[Sola]

Hiya all,

Been searching for a week or so and I'm trying to think of ideas for a full time job, as I'm studying Uni online full-time doing Computer Studies. I live in Perth, but my degree is through RMIT Melbourne.

My biggest experience has been in office work, I worked in a production co-ordinator/clerk role for approx 4 years. But with my degree being now in IT I'm wondering if there are any tips/ideas/sites that may be of help to me to do with starting out in that career.

I've been checking SEEK daily and just haven't seen that much lately. I guess I'm just after a general direction of where to look when considering IT positions, as I'm new to looking for work in this field.

Thanks for your help.

[Kalikah]

..keep looking, every single day. Update your LinkedIn profile, network with local business owners. Maybe look at contacting some not for profits and see if they need someone with your skills? I've been doing that for almost a year after switching from a career choice in games/matte painting into graphic design/marketing, and only now am I getting work or having enough relevant skills to realistically get any FT work. That's just my personal experience though, good on you for thinking ahead! Good luck (This community is pretty good for that kind of networking as I know a lot of us are in the IT/Computer career field)

Quick Comments

Maynarde:

Helpful and smart

[|Erasmus|]

Don't wait for people to advertise positions. Just write to them and tell them you want work, and what you can offer. From the sounds of it you are still at uni and trying to get some experience while studying.

Don't get it in your head that this has to be full time. Some people may take on an 'intern' role full time, others won't. Some companies will be dicks and not want to pay you (or just a token amount) since you are not qualified and still studying... If you can find a paying job, jump at it, but the experience is important.

I was lucky when I was looking for an internship for myself. I ended up getting a decent paying one at a good company. I had a few offers. Two of them paid well, but one of those was retarded work that wouldn't give good experience working with people I didn't like (from the interview) so I would have turned that down for a really nice position that paid only a token amount for the better experience. But lucky me my third option was a good job with good pay, so I took that (and 4 years later they have someone just finishing uni on a graduate salary with 4 years experience on their products... see how good a deal this is for the company in the long run.)

Put simply, if you can sell yourself as competent and as someone not there for 5 minutes to grab some experience and a few dollars before pissing off to find something else when you graduate, you actually have a lot of value to offer. So go be proactive about finding jobs. I've gotten a bunch of interviews from companies that didn't advertise any position, I just wrote to them saying I was looking for work.

Quick Comments

	Maynarde:	Also helpful and smart
	nirvAnA:

[myth_au]

I mainly agree with Erasmus.

The most important thing is experience and pay is just a bonus. I am only 2 years out of uni and making pretty decent money (mind you i work hard though).

For me getting a job or getting a foot in the door is really hard, in the industry i work in (the legal industry) it is mainly knowing people and networking. Fortunately, a relative helped me out with my job.

In terms of finding a job after that i mainly used a recruitment agency and sold myself that way. Agents are good in that they point in the right direction, prepares you and makes sure that you are being realistic. I'd say talk to the uni's career adviser or go to those career fairs. Or join a uni society.

I joined a uni society and got to meet lots of HR people (although i changed profession) that network experience i will never forget.

best of luck

[Sola]

Kalikah: The no-profits is a good idea and I'm looking at that information right now to get an idea of who/if anyone to approach. Also I had no idea of LinkedIn, I'm also looking at that now.

Erasmus: Yeah if I find a job/company that I'm learning from/like I definitely want to stay there for as long as possible. I was actually just about to go and look for companies to which I can write to/email to see if they're interested in taking someone on. I'd definitely prefer F/T but I'd take P/T because sometimes that may lead into F/T and plus the experience is good. I definitely couldn't do it for free (I would love to be able to) as we have a baby on the way and I need to get some form of income other then where I am now (Working in Auntie's Butcher P/T).

I actually think me contacting companies will be my strongest/best chance of employment as I have no actual experience in IT. I've just started my degree as well, I'm not mid-way through etc..

Thanks so much for the information so far, been very helpful.

[ToRSpartaz]

I like this thread. Im in a similar position but for a student >.< and NZ doesn't have that many work opportunities at the moment.

I have been actively searching since november 2010, been totally ridiculous any tips to help this guys?

(Noted that I do actively stay in touch with businesses I contact, some can be real dicks -.-)

[TABag]

One thing that a lot of people do around here, is get a job in a local IT Call Centre.

A bunch of guys on this site work for IBM. The majority of them still work at the call centre that we have here, and others, like myself, have moved onto higher positions (purely from work experience alone). It's not a bad step to get your foot into the industry as such, and I would imagine that WA/Perth have some form of inbound centres.

Another idea, go looking around for local PC shops. Not something along the lines of Harvey Norman or JB, because in all honesty they generally can't tell you the difference between c7 and c8 ram.. however something much smaller. A small place run by a couple of people, where people can custom order machines, bring in hardware to be repaired etc etc. If you want hands on experience, that would be your ideal outcome.

It also comes down to knowing what you want to do in the IT world. Let's be honest, it's not just as simple a thing of, 'I can code or replace hardware'. If you have even the slightest idea of what you want to pursue within IT, let us know and we can probably provide you with a more specific guideline of what to follow

[Kepler]

As it stands your opportunities are pretty limited. What skills does your degree entail? Programming? If you know what the end result of your degree (i.e what job you expect to be in) then you can use that to your advantage when applying for lower level jobs, as companies can see that you might stick around for a while if your degree has relevance to the industry it's a part of. A lot of companies hate short staff turnarounds.

Your best bet is either a call center, data entry or retail really. But in university any kind of job is great, having an income is incredibly liberating to a certain extent.

I agree with Erasmus in that you don't wait until you see ads on Seek etc. Hundreds of people mass apply to those jobs, your best bet is to take the initiative and just apply to wherever possible, ask to speak to a manager or team leader, either on the phone or (preferrably) in person to hand them your CV. It can be pretty nerve wracking but it's your best shot to stay above the pack.

[Sola]

I'll put this link on here to give a view of what my outcome is likely to be: http://www.open.edu.au/public/course...urse-units-tab

The link is to my course structure. It has a fair bit of programming units in it.

[cruxBsK]

Other things that you might want to look into as well is how well you interview, is you're resume good? updated?

If you have been looking for 2 years and have not had any interviews your doing it wrong (no offence) so you might want to look into those things, I myself started work in much a similar position to how TABag started in an inbound call center getting phone experience and naturally as I loved computers and knew how to fix my own i was able to get my foot in the door a after a year or 2 of working there I was able to secure a job working for the Bendigo Bank (which is where i work today for IT help desk currently) as you get more experience there you can then move into level 2 support teams and so on if you can manage to get into a bigger company like a bank or an IT firm then you should be basically set as from then on they will (should) assist you with any further studies (some even paying for them)

I would also suggest if you have some spare money around (which I doubt as a student i had SFA money) but ITILV4 certification (this is a foundation understanding of the life cycle of it equipment, positions, different departments and their rolls so on and so forth) which would be looked on as something I would say most business look for in a new candidate.

And again to echo what others have said it's really just confidence I know it can be hard in interviews and if anyone was not nervous they would be lying, but in interviews you want to be saying why you are the person for the job there are some great interviewing questions and answers on you tube (I went for this job twice before I got it and the first time i was very nervous and didn't get my points across correctly so i went away and look at what was bad (same as what you do when analyzing your sc2 replays) and did some research I looked up Brian Kreiger (you tube he had some great answers and interviewing techniques to help you answer some of them though questions)

Hopefully you get something out of this wall of text

[TABag]

Without knowing what you want to get into, looking at that link..

I would suggest trying to find a web publishing firm/business. Start off in the lower tiers, learn as you earn (will be extremely helpful for uni) and climb the ranks from there.

[Sola]

TABag: Yeah the degree is a general type of degree but it's the degree that offered more programming units then the other. So where I end up when finishing is hard to say, due to the optional/elective units I'll choose/take along the way.

My partners brother owns a Web Design business lol, be good if there was a job there, but there isn't.
I only started looking this morning, as I gather more information I'll be able to know what to focus on job search wise.

[Meatex]

pro tip - don't not apply for a job because you don't meet a certain requirement ^^

[Sola]

Originally Posted by FaDeMeatex

pro tip - don't not apply for a job because you don't meet a certain requirement ^^

Yep lol, I'm already guilty of applying for 3 jobs today where I didn't meet a requirement that was listed.

[mGGDrGooSe]

Originally Posted by FaDeMeatex

pro tip - don't not apply for a job because you don't meet a certain requirement ^^

To expand on this. Most job adverts are optimistic, to say the least. They are listing the things that a perfect applicant will possess. Few, if any, of people applying will meet all of the criteria listed. You may find, even though you fall short, that you are still the best one applying.