Jenny Sinitsky ⋅ Staten Island, NY Macy's ⋅ 20 years experience

HI James,

Thank you for your service. I totally agree with Stefan. Best and quickest way to find a job is temp agencies. Also I would look into small companies and variety of industries. Expand your search criteria as much as you can and be ready to explain why this specific job is your "dream job".
Utilize Glassdoor site to learn about interview questions, company culture, job and salary requirements. Learn about company as much as you can. Have your recommendations ready.

Once your interview is scheduled:
1) try to find someone who is working there to give you tips.
2) learn about person(s) who is interviewing you from LinkedIn and other channels
3) be prepared to ask job related questions

Good luck with your job search,
Jenny Sinitsky

Steve Ruzzini ⋅ Pittsburgh, PA Deloitte ⋅ 7 years experience

Hi James,

In addition to your Security+, a CISSP certification will get your foot in the door of just about every entry IT security interview process. It's a very challenging cert, but having it demonstrates broad knowledge of all security domains.

Best,
Steve

Brad Bunch ⋅ Sterling Heights, MI U.S. Army, Sergeant First Class ⋅ 1 years served

Hello James,

Keep working on that Security+ certification. I've worked in IT as a military member, as a DoD contractor and now as government employee. Security+ is your minimum, baseline requirement that you must have to start work on a DoD system. Also, do your best to maintain your security clearance and clearance eligibility. The timeframe to get a new clearance is getting longer and in some cases, that clearance may be more important than your certs or skills (if you're interested in government work). And with all things, including IT - NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK!!!

Stefan Beyer ⋅ Kirkland, WA Wipro Ltd ⋅ 12 years experience

Temp agencies for IT positions might be a good place to call. They can find positions which fit your skill set, and give you suggestions on what would be good to learn based on the types of jobs they're seeing come available. It will likely be a short-term contract position (usually 3-12 months), but it'll give you some valuable work experience.

I contacted a friend of mine who went from military to IT, and he suggested you might want to apply for positions in smaller towns, as you'll have less competition there than in a larger city; he also mentioned that IT outsourcing's been making it more difficult these days. As for temp agencies, Wipro and Compucom were ones he's had colleagues work at.

Bernard Agrest ⋅ Tulsa, OK Teach for America ⋅ 5 years experience

Hi James,

I hope you’re doing well and having a great weekend! Thank you for your service, and for posting your question.

I’d encourage you to utilize our community feature to reach out to advisors who have experience in the IT Industry. I'm sure they would have insight on not only the most important certifications to obtain for a career in IT, but also on helping you fine-tune your resume so that you'd be able to secure an interview (and then a position) at a help desk.

You can search for advisors by location, experience and expertise! Feel free to reach out to as many advisors as you would like - casting a wide net will allow you to have numerous conversations and develop your perspective!

I hope this is helpful, and please feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

Best,

-Bernard.