Qualification / Direction advice?

[nephilim]

where are you based? A Job may be on offer here soon if you are interested! With your qualifications you sound ideal for the role available!

PM me for details

[Paradox]

Thanks for the posts everyone it's really helpful

where are you based? A Job may be on offer here soon if you are interested! With your qualifications you sound ideal for the role available!

PM me for details

I'm in Merseyside, unfortunately quite far from Luton, but thanks

Have you contacted any schools/college's to see if they are willing to take you on a volunteer basis? I know that we're taking on a volunteer sometime over the summer

-ken

Is that a common thing to do? I mean i've never heard of doing something like that. How long would you volunteer at a place for, without pay?

[tmcd35]

Believe me if someone banged on my door offering to volunteer during the 6/7 weeks summer break I'd be dragging them inside the building and setting them to work so fast they wouldn't know what's hit them!

Any ex-Students out their that want some on the job experience before starting uni/college I have still got over half a school that needs re-imaging

[Ignatius]

I'd thought about schools and colleges but what about the CRB regulations? I haven't been through that process so don't know how long it would take. There was a post recently about visitors to schools requiring a check so assumed that it would be necessary, even though any voluntary work would be out of term time. I suspected that "Rules is Rules" and a check couldn't be avoided.

[localzuk]

I'd thought about schools and colleges but what about the CRB regulations? I haven't been through that process so don't know how long it would take. There was a post recently about visitors to schools requiring a check so assumed that it would be necessary, even though any voluntary work would be out of term time. I suspected that "Rules is Rules" and a check couldn't be avoided.

It depends if the person will come into contact, and how often they'll be 'visiting'. My guess would be that during a summer holiday, contact with children is unlikely, so CRB isn't necessary.

[p858snake]

It depends if the person will come into contact, and how often they'll be 'visiting'. My guess would be that during a summer holiday, contact with children is unlikely, so CRB isn't necessary.

Are checks multisite (travel with you) or does each site need to check you? because if your applying for jobs and they travel with you, thats a excellent point for your cover letter/s.

[tmcd35]

I've changed school within the same LA and had a fresh check done for the new school. having the CRB on the CV probably helped a little and gave them piece of mind (if they employee me then I'll likely pass again) but they had to do another check anyway.

[mossj]

I don't put my CRB on the cv as every place i've worked/volunteered at demands a fresh one. Also it takes up valuable retail space when you have to condense your cv to 1/2 pages.

[wagnerk]

Don't quote me, however I'm pretty sure that as long as the person doesn't have access to children (and lets face it during holiday's there aren't any in) by themselves they can work/volunteer in the school, provided they are supervised & the CRB is being processed. Added to that they can be checked against List 99.

Like I said, don't quote me, personnel isn't my vocation

-Ken

[torledo]

Thanks for the replies definetly interested in the CompTIA ones.

Turns out I may have an interview, it's not for a school but for some company that does... well, even after having read their site a bit I still don't get what it is they actually do:
"business intelligence (BI) solutions & software provider bringing best of breed analytical applications and data warehousing best practice to businesses in both commercial and public sectors, across the UK & Europe."

I was hoping you guys could give me some advice for the interview, first off salary is posted as £12-18k negotiable depending on experience. Now, I have no experience, does that mean I shouldn't expect any more than the minimum here, or what? I really don't know how this all works, and this will be my first interview ever, aswell..

Job description:
"This position requires a commited and enthusiastic person with good communication skills and a willingness to learn.
The role will involve a whole range of technical & commercial support related tasks to ensure the business IT infrastructure operates efficiently.
Knowledge of MS Office apps is essential in order to fulfil short-term support and development commitments.
Any knowledge of MS SQL Server, Oracle, MS Access, Cognos, & Business Objects will be an advantage.
You will need to understand the basics of WIndows OS.
Duties Include: Internal Technical Support, Application support/installation (both internal and external to customers), Networking Support/Maintenance, Helpdesk coordinator (updating cases on CRM)"
(CRM = any idea??)

Any insight or advice with this would be a great help, I know it's probably not the right place for this either but I don't know where else to ask things like this, and I noticed other people with similar topics had helpful responses.

Thanks

hi there.

looks as if this is a junior role in an IT support team. They won't necessarily expect you to have bags of experience, in fact in a lot of these types of roles enthusiasm and ability to pick things up quickly is equally important. You've got a better start than most with your IT training.

You haven't indicated the job title being advertised, and i don't know the size of the company so i can only guess as above.

As for CRM, it normally stands for customer relationship management. Many companies use a CRM app for interacting with customers. So the system will have info about customers, sales leads, marketing campaigns etc..these systems also tend to have a service function/module and this is the part of the system where helpdesk tickets are either logged by support staff or entered by customers via some sort of web self-service portal

For actual internal helpdesk tickets medium and large biz traditionally go with a fully fledged helpdesk system like Remedy or HEAT. But if the functionality is there in the CRM, they could get by with just using that.

[dhicks]

Are checks multisite (travel with you) or does each site need to check you?

I got the impression that was the idea of the new Independent Safeguarding Authority check - something you paid for yourself and could take between places:

Independent Safeguard Authority - Home

--
David Hicks

[GrumbleDook]

Don't quote me, however I'm pretty sure that as long as the person doesn't have access to children (and lets face it during holiday's there aren't any in) by themselves they can work/volunteer in the school, provided they are supervised & the CRB is being processed. Added to that they can be checked against List 99.

Like I said, don't quote me, personnel isn't my vocation

-Ken

List 99 would be a standard check and as long as there are no kids around it should be ok, but always check with your LA if you have concerns. It may be that you simply 'escort' or 'partner' the volunteer during this time (use whichever word seems nicer!)

[p858snake]

I got the impression that was the idea of the new Independent Safeguarding Authority check - something you paid for yourself and could take between places:

Independent Safeguard Authority - Home

--
David Hicks

Well i'm not in the UK so i don't really know about yours, We Australian's have a similar card called the "Working with Children" card which is nicknamed the blue card but that nickname has a issue because the construction saftey card is also blue.

[Paradox]

hi there.

looks as if this is a junior role in an IT support team. They won't necessarily expect you to have bags of experience, in fact in a lot of these types of roles enthusiasm and ability to pick things up quickly is equally important. You've got a better start than most with your IT training.

You haven't indicated the job title being advertised, and i don't know the size of the company so i can only guess as above.

As for CRM, it normally stands for customer relationship management. Many companies use a CRM app for interacting with customers. So the system will have info about customers, sales leads, marketing campaigns etc..these systems also tend to have a service function/module and this is the part of the system where helpdesk tickets are either logged by support staff or entered by customers via some sort of web self-service portal

For actual internal helpdesk tickets medium and large biz traditionally go with a fully fledged helpdesk system like Remedy or HEAT. But if the functionality is there in the CRM, they could get by with just using that.

Thanks, the title was "IT Support Technician" and it is for this company.

[Paradox]

Ok, well i've decided to try that volunteer idea, but I don't really know how to go about it; do I just call up the reception of a school and then.. .what? I don't really know what I should say, plus won't there be not much at all to do during the summer holidays?