I want to move back to the Seattle Area, and I have been looking for a IT Help Desk job. However I have been having major trouble. I am currently living in Texas. Does anyone have any advice for me? Or, would anyone know of anybody that could help me get a job? Or, maybe even refer me to a recruiter? Any advice will be helpful. I have a Linkedin page, Craiglist jobs sent to my email, indeed.com, Hire Heros, Veteran job boards, etc. I would love to work for the State of Washington. And, I have contacted the HR department to tailor my information for many State jobs, but I am still having trouble even getting interviews. I guess there is a lot of competition.
Answers
If I understand true, the IT Help Desk position aids persons with computer and similar technical problems.
To me, with Square (the card reader attaching to a smartphone) and similar, the final difficulty in providing service for money is bridged- just a few years ago one could not get payment, credit card use as a business without a full fledged (overhead laden) business.
Why not start an IT help desk from your own home, run on a shoestring, even if temporarily working for a more established company at the same time?
Also, sad fact, router setup, using MAC addresses, securing a PC, all are a snap to some, while others never are able to close down all the exploits, I would pay double for a non wired router (aka hardware firewall) which is set up over the phone, talked through, or set up remotely, as I send you pictures of the MAC addresses, etc, and send to you, so you set it up.
This is not intended as some grand solution, but a hunch your relocating means you can maybe migrate towards self employment.
Timothy,
The cost in the Seattle/Bellevue area is very high. But if you come down south to Tacoma/Olympia it is a little more reasonable. But if possible, I would have money for at least 3 months living expenses prior to moving here. If you don't already have a job.
If you are getting out and looking for a job, the Seattle area is not a bad place to be located.
Send me a LinkedIn request and I will connect you with some people who I think might be able to help you out. There are also lots of Startups here looking for people.
Be Great Every Day!
Jason
My 23 year old son just moved to Seattle from CA without a job. He had 2 months worth of money in his pocket aand said he'd get 3 jobs if needed to pay his bills (e.g. bartender, waiter, construction). He has a Business degree from Texas Tech and a Six Sivma Black Belt from Purdue. He too didn't receive responses.
The big issue there is the cost of housing. He shared a delapidated house with 3 others and still paid $1450 in Bellevue. He got a great job that pays well and lives in Edmonds.
I suggest you find a place to live en route and head there! There are plenty of jobs and you need to be ready and available to start. Good luck!
I agree on the relocation question. I think for an "entry" level job it is out of the question. As for opportunity in Seattle, with Amazon, Starbucks, Microsoft, 3rd party call centers, and many others in that area you need to mine LinkedIn for contacts and other companies I have not mentioned. Look for vets, people from your HS, college/community college, or LinkedIn tech groups for someone to gain entry into the company. I would think the state would be posting jobs on a website but they will have employees listed on LinkedIn as well.
I live in Texas and you can connect with me via tim@feemsters.com or 469-554-9873 for more assistance.
As a former IT pro in the Seattle area, I was initially lacking in experience since my Navy training in IT didn't translate well. My foot in the door was to get an IT job with a local school district as a "school IT technician". Within a year, I was able to move to an IT Generalist job at the district office. There, I got to wear all of the hats and get experience in many technologies. One of the applications I used extensively allowed me to jump to a corporate IT position after several years.
School districts don't pay well, but they are a good proving ground that allows you to work on your resume and have time to get some further IT training under your belt.
Hi Tim,
Did you try the healthcare companies? that is one group that is fledging in Seattle area.
Post your resume on recruting sites- listing your preference as all of Washington state. There are some good companies in Olympia, Spokane etc.,
If you will be relocating to Seattle, then put down your address as Seattle- so search engines can pull out your resumes.
Hope this helps.
Thanks
Ponni Anand
Tim - check this out: https://apprenticareers.org/. May be a way to get your foot in the door. Also, there is IVMF at Syracuse that helps with free training for a variety of IT Certs. It's Skillport mostly, but may interest you. Lastly, do you have any MS training in your area? They have a course offered here on JBLM, but you'd need to be here for that. RP/6 also has a relationship with our local library which provides MS training and testing support. Free of cost here. If you have a USO/RP/6 there, you might check into that.
An important question is whether you're trying to looking for a job that will pay for relocation or you're willing to pay to relocate.
If you're applying to jobs in Seattle that do not offer relocation, you may not be hearing back because you're listing your current location as Texas.
You may also want to check out Dice.com. They focus on technology jobs.
What is your skillset ? Are you certified in any technology ? Cisco, DataPower, IBM Integration Bus, Mulesoft, Linux ?
What is your goal ? What is your ideal job ?
Do you have a web presence (ie your own website) ? An IT professional without his own website is like a car without gas.
Have you trained in a demanded skill ? See Robert Half guides, obviously the higher paid jobs are in more demand : https://www.roberthalf.com/workplace-research/salary-guides
Your Answer
Please log in to answer this question.