Am I overshooting in my job search?

[unc92sax]

I am 37 and in the middle of a career change (former educator). I have CCNA, MCP, Net+, A+ and have been a part-time Systems Analyst II at Central Piedmont CC in Charlotte for five months.

I am really good at what I do, a quick learner (earned all my certs within 15 months), and have high aspirations; UNIX admin, CCIE, CISSP, or others. But I can't just sit back and let it happen slowly. I have three small kids and a wife who wants to be at home.

So I've been applying left and right for network/systems analyst/admin jobs where I can really use my skills as well as learn more; large companies like Wachovia, BofA, etc. as well as consulting firms. (I really want to get out of the academic industry.) My favorite skill right now is switch and router configuration which came as naturally to me as breathing, but which I get to do none of now that I'm out of the lab environment.

Are my expectations out of line. I just started but I want to optimize my efforts. Should I look at smaller businesses, focus on consultants, change my job objective to Help Desk / PC Tech, etc? The main thing is that I must find a full time job in the Charlotte area ASAP as my family is suffering with mom at work.

Thanks for any advice.

unc92sax
MCP, CCNA, Net+, A+

 

[ThomasLafferty]

The best advice I can give for this is not my own, but that of Nick Corcodillos - a headhunter who has his own newsletter. You can check him out at

http://www.asktheheadhunter.com/welcome.htm

Scroll down and follow the links starting with the one called "You're Wrong." The long and the short of it is that you need to focus on how you can deliver profit to the companies you interview with - and [!]DON'T[/!] rely on a resume to do that for you.

Tom

Born once die twice; born twice die once.

 

[unc92sax]

Thanks Thomas. I've read "What Color Is Your Parachute?" Nick Corcodillos' concepts are very similar to Dick Bolles'. In fact, I used The parachute theories to help me land the job I have now (although I think most of it was recommendations from the teaching staff at the college). And I totally needed to read the Headhunter's ideas to refresh my thinking.

But still, it seems to me that these concepts will not work on large companies and consultants. I am thinking that I need to refocus my search to smaller companies where I can get to "the person who has the power to hire me" as Bolles puts it. Would you agree?

And yet, I crave to use my Cisco skills which I may not be able to do in a smaller company. My delimma. But primarily, I want to use any of my more advanced skills as soon as possible in a situation where I can also grow. That again looks like "smaller is better.

 

[kHz]

Fortune 500-size companies typically hire only experienced professionals because downtime can mean a loss of millions of dollars per hour. They usually hire interns as full time employees when they graduate since they already know the student and the student/intern knows the company culture and their training in this area is lower.

A job with a smaller company would probably be easier to get and the experience could help you get a job with a large company if that is what you prefer.

A small company doesn't mean they won't use Cisco equipment, and a small company that has revenue of $200 million per year can still stay current with technology.

Also, consultants usually have advanced degrees if you mean the Price Waterhouse & Cooper-type consultants that make large sums of money and write reports with findings and conclusions for clients. And if you mean consultants who work for a contracting company as hands-on java developers, for example, the same experience the Fortune companies expect applies.

 

[kHz]

As for your resume and the interview, you have to sell yourself. Think of this as marketing you. Why should they hire you? You have 4 certificates? Okay, maybe somebody else has 8. Or none. Maybe they are hired and you are not. Why? Maybe they saved their former comapny money through server consolidations. Maybe their former company had a web presence and they lost money when the servers went down, so they implemented a HA solution that didn't stop a server from failing but kept the web site up.

These are what employers want to see and hear.

Also, if your wife needs a new vehicle is she going to buy a Mini Cooper? Very likely not. Why? Children. What would she do, strap them on the roof? She would probably buy a minivan or another vehicle that can carry adequately what she needs to haul. Plus she will look at safety and economy.

What good is that last paragraph? It speaks to what you need to know when looking for a job. Do you want to be a tech support rep? Or a network admin? Or a programmer? Or whaterver. Same thing when looking for a new vehicle. If you don't know what you need, you can end up with a Yugo when you needed a Hummer.

 

[jhill7000]

I don't think anyone, beyond search and rescue, NEEDS a hummer. On the same token I seriously doubt anyone NEEDS to work at a Fortune 500 company. Maybe you want to for the prestige, extra benefits, or you want to jump your way up in a small company but no one NEEDS to work at one. As kHz said, you should probably aim low to get some experiance. Lets face it. Certs help, so do degrees, but your no one in IT until you have at least a few years experiance.