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andylow
26th April 2007, 05:36
Congratulations for your site. I am a graduate major in computer network. Now I want to get a job related to my major and have seeked help from career builder and resume writting, but I cann't find suitable positions, can you tell me which resources are suitable for me, or any other companies requiring my major? Thanks.

thawkins
30th April 2007, 16:37
Are you looking for a job in the US? If so, are you a US citizen? I'm just wondering because if you aren't a US citizen then you'll have to deal with the whole H1-B thing, and that could make the job search more tricky.

First thing is the resume. I've worked with HR people before and I can tell you the biggest red flag I've ever seen when handed technical resumes is inaccurate (think fraudulent) information or resumes that are so brief that they poorly sell a candidate. Remember, technical resumes are an extension of you and really are the primary way to getting an interview. I was told once that a single HR person may process like 10 applications for every one they call for an interview, so you literally have a very small chance to make an impression. I would recommend making several resumes tailored to specific areas you want to get into (one for programming, one for systems, etc). Also, I would have several technical and non-technical people give the resumes the once over for everything from grammar to completeness.

If you have a decent relationship with your professors, ask them if they have any good contacts. A lot of times CS/engineering professors also work in the private sector, or have significant contacts in that sector. Networking is by far the biggest resource to finding a job.

There are several decent job boards. I would say take a look at the following job boards:

dice.com
monster.com
computerjobs.com

If computer networking is your thing, I would also go to the company websites of companies that specialize in that field (Cisco, IBM, etc). Most times these places have a resume submission system in place. I've found that this type of resume submission is "hit-or-miss" and I wonder how much the HR departments of these companies use the resumes that are submitted. HOWEVER, most of the times the submission process is pretty painless and, like advertising, their's no such thing as bad publicity.

The main thing is to get your resume out there and get exposure. Also, since a lot of hiring people I've known believe that resumes have an "age" to them (basically, the longer you have a resume out there, the harder time you are having finding a job, so they start to think something is "wrong" with you), its seems to work best to use a "shotgun" approach and get your resume out there as quickly as possible in as many areas of visibility as possible (keep track of when and where you place them and "deactivate" them once you find something).

In my humble experience, if you have a solid technical background, you'll have plenty of people contacting you. My only real caution would be that if you are dealing a lot with third party agents (recruiters), be sure you carefully read the terms of any job offer you are given.

Good luck in your search!