To all who view this message, I am recently coming off of active duty (April 2015) and am having a difficult time landing an Information Technology job. I currently live in central Virginia but have decided that relocating to a market that specializes in hiring recent Graduates and Interns/Co-ops would be a better situation for me and Atlanta Metro area looks ideal to me. I have not graduated from College with my baccalaureate yet, due to Military Service, but will be attending Penn State World Campus this Fall for Information Technology and Security and Risk Analysis and thought I could leverage this to earn a Co-op/Internship to get my foot in the door at a company I could start a career with but have not heard from any companies.
To help my chances of landing a job I have been attending job fairs and plan to stay 2 weeks in Atlanta to increase my exposure to employees. I have also been utilizing Virginia Veteran unemployment services to restructure my resume and smooth the edges on my interviewing skills, whenever I get a call to interview for someone. It would be great to actually get mentorship from someone in the Technology industry to teach me some tricks and trades. Also I am planning to get ceritified in Security + and Network + within the next month and I also come with technical skills before I went on active duty but due to the Military work load and lack of priority and time management I failed to stay current and this is due to my current lack of calls for interviews.
I apologize for the length of this question and if it seems disorganized but I am truly lost in my job search with all the wealth of information available and not completely knowing what I would like to in the tech industry. My end goal is to become an IT Project Manager but I know there are steps that I need to take to get to that level and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Respectfully,
Sean Miles
Answers
Thank you all for the quick reply, I have been using IT staffing companies to locate positions for me but I do not believe they relies that even though I have prior experience that I'm looking to start at a more entry level to resharpen my skills before moving to higher responsibility. I will try to contact these staffing companies again to establish a working relationship again, since I lost faith before.
Mr. Lancaster, I would like to contact you in regards to your offer; I will try and contact you on Wednesday July 29th if that is okay.
Ms. Sanderlin, I am somewhat limited to my career destinations due to proximity to family in addition to the Raliegh, NC, Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA being areas close to me growing economically and increasing their technical footprint, from what I've read.
Mr. Valencia, I will take your advise on doing a self-inventory of my skills and takeaways. I'm hoping this will help with my interviewing skills.
Thanks all, I'm like a sponge trying to soak up all that I can.
Respectfully,
Sean
HI Sean, thank you for your service!
It seems like you are doing all the right things. However, I would not limit myself to one geographical area. If you are flexible, stay open minded. Definitely use a head hunter, they work wonders.
Good luck!
Do you have placement firms, recruiters and headhunter a working for you? Do you have contacts at firms that specialize in placing professionals in your industry? If not, give me a call. I have several contacts should be able to help you.
Thank You
Kit
312-344-0999
Glen,
Don't be discouraged. It takes a lot of work and fortitude to change your vocabulary and adapt. You sound like you are on the right course to becoming a project manager in the area of IT. If you review those items outlined in the Project Management Institute, you will see how diverse that can be. However, if you are targeting project management in a specific area, it does help to have a foundation with Security+ and Network+ or other security and network certifications. I am sure your leadership and mentoring skills in the Army will suffice. The IT field is unique in that it relies more on skills and experience, but your leadership and NCO skills may amplify those traits. Keep doing what you are doing and look for entry-level or mid-level jobs, but most of all take a self-inventory of your skills and takeaways from the Army to assess what you bring to the table and you will be pleasantly surprised.
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