Monday, March 19, 2007

Still Seeking Employment

If you read my profile then you already know I'm a summa cum laude graduate of a two-year I.T. program at Virginia Western Community College. I'm proud of that 4.0 GPA I earned, because some of those courses were quite challenging, and I worked hard to maintain that rating.

Nevertheless, I'm now in my third month of seeking employment in the Roanoke/Salem/Vinton area in Virginia. I'm finding that I.T. is a tough field to break into. The problem is, I think, that there are only so many companies large enough to even have an I.T. department, and of those, practically all of them have a small, core group of individuals that fulfill the company's needs. And when the rare opening does materialize, likely it goes to someone with some sort of connection; at least it surely seems that way.

Anyway, an old workmate of mine called me today and asked if I would be interested in a small job, replacing a kitchen counter top in a rental house that he owns. I told him I am.

Isn't that rather ironic? After all the expense and effort I put into my college-level I.T. studies, and graduating with a flawless academic record, here I am going back to my old carpentry bailiwick. So tomorrow I will go with him to look at the job and give him a price I hope he can live with.

Here I am, Carilion! Here I am, Norfolk Southern! Here I am, State Farm! Here I am, G.E.! Here I am, Appalachian Power! Here I am, Roanoke City and Roanoke County! Here I am, all you other concerns in the valley who need I.T. people! My resume is out there, and many of you have already been given one directly by me! I can do what you need done, yet here I am pricing counter top replacements and steel-wooling the rust off my saw blades! I'm just waiting for one of you to give me the opportunity to put my computer skills to work! Let's go!

5 comments:

Roanoke RnR said...

I'm glad the blogger's meeting got you motivated to begin your own blog. If I may, I'd just like to suggest that you might want to include an e-mail link if you're serious about attracting potential employers, etc. Good luck!

Rob said...

Thanks, Ms. El. The reason I don't display my email address is because I'm trying to minimize the spam. But guess what! The comment you posted was delivered lickity-split right to my email box!

Patsy said...

Great to view your blog. I'm glad you enjoyed the Biz2Biz
Blog Workshop
and I wish you the best in finding the right job. You said you
had posted your resume on MyHometownJobs.com,
be sure to continue to search the posted jobs there. Again Good Luck!

dsbowers said...

Rob, welcome to the growing list of Roanoke area bloggers. I'm a new guy, too, just started up in January. I appreciate your comment on my tax post.

Let me suggest, you can put up an email link and still foil the spammers by setting up an email form. Then your correspondent has to key in a word verification, much like on your blog comments. You can see one by clicking on the hot peppers on my site.

I got mine from emailmeform.com. It works, but it's not flawless. At first it popped up a friendly "success" message after sending the email. That suddenly stopped, and a blank screen comes up. So I'm still shopping around, but the concept is sound.

Rob said...

Thank you, Jeff. As it happens, I had already noted your contact form and was searching around for something similar. I found one that may serve the purpose and will use it until I find a better one.

Incidentally, just to clarify, I'm not a "new" blogger, so to speak. This is just a new blog. :)