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Breaking into networking

How can I break into networking? I have lots of IT training, including my current CCNA track with a 90+% average and help desk, training and app specialist experience, but the jobs appear to elude me.

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Given your credentials and experience, let me suggest the following:

  1. Keep trying. If you keep at it, you will succeed sooner or later.
  2. Talk to some technical recruiters. Get some feedback on your interviewing skills, take a resume clinic, and network like crazy with friends and family. The more "inside help" you can get when you go for an interview, the more likely placement becomes. If a technical recruiter will actually help to place you, so much the better; they don't get paid until you get a job!
  3. Check out all reasonable offers. If you really, really, really want to get into networking you may have to swallow some potentially unpleasant experiences, such as relocation, entry-level placement, and/or pay cuts. The more flexible you can be about pay and location, the more likely you are to be able to make the switch you desire; the less flexible you can afford to be, the lesser the number of options you'll probably have.
Good luck! HTH,
--Ed--

This was first published in May 2001

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