General Advice for Job Applicants

[witch]

I have to say that I don't bother with recruitment agencies anymore, I have never even had an acknowledgement of an application let alone an interview. In fact, I am dubious as to whether a lot of the advertised jobs still exist.

You may well be right although that is illegal. However, quite a few companies exclusively use recruitment companies so if you don't send them your CV you will not be able to access that company. I can name you three in my immediate area

IMHO (ex recruitment/headhunter) your CV should go out everywhere - even the "office" agencies sometimes get sent IT jobs that they blithely try and recruit for - you might have a good chance.

Yes, if you think you could do the job and can back that up with experience, then do go for a job even though it is asking for more experience and a qualification you don't have. You might be lucky to find a recruiter who knows what they are looking at

 

Bit of a necro thread but good advice always bears repeating

[Radlands]

Some advice when applying for jobs .

 

It's really important that you don’t just list a bunch of products or technologies without any context around what experience you have with a particular technology(*especially the key ones). It's also useful to include in which role you obtained that experience too.

*Which ones are the key ones? Have you checked the person spec and job description to see which ones are named or implied? Which ones are "essential" which ones are"desirable"?

 

If you just write "VMWare" without explaining how you know the product, the person reading your application won't understand in what capacity you know it, is it as user? administrator? supporting/maintaining? can you commission the product based on someone else's design or can you design and deploy the solution based on a organisations business requirements?

 

How big is the deployment? single host? multiple hosts? local storage? shared storage?

 

Be honest, If you can show an understanding of where your experience lies, then it will demonstrate that you understand there is a spectrum of roles that are required to deliver and manage a particular service.

 

If you just say"I've worked with VMWare" then it can seem that you don’t understand the full range of knowledge and experience needed to deliver and manage a service or you are trying to cover up your lack of experience. Showing this understanding might be enough to get you an interview or maybe the job, even if you don’t have the experience yet.

 

Sometimes having a good base of understanding to work from is enough for an employer, training and experience can always be gained.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Radlands

[witch]

Have to disagree. A list is a starting point. If for example, VMWare was mentioned in the job spec then I would expect there to be some expansion of experience elsewhere on the application form.

There is not enough space to contextualise every skill you have. A list enables the interviewer to pick out things to expand on.

[Radlands]

Absolutely, I agree completely, you cant put context around every skill or product but the key skills you should.

 

You can put context around the list though:

 

Experience supporting: Backupexec, Veeam, Windows 7.

Deploying: 2012, Exchange, SQL.

Providing system admin: Active Directory, DHCP, CCTV, VOIP

[mdrabble]

Not quite we’re to post this question so thought would post it here as it an application question.

 

Seen a job I am very interested in and might consider applying for.

 

Would you put down now defunct Microsoft qualifications?

 

Such as MCSE and MCSA on NT4 and server 2000 & XP?

 

I know these show past knowledge and learning etc but are they relevant in todays applications/jobs?

 

Cheers

[elsiegee40]

Not quite we’re to post this question so thought would post it here as it an application question.

 

Seen a job I am very interested in and might consider applying for.

 

Would you put down now defunct Microsoft qualifications?

 

Such as MCSE and MCSA on NT4 and server 2000 & XP?

 

I know these show past knowledge and learning etc but are they relevant in todays applications/jobs?

 

Cheers

 

Do you put down O level , CSE, A Level and degree even if they pre-date the ark? Of course you do.

 

My BSc (Hons) Computer Studies was started on punch cards, went via PDP 11 and finished on George III… none of what I studied is currently relevant. I have a degree and that’s what’s important

 

Old IT qualifications show your depth of experience and expertise

[mdrabble]

Do you put down O level , CSE, A Level and degree even if they pre-date the ark? Of course you do.

 

My BSc (Hons) Computer Studies was started on punch cards, went via PDP 11 and finished on George III… none of what I studied is currently relevant. I have a degree and that’s what’s important

 

Old IT qualifications show your depth of experience and expertise

 

Thank you :-)

[GrumbleDook]

If you put down time limited qualifications (PRINCE2, etc.) put in the years in which you were covered.

[richyboy80]

Great thread!

[Davit2005]

I would certainly note down expired certs i.e. CCNA. You still passed so although might be lacking some new tech or maybe even forgotten some stuff it should still be relevant. I still put down my CCNA even though I passed in 2003, yep forgotten some of the stuff because I did not have daily or even any experience since. But basics such as IP addressing, subnetting, DHCP, DNS, etc. will still be handy no matter what you role do in IT support.

[gltrnt]

The most valuable advice I received in my career came from senior colleagues at Modsen, and it was this: "Code becomes outdated, technologies change, but the fundamental understanding of how computers execute your instructions stays with you forever. Focus on learning principles, not just languages."

[sigma]

On 15/09/2025 at 12:54, gltrnt said:

The most valuable advice I received in my career came from senior colleagues at Modsen, and it was this: "Code becomes outdated, technologies change, but the fundamental understanding of how computers execute your instructions stays with you forever. Focus on learning principles, not just languages."

Mainframe Sysprog  agrees with you.