It’s the same in most fields, but particularly acute in Information Technology: You need experience to land a job, but you can’t get that experience without a job.
In today’s tough job market, employers can be really choosy. They’re swamped with resumes overflowing with IT experience, so why should they pick you, a college grad with barely any experience? Here are five things to know to beat the odds:
More Training & Certifications are No Guarantee. Adding advanced level certifications won’t replace the need for hands-on work experience. The same holds true for advanced training. Certifications and training should supplement what you know and become a tool you can use, but they're no guarantee in securing a job. You should at least know about MS Access and how to properly format a hard disk. The lesson here is this: don’t spend too much time and money on advanced certifications and training before you know where you’ll be working in IT.
Hone Resume/Job Interview Skills. Learn to fully exploit even part-time IT positions you may have held while in school. Also leverage any school IT projects you led or were involved in. Sharpen your interviewing skills with colleagues, instructors and potential employers. Learn and polish until you become a super salesperson selling you as the product.
Network Like Mad. Go to job fairs, seminars, trade shows. Introduce yourself to as many working IT professionals as you can. Print up some business cards with your name, phone, email, and similar professional organizations to which you belong. Nothing fancy, just black & white on basic card stock. You can get 500 of these for about $20. Hand out the cards to every working IT manager you meet. Ask for their business card and send them an email reminding them of your conversation. They’ll connect you with a face and note that you’re looking for a job. If something opens up in their department, they can either wade through a stack of faceless resumes or call you in for an interview. My guess is, they’ll call you in.
Shoot for Tech Support. Opportunities abound in all areas of IT, but tech support and similar areas seem to have more opportunities for newcomers. Unlike trying to get into more complex applications, tech support is a great way to get hands-on work experience. Look into internships—paid or even unpaid. Once you’re in, you can branch out and move up.
Start with a Small Company. Your chances of landing an IT job are better with a small company. While they may not have the big pay and perks of a big firm, they can provide the hands-on experience you need to move up. Small firms and startups need talent, not prima donnas. If you’re willing to start from the ground up, maybe share a cubicle and settle for a starter’s salary, this is a smart way to go.
It’s a catch 22, but you can beat the odds and break into IT as a gainfully employed professional. As my father used to say, if you want a job, you need three things: preparation, persistence, and personality.
Image by Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot / www.freedigitalphotos.net
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