Certain jobs require you to have X number of years of specific work experience. If a company is not willing to hire someone without those number of years of work experience, how can one go about getting that experience while making a decent living?

It is understandable to go entry-level with a company, but entry-level salary is sub $30K/yr and unfortunately for me, I can't accept a job that pays sub $30K/yr (too many responsibilities right now). Is there a work-around for this catch-22 situation? I can't whore myself out, I don't know people in the biz, and alot of my IT experiences comes from self-directed interests.

 

I thought you were in the pharmaceutical field and not IT.....


I went through the same scenario when I graduated from college. I must have sent a 1000 resumes and nobody hired me because I didn't have any experience. Mind you, I was ready to work for food and not a certain amount of money but it didn't matter any way. I kept asking, how can I gain experience if nobody gives me an opportunity? Finally, found a job through my college with a description of WILL TRAIN and the rest is history.....

 

Yeah I know what you mean. Even when i was back in school looking for INTERNSHIPS some of those people said they wanted someone with experience

Just keep stickin at it. See if you can take advantage of any contacts you have or hookups. Or, take one of those sub 30k jobs and try to change your lifestyle a bit or stick it out for a few months and see if there's an opening in that company

 

I was in pharmaceuticals. The last job left a sour taste in my mouth. You would think there is ethics in pharmaceuticals, but there really isn't. It was about the bottom line.

I have many interests and sometimes I feel like I am the jack of all trades, but master of none. I am very confident that I can do just about every job and have always been able to "master" my job duties within a relatively short time frame.

Currently, I had an interview with a small, start-up telecommunications firm (wi-fi & networking). They are willing to train the right person. The job requires 75% travel across the US. I hope I get it!! There are no benefits (like 401K or Health, I think), but the potential for growth and consolidation (possibly stocks) is there. So I am always searching for a job with growth and advancement potential, I just need to get a foot in the door to show them my skills and aptitude.

Should I spend my time applying to jobs that have minimum year experience requirements that I do not have but whose job description is within the expanded scope of the duties I've performed in the past? I'm not at the point where I am gonna have to sell my house and eat crackers and Ramen noodles...but if I don't get something decent soon, I might.

 

If I didn't have a TL payment, house payment, dogs, or a fiance, I could accept that sub $30K/yr job, live simply, and gain valuable work experience. Since I do have all of those responsibilities, there is a salary threshold that I cannot accept unless I sell everything I own and start fresh. It's just every difficult for me right now to do that. I keep trying because eventually the law of averages will be on my side.

 

Understandable. I don't mean to be nosy, but how is a fiance a responsibility? Is she totally dependent on you? Good luck, but watch out about the no health insurance thing....I'm sure you know it's a lot of $$$$$ on your own.

 

Women = Money (enough said)

I have health insurance through the fiance so I'm cool on that tip. But I hope that in lieu of benefits that the salary is reflected. I'd like to start saving for retirement asap.

 

How do you have health insurance through someone you're not married to? (excluding the whole life partner bullshit, I assume you're not gay).

 

Sorry to tell you but thats how the dice roll these days. Everyone new grad or people looking for a job with little experience have the same problem. You just need to get your foot in a door some where. Then stay there for a while and get some legitamate experience. Getting your first real job these days isn't as easy as it used to be. Companies don't want to spend money on training and this and that for todays youth. Just keep applying to every place you feel. Some times you get lucky, thats what happened to me, just go into every interview with good intentions.

 

How old are you btw? Maybe you should think about dumping the TL, or the girl if they're both costing you that much money, or at least make the girl understand that you're just starting out and you can't really 'afford' her. If she's a keeper, she'll understand.

 

You sound exactly like me.

Right now Im getting worked over where I work. Hence why Im constantly on AZ and other boards. Im "too good" at being an Office Manager. I took a job that required 8 hours of constant work, created new methods and procedures and turned it into a job where you do 30 minutes to an hour of preemptive work then chill the other 7. I make less than 25k a year.

Unfortuantly it looks like Im going with the "its not what you know its who you know" route. On my own the best Ive been able to find wants to give me 28k. The wife of a coworker is getting my resume today and she starts at 40k.

 

I know exactly how that goes. I have about 3 yrs of 'real' experience now and I still run into this quite a bit. Being in IT it's especially convoluted because people want you to have had X years of experience with every technology that they use (which is a lot usually). Just keep at it, and apply for those jobs where you meet the requirements except for the years of experience. Sometimes that is not as important as it seems.

Putting my resume on some targeted job sites has helped me a lot in the past, in fact that's how I've gotten my last two jobs. Lots of calls from recruiters and once in a while a good match. When you submit your resume to a public opening you are probably on the bottom of a stack of many and will lose out to insiders.

 

No, I'm not gay. Technically, I am married (i.e. common law in the eyes of the government).

Can't dump the fiance. And the TL I'm upside down on. So....I have to keep plugging away at sending off the resumes. I have some leads in the real estate market and looking at the IT/Networking/Internet industry.

Sales is where it's at (the sky's the limit) based on how hard you work and how thick your skin is. I'm not a salesman, but I can probably handle it. But if I did sales, I'd like to have a base salary + commission just to be safe in those lean times.

 

If I hadn't of received a job offer with the government, I would probably be poor right now. Even though I have a mechanical engineering degree, the government Navy civilian jobs was my only offer.

I think they liked me because of my two internships with GE Aircraft Engines. I have gone from a GS-7/Step 10 to a GS-12/Step 1 in only two-and-a-half short years. I'm currently making about $65k/year.

When I get to Jacksonville in about two months, I'll be making about $9k less/year, but cost of living will go WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY down. I can't wait.

 

Yeah, a government job is a sweet deal (minus when the government shuts down b/c of lack of funds). I have a few "family" members who work for the government. Holiday time off is crazy and I hate to say it, but people who work in government are kinda lazy and it's soooo hard to fire them.

 

But you still get paid though My pops has worked for the gov't for 30+ years and yes he hates how SOME people there don't dress well and are lazy, but he isn't one of them because the "lazy" people level off in ranking eventually.

 

Yeah, I'm not knocking working for the government. I think a job with the government is sweet because you get yearly raises, holiday time off that other companies don't give you, job stability, health, retirement, ect...

I've just noticed that some of the people that are hired would get the ax ASAP at a private employer. The bar is set so low and you have to jump through bureaucratic red tape to fire someone for doing poorly on the job.

 

I agree. I once heard about a couple of employees that ran their side job or home business from the government office. That pisses me off beyond all recognition, and it's against the code of ethics.

The only good thing about working for a contractor is the slightly higher pay. I'll take the relatively short hours, good pay, GREAT stability, and good health insurance over that any day of the week.

 

when we are talkin about experience, are we talkin about certain fields of experience or just experience in the work-force period

 

Ideally, employers like to see relevant experience, i.e. in a similar field if not the exact same field that you're applying for. But any working (as in full time, real world) experience is better than none at all