Posted on 08/30/2014 10:33:11 AM PDT by chrisser
Hoping to get some advice from FReepers who are hiring managers for tech positions - specifically system/network admins.
I've been in the field for almost 25 years. Been consistently employed with a consistently rising salary. Now mid 40s and currently employed.
But I would like to relocate to another city where we own property. I don't know anyone there other than our neighbors who are either retired, farmers, or both.
The area I'm looking at is Parkersburg WV. Not exactly a mecca of tech positions, but a few pop up occasionally on the job boards. I've been sending out resumes for about 3 years and haven't received a single response. There are two positions currently open - one's been open for almost a year and the other for more than a month. I've sent resumes to both (one to the latter, and resubmitted ever two months on the former's online portal). Not a peep. The latter is a small bank and I actually have banking experience. From their description, I'm a near perfect fit. Still nothing.
I send out a pretty detailed resume because these are technical positions. They run 3-4 pages because I've been at my current employer over a decade and, frankly, I've done a lot in a lot of different areas. Job descriptions these days are pretty vague so I feel I have to throw out as many different skills and areas of expertise as I can in order to catch the HR screeners with the right keywords.
Wondering if maybe I should condense my resume into a single page or maybe two. Or looking for any other advice on writing a resume to get through to an interview. What I'm doing now obviously isn't working.
BTW, after these last two jobs didn't even get me a nibble, I've started using the address of our local property rather than my current local address out of state. Even though I'm ready, willing and able to relocate at my expense, and I've put that on resumes and cover letters, I'm wondering if the non-local address is getting my resumes tossed. Would a potential employer consider that to be dishonest? It is a valid address for property I own and it is where I would live if they gave me the job, but it's not where I'm living now.
Any other advice more than welcome...
Are you responding to online job posts? If so, you’re one in a million respondents and yes, a far-away address might scare some hiring managers off.
I’d guess that, as usually is the case, you’d be better off identifying those in a hiring position at firms near where you want to work—and then reaching out to them directly. A letter or email with a follow up call would be the way to go. Even if they aren’t hiring immediately, they may be open to your coming in to chat with them about opportunities in the area. Perhaps they’d then be willing to refer you to other local companies as well. You never can tell.
If the WVa area is where you want to be, you’re not employed elsewhere and you already have local property, why don’t you just move there and conduct your search more locally? I can’t imagine you’d find too many other places with a lower cost of living.
I’ve always read and heard that a resume needs to be short and to the point. I’ve considered trimming my own resume down by leaving off older positions and non experience related information.
Good luck.
Call the local hiring manager and drop your resume USPS...
Online portals are haystacks...
If the job has not been filled for a year I’d wonder how vital and therefore secure the job is in the first place.
Also, you are assuming that the hiring manager or HR person is actually thinking about this position or much of anything else. Then there is the factor of people not taking adds down after filling the job. We see that all the time.
Other than that, there isn't much advice to give. Unless you personally know a hiring manager at your target company, there isn't any real way to get noticed as an outsider. In the tech field, companies are very well aware that after 40 most human beings' ability to calculate and learn new things has already slowed down dramatically. They are aware of the productivity arbitrage they gain from having a cheaper 25-year-old (or H1B candidate) with something to prove do the work instead of a complacent 40-year-old. They are aware of how much more the 40-year-old's health benefits are going to cost them. They are aware that in an emergency the 40-year-old will be at his son's baseball game and unavailable to come in and spend 12 hours rebuilding a crashed database server.
These aren't factors that even the most capable 40-year-old can easily overcome without inside connections or a high profile industry image (being a published author or noted consultant, for example). A rockstar coder at Microsoft might still get hired away by Google at age 40, for example, but a run-of-the-mill 40-year-old "IT Guy" is not of any interest to a firm which does not already have some sort of personal connection to him.
By one's 40's, one needs to have made the transition to consulting or running one's own business. "Jobs" in these times are essentially apprenticeships for younger people. Only a very few can make the transition into higher management roles and survive past 40 these days. The others have to prepare for life on their own, and - sadly - only a small fraction of corporate employees are actually doing that. In a way, it's Logan's Run come to life.
Yes, I’ve been concentrating mostly on online job posts. I use aggregators (www.indeed.com) that scrape both the job boards and employers’ sites.
I am currently employed elsewhere. Unfortunately, housing values are still stagnant in our area so we’re a bit underwater on our mortgage still, so I can’t just move without a source of income to at least pay that. I’m already able to afford the property in WV and with the lower cost of living, I can continue to support both properties even at a significantly lower salary, but not so low that an entry level job down there is going to work.
I’ve thought about targetting companies down there, but I personally get sick and tired about getting solicited by people trying to sell me things - and a resume is basically a sales document. I’m not a hiring manager, so maybe it’s less annoying to those who are in that position.
Definitely see your point about the age.
Ironically, we have no kids and I’m in better shape and have better technical ability than I did when younger. But that’s hard to communicate.
That said, the only real clue on my resume as to my age is the year of my college graduation - I generally don’t list the first few jobs I had out of school (then it would be a five page resume). Maybe dropping that off and just stating the school?
I’m also fortunate to no look my age. I could easily pass for mid to late 30s if I actually got a chance to step foot in someone’s office.
It's also true.
I've got a great job doing nanny work. As in picking up kids from school, checking their homework, etc.....
Of course, the fact that I can deal with an in-office network, upstream providers, and end-user device vendors doesn't come into it.
My culinary degree does get used sometimes, but mostly, they prefer take-out with crappy food.
/johnny
no look my age => not look my age.
I’ve about worn out the keyboard on this laptop...
Try that - just school and degree earned. Maybe they'll at least talk to you.
Radical idea: Start your own business.
My experience.
But what do I know? I'm a cook with an engineering background doing nanny work. And thankful for the income.
Put that on a resume.
/johnny
Since it is a small target market you are aiming for, why not visit your local property and deliver the resume in person. That may actually get you a shot at an on-the-spot interview, or at least, the hiring manager can ask the employee that received the resume, what did the person look like and perhaps get an answer of “very businesslike.”
Applications are supposed to be read and evaluated on only the qualifications, but sober, businesslike and professional people can’t hide that asset.
I'll bet everyone that taught you that is dead now.
Am I right?
/johnny
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.