Struggleing to find a job

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Hi every one, I know we are all in a recession but man, its tough getting an entry level I.T job.

I use a multitude of Sites to apply for roles, but after almost a year i have still had no luck. Iv began trying to be more pro-active, i.e

}Making phone calls to agencies. Trying to be more personal.

}Writing letters to specific companys.

I know with my backround as a carpenter, its going to be more difficult as we builders understandably get stereotyped. I am trying to put a possitive spin on this by selling my achievements,

}Self studier whilst having a full time job as well as a young family.

}Mature 27 year old man with great life experiences, who realises the I.T industry is the place I want to be.

}My passion for computing over the last year, pretty much all I think about is I.t ,studying and getting a helpdesk role, has become almost an obsession. My conversation with the average person is about getting in to a career in computing .Gosh I must bore the hell out of them. It is so frustrating as i know i can do so well if and when I get the opportunity. For me It will not just be a nine to five job, it will be a career. the more experience I have,the better my future can be.

I just wanted to put my thoughts to paper.

p.s I have my network exam next week.

Im just gonna keep battleing on like most of the other people out there.

 

It's very tough.

It's always the case that experience is key and at the moment, whatever you apply for, you're up against people who have just been made redundant from something similar - or are about to be.

Experienced people are even taking entry-level jobs because that's all they can find.

Dark days indeed.

 

i too am coming over from the construction industry and i know what u are saying, they are expecting us to turn up with our ass hanging out scratching our balls and ask for a tea with 2! All i can say is keep appying my friend, im just waiting to find out about a job since i have tried to get into IT trade since dec last year.
so fingers crossed!

 

Yeh its tough times. Even people with experience are facing it tough (in my job as Call Centre agent at NHS Direct I know several experiences IT pros doing the same job as me)

Just keep at the job hunt and dont give. Many people on this forum to years to get into IT and you look at their posts you know they are serious proffesionals.

 

Can you both post your CVs for us to take a look?

Bit of advice: Remove anything that could lead to someone going too old, too young, too mature, too immature, too thick, too northern, too southern.

A prime example is age, you don't know the bias of the hiring manager. Here is an extreme example, I'm young and admittedly a bit of a muppet, so if i was sifting through CVs, I'm almost certain I would be picking out mostly females and my age to interview (not exclusively). They are the kind of people I'm interested in, but if I don't know these girls ages because they have left it off, i'm less likely to be a bigot. If he is old, he may have a subconscious preference for older people and vice versa.

Leave it for the interview stage for him to find out your old or young etc because by that point, you can convince him otherwise.

Not everyone is completely neutral in their choices so don't give them any ammunition. Putting a specific number of years on the first page is never a good idea in my opinion either because it means by the first paragraph he has a reason to go "nope" If there are no specific years on the first page, he has to read your work experience and do the math himself, by which point you have hopefully convinced him with your CV enough that it doesn't matter.

All my opinion obviously.

 

please find attached my cv

i do not have my age on there and have never been asked how old i am for not having it on there!

 

Yep far too long plus you could fit the skills and personal profile together.

I would change the career objective bit too as you are lumping yourself into only wanting a first line support role as your first IT job. It is actually possible to get into IT without starting in first line.

When I got my IT job I only had the A+ and I had a personal profile that went something along the line of:

compTIA certified IT Technican with a proactive concientious approach to work. I enjoy problem solving and working with hardware and software and I have a great desire to learn and to succeed in the complex field of IT.

Then I had all my skill in bullet points underneath

Then my certification, then my education, then my work experience.

A CV should be no longer than two pages unless you have a really impressive education and career to show.

 

the ad and html in one line i things i have experience in but only a basic working knowledge if u know what i mean.

Thanks for your comments always helps! I find it hard cos of my previous working background to make a IT orientated cv

 

Thanks will take a look at it tomorrow got a dilemma on me hands at the moment and cant think straight! see my post
http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=43927

 

Hey guys since we are on the subject, can I upload my CV to get some feedback from IT point of view.

 

My C.v ...Thanks for looking

View attachment certforums C.V.doc

 

Detailed analysis:

1. Make the font bigger so I can read it...

 

ok,i had been told it was too big,and this is the perfect size.i will reformat

 

View attachment certforums C.V.doc What do you think

 

Doesn't look too bad but not great, although again you are lumping yourself into only wanting to do first line support and as I said above its possible to get into IT without doing first line.

Second I would take the referees of it, just put references available on request.

Put the customer relations bit near the top.