Being ambitious when applying for a new Job?

sigma said:
One year and some part-time work doesn't really make you a senior tech in my experience. No harm in applying though.
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When I worked in bog-standard IT for a big organisation, our Senior Technicians had been standard IT Technicians (or IT Officers after the shake-up) for 5yrs minimum.

Our Network Managers (we had 7) had worked their way up, and were in their mid-30s when they attained the position.

Network or IT Manager in a school is a lot different to other organisations. When I applied for a Network Manager role at a school, it was £17k. Yet I lost the job to someone with 15yrs experience in IT.
Turned out better for me though, as I got an IT Technician job paying £19-23k the next week. The school Network Manager role was using Windows NT with recycled PCs; the role that I ended up getting in Higher Education IT Support was using brand new Win7 and equivalent hardware.

The only real bonus for school 'Network Manager' or 'IT Manager' roles is the ability for basic management experience and the job title. You will rarely make big decisions, manage many staff, or deal with modern hardware or modern software. Those things may float some people's boats, whilst sink others.
Most importantly, it is often better to start these roles in the Summer Holidays so that you can improve/change/customise the network; or in some cases, repair or do it correctly after the previous postholder had a very ad-hoc and lazy way of doing it.

Speaking to several in the School IT area, it is deemed as a job for life, not one for career progression. The salary, training and prospects just aren't there.
 
Had my first of the interviews today, it went really well! Just waiting for the good/bad news now.

Depending on the result of this one, I have interviews every day till next Wednesday and even two on this Thursday.

Haven't been turned down for interview yet though!
 
The OP is about to graduate from Uni to start at the university of Life.

Nothing wrong with ambition but be ready for the real world. Yes that sounds condescending, but Mags is right in what he says as well.

Good luck with hearing from the interview though.
 
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Didn't get the one today. They said it was extremely close between me and the successful candidate.

They said my technical expertise was great and they were extremely impressed especially with how I presented my self and dealt with the interview. However, they said the other guy had a slightly more consumer focused approached, which they put over technical expertise which let him pip the position. They said it was so close and said I'm sure I will find a similar position with ease and know I will be a good candidate (obviously just not for them) and they regret not being able to take my technical expertise.

So really positive feedback so time for the next one tomorrow, which involves a nice 2 hour drive to chertsety for 9:30 so I'll have to get up at 5am to get ready and get there in time.
 
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Unlucky, but sounded very positive.

The one silver lining is that the more interviews you have, the more comfortable you will be with them and the easier they will become :).
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Sorry to hear that, man! Chertsey could be good though, so good luck :) there's a really nice pub there called Thyme at the Tavern, if you need to relax after your interview!
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I won't have time to relax as I'll have to go back to the other side of the country ready for Thursdays interview lol.

The issue with the Chertsey one is the job looks great and the place, but its just expensive to live and the relative salary is a lot less. It will mean I'll have to buy ready for starting in september.
 
MonsterMoshi said:
As incorrect as I believe that statement is, I have nothing to back a counter argument
If people make the most of their placements then it will make them stand out

Internships/placements are seen by employers as year long interviews and you get out what you put in

The OP has clearly been very successful with his placement which puts him in a great position to be applying for the kinds of jobs he is
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I do, I'm just finishing off an electrical engineering degree. I'd say around a third of the people on that course did a placement, and most of those have been offered jobs (myself included). Of the ones that didn't, some couldn't find jobs, a lot of the others enrolled on a masters year because they couldn't find jobs. They still haven't. This could just be indicative of the type of person they are, but regardless, it makes a good case for placement years.

Whilst on mine I was treated as, and working as a full time member of staff with projects to complete, deadlines to meet, site work and plenty enough pressure.
 
They said I was best technically today and interviewed great but the headmaster on the phone said they wanted to play it safe and go with the experience guy who was like in his 40's but said he wouldn't of hesitated to employ me and I was holding my own with ease against people in their 20's and 30's. So 2/7 interviews down and been rejected from both but had good feedback. Least I got travel allowance today as I did 9 hours worth of driving from start to finish including getting stuck on the M6 for two hours.

Also found it straight for another one of the interviews I was asked to complete 7 tests for Hayes the recruitment agency. The asked for Web Dev experience as desirable (which I have strong in PHP) but then 4/7 tests were Web Dev Based on PHP, MYSQL (which were easy) and then two on ASP.NET which I don't know at all. I find it really strange that they seem to be wanting both when the skills were only desirable in the first place for the job. Even a professional Web Dev firm wouldn't have someone who does both!
 
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