Four-Year Runaround Salt Lake City UT

Posted by : Molly Joss

Dear Molly: I am A+ and Network+ certified. I have applied for networking, help desk and PC desktop/technician jobs in New York City. However, it has been a real challenge to find a job in the IT market. (The school that I did certification training with allegedly has job placement, but I have yet to receive a response from its placement coordinators.)

A lot of jobs require four-year degrees in computer science. Recruiters do not often mention certifications (I find that odd). Instead, they mention experience with certain platforms such as NT, UNIX or Cisco. How does a degree in computer science relate to networking, help desk or webmaster work? If a degree is a better way to find a job, why do we have all these certification schools around? Thanks.

Molly says: I wonder if part of the problem you're running into stems from the fact that most HR people don't have a clue about what IT certifications are, and so they're reaching for the most obvious solution--that is, to hire someone with a four-year degree from an accredited college. Hiring someone with this kind of degree for the kinds of jobs you mention doesn't make good business sense--someone with a four-year degree may be overqualified and move on much more quickly than someone who is certified in a particular area and who needs to build up a resume.

Here are some suggestions: look in online job databases and in the paper for jobs that do not require four-year CS degrees and jum...

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