not what you know its who you know.

Hunter456

if it helps me get employment so be it i'd work for nothing at this rate.

Stheno

Hunter456 wrote: »

started to apply for job bridge internships for getting my self back into the work force might be the best option. at the end of the day its something to add to the c.v

Are you on any benefits? As you need to be to do Jobsbridge.

Also there used be a one year/nine month FAS course which included work experience, and the CCNA qualification, I'll have a look to see if it's still around.

I'd someone in on work experience who was doing it, they got released for blocks of work experience. That person now works in one of the big multinationals, so it was an ideal starting point.

Hunter456

yes i'm clamming social welfare at the moment.

Stheno

Hunter456 wrote: »

yes i'm clamming social welfare at the moment.

This course is very similar to the one I was thinking of, it's actually 48 weeks long, with 3 1 month work placements, which you arrange yourself with an employer.

http://www.fas.ie/en/Training/Traineeships/Traineeship+Courses/Information+Technology/IT+Support+Specialist.htm

challengemaster

I know it was a mod instruction to lay off on the spell czech/grammar nazism, but since the CV was posted I think it's relevant again.

Hunter456 wrote: »

I specailize in I.T and have 8 years experience. My Cv looks fine to me the right grammer used.....

There's a huge amount of things wrong with your CV, and I'm just talking about the spelling/grammar.

There's random capitalization going on everywhere.
Repetition of words rather than correct punctuation "involves building and repairing and Upgrading of Computers".
Wrong words used: "We also learned to both clean, install and upgrade " - Both means two.
Random inclusion/exclusion of naming "Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 ", why not Windows Vista? Is it less worthy of its title?
And just bad grammar: "I have learned how to rebuild and reconstructed PC’s"

As problematic as that may be, your real issue is your lack of education and experience. You're in your mid-late 20's and you still have your Junior Cert on your CV, and consider it a major achievement. That's a major problem.

You also can't count. You said you had 8 years of experience. 2006-2009 is not 8 years. Aside from that, there's no clear dates of employment. You've just written the year. You should have a start and end date for each one. For all anyone looking at that CV knows, you could have only held each position for 1 week. In fact your only relevant work experience may be less than that.

The achievement section is pointless, because you aren't highlighting any actual achievements that make you look good or stand out. This should be where you point out awards or things of note - not just what subjects you studied for the junior cert. Have you any FETAC distinctions? This should be where you point them out. If that's already what you've done, it's really not obvious - because the word DISTINCTION is nowhere to be found.

Your Hobbies and Interests section looks childish, as in it appears a child wrote it. "and playing video games when I get the chance. I am also big into computers and often fix them for family and friends."

Also formatting wise, for a CV that actually has so little content on it, it takes up a huge amount of space. My academic CV which has huge amounts of information on it (Qualifications, research experience, 2 dissertations and abstracts on each, listed skills, certifications, publications, other relevant experience and references) fits into 2 pages.

Outside of all that, it's very obvious for the last 5 years you have done nothing to upskill. This may seem like very harsh criticism, but it's the exact thing any employer reading it will think.

stanley1980

Hi- Firstly I genuinely empathise with you. I've been unemployed previously and it was very stressful and frustrating. I don't necessarily agree that it's 'who not what you know' although in some industries I accept this can be more prevalent.

I think you've been given some really useful advice here. Just my couple of cents:

I looked at your CV and while it's not the worst I've ever seen- for someone hoping to work in IT in should look better. Have a look online to try and find more attractive/professional-looking templates. It will transform your CV immediately.

For your education (and experience) always put the most recent things you've done first.

break down long pieces of text (e.g. describing your course) with bullet- points. This makes it easier to read and looks more professional.

In your achievement section: remove the stuff about getting honours in your JC. Without sounding cruel an employer won't be too impressed with this! Try and think outside the box here. Have you done any volunteer work? Fundraising? Do you train/manage a team? Passed your driving test? Learned a new language etc etc This might be a place to 'embellish' but If you really can't think of anything I'd probably just remove this section.

In terms of hobbies/interests, I'd emphasise sports [Use bullet points] and leave out mentioning video games as this can give the wrong impression. Perhaps mention that ' I am passionate about I.T. and am constantly updating my knowledge.'

I'd recommend looking on LinkedIn. Try and find CV's of people with jobs you're interested in. Look at the language and 'buzz-words' they use and adapt it for your own CV.

As mentioned, I think Jobsbridge or a CE Scheme could be a great option for you. I know the money's poor (nothing for CE scheme) but it would look great to have some recent experience/reference on your CV. It wouldn't be forever and you can still apply for jobs in the meantime. Just a stepping-stone.

Finally, take a look at http://www.volunteer.ie. I'd seriously recommend doing some relevant volunteer work. For example, there's regularly posts looking for people to train elderly/disabled people in IT (also lots of other IT-related stuff) This would look brilliant on your CV and would impress any employer at an interview. They usually require a very small amount of commitment (couple of hours a week) are very flexible and you might make some useful connections.

I really hope you get something. I hope I haven't come across as preachy. It's not easy finding a job and worse still when people keep giving you 'advice' which is usually just clichés and B.S. If I can help in anyway e.g. help you with your CV, let me know.

Hunter456

i don't class the junior cert a massive achievement i put it there as i thought a potential employer would like to know my past and present education . your comments seem to be a little snobby to be honest.

Slutmonkey57b

Hunter456 wrote: »

im not a 16 year old and i never said i knew it all im very skilled with technology and computers but its always a learning curve.

I think this is a harsh truth you need to accept if you really want to get a job "in IT":

You are not "very skilled".

Very skilled people went to college, and completed a bachelor's degree. They then spent several years in corporate IT, doing practical, real world development or engineering. They've got specialist certifications on top of their degree which are relevant to the work they've been doing, or an employer might require them to do.

"IT" jobs routinely have requirements for, at the very least, a university degree and several years of high quality *recent* experience in specialised, technical disciplines, I.e. C++, ruby on rails, java, hadoop, Oracle, SharePoint, with a requirement for certification in whatever discipline it might be.

Once you accept that, you then need to work on your skills. It will be several years of hard work to get certs, degrees etc for the job you think you deserve.

And you will need to learn one thing above all else: to succeed in IT, you need to be motivated, hard-working, and capable. You also, most importantly, need to be able to work to a deadline, and be time-aware. IT projects generally run along the lines of "Hi, we need this done last Tuesday, and the specs we're going to give you are wrong, and we'll change half of it just before you deliver it. Come back to me in a month with everything done and then I'll explain why I assumed you were doing something else." The people interviewing you will be engineers and developers. When they see a 5 year hole in your CV, they won't think "There's someone who was doing something else for 5 years", they'll think "There's 5 years wasted where that person could have been getting a masters. And working. And raising a baby."

All the certs in the world won't help you if you walk into an office with the attitude of "sure I'm going to sit here until someone hands me something".

Hollister11

challengemaster wrote: »

I know it was a mod instruction to lay off on the spell czech/grammar nazism, but since the CV was posted I think it's relevant again.



There's a huge amount of things wrong with your CV, and I'm just talking about the spelling/grammar.

There's random capitalization going on everywhere.
Repetition of words rather than correct punctuation "involves building and repairing and Upgrading of Computers".
Wrong words used: "We also learned to both clean, install and upgrade " - Both means two.
Random inclusion/exclusion of naming "Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 ", why not Windows Vista? Is it less worthy of its title?
And just bad grammar: "I have learned how to rebuild and reconstructed PC’s"

As problematic as that may be, your real issue is your lack of education and experience. You're in your mid-late 20's and you still have your Junior Cert on your CV, and consider it a major achievement. That's a major problem.

You also can't count. You said you had 8 years of experience. 2006-2009 is not 8 years. Aside from that, there's no clear dates of employment. You've just written the year. You should have a start and end date for each one. For all anyone looking at that CV knows, you could have only held each position for 1 week. In fact your only relevant work experience may be less than that.

The achievement section is pointless, because you aren't highlighting any actual achievements that make you look good or stand out. This should be where you point out awards or things of note - not just what subjects you studied for the junior cert. Have you any FETAC distinctions? This should be where you point them out. If that's already what you've done, it's really not obvious - because the word DISTINCTION is nowhere to be found.

Your Hobbies and Interests section looks childish, as in it appears a child wrote it. "and playing video games when I get the chance. I am also big into computers and often fix them for family and friends."

Also formatting wise, for a CV that actually has so little content on it, it takes up a huge amount of space. My academic CV which has huge amounts of information on it (Qualifications, research experience, 2 dissertations and abstracts on each, listed skills, certifications, publications, other relevant experience and references) fits into 2 pages.

Outside of all that, it's very obvious for the last 5 years you have done nothing to upskill. This may seem like very harsh criticism, but it's the exact thing any employer reading it will think.

Hunter456 wrote: »

i don't class the junior cert a massive achievement i put it there as i thought a potential employer would like to know my past and present education . your comments seem to be a little snobby to be honest.

Snobby ? How are the posters comments snobby ?. You are being give information which is FACTUAL. Whether you like it or not its true.

You are not using the right grammar in your CV, employers will bin it straight away. You have done nothing of note in the last 5 years to convince someone to employee you. You have of had children, but an employer doesn't care.

If you cant accept this criticism, I'm sorry but there is not a hope of you getting a job.

homemadecider

OP, can you explain the fact you claim you have 8 years experience in IT? I don't see any reference to this on your CV.

aunt aggie

OP I've been reading this thread with interest as I have often felt in the same position. I hope you will take my two cents on board and ignore me if you don't like it.

Firstly you should include your JC results if you have no version of the LC completed. My mother is in her forties and still does this. But you should include subject, level and grade in this case.

You include that you completed 12 FETAC awards in two years. No mention of what level, subject or result. If these courses are relevant to what you're applying for, include all. Fetac Level 5 Maths is equivalent to LCOL Maths and would be desirable to many employers.

Thirdly use bullet points, instead of paragraphs.

Lastly, and I hope you don't take this negatively, your IT qualifications read like the skills students acquire in secondary school nowadays. The only thing that sets you apart is your ability to dismantle and repair machines which is self taught. If you want a job as desperately as you say, you would have more success aiming at administrative positions which require basic IT software skills. You can continue to repair machines and retrain in your spare time but at the minute you don't have the qualification required for many entry level IT positions. The advice I gave above would be ideal for applying for admin jobs.

Like I said at the start if you don't like my advice, just ignore it. Good Luck.

edanto

Hunter456, I've taken on a good few interns over the years into IT positions, and some of them had similar experience to yourself at the start.

But, if you interview in the same way that you are posting on this thread, there's no way I would offer you a position. For example, stanley1980 spends a good 10/20 minutes going through your CV, gives loads of examples about how to improve it, offers more help if needed, and apologises if they are being a bit 'preachy' but anyone can see that they are really going out of their way to help a stranger on the internet. And you slap them in the face with 'some of your comments are a bit snobby'. Game over.

Your problem is your attitude. End of story.

People that are hiring other people to work in IT need to know that the person doesn't make mistakes. One common way of checking that is to check their spelling, grammar. You were told that right at the start of the thread and still your CV had mistakes in it.

The people that get hired are serious about learning and personal development. When someone gives them criticism they genuinely try and learn from it and change their behaviour. They thank people that give feedback. (I don't think you've thanked a single post) They put in the effort to present a professional face, and make sure that the quality of their communications during the interview process gives the recruiter confidence that their work will be of a high standard.

They also follow through on their commitments and deliver tasks on time. You were going to watch that video about the A+ this morning. Honestly, did you? It's easy to lie, but what's the point. Just tell us if you did or not.

moc moc a moc

Hunter456 wrote: »

your comments seem to be a little snobby to be honest.

Of all the obstacles in your path, the biggest appears to be your own attitude. If you ever want to find a job, you need to grow up and listen the advice being given to you on this thread.

protelos

Sent on something there. best of luck in your hunt. Some good advice on this tread, not just for you!

Christine LaDuchesse

Hi OP,

I have to agree with most of the comments here, but would like to add a possibility for you. If you were willing to train your language skills, you will have a bilingual job in no time at any helpdesk of any of the big USA companies having their EMEA headquarters in Ireland. Those employers are always looking for people skilled with languages. There are many EMEA headquarters of IT companies in Ireland, think INtel, IBM, HP, etc, etc.

You would get employment via the recruiters for these companies, like CPL, and though not ideal, it is a start, from where you can work your way up.

Maybe something to consider?

Penny Tration

Oh dear.

Not to be mean op, but it most certainly IS a case of WHAT you know here.

Based on your CV, employers will, to be blunt, assume you know extremely little.

There's no eight years of IT experience there, the grammar is terrible, and you've got basically zero qualifications, along with zero recent experience.

If you want to work in IT, you need to stop reading about technology on the internet. Get out, upskill (you can get BTEA to go study something relevant!), volunteer, beg for an internship, something.

catsbanter

Last post on this, if you seriously want to give I.T a go, study your balls off for the next six months and get a couple of certs, get some sort of job ridge scheme and get expierence, bin that C.V and start it again.

In I.T it's definitely not who you know, I.T is constant study for the rest of your life and there is sacrifices you have to make. If that's not for you then I.T is probably not for you.

catsbanter

Hunter456 wrote: »

i don't class the junior cert a massive achievement i put it there as i thought a potential employer would like to know my past and present education . your comments seem to be a little snobby to be honest.

Putting down your junior cert on a c.v for I.T is like putting down I like to burn things. Immediately binned.

JigglyMcJabs

I'm being blunt here, but I reckon that you are currently unemployable in IT no matter how well you manage to dress up your cv. Considering the attitude you've shown so far in this thread, you're probably not employable anywhere to be honest.

I very strongly suggest that you focus solely on further education for the next year or so. A poster above put up a link to a FAS IT support course, take a look at it. You need to learn a lot more about IT and you need to learn a lot about the process of job hunting. That course (or similar) is exactly what you need.

Lets clear one thing up "It's not what you know it's who you know". You need to take some personal responsibility, this is down to you, not some secret club where people dish out jobs if you know the right handshake. You are not employed because you don't have the skills needed by employers at an appropriate level.

On the bright side, the government will pay you to do train, there are lots of good courses out there, there is plenty of work for motivated qualified people in IT.

Please take this onboard.

stanley1980

Hunter456 wrote: »

i don't class the junior cert a massive achievement i put it there as i thought a potential employer would like to know my past and present education . your comments seem to be a little snobby to be honest.

As stated, this isn't a personal attack on you. You might feel this is 'snobby' but the truth is any prospective employer who reads your CV as is will be thinking the same. If you don't believe me go to a recruitment company and ask them. Better yet, why not approach the HR dept. of an IT company. If you politely ask them for some quick feedback on your CV I think you'll be surprised how decent people will be to help you.

Aside from this, I know that if a complete stranger, let alone a friend, had taken the time to read my CV, and then given me some feedback and suggestions, the minimum I would've done would be to say thank you. I raise this point as if you do get your CV in order (and I genuinely hope you do)I fear you may need plenty of help with interview skills.

It's not easy to get a job but you're not giving yourself the best chance either on this evidence. Then again, it's a lot easier to ignore the facts and blame everyone else isn't it.

Slutmonkey57b

stanley1980 wrote: »

It's not easy to get a job but you're not giving yourself the best chance either on this evidence. Then again, it's a lot easier to ignore the facts and blame everyone else isn't it.

For reference, OP, "ignoring the facts and blaming everyone else" is a skill for Project Managers, not IT. Go for an MBA if that's your natural skillset.

ScottStorm

Fantastic advice on this thread, some of it I will be taking onboard myself. I genuinely hope op does the same.

OP if you live too far from the fas/momentum course then they also offer some it courses online too a+, n+, ccna etc. You should go into your local office and arrange a meeting to discuss your options.

Hunter456

edanto wrote: »

Hunter456, I've taken on a good few interns over the years into IT positions, and some of them had similar experience to yourself at the start.

But, if you interview in the same way that you are posting on this thread, there's no way I would offer you a position. For example, stanley1980 spends a good 10/20 minutes going through your CV, gives loads of examples about how to improve it, offers more help if needed, and apologises if they are being a bit 'preachy' but anyone can see that they are really going out of their way to help a stranger on the internet. And you slap them in the face with 'some of your comments are a bit snobby'. Game over.

Your problem is your attitude. End of story.

People that are hiring other people to work in IT need to know that the person doesn't make mistakes. One common way of checking that is to check their spelling, grammar. You were told that right at the start of the thread and still your CV had mistakes in it.

The people that get hired are serious about learning and personal development. When someone gives them criticism they genuinely try and learn from it and change their behaviour. They thank people that give feedback. (I don't think you've thanked a single post) They put in the effort to present a professional face, and make sure that the quality of their communications during the interview process gives the recruiter confidence that their work will be of a high standard.

They also follow through on their commitments and deliver tasks on time. You were going to watch that video about the A+ this morning. Honestly, did you? It's easy to lie, but what's the point. Just tell us if you did or not.

I didn't mean to come across as a smart arse but was having a bad day I don't want to fall back into a rut with depression looking for work so I'm looking to get back into training with internships and guy on here which I'm so thankfull for he rearranged my Cv and my God its looks professional and its much better and i thank ye for the help and the boot in the arse to get myself back into upskilling myself for future applications for jobs

uck51js9zml2yt

It would be a good time to look at springboard courses starting next month. They are free and would give you a college qualification. Many will accept you on the basis of life skills.

Hunter456

protelos wrote: »

Sent on something there. best of luck in your hunt. Some good advice on this tread, not just for you!

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day helping me. I will get that typed in a few minutes and put it to use. By reading threw that Cv its very professionally done thanks once again dude.

JigglyMcJabs

Hunter456 wrote: »

I didn't mean to come across as a smart arse but was having a bad day I don't want to fall back into a rut with depression looking for work so I'm looking to get back into training with internships and guy on here which I'm so thankfull for he rearranged my Cv and my God its looks professional and its much better and i thank ye for the help and the boot in the arse to get myself back into upskilling myself for future applications for jobs

Good stuff! Keep that enthusiasm and attitude, work hard on a good well respected IT course and you'll be flying in no time ;-)

stanley1980

I think that sounds like a good plan. I really hope it works out for you. I mean that. As stated, If I can help at all give me a shout.

Stheno

Hunter456 wrote: »

i don't class the junior cert a massive achievement i put it there as i thought a potential employer would like to know my past and present education . your comments seem to be a little snobby to be honest.

No, he or she is not being snobby, he or she is being realistic. Your highest level of education appears to be the Junior Cert as you don't go into any detail as to what the 12 FETAC awards are. The subjects you studied do not indicate any aptitude technically.

IT workers tend to be educated to at least degree level, with some exceptions, I'm one, I've got just the Leaving, but am about to finish a Masters as I realise that it's a "gap" on my c.v. despite over 15 years in experience, and a bucket load of professional certifications, some organisations would automatically refuse to consider my c.v. due to the lack of degree.

I started out in IT doing tech support for pc users over the phone, studied, and got more and more experience, and moved up over the years, so it can be done.

And to add to what Slutmonkey said below, in IT you tend to develop very detailed knowledge about your area, but you'll never know everything, and it's important to recognise this, and acknowledge the experience and skills of others, and learn from them. Every IT role I've had, this is something I've found invaluable.

You also need to be able to take criticism, and accept that usually it's valid, and valuable.

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

I think this is a harsh truth you need to accept if you really want to get a job "in IT":

You are not "very skilled".

Very skilled people went to college, and completed a bachelor's degree. They then spent several years in corporate IT, doing practical, real world development or engineering. They've got specialist certifications on top of their degree which are relevant to the work they've been doing, or an employer might require them to do.

"IT" jobs routinely have requirements for, at the very least, a university degree and several years of high quality *recent* experience in specialised, technical disciplines, I.e. C++, ruby on rails, java, hadoop, Oracle, SharePoint, with a requirement for certification in whatever discipline it might be.

Once you accept that, you then need to work on your skills. It will be several years of hard work to get certs, degrees etc for the job you think you deserve.

And you will need to learn one thing above all else: to succeed in IT, you need to be motivated, hard-working, and capable. You also, most importantly, need to be able to work to a deadline, and be time-aware. IT projects generally run along the lines of "Hi, we need this done last Tuesday, and the specs we're going to give you are wrong, and we'll change half of it just before you deliver it. Come back to me in a month with everything done and then I'll explain why I assumed you were doing something else." The people interviewing you will be engineers and developers. When they see a 5 year hole in your CV, they won't think "There's someone who was doing something else for 5 years", they'll think "There's 5 years wasted where that person could have been getting a masters. And working. And raising a baby."

All the certs in the world won't help you if you walk into an office with the attitude of "sure I'm going to sit here until someone hands me something".

Christine LaDuchesse wrote: »

Hi OP,

I have to agree with most of the comments here, but would like to add a possibility for you. If you were willing to train your language skills, you will have a bilingual job in no time at any helpdesk of any of the big USA companies having their EMEA headquarters in Ireland. Those employers are always looking for people skilled with languages. There are many EMEA headquarters of IT companies in Ireland, think INtel, IBM, HP, etc, etc.

You would get employment via the recruiters for these companies, like CPL, and though not ideal, it is a start, from where you can work your way up.

Maybe something to consider?

OP doesn't ever appear to have studied any language, and to get a role as you describe, would need to be near fluent to get one. That's not something you do in the short term tbh

OP, I'm attaching a potential template that you could use for your c.v., it's one page when you fill it all out, which is what you want.

It's only a guideline.

edit: I've read your last few posts, I hope you build on them

Hunter456

so giving the sample of a new C.V i put them to use and came with a new looking and was hoping if some could review it. credit to stheno and protelos

JigglyMcJabs

Hunter456 wrote: »

so giving the sample of a new C.V i put them to use and came with a new looking and was hoping if some could review it. credit to stheno and protelos

It's progress ;-)

On the course you mention 'PC Maintenance and Networking' I looked it up, you could make it look more impressive:

Course Title
NFQ Level 5 Major Award in PC Maintenance and Networking

Subjects included
Hardware Components
PC building
Operating Systems Software,
Hardware Maintenance
Installation & Maintenance of Peripherals
Computer Networking
Network Hardware Components
Network Transmission
Media Network Architecture & Protocol, Network Security.