A+ Certified, Can I get a job now, lol?

[y2adre]

krazyq I would love to see your resume. I have looked for samples on google and kind of mirrored mine. Every bit of info helps. I posted my updated resume on Monster, Careerbuilder, and Dice. I will upload it on Indeed as well. I felt nervous due to no call backs yet, and hadnt really attributed it to the fiscal yr. Like I said before I have worked in a computer lab in school from 04-06 and since then I have done side projects and builds. I am also enrolled in school for network engineering. This forum has always been great with advice on this stuff since I first discovered it in 2010. I appreciate all the assistance fellas (and ladies).

 

[Lexluethar]

I agree with what most have said. You can definitely get an entry level with just an A+, your biggest hurdle will be the lack of experience.

I would get your feet wet and see what offers you get, I'm in the Kansas City area and tier1 helpdesk and desktop support jobs generally make 35k ish a year. Different market - but that's what i've seen here.

Also i would not shy away from taking a pay cut if you get a solid job offer. Experience is like gold, once you get some quality experience you will be amazed at what doors open. After a year or two and if you get a few other certifications you will be able to net maybe 15% pay increase moving to another company.

 

[y2adre]

Im thinking of going the networking route, but I have taken a class in both security and networking my community college. I may consider doing the Security+ next. It seems easy after having that class. My cc uses a program called testout. I have since received 3 calls since last fri. Most are contract, but the wife just gave me the okay to pursue it. Man I really hope I get a decent job. When they asked salary, I usually reply 42k, they say hat's feasible.

 

[krazyq]

Im thinking of going the networking route, but I have taken a class in both security and networking my community college. I may consider doing the Security+ next. It seems easy after having that class. My cc uses a program called testout. I have since received 3 calls since last fri. Most are contract, but the wife just gave me the okay to pursue it. Man I really hope I get a decent job. When they asked salary, I usually reply 42k, they say hat's feasible.

Always ask more than what you really want, but don't cross the line because then they'll just go to the next person.
I've gone up $3-5 higher from what I've been originally offered.
Usually they will never offer the max right away, it's a sales game.
Just remember that they need you as much as you need the job.

And don't give up when one fails, there will be many others

 

[y2adre]

I hope so, I have received about 2 calls from people offering contracts, Ive said yes, but have not received a call back yet. Hopefully I get a call soon. Banking is changing for the worst.....

 

[krazyq]

I hope so, I have received about 2 calls from people offering contracts, Ive said yes, but have not received a call back yet. Hopefully I get a call soon. Banking is changing for the worst.....

Update your resume every week, change a word if u have to.

 

[y2adre]

Update your resume every week, change a word if u have to.

Ill definently do that!!!!

Professor for my Linux OpenSuSE and Fedora class said he'll vouch for my Linux experience. Im taking a semester off and picking back up my web development stuff (HTML5 and CSS3). I am going to teach myself Javascript and aim for the Net+ or Security+ in march 2015.

 

[leakatstarr]

I'm not in your area, but from what I've seen in the tech field in different areas is that it's all about how you sell yourself. Don't lie, but don't be afraid to sell yourself up. Find out what potential employers are looking for in resumes, and tailor your experience to mirror that. Utilize temp agencies (there are ones that specialize in the tech field) - a lot of times your rep will send you resumes of other techs (without their names) that have placed good jobs so you can get an idea of what a good resume looks like.

Good luck!

 

[Lexluethar]

Just my two cents - but i'm finding more and more employers are looking for more personality and more customer support than knowing the numbers. There are so many people cheating on these exams now that they have really lost value compared to 10 years ago. While having the exam is important i think a lot of companies look to see if you have a personality, if you will be able to converse with colleagues and customers.

More common today is IT personnel that know the technology and have the certifications, but are worthless when it comes to team collaboration, customer interaction and presentation. I'm seeing more and more people will actually take someone with less experience / less knowledge if they have a great personality and will be a better personality fit for a team or company.

Oh and as someone said before, you will get more call backs from dice / monster / careerbuilder if you reupload your resume every few days. It's weird but obviously most employers sort by upload data and filter from there. When i was looking if i reuploaded my resume i would get a dozen calls within like 24 hours, if i left my resume be i would probably get a dozen calls over like a 10 day period.

 

[carnageX]

Just my two cents - but i'm finding more and more employers are looking for more personality and more customer support than knowing the numbers. There are so many people cheating on these exams now that they have really lost value compared to 10 years ago. While having the exam is important i think a lot of companies look to see if you have a personality, if you will be able to converse with colleagues and customers.

More common today is IT personnel that know the technology and have the certifications, but are worthless when it comes to team collaboration, customer interaction and presentation. I'm seeing more and more people will actually take someone with less experience / less knowledge if they have a great personality and will be a better personality fit for a team or company.

Totally agreed.

Back at my last job while I was working with another department on fixing an issue, one of the managers was talking to me and was talking about of their contract deals they had with a place to fix some equipment for them. He said there were 2 guys - 1 guy that knew just about everything and could fix issues quite well...but was horrible with customer interaction. The other guy didn't know as much, but was much friendlier and knew how to work with customers. The manager told me they all asked for the 2nd guy that didn't know as much for the fact that he was better at customer interaction.

On all of my interviews I've done, I've touted my customer service skills (started in retail/repair back in HS, which IMO helped me refine customer service skills), and my references have all backed me up on that when they were called.

Experience/knowledge can be learned or taught easily...customer service skills however are more difficult to work up IMO.