST etc...), After 3 years of trying, I finally got into IT by getting a job in a small company that could not afford a full time IT tech, but could afford a part-time IT tech and a part time driver (I hated it but :cry:, as soon as I got the experience on my CV I was off :biggrin)....

    Start looking for jobs that cross over, i.e. tech support in a construction firm, even if you’re not used as a carpenter your insider knowledge may be your unique selling point and highly valued. Most of us in IT work as IT support in other industries, the people who hire you will be comfortable with you if you can show you belong.

    Getting a job in ICT support for a construction company (for example) or someone who supplies the construction industry or with your background will be easier than getting the same job in a medical company.
    No-one can honestly say they've wasted their time doing xyz, whatever you've done promote your experience and skills as what makes you perfect for the position.

    Even if you've been unemployed for a while try IT support in a benefits office and sell the fact you've been involved in the industry (even as a consumer). I'm not saying don't apply for anything else; just adjust your CV for specific industry.

    Another angle that you may benefit from is to sell the fact that you can do a lot of the work involved in hands on hardware installations, (the number of times I have to get a builder in whenever I’m fitting Interactive Whiteboards, Projectors, Cabling etc...).
     
    Certifications: MCDST, MCSA, A+
    WIP: MCSE
  10. Georgiesickjitz

    Georgiesickjitz Byte Poster

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    Thank you guys, I love the support and life experiences you all can offer. Im going to keep plugging away,get my n+ cert then progress to my next qualification what ever that may be. And this will be relative to my next post.
     
    Certifications: CompTIA A+,CompTIA Network
    WIP: CCNA
  11. alexdc12

    alexdc12 Kilobyte Poster

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    I too am in the construction trade and currently retraining to make a better life for me! i was good with computers before i left school and im a fool for not pursuing it! 10 years on here i am trying to get back in! in my eyes its a good thing on ya cv, at least if they want a shelf put up they know ur the man! some people i seen in offices wouldnt and aint got a clue bout stuff like that! watching their diy skills is quite comical! good luck man!
     
    Certifications: GNVQ Advanced IT, CompTIA A+, CompTIA N+, 70-680
    WIP: 70-685, ITIL v3 Foundation
  12. Mariusz

    Mariusz Byte Poster

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    well, you can't give up mate :-)

    My story now :-) it is quite long :)

    My first job (official job, in fact I started to work manually part time when I was 13) was years ago as IT Technician in a factory in Poland, I was doing it for 2 years and I got the job only with ECDL, we were working on win 98 etc and then XP appeared, was using corel draw, office, excel, some warehouse and invoicing software, I had to do all simple IT jobs like to fix printer, to write something in office for people that were too lazy to learn to use computers :-), to do invoicing, simple vector graphics in corel, to invoice, to use warehouse software etc, and then after 2 years I was promoted to export dept - in fact I was running it, plus I had up to 50 ppl under me on production dept, then I lost interest for IT and was doing export for 3 years (all from a to z, order processing, trade, logistics etc)
    After I moved to uk I realised that to get a good job in UK at all I need to land in middle/big company and to start from the very bottom and to prove my strength, I found a job in factory but had to quit it and find something safer as economic crisis started and all jobs were at threat. I realised also that my Polish qualifications are worth jack ****, and that British NVQ is more important here than my Polish Uni (which in fact is worth jack **** as I don't want to do what I was studying). So I started. I really didn't know where to start and what to start, I just wanted to find an office based job, where I could sit at computer for 8 hrs without physical hassle :-). So I went to Learn Direct, did Literacy and Numeracy certificate (Maths was so easy that I was laughing on loud), then I did ITQ Lvl2. In the meantime I kept applying for low level office jobs 13-15k per annum, without any result, basicly I was applying for jobs for 1,5 year without results, I had only 3 interviews in export, IT and logistics. In my area most of jobs go from agencies: they never answer, most of them don't bother even to confirm that they got your cv. One lass was refusing my applications for over a year (because I spent 3 years in Hospitality - yes I did coz nobody wanted to give me a chance even for an interview), and then after over a year she invited me for interview and was surprised that I can speak English fluently - of course I can, how else would I write all those applications and covering letters :-). Nevermind, I've heared from my mate about some CompTIA A+ IT Technician Certificate, and I thought that things like that you can do only by training centres, so I started looking on internet, what? over a 1000 quid for a course? bit expensive :-) somehow I found this forum and found out that I don't need to go for rip off course and that a Meyers book is enough (big difference, 20 quid for book or 1000 quid for some online course). So I did A+ then N+ (still applying for jobs, but in my area there aren't many IT Support jobs), now I have targets for 2011, 70-680 and 70-685, Security+ and Linux+, as I want to be multiskilled person, I hope these skills will help me to land in a good job, and I also thing about some voluntary job to gain experience, as without experience nobody even wants to look at the cv.

    Talking 'bout experience: it is good to have small lab at home, where you can train. When I started A+ I told myself I need to gain some practise for exam and for myself, so If I wanted to see how things look in fact I was buying them on e-buy if they were cheap, things like CRIMM, RIMM, PCI adapters, POST cards, then I decided I need to build computer, so I started to buy cheap parts, old processor, old motherboard etc, so my first build computer costed me 30 quid, duron 900, dimm ram, pata drives etc (now it will be for linux trainings etc), and costs of transport was higher than cost of part :-). Then I built a new computer (the one in my signature), just to know how to build them these days (and to be able to play all modern games :-)). Same with N+ I bought crimper, Cat 5 cable, RJ45, switch etc,and I play with forum based on Simple Machine Forum engine, so in case if somebody will invite me for interview I won't look like an idiot :-).

    Now I try to focus on finding a new job, a job that will allow me to gain technical skills (like CNC or IT, or the export), times will be harder, and it will be harder and harder to find a job, so "only strong will survive", and I need to think about my family.
    If I fail to find what I am looking for then we (me my wife and my unborn son) will come back to Poland in 3 years, at least I will have set of certificates/skills that will make a re-start easier

    Good that my wife understands me :-)

    so in general:
    - don't give up, recruiters think that if you are carpenter then you're no good for any other job - bull****, you can be whatever you want
    - try to do more than certificates require, do a home lab, play with hardware and software
    - do more certs, it is better to learn than to sit all evenings on bloody facebook :-)
    - try to gain practise, go for voluntary or self-employ yourself as IT Geek (you can write it on cv), do yourself a website etc
    and once again - keep your head up, don't give up
    - once you'll get into IT it will be only easier :-)
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2010
    Certifications: ECDL Extra, ITQ Lvl2, CompTIA A+, N+, S+
    WIP: MCTS 70-680 Win7

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