IT work in the boston/MA area

[Donal78 0]

Hi,

I finally got my EAD on saturday so i started appling for jobs on sunday. I got a callback from an IT recruiter who are based in waltham but i am meeting him next week at their boston office. He wants to go through my resume with me and see if they have suitable position for me.

As i have been out of work for the last 6 months since finishing up with HP in dublin i dont really know what to expect. I will primarily be going for helpdesk starting off. I worked in dublin providing IT support to several UK and US companies on a 24/7 basis.

Has anyone have problems when trying to find the right type of job. I know its only been a few days but i am already thinking of heading into boston next week to find out about temp agency work.

Has anyone ever dealth with robert halfs technology. I have a meeting with them on monday.

Edited September 15, 2006 by Donal78

[PlatyPius 5]

I've dealt with Robert Half. I don't know about in your area, but here in the Indianapolis area, they are very, very lame. They never call back, and seem to only have minor projects that pay $12.00/hour or impossible positions like "Oracle/Adobe Database/Unix/Apple/SQL/Kronos/PeopleSoft/SAP developer/administrator needed. Must have 5 years of experience in all aspects. $155,000/year to start."

Since I couldn't find any real IT work in Indy, I'm working at HP. LOL I'm a warranty repair tech.....fixing the broken-####### computers as they come off of the assembly line.

Try these:

www.monster.com

www.careerbuilder.com

www.thingamajob.com

www.dice.com

[Donal78 0]

I've dealt with Robert Half. I don't know about in your area, but here in the Indianapolis area, they are very, very lame. They never call back, and seem to only have minor projects that pay $12.00/hour or impossible positions like "Oracle/Adobe Database/Unix/Apple/SQL/Kronos/PeopleSoft/SAP developer/administrator needed. Must have 5 years of experience in all aspects. $155,000/year to start."

Since I couldn't find any real IT work in Indy, I'm working at HP. LOL I'm a warranty repair tech.....fixing the broken-####### computers as they come off of the assembly line.

I got that feeling from the guy on the phone. I did a search on the website and there is no way i am working for 12 dollars an hour. I have 4 years IT experience and unless the position is great for me long term i will be stearing clear from them.

Is it normal for companies like robert halfs to ask for tax details even if they havent a job for you. He asked for details regarding my references as well. I need 4, 2 mangerial and 2 from my peers. I have tryed contacting my old boss but no luck so far. I have tried monster,bostonworks,careerbuilder,craigslist and dice. Bostonworks and careerbuilder seem to be the best so far.

Edited September 15, 2006 by Donal78

[PlatyPius 5]

Can always try this one too....

Foxconn builds HPs computers (and Dells, and, and, and....)

http://www.foxconn.com/jobs/location.asp

Is it normal for companies like robert halfs to ask for tax details even if they havent a job for you. He asked for details regarding my references as well. I need 4, 2 mangerial and 2 from my peers. I have tryed contacting my old boss but no luck so far. I have tried monster,bostonworks,careerbuilder,craigslist and dice. Bostonworks and careerbuilder seem to be the best so far.

Sometimes agencies do that, yes. It's so they can send you on an "Immediate!!!" contract and already have your tax info in the office, saving days of paperwork. I avoid agencies that do that. Of course, I'm rather paranoid.

Anyway, speaking of HP/Foxconn....it's time for me to leave for work. Good luck with the job search.

Edited September 15, 2006 by PlatyPius

[ChristinaM 0]

My husband has a job through Robert Half, which pays him more than $12 an hour and he's just in the process of negotiating the path away from RH and into the company itself for the long term. He doesn't speak highly of their customer service though, which is probably of note to you Donal since you're in the same location as he currently works. It could be because the lady he was working with originally left to have a baby and he's been pushed around since though, so I don't know how fair a comment that is.

Waltham Mass is a huge technology area, and obviously the Pease Tradeport too. If you can stand the commute into Massachussetts, I suspect the pay is better than you'll get in NH. Personally, I wouldn't want to fight my way into Waltham every day, but I'm not a city person at the best of times!

I will email you back - haven't gotten round to it yet, but I haven't forgotten.

[luv2teach77 41]

If Robert half doesn't work out for you or you want to look at additional staffing agencies you could look up TEKsystems. They are a recruiting agency that specializes in IT positions, normally long term contracts or Contract to hire. I noticed their name alongside a lot of positions advertised on Monster.com so contacted one of their recruiters through one of their ads. They were VERY pro-active, had me interviewing for a job within 2 weeks (which didn't result in an offer) but the second interview, within 3 weeks, landed me a job ($15/hr) I've been in since January. I was made permanent in April.

I came from a similar IT background to you (24/7 IT Operations for IBM) and would be happy to share my Resume if you need any help transferring your CV into a US formatted resume.

Mark

Edited September 18, 2006 by luv2teach77

[cmartyn 0]

no way i am working for 12 dollars an hour

Thats Ok, The government can import people on L1 Visas for far less than that. We have 30 IT people working for 94.00 a day each. They seem to want to work 12 hour days for the most part too.

[Donal78 0]

no way i am working for 12 dollars an hour

Thats Ok, The government can import people on L1 Visas for far less than that. We have 30 IT people working for 94.00 a day each. They seem to want to work 12 hour days for the most part too.

Thanx for sharing that !!! I worked 12 hour days and had no problem with that.

[PlatyPius 5]

I would work 12 hour days if I could. HP is experiencing a bit of a slump at the moment, and most of us (repair techs) are waiting for the layoff letter. Well, the others are. I was hired recently, so am no longer on contract. I only have to worry about being fired, not laid off. lol

For luv2teach77: The one link I posted, www.thingamajob.com , is the job search site for Tek Systems. I've had two jobs through Tek, and am now black-listed from ever working for them again. Both times, the job wasn't what they presented it as. That, along with the second-lowest salary I've ever had in the IT industry, led me to quit each one after a week. That may just be the Indy area, though.

The state of IT in Indiana is pretty awful. That's why I'm working for Foxconn making $14/hour. Overtime is $21/hour, which is $1 less than what my NORMAL wage was a year ago.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I got that feeling from the guy on the phone. I did a search on the website and there is no way i am working for 12 dollars an hour. I have 4 years IT experience and unless the position is great for me long term i will be stearing clear from them.

For Boston, minimum hourly rate I would even consider (if I even wanted to go there which I don't--lousy for travel to Calgary) would be $65 (as it is easily as expensive as DC or Montgomery County, MD).

Is it normal for companies like robert halfs to ask for tax details even if they havent a job for you. He asked for details regarding my references as well. I need 4, 2 mangerial and 2 from my peers. I have tryed contacting my old boss but no luck so far. I have tried monster,bostonworks,careerbuilder,craigslist and dice. Bostonworks and careerbuilder seem to be the best so far.

Some agencies do indeed ask you to fill such paperwork. I recently had to do new jobhunting, and RHT was one of the ones I contacted (and yes, they did ask me to do this; they had a project in Columbia at $52/hr--didn't get to interview as I accepted another offer before this one was set-up).

FYI, I've generally found a lot of my work from dice.com (either resumes posted there, or through apps to specific positions), only a few non-resultive interviews through monster.

no way i am working for 12 dollars an hour

Thats Ok, The government can import people on L1 Visas for far less than that. We have 30 IT people working for 94.00 a day each. They seem to want to work 12 hour days for the most part too.

Where in Northeast? That rate may work in ME or NH, but fails miserably from MA southwest to NC.

[ChristinaM 0]

That rate ain't happening in NH! My husband earns almost 150% of that in Portsmouth NH. It might work in Maine, but that's only because there are so few IT jobs up here - hence why my husband commutes across the border every day. Contrary to popular belief, ME is not a cheap state to live in. We need a living wage too!