Mate unemployed seeks new career - IT?

Maundie said:
It really isn't there's far too many people looking for work, the wife has just been telling me that they advertised for a 1st line analyst recently and on the original sift they counted 187 applicants, immediately the discarded any applications that had a personal statement of less than 700 words (the upper limit was 1250) which took it down to a more manageable 70ish applications of which they've selected 8 for interviews, I can't imagine you friend would make it through the 1st sift never mind as far as interview stage.
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Thats me out of luck then. I'm lucky enough to not need to supply a CV to anyone for the last decade, but it would never have occurred to me that a "Personal Statement" of that size was expected or even needed. Personally we sift CVs for roles by how well they fit the skills needed, a brief outline of "this is where I used this experience recently" and checking the quality of the CV.

How many people applying for a 1st line analyst role [ie. one step up from helpdesk call centre handler] have enough work and life experience to write over 700 words about themselves?

For reference, that 700 words is this much waffle
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Sod reading 70 CVs worth of that.
I doubt the job description had that much verbage in it.
 
Quartz said:
I disagree. The military will give him an education and being ex-military will open many doors.
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He's got no GCSEs - that will rule him out from various trades already. It doesn't sound like the sort of candidate that would score well on an aptitude test either.

I don't think he'd get anything IT related in the military at this point, at least he'd not be able to join in that sort of role.
 
dowie said:
He's got no GCSEs - that will rule him out from various trades already. It doesn't sound like the sort of candidate that would score well on an aptitude test either.

I don't think he'd get anything IT related in the military at this point, at least he'd not be able to join in that sort of role.
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Certain technicals trades, such as ET(ME), have no GCSE requirements and would provide him training.
 
alexakasloth said:
Certain technicals trades, such as ET(ME), have no GCSE requirements and would provide him training.
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What is ET(ME) though? Is that some RAF or Navy thing?

I didn't say he couldn't get any trade training but I'd doubt very much he'd go into an IT/comms related role. I mean he could probably join the RLC and get some sort of trade but he's not likely going to be joining say signals and getting anything IT or comms related.
 
dowie said:
What is ET(ME) though? Is that some RAF or Navy thing?

I didn't say he couldn't get any trade training but I'd doubt very much he'd go into an IT/comms related role. I mean he could probably join the RLC and get some sort of trade but he's not likely going to be joining say signals and getting anything IT or comms related.
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True but there's opportunities there that aren't IT specific and if he's not dead set on IT then tech trades are worth pursuing.

It's the navy equivalent of RLC marine engineer.
 
Ah... that is a bit surprising. While that isn't IT related it does seems there is actually an IT/comms related trade he could pursue in the Navy with no qualification required. (I presume there is an aptitude test though).

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/career...unications-and-information-systems-specialist

It is a bit of a contrast - IIRC even bricklayers in the Royal Engineers require some GCSEs!

Looks like the RAF requires GCSEs for their comms roles too - the Navy seems to be the one to go for if the OP was considering the forces.
 
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As someone who speaks to a lot of folk every so often about getting in IT........
Your friend has very little chance of getting in with the situation he finds himself in right now. He needs to significantly up his skill set as many have said before me.

Heck i see students come through computing degrees we run to ask about joining an IT team such as ours and most of the time i disappoint them by saying they need to do more basic work and experience. Yes they might get in 1st line if they are lucky after doing there 3 years or so ....
I have had one or two excellent students come through and do non paid work experience with us for a few months which has massively helped them with there subsequent job hunting in IT so thats where i would start if i were your mate - see if an apprenticeship or some sort of experience scheme can be followed.
 
skyripper said:
Thats me out of luck then. I'm lucky enough to not need to supply a CV to anyone for the last decade, but it would never have occurred to me that a "Personal Statement" of that size was expected or even needed. Personally we sift CVs for roles by how well they fit the skills needed, a brief outline of "this is where I used this experience recently" and checking the quality of the CV.

How many people applying for a 1st line analyst role [ie. one step up from helpdesk call centre handler] have enough work and life experience to write over 700 words about themselves?

<snip>

Sod reading 70 CVs worth of that.
I doubt the job description had that much verbage in it.
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Same here ... I think my "personal statement" in my recent CV was probably not much more, if any more, than half of the first paragraph of that. Plus maybe a couple of lines on relevant interests at the very end of the CV. Generally trying to limit the total length of the CV would mean a block of text like that would practically take up half the CV.
 
Does he want to do IT as a career or was it more you told him he could get a decent wage by doing a few certs?

I only ask as he's likely to need to really "want" to do it to get any employer to take him on and look past the lack of qualifications.

Another option which doesn't require any qualifications is for him to start offering basic IT tech services himself, even just to bring some money in while studying. Depends if he's already pretty good at sorting the usual home customer bugs out, setting up wifi etc etc. Personally in his situation I'd get a part time job doing anything and study towards something I wanted to do, probably a trade.
 
Puzzled said:
Does he want to do IT as a career or was it more you told him he could get a decent wage by doing a few certs?

I only ask as he's likely to need to really "want" to do it to get any employer to take him on and look past the lack of qualifications.

Another option which doesn't require any qualifications is for him to start offering basic IT tech services himself, even just to bring some money in while studying. Depends if he's already pretty good at sorting the usual home customer bugs out, setting up wifi etc etc. Personally in his situation I'd get a part time job doing anything and study towards something I wanted to do, probably a trade.
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Lmao. I've been told he cant even put together a computer. And no it wasnt me that told him to do IT, it was my mate. (he is a friend of his not mine. I'm just giving the advice as I'm the one in IT)
 
opethdisciple said:
Lmao. I've been told he cant even put together a computer.
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Oh dear, i hope you've not wasted too much time on trying to source him some employment then.

I always remember back in the days when i did an internship, and at the end you had to do the recruitment for the following years interns. The positions were very technical, with a variety of engineering and development roles, so we'd get quite a number of good applicants.

Anyway, one of the questions we always asked during the technical interview was to draw/talk us through the components that make up a computer. Obviously expecting the best candidates to go down in a bit more detail than just CPU/RAM and PCI slots. One applicant drew out a computer, monitor, keyboard & mouse, one of those moments you try really hard not to laugh especially in an interview.
 
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