I'm currently in my second month as a Network Technician at my company. I went back to college after getting divorced in my late 30s and having to figure my life out again. Here are some of the reasons my co-workers who interviewed me decided I was the one to hire:
- I admitted when I didn't know something during the interview. But then I went home, googled what they'd asked and wrote back with an e-mail what they wanted to know. This impressed both the IT team as well as HR.
- I was pleasant to EVERYONE, even the assistant who was scheduling the interviews. She later told me that I was the only one who'd treated her with respect and she was so thrilled I was hired. This should be a no-brainer, but I guess not.
- On my LinkedIn profile I leaned into my time as a stay at home mom, focusing on the soft skills I learned while at home with the kids: Planning, organizing, communicating, etc. The network engineer I took over from, who was also part of the interview process told me that he LOVED this on my resume and even called his wife over to read it. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but you're not going to be working for everyone. Just one company.
- I acknowledged that I still needed to learn a lot even though I had my CCNA and Associate's degree. I hadn't touched Palo Alto or Solarwinds. I showed that I was open to learning everything.
Because of this the company rewrote the position to fit me, acknowledging that I was still in training and they were happy for me to continue training while working for them. To quote my boss: "They could train me the way they wanted me to be trained and I didn't come with any bad habits from previous jobs."
I realize my company is one in a million, and I'm so thankful I found them. But I think acknowledging what would normally be a giant gap on my resume, and drawing the positive I learned in that time helped a lot in getting my foot in the door.
Edit: OMG! I didn't expect it to blow up like this! Y'all are wonderful! I wanted to share it because before I got this job I was really down and felt I'd never get a job in IT. If these tips can help anyone get past that first interview and into the second one, and then a job, that would make my day.
Therapy. Doing stuff that makes you feel good about yourself. Stop and realize you're a good human and you're really good at <interest stuff here>. Exercise. Going outside. Getting older and realizing everyone is just winging it.
Meirl
meirl