So . . . Job Hunting | TheaterFire

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Demented-Alpaca@reddit

Been there in the last few years. All of the answers have huge caveats about how much that answer sucks.

Linked In
Indeed
Zip Recruiting

You'll need to use them all and they all suck.

Just remember that one of the wonderful things about IT is that we can work in literally any industry because a computer is the same everywhere. I went from tech development to state water management to higher education to a grocery stores to a commodity manufacturer with stints in furniture, medical and legal in between. You can work anywhere.

So apply everywhere and take whatever job you get. It's always easier to get a job when you already have one. So you may have to settle up front for a paycheck while you keep searching.

It's a fucking slog mate. So just keep putting your best foot forward and think outside the box. Everyone needs IT these days. Even the vet down the road.

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Fly_lyce@reddit

Curious to know what industry did you like the best?

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Demented-Alpaca@reddit

You know, I'm working in Heavy Industry/Ag now and I love this job. But it's the people that make it interesting.

I can say I liked Higher Ed the least. I never decided who was more entitled: the students or the faculty. There are a LOT of egos involved and if you're not in the middle of a crisis you're preparing for the next planned crisis. (Things like beginning of the term, mid terms, finals, graduation...)

There was never really any downtime, just time between cluster fucks.

But there were a lot of benefits you don't get anywhere else. Things like training opportunities, cutting edge tech, collaborations with various facilities, agencies or companies.

Groceries was insanely risk averse. Very cost focused and, at times, spending dollars to save pennies. They were still using thin clients with RDP connections because it was cheaper. Covid broke that.

State Water resource was cool because I learned a lot about agriculture and water management needs and demands. But it was a state job: stable, long term, decent benefits but shit pay.

I'm finding Heavy Industry to be really interesting because there are so many parts to it. I have to wear PPE and be aware of my surroundings. But I also get to talk to guys who think nothing of boiling 4 tons of water or the fact that entire freight trains, not just cars, the whole train, is dedicated to our processes.

Every day is a new adventure in "how the fuck did you do this" combined with "how dangerous is that" Toss in a little "just WHY" and you've got my job.

Did you know that you can still buy crank operated phones that only connect to other phones that are hard wired to that system? We use them because they're the only reliable way to communicate across a building that's big enough to park two aircraft carriers in it and have room left over but is also full of flammable shit that could engulf the entire building in 30 seconds if it lights up.

I mean I get to work around shit like this: (I took that myself)

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ElectricOne55@reddit

Same I work with higher ed migrations and there's a lot of back and forth emailing, bureaucracy, and 10 people to get on a call for something that can be handled through email.

I thought of applying for other roles since mine sucjs but the pay is good and it's remote.

I'm worried if employers will make a big deal if I only stayed a half a year to a year at some places and that's keeping me from applying to make it look like I stayed here longer. Do you think that's a big deal or no?

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Demented-Alpaca@reddit

Job hipping CAN be a red flag yes. But that's lots of shifts over many years. 1 isn't going to raise any flags.

And it NEVER hurts to be looking.

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ElectricOne55@reddit

I've had 3 jobs I stayed at for a year. This one I've been at for 2.5 years. I got this new manager that added a lot of extra goals in addition to the 3 to 8 projects that we do at one time. My main worry is that I'd either have to go back in person or take a pay cut. And that's even if I can find an interview.

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Demented-Alpaca@reddit

That's long enough to not raise any flags in my mind. Others might have more to say

Maybe post that?

But if you're struggling now a good time to start looking. It's WAY easier to find a job when you've already got one. You can afford to be selective and you interview differently; there's less pressure.

And hell, an interview is always good practice. I interviewed for jobs I knew I'd hate. (I was unemployed so not picky) But even those I got to use as a chance to hone my interview skills.

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Fly_lyce@reddit

I think i have a very similar background to you except for legal and higher ed. Worked in entertainment (Disney servicedesk), pharma, and county government. Now currently in industrial manufacturing. I think manufacturing is my current favorite with county government being a close second (its soo chill and layback but shit pay). How was legal and medical?

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Demented-Alpaca@reddit

Both of those were short stints and, in my experience really similar. High stress environments supporting low cost computers with clunky management tools like Epic on them. Things need to be done right now, if not yesterday, everything is confidential, anything you do has to be documented because it could be used in court later and everyone kind of looks down on you.

That last part is common everywhere to some extent but those fields it was more apparent.

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Soft-Mode-31@reddit

I've been in the industry for about 30 years now and I've never gotten a position from a job posting on LinkedIn. Some interviews but never a solid spot. I've been laid off twice, mutually agreed to leave a company I hated, left the industry for medical issues for about a year, and walked off another job.

What I've figured out is you need a recruiter, a big name one, that can represent you. This all depends on your background and experience. None of the big names are recruiting for entry level spots.

For example, I like Insight Global and they have helped me a few times. How did I get connected with one of them? I went to their job posting board and applied for a position I was certain had already been filled.

What that did though was put my resume in their system with the job title I applied for along with a matching skill set. Roughly 2 weeks after, a bit shorter actually, I was being pinged by IG recruiters from different areas of the country.

After the multiple pings, it looked like someone called "dibs" and the contact from other IG recruiters stopped. I landed a good position.

I would find a big name recruiting firm in your area, and apply for a job they have posted and see if that initiates contact.

Also understand that it's soon to be one of the worst times to look for employment. It's close to the financial year end and reqs will get pulled back due to budget shortfalls, the holiday season is coming, and in general everything slows down.

Good luck.

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ElectricOne55@reddit

I've had the same experience as you. Never got any interviews from applications that I filled out on linkedin. I would have random recruiters reach out. The roles would all be 6 month contract to hire jobs. The interviewers for those roles were always really toxic.

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roflsocks@reddit

I got hired off linkedin. Message recruiters directly with a brief pitch that demonstrates your qualifications for the role.

It's still a numbers game. But this approach had by far my highest response rate.

You have to actively filter out bad recruiters and refuse to work with them. This includes being willing to decline roles until you find one that meets your requirements.

Pick a salary minimum, and stick to it. Ask very early on for a comp range, and just politely decline all the roles below it.

Be clear about your contract vs permanent requirements. Be clear about remote vs hybrid vs on-site requirements.

Even after setting these requirements, you have to look out for the bait and switch, because enough people are willing to get fucked that they will keep trying it.

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Tymanthius@reddit (OP)

Thanks for the in depth answers

Also understand that it's soon to be one of the worst times to look for employment. It's close to the financial year end and reqs will get pulled back due to budget shortfalls, the holiday season is coming, and in general everything slows down.

And yea, that's why I'm asking now, so I can start looking early next year.

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6SpeedBlues@reddit

Agree with the above... LinkedIn is a reasonable tool to use, but not for the postings... Use LI as way to connect with people you know in the industry that are working at companies that have openings... ask for an intro / referral. And don't limit yourself to just people you worked with in the IT department - if you know any leaders or similar that have gotten roles, reach out and connect to them.

Of my most recent four jobs, only one of them came as a result of a listing online that I hit "Apply Now" for. The others were all due to knowing someone that referred me and got me the initial interview. I've also -never- gotten anywhere when a recruiter has reached out to me to start the conversation about a role they're hiring for (yet, anyway).

If you are able to work with a large recruiter that knows how to place your skills, great. Those are hard to find a lot of the time now, though. Bear down and put in the work... Finding a job is a full time job.

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UpperAd5715@reddit

I've gotten 3 interviews recently through recruiters that contacted me on linkedin. I'm in the market for a junior network engineer role and just having linkedin on "looking" while i get a last cert and some python familiarity before i start applying myself.

Explain them my history, my knowledge level (as in dont offer me for medior thats a waste of time) and that i have little to no interest/knowledge when it comes to managing systems.

every single damn interview was for a networking + systems role with one at 50/50 being by far the most interesting to me but god damnit guy cant you stop fking over your clients? I've only touched systems on a L1 servicedesk role where they (rightfully so) didnt let me even breathe near the servers.

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6SpeedBlues@reddit

Yeah, it's frustrating for sure... I've lost track of how many recruiters have contacted me over the years by various means saying "I saw your profile and felt you would be a great fit for..." or something similar. I've learned to respond with something like:

Thanks for reaching out to me. I'd be happy to set up a time to talk, but I would be interested in first in better understanding what part of my background and experience you felt was most relevant.

I seldom hear back, and when I do it's almost always a complete BS answer. Most of the 'recruiters' that reach out to me know damn well I have no interest in their role - they want me to refer someone so they can get paid.

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UpperAd5715@reddit

Hard to love them but also sometimes hard to hate them cause when you're looking in the current economy at the end of the year it sure isn't a gift, let alone for me whose trying to break into a junior function.

If i'd had my adhd meds 5 years ago i'd have had my CCNA and gone from ISP network support to jr network relatively easy, now theyre also asking for azure certs, security stuff, experience with monitoring/logging (like from where?!? Most positions outside maybe analyst positions don't often have this...) and scripting.

CCNA + AZ104, powershell, python and some basic monitoring i'm going to set up on a linux server better be enough cause i don't know what else i can do besides inventing a new routing protocol at that point...

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OneSeaworthiness7768@reddit

Is there still a demand for high level generalists? I feel like past a certain point you have to excel at something specific to make good money these days.

I found my recent role on LinkedIn.

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Tymanthius@reddit (OP)

That's a good question. I know 1-3 man shops often need them, and of course MSP's. Not that I can't specialize, but I like doing a bit of everything.

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OneSeaworthiness7768@reddit

Yeah those kind of places for sure, I guess I don’t think of roles or businesses like that when I think of high level. I’m sure some of them pay well but I feel like more often than not, those small shops are overworking and underpaying their people.

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Tymanthius@reddit (OP)

It depends a lot on region and what the shop does. Several 'small' businesses around me handle millions of dollars a year. So they can afford to pay for IT. But getting them to understand that can be a struggle. ;)

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Cheomesh@reddit

You picked a rough time for it - I had good luck on Indeed a year or so ago but not so much now. I'd basically just go to company sites one by one.

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MissionBusiness7560@reddit

I've always had better response rates and actual interviews from Indeed. LinkedIn unless you're connecting with legitimate recruiters or people in your network directly I think is full of garbage and scams. Any remote job there gets hundreds (or more) of applications and I literally don't think I've ever gotten an interview from a LinkedIn direct apply. Both of my last 2 jobs have been through applying on Indeed.

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Ok-Carpenter-8455@reddit

Zip Recruiter has never failed me.

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itiscodeman@reddit

State work?

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Tymanthius@reddit (OP)

I wish. I pissed someone off at the state when I was a contractor there. I have a couple of good contacts, but nothing that's panned out.

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itiscodeman@reddit

lol

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brokentr0jan@reddit

LinkedIn has always been amazing for me. Just don’t get scammed by obviously fake recruiters, but put your job history, certs and skills on there and you’ll have people lining up to hire you.

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03263@reddit

Get on LinkedIn and open up your profile for recruiters. I get a good number of recruiter contacts when I do that. Always had more luck using recruiters than sending out applications.

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No_Investigator3369@reddit

India or a AI is where business is wanting to put these positions. Cisco Canvas is an example of LLM that will make changes and everyone knows outsourcing is the name of the game in IT this year. Companies are outsourcing internal facing positions because they don't really care if other internal employees are satisfied of the interaction. Strap in. Personally, I'm moving to digital marketing as we have a business that far easier and pays way more per unit of services sold. Architecting and troubleshooting have been watered down where it is not a respected craft at the moment and I simply don't recommend trying to raise a family on a technology salary. Indirect things like health issues erase any gains in $$ that you might see between other industries.

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Wrong_Bluebird_2438@reddit

LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn. Find everyone you know and people they know. Anyone you know on FaceBook etc find them on Linkedin. When there's a job you like look for connections and ask for help getting the resume on a real person's desk. it works.

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Tymanthius@reddit (OP)

Thanks. Wonder how well that will work for remote jobs? Can't hurt tho.