Looking for IT Support job

xxx3 · 19-12-2013 12:52am #1

Hi guys, I graduated from college with a 2.1 hons degree in 2012. I went travelling for the rest of 2012 and came back to Ireland in June this year. From June until now I have applied for at least 80 jobs with no luck as of yet. Personally I don't think I have a bad CV and was just wondering was anyone else having similar problems. I knew I was never going to get a job straight away when I came back but its getting beyond a joke now:(

Hello_MrFox · 19-12-2013 12:54am

xxx3 wrote: »

Hi guys, I graduated from college with a 2.1 hons degree in 2012. I went travelling for the rest of 2012 and came back to Ireland in June this year. From June until now I have applied for at least 80 jobs with no luck as of yet. Personally I don't think I have a bad CV and was just wondering was anyone else having similar problems. I knew I was never going to get a job straight away when I came back but its getting beyond a joke now:(

Can i ask what you studied in college?

xxx3 · 19-12-2013 12:57am

Studied Computer Systems Management.......covered a broad range of subjects taking in the business side of things along with the technical side of things.

Gavin "shels" · 19-12-2013 9:35am

I recently graduated and got myself into an IT Support role, I felt my main advantage over most people in my course who would have been aiming for the same area was that I had a good bit of volunteer IT work behind me and most importantly, 4 years experience within retail. My advice would be, try volunteer your time in IT (I worked with the setting up of a football clubs Supporters' Trust) that would get you a reference from.

Mr. Loverman · 19-12-2013 10:21am

If you've applied for at least 80 IT support positions and have had no luck yet, there is either a problem with your cover letter, CV, or interview skills.

Some advice which might be useful (including a CV template):

http://www.dublinjobs.ie/advice/cover_letter_advice
http://www.dublinjobs.ie/advice/cv_advice
http://www.dublinjobs.ie/advice/interview_advice

I agree with Gavin's advice - get yourself some IT experience (even if it's free stuff like helping a charity). You could also try doing some IT related job on freelancer.com to pad your CV.

xxx3 · 19-12-2013 12:39pm

I would reckon its the cover letter where I am falling down because I have some although not a lot of volunteer experience in IT. I also have a near ten years volunteer experience not in IT but shows that I can deal with people and organisations but still nothing showing up so this brings me back to the cover letter. I simply cannot write a good cover letter for selling myself.

Gone West · 19-12-2013 3:23pm

IT experience is how you get IT jobs. Tricky catch 22, sure.
The only thing they will want to read on the cover letter is "I have X years experience in IT"

ImDave · 19-12-2013 3:43pm

One way to possibly get some practical IT experience might be to volunteer at a secondary school. A lot of secondary schools don't have a dedicated IT person and might benefit by having someone come in to do some basic network stuff, PC imaging/re-builds, maintenance etc.

xxx3 · 19-12-2013 3:44pm

Fuzzy wrote: »

IT experience is how you get IT jobs. Tricky catch 22, sure.
The only thing they will want to read on the cover letter is "I have X years experience in IT"

My thinking exactly, could go down the Jobsbridge road but would have to be within my area as would not be viable otherwise. Do a small bit on developing websites but this is only small bits and pieces. Although I have been told by recruitment agency to downplay this when going for roles in tech support as "companies will think you will go for a web developer job when it arises" is their thought. Really am caught every way as I would like to get into the tech support area and build experience from there.

xxx3 · 19-12-2013 3:47pm

ImDave wrote: »

One way to possibly get some practical IT experience might be to volunteer at a secondary school. A lot of secondary schools don't have a dedicated IT person and might benefit by having someone come in to do some basic network stuff, PC imaging/re-builds, maintenance etc.

Haha would you believe I haven't looked into this area before today but earlier on today I sent an email to my old secondary school asking about this sort of work.

syklops · 19-12-2013 3:49pm

Fuzzy wrote: »

IT experience is how you get IT jobs. Tricky catch 22, sure.
The only thing they will want to read on the cover letter is "I have X years experience in IT"

Experience and passion.

Some one who is passionate will have done stuff at home that is relevant(plus the passionate ones are the ones who stay late to fix stuff). OP I am sure you have done some projects at home which can add a bit of weight to what appears to be a CV/cover letter that is light on experience. With a degree in Systems Management, have you any systems at home you can talk up? If not, have you gone to any LAN parties or other IT ioriented get togethers and been the Sys Admin on the ground? It all adds up when you're getting your foot in the door.

I am pie · 19-12-2013 3:53pm

I doubt freelancer.com has much in the area of support?

Make sure your CV is completely error free.

Make sure it is written and presented in a concise readable format.

First job is the most important, i.e. once you're in somewhere you can start to develop and it is easier to get a job once you have one, cruelly! I applied to 300 roles to get my first job, I made it my job and I moved locations to start work once accepted.

xxx3 · 19-12-2013 5:00pm

syklops wrote: »

Experience and passion.

Some one who is passionate will have done stuff at home that is relevant(plus the passionate ones are the ones who stay late to fix stuff). OP I am sure you have done some projects at home which can add a bit of weight to what appears to be a CV/cover letter that is light on experience. With a degree in Systems Management, have you any systems at home you can talk up? If not, have you gone to any LAN parties or other IT ioriented get togethers and been the Sys Admin on the ground? It all adds up when you're getting your foot in the door.

Syklops staying up all night cannot be shown in cv unfort I know this because i done this when I was volunteering doing web design in college and have done it again in the last few months getting websites ready for launching....Have not been to any LAN parties or IT oriented get togethers

ViperMAN · 19-12-2013 5:03pm

Hi xxx3,

There are a number of support roles available in multinational companies in Cork. Search for 'Support' over at http://jobs.makeitincork.com/p/page/2/great-jobs.

Also, if you know a language well enough you could take a look at http://makeitinireland.com/. They cater exclusively for IT and multilingual professionals.

Good luck!

syklops · 19-12-2013 5:08pm

xxx3 wrote: »

Syklops staying up all night cannot be shown in cv unfort I know this because i done this when I was volunteering doing web design in college and have done it again in the last few months getting websites ready for launching....:(

I beg to differ. If you have been volunteering doing web design include that on your CV/cover letter(assuming web design is a relevant skill to the job you are going for), including links to the sites themselves.

A friend of mine wanted a job involving citrix, so set up an array of machines with different OS on VMs, set up Citrix, had them all talking to each other. Detailed her experience with citrix in her cover letter and got invited for an interview. She got the job and it turned out she knew more than their existing citrix person.

Have not been to any LAN parties or IT oriented get togethers

Then go to some. They often involve drinks so it can be sociable as well. Check out your local hackerspace and/or CoderDojo, Im sure there is one near you.

Looking for IT Support job

Comments