Market for IT Grads...? (Chicago, Atlanta: find a job, to buy, income)

[envirocopy512]

I graduated from Loyola about 2 years ago with an MIS degree, but have spent most of the time since then traveling in SE Asia and working a clerical job at a law firm in Hawaii. I haven't gotten any IT work experience since I graduated, which makes me a little intimidated/self-conscious about things.

I'm considering moving back to Chicago from Hawaii (yes, I'm crazy), so that's why I ask.

[Rod_moore]

I am also seeking employment in the Chicago area. I'm currently a network engineer (located in the Atlanta area) with 8 years experience, Cisco Certification, and a Masters Degree..I've been seeking employment since November.. all to no avail. I'm starting to get depressed about it..

I hope your luck is better than mine

[RichMonk]

When I switched careers from physics to business analysis I looked back at the Chicago market to see if i would have fared better pursuing that. I had already left Chicago by this point. The difference was phenomenal. Where I only saw physics openings once in a blue moon I saw scores of programming and business analysis positions.

Also, from experience, most employers will put your resume at the bottom of the pile if your address is outside of the metro.

[Rod_moore]

Richmonk,

I've found that to be so true about the address situation. However, I don't know any work arounds for that. I could use my fiance's address I suppose?

[RichMonk]

Originally Posted by Rod_moore

Richmonk,

I could use my fiance's address I suppose?

Do that

[Jandur]

The IT market here is good, but only good for certain people. The bottom line comes down to your exact skillset. Being and "IT grad" can mean a wide range of things, some of which there are markets for, others there arent.

[chet everett]

Jandur is partially correct that it is about skill sets, but that really is only part of the story. I will try to be somewhat general, but since the OP laid out some details about their past I will use some of those details to illustrate how IT hiring managers evaluate candidates. This is not to pick on the OP and the practices I have seen over the past 15 years when most of my income has come from IT related fields has proven true regardless of how the organization is structured.

First when an IT hiring manager decides there is a need to add staff the decision to add either a jr/ entry level person OR a midlevel person OR a senior person the PRIMARY factor is the needs of that manager's specific area. Other areas in the same firm might have a totally different need. Maybe one group is heavy with senior people. Maybe they are growing their part of the business. Maybe they recently lost some people. Yes, maybe they only the budget authorization for a jr person. The manager then asks their internal HR / recruitment people to gather up resumes for the selected group. Sometimes outside recruiters are also used. The resumes sometimes come in a BIG pile and the task of weeding out BAD RESUMES (which is different than weeding out bad candidates...) means that red flags land resumes in the recycle folder. If your address is NOT in the region it does not make sense unless you are shooting for a VERY hard to fill role. If your resume, even for VERY jr position does not have some SOLID ways you can contribute FAST it gets recycled. If you have an advanced degree and no tangible way for it to make you a more valuable contributor than some one that does not it gets recycled.

In the case of the OP if they were traveling and doing clerical work in a law firm their resume is NOT going to showcase them to hiring managers in a favorable light. Short of having some GREAT connections / contacts they are NOT going to be able to line up any interviews. I have some good friends that are currently in IT management at midsized / larger law offices in Chicago and they are NOT expecting their IT hiring to pick up any time soon. This is in contrast to some other friends in financial firms and even e-commerce based firms in the region that ARE expecting IT hiring to increase. This shows that the underlying 'health' of the various sectors makes quite a difference.

On to skill sets. Right now the demand for "generic" IT skills is lower than it for those that have the ability to add value in specific ways. I am deliberately being a little vaque, but lets say you have SOLID skills in networking, like the poster above with certification in Cisco and 8 years of experience. That ought to make them a good candidate for a midlevel role at many firms, maybe even "senior" BUT if the eight years of experience does not include some "specific" skills your resume will get recycled -- what kinds of specifics depend largely of the firm. Some places expect all their midlevel hires to have experience IN THE INDUSTRY, so if you were working for say a bank in Atlanta and want to work for say an e-commerce company in Chicago your resume gets recycled. Other firms have more of "specific technology stack focus" so that if you were doing Cisco related stuff that was heavy on VPNs and firewalls and they are looking for someone with depth of experience in say edge cacheing and remote office acceleration your resume gets recycled...

MIS is another beast altogether -- most firms have a bias against hiring a new MIS grad. The assumption is that such a person might have a tech-ish mix of course work but not enough depth to really justify the added costs of a Masters. If the firm NEEDS a person to handle compliance or audit or even change control details / process oriented stuff there is more of a likelihood they might consider such a person, but the typical avenue for hiring such people is directly through an internship or as part of "on campus recruiting". The odds of a random resume from some one that earned a Masters two years ago looking "better" than a fresh intern / on campus hire are slim...

Additionally there are SOME MIS grads that are more in demand. The folks that have hands on experience with "decision support systems" in a broad sense or specific data analytics / data mining are less of a risk for a firm that needs people with those subsets of skills, but even then TWO YEARS is a long time to let those skills fester. Changes in buzzwords alone would likely put such a resume in line for recycling. Even a new grad / jr person hired with a freshly minted masters is more likely to have done some class project involving some offering from Google, the "cloud", or current trends in advance ways of getting value from data...

Subtopics that are part of most MIS programs can SOMETIMES be a great way into a good firm. Everything from security to SLDC to the "people manageement" side of MIS are good ways to set one apart from generic resumes, but again two years traveling and doing clerical work is a big black mark...

My suggestion: First dig out your old course work and contact lists. Ideally you had at least some tenured profs that have connections in the Chicago IT community. Many Loyola profs do work closely with firms in the region and they can be great resources to both get a pulse as to how good / bad certain sub areas might be AS WELL AS potentially be a way to bypass the big resume sorting process.

If you have email addresses of other students that finished the program when you did it is useful to ask them similar questions. Nothing to do "on the spot"-ish, just "Hey, remember that project we worked on at LU. How's things going? Happy with your current job? I've been surfing out the meltdown in Hawaii and am now thinking of maybe moving back to Chicago, call me crazy but I prefer sausage and beef to poi :0 . Any tips on how I might get back into MIS? Check out my Facebook page. Tweet me some time. I'll buy you a beer when I am back in town... "

You goal is to BYPASS THE RESUME RECYCLNG MACHINE!

If you are smart about using online communities it can be done.

Good Luck!

[aragx6]

The address thing can definitely work, but you have to be willing to make it work. If they're going to buy that you live in-town you can't really have a job in another metro.

So first you gotta be unemployed. Then you have to have the flexibility (and the funds) to come up to Chicago on short notice for interviews -- if they believe you're here in the metro it's hard to buy more than a few days' time.

Just something to think about if you're in ATL or Hawaii

[emathias]

Originally Posted by RichMonk

Do that

And get yourself a Chicago-area phone number (you can get a free one through Google voice).

[envirocopy512]

Thanks a lot for your responses everyone, especially Chet for your particularly detailed insight. I've definitely dug a bit of a hole for myself in the last 2 years. It really does sound rough out there right now.

Just to clarify, my MIS degree is a bachelor's degree, not a masters. Truth be told, I'm really just looking for ANY entry level job, whether its in IT or not. Getting work experience is my primary objective. Maybe non-profits or even volunteering for a while might be good ideas.

Either way, I'm expecting to have to relocate out there before I find a job. I've saved about 15k over the past year, so I have a decent cushion to keep me afloat for a while.