Jobs in IT field

[champi 13]

Hello VJ friends,

I am trying to prepare for my husband's move to US. He has worked in IT field for past 5 years (including 3 years at a company whose headquarter is in California). I've had a stable job ever since I got out of college, that too Internship-turned-into-Job. So I don't have much experiences with interviews, looking for job, etc. I want to help my husband as much as possible and prepare/support as much as possible. We're located in Charlotte, NC and we'll not be able to relocate due to personal reasons. I would like to hear ideas, suggestions, etc from you.

1. Look at popular job sites (dice.com, monster.com, careerbuilder.com). Any others? I don't have much hope with these option since most people I've talked to has said they have never been able to find jobs with these sites.

2. Looking at staffing companies. I looked websites for couple: Adecco, Kelly, Manpower. But none of them listed any openings in Charlotte. This is bit discouraging since I thought staffing companies would have good chances, at least that's what I've heard from people.

3. Talking to friends/coworkers. Unfortunately, all my friends are in Java-based field and my husbad is in .Net based field. They can help but not sure how much.

Any other options? suggestions? Thank you very much!!!

PS: He has been working on prepping the resume but we've not actually applied anywhere yet since his POE is at the end of this month and we thought it is better to apply once he has social security card.

[Old Dominion 26]

The temp agencies will work with him and sooner or later, an opening will occur that will get him in on the ground floor somewhere. The economy in Charlotte is a bit puny right now, what with the crisis in banking and so forth. One needs to know more about the Charlotte job market before wasting time replying to ads. Personal contact is the best strategy -- hang out with someone in that field of work.

[champi 13]

Very true about Charlotte's economy. Every major bank here has been on their last leg. I work in downtown Charlotte and I see quite a bit of difference such as, lunch places closing down, significant reduction in lunch crowd or other downtown events, news of contractors being let go, etc. That's why I am starting a big in advance on this job-search task.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I know you said you can't relo for personal reasons, but all you're doing is boxing yourself into a corner by saying that. If you want to work, sometimes you just have to go where the work is. Especially during a time like now, when the economy is somewhat weak and frankly in a bit of a state of transition, flexibility is key.

[champi 13]

I know you said you can't relo for personal reasons, but all you're doing is boxing yourself into a corner by saying that. If you want to work, sometimes you just have to go where the work is. Especially during a time like now, when the economy is somewhat weak and frankly in a bit of a state of transition, flexibility is key.

Agreed. I also realize even I am limiting my career but sometimes situation and other responsibility doesn't allow one to be flexible. Thanks for the input

[Saddle Bronc 124]

• Put CV/resume on monster, dice, ... similar job-boards
• create linked-in profile

[champi 13]

• Put CV/resume on monster, dice, ... similar job-boards
• create linked-in profile

Thanks CherryXS, will do.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

... sometimes situation and other responsibility doesn't allow one to be flexible. Thanks for the input

You also have a responsibility to put food on the table. Sometimes, responsibilities clash and then you gotta prioritize

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

ps. hint: there is plenty of IT work right now if you're a USC and willing to move to Fredericksburg.

[champi 13]

... sometimes situation and other responsibility doesn't allow one to be flexible. Thanks for the input

You also have a responsibility to put food on the table. Sometimes, responsibilities clash and then you gotta prioritize

Yep. Knock on the wood, I've a stable enough job (I think) right now so it's not a do or die situation Relocating is a worse case scenario that we're not yet going to explore right now

ps. hint: there is plenty of IT work right now if you're a USC and willing to move to Fredericksburg.

But my husband isn't a USC... but I'll keep this in back of my mind, in case if we do decide to relocate... Thanks!!! more options = better

Edited June 8, 2009 by champi

[perfect 39]

My husband is a Director of IT in a California company and right now it seems that many IT departments are cutting costs by using freelance IT technical peeps.

One of the websites they review from is www.scriptlance.com where people basically advertize their freelance IT abilities and bid on specific projects. They get paid through Paypal. My husband has used several IT people for jobs from this site and has been quite impressed with the calibre of IT techs he has worked with.

May be a good alternative to waiting for interviews or recruiters to contact you and it can be done from anywhere in the world.

[champi 13]

My husband is a Director of IT in a California company and right now it seems that many IT departments are cutting costs by using freelance IT technical peeps.

One of the websites they review from is www.scriptlance.com where people basically advertize their freelance IT abilities and bid on specific projects. They get paid through Paypal. My husband has used several IT people for jobs from this site and has been quite impressed with the calibre of IT techs he has worked with.

May be a good alternative to waiting for interviews or recruiters to contact you and it can be done from anywhere in the world.

Hi perfect,

Your response is just like your name. thanks a ton!!!! My husband has done some freelance work within India and we were wondering how to look for freelance type of work in US while we look for permanent job. Thank you again!!!!

[Kinito_2k3 5]

My husband is a Director of IT in a California company and right now it seems that many IT departments are cutting costs by using freelance IT technical peeps.

One of the websites they review from is www.scriptlance.com where people basically advertize their freelance IT abilities and bid on specific projects. They get paid through Paypal. My husband has used several IT people for jobs from this site and has been quite impressed with the calibre of IT techs he has worked with.

May be a good alternative to waiting for interviews or recruiters to contact you and it can be done from anywhere in the world.

Hi perfect,

Your response is just like your name. thanks a ton!!!! My husband has done some freelance work within India and we were wondering how to look for freelance type of work in US while we look for permanent job. Thank you again!!!!

Hi Champi,

I live in Durham, and am an IT professional. The job market down here is very very tough, especially for a non USC I believe. The thing that I found the most surprising is that most of the time you will be required to have some certifications that you've never heard of, just because it seems to be the way the pre-screening is being done.

If he has significant experience with SAP, Citrix products, Cisco, IBM softwares, peoplesoft, Oracle, he will be fine, he will be able to leverage his skills and get a job easily. If he is a Project Manager, I urge him to look into PMP certification provided by the PMI and see if he is able to obtain it. Great certification to obtain as well is one of the Six Sigma ones (green belt for example) - without one of those he will barely pass the screening stage even he is is highly qualified (that was my case), just being able to put that on your CV open almost all doors. Oh, and also, forget about leveraging foreign certs (prince2 for example), they just don't bother due to the volume of applicants. At the moment, it is highly competitive, and it seems like you have to have 15 years for experience that would require 5 years in my home country, achievements are more important than potential at the moment, that's the way his resume should be oriented - "what did I achieve and why is it important"

And tell him to be patient, there is very little HR ethics down here, almost impossible to follow-up on anything - very frustrating. It's been a pain in the A** for me, took me about 3 to 4 months to get used to the situation. Oh, and as a rule of thumb, focus on his industry of expertise, it seems to be hard to move cross industry - at least for now

I hope this helps, I'll be more than happy to help more should you need more information!

Cheers

Seb

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Good post, Kinito

Edited June 9, 2009 by Randomizer

[champi 13]

Hi Champi,

I live in Durham, and am an IT professional. The job market down here is very very tough, especially for a non USC I believe. The thing that I found the most surprising is that most of the time you will be required to have some certifications that you've never heard of, just because it seems to be the way the pre-screening is being done.

If he has significant experience with SAP, Citrix products, Cisco, IBM softwares, peoplesoft, Oracle, he will be fine, he will be able to leverage his skills and get a job easily. If he is a Project Manager, I urge him to look into PMP certification provided by the PMI and see if he is able to obtain it. Great certification to obtain as well is one of the Six Sigma ones (green belt for example) - without one of those he will barely pass the screening stage even he is is highly qualified (that was my case), just being able to put that on your CV open almost all doors. Oh, and also, forget about leveraging foreign certs (prince2 for example), they just don't bother due to the volume of applicants. At the moment, it is highly competitive, and it seems like you have to have 15 years for experience that would require 5 years in my home country, achievements are more important than potential at the moment, that's the way his resume should be oriented - "what did I achieve and why is it important"

And tell him to be patient, there is very little HR ethics down here, almost impossible to follow-up on anything - very frustrating. It's been a pain in the A** for me, took me about 3 to 4 months to get used to the situation. Oh, and as a rule of thumb, focus on his industry of expertise, it seems to be hard to move cross industry - at least for now

I hope this helps, I'll be more than happy to help more should you need more information!

Cheers

Seb

Hi Kinito,

Thank you so much for all this very helpful information. I should have included more info about his experience. He has lil undser 5 years of experience in .Net technologies, mainly geared toward Windows applications and bit of web-development, but no web 2.0 experience yet. He had worked in IT department of health industry which is lot of Windows application. I am hoping that since he had traveled to US from his work for couple weeks last year, his company was US-based, he interacts with US team on regular basis, and have references from US, all these would help a little. I am not sure though. In terms of Certification, He completed one or two of the of Microsoft Certification, not sure which ones. I doubt these are helpful though, like you said, if your resume doesn't have a buzz word then everything else is pretty much ignored.

Again, thank you so so so much for the information, very valuable at a time like this. Let me know if anything come across your way.

Edited June 9, 2009 by champi