The Search Continues

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Hello all,

Its been a while since I last posted, so I thought I'd throw one by y'all.

The good news is that I have passed my CompTIA A+, which I'm very proud of. I'm continuing my studies with my training provider's materials and also trying to fit in CompTIA Network+.

Unfortunately, the job front does look rather bleak. I have had one interview, kindly set up by my training provider, which was a real disappointment. What I mean by this is that the job turned out to be even better spec'd than I was led to believe, but I was unsuccessful.

I did make a point of asking my training provider why I was unsuccessful and got some feedback. I was smartly dressed, polite, addressed all of the panel, passed the aptitude test, and did research on the company.

My main failing, so I was told, and this was all that was mentioned, was that I referred to my notes too much, as if reading from a script. I know, sounds dumb, I should have memorised more of it.

I only had to wait until the next day after the interview, to find out how I'd done. But when I got that call, and realised it was 'no thanks', I immediately remembered what it feels like to get dumped by someone you like, lol.

It was my own fault, and that kind of makes it worse. But, its something you learn from isn't it ?

On a brighter note, I might hear from someone tomorrow about a second-stage interview. Then again, I might not. My fingers are crossed so tightly at the moment that I'm having to write this post with my feet.

Well that's it for now.

Hope springs eternal.

Regards,

ZeroConf

 

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Well bad luck on teh interview, sorry about that, but hey keep looking up things can get better. I remeber having 5 or 6 "No Thanks" in a week at one point when job hunting, several of which i had had promising interviews for and came away feeling like a good possible chance. Worst one was when i was told i'd failed, but came 2nd in the list. This was out of 3 poeple and the guy who came last wore a Mickey Mouse T-Shirt to the interview FFS!!!!

Anyway keep up teh work on teh N+ course and keep applying for those jobs, one will turn up eventually.

 

Thanks Twizzle. Your post made me laugh, the bit about the Mickey Mouse T-Shirt I mean.

I can understand what you mean about coming away from an interview with a 'that went well I think' feeling and then finding out all was not that good after all. Sometimes it can make a person question their judgement.

Thanks for the supportive words, it is always good to hear from someone who has gone through similar experiences. I appreciate that.

Regards,

ZeroConf.

 

First of all, congratulations on passing the A+ exam. Well done.

Rejection unfortunately, is part of the job hunting game. I've felt completely disheartened at times when looking for work, but it will happen.

I can see where taking notes in to a face-to-face interview might be seen as unusual by the interviewers. The only time I've referred to notes during an interview is when it was over the phone and the interviewers couldn't see me. It seems unfair, since interviewers can use notes and take notes during the interview session. The interviewee is at a disadvantage in that respect.

It think it would be better to say "I don't know" than to refer to notes to come up with an answer. It's expected that the interviewee be a tad nervous and sometimes anxiety causes temporary lapses in recall. Of course, part of the reason for the interview is to see if the interviewee knows their stuff, so being well versed in the questions to be asked is an advantage.

Good luck on the job hunt trail. It'll happen.

 

Thanks TripWire45. Good points there.

I will keep looking for sure. I've made a committment and I'm going to make sure something good comes out of it.

Regards,

ZeroConf.

 

Well done on the A+ and keep up the job hunting

 

That's what the attitude should be like, keep plugging away and soon you'd land an job in IT. Another thing congrats on the pass, with technical interviews its best to sound enthusiastic, customer oriented, good listener and communicator.

Don't worry you'd do fine don't just let the aspect of being turned down for a role get to you as we've all been there mine to be honest have been more than disheartening at times. But now I can look back and understand your plight, so best wishes and keep on keeping on in terms of IT job hunt

 

Thanks for the support all.



Regards,

ZeroConf.

 

Congratulations on passing your A+

Bad luck on the interview, I know it's hard to get a foot through the door into IT but you've got to keep going! Have you signed on any agencies or uploaded your CV to monster?


Have a look at this thread by Arisen it gives advice of one person who was in the position you are in now plus lots of links to IT job websites.

Good Luck!

 

try and look on the bright side; you have passed your A+, and good experience from the interview that you can use for the next one. Remember, there might be many people who went for the post, but only one position (i assume) so you aren't alone.

Keep plugging away at the certs, and applying for jobs.

Good luck!

Simon

 

Hello all,

Thanks for the replies.

Always looking at the positive side of things is something I have considerable difficulty achieving, but I'm getting better, and this forum is helping a lot. Today I got my A+ certification through the post, that really helped.

I'm roughly halfway through my Mike Meyers Network+ book, and I think soon I will just go and book a date. As other readers will know, this often focuses you a lot more, when you have a 'deadline' to meet. I'm getting 86-92% on Mike's included practise CDROMs, so something is working. I'd love a Transcender CDROM too, but that is out of my financial means at the moment. I only get those with my training provider's materials. My Network+ studies are extra-curricular. Ahem.

I've got a pretty modest lab here to play around with, so I've got practical skills coming on as well as stuff that is already ingrained into me, from years ago. I can put what I learn into practice right here, albeit on a microscopic scale compared to many businesses.

No news today about the second-stage interview, so I guess that is another case of the 'silent treatment' again. Their loss.

I have uploaded a revised CV to jobsite.co.uk and I have vacancies sent to me by my training provider. In case anyone is wondering, its Advent.

I did read that thread by Arisen and it is very helpful, thanks for the link Cheeky.

Boyce, your mentioning of the amount of people applying for positions is correct in my opinion. I've never known the job market to be so cut-throat. Perhaps its always been that way, and I just haven't been aware of it as I haven't looked for many jobs in the past few years, especially IT-based vacancies.

I've even offered to work for free for one local place, a school. I got sent an official application form which was great, apart from the fact that it was for a playground monitor. Hmm. Throw me a laptop and I can do that too !

Oh well, back to the books. Hopefully I'll be able to contribute something to this forum in the future.

Regards,

ZeroConf.

--
In God we trust, everyone else we polygraph.