If there was ever an industry to get into, Information
Technology must be it. The opportunities abound for earning a
lucrative living and now is the time to get on board.
But how? If you have computer skill but no experience (or
qualifications), the employment agencies will tell you the same
old line, "You need experience before anyone will look at you."
It's just plain old Catch-22. You need the work to get the
experience but you can't get that first job to give you a track
record and therefore verifiable experience. With this logic, it
amazes me that anyone actually gets into IT!
Qualifications help but even that is no guarantee nowadays of
getting an IT job. And what do you do when you don't have
qualifications but you want to start now? I mean right now, not
3 months later after you've paid a fortune for certification and
given up your job to have enough study time.
All is not lost. You have two alternatives.
#1. Offer your services free of charge
For a company to take on - as an employee - someone with no
experience is a risky proposition. But all companies need IT
help. Therefore, do the following:
a) Make a list of 10 local small businesses with approximately 5
to 10 employees. This size of business is too small to have a
permanent in-house IT manager yet big enough to have need for IT
support.
b) Call each with the following script:
"I'm calling about the possibility of working for your company
free of charge in exchange for work experience. So, I'd like to
speak to the owner about this please. Could you see if they are
available?"
This will get the attention of whoever answers the phone as
they'll realise it's not just another sales call. You'll have a
high chance of getting through to the boss.
c) If you get through to the boss, say…
"I'm approaching you because I want to work for your company
free of charge in exchange for work experience and a good
reference. My area of expertise is in IT. I'm an expert on
computer systems and feel sure I can provide some valuable input
to your company. And it won't cost you anything. Can we set up a
meeting to explore this possibility?"
Get straight to the point as business owners are very busy
creatures indeed. Go for a meeting where you have the
opportunity to explain in detail how you can help them out. When
you explain over the phone, it is much easier for them to
terminate the call without hearing your full story.
d) If you fail to get through to the boss, say…
"Can I leave my number so he can call me if interested? The
number is 123 456-7899. I am contacting a number of other
companies today so the earlier he can contact me the better.
Thanks."
Put the pressure on them to respond quickly or forever loose the
chance of using you free of charge.
e) When you arrive for your interview, you would have already
prepared your resume so the boss can see at a glance what your
background is. In addition to that, outline your IT skills and
where you think these skills would benefit a company. For
example, if you were good at website design and promotion, say…
"I could improve the number of visitors to your website and get
them to leave their email for you."
This may then lead into specifics on how you can help that
company.
f) If you end up doing some work for that company, keep it to 2
to 4 weeks. You don't want a zero wage forever! After your
no-charge stint, offer to provide future support at a reasonably
competitive rate. They may be very pleased with what you did for
them and there would be good will established because you did it
all for free. When they need future IT support the chances of
them choosing you are very high indeed. There you go, your first
fee paying customer.
#2: Start up on your own
Yes, you heard me. Start your own computer consultancy - it's
not as difficult as you might suspect. All you need is to know
more than 90% of the population, which is quite easy when most
have poor to mediocre computer literacy. In addition, if you
have good skills in a specialist area, you are likely to know
more than 99% of the population.
There is one factor working in your favour here: fear of
computers. This illogical phobia will open doors for you because
what is perceived to be extremely complicated may be a walk in
the park for you.
While I'm talking about starting up on your own, this need not
mean you will always work for yourself. You can do, but you
don't have to. The primary aim here is to get a track record,
first and foremost. Then you can decide what to do.
Starting up as an IT consultant is a sizeable topic in itself,
but that doesn't mean to say it is not easy. You just need the
right information.
The important thing to remember is this: don't listen to anyone
(and I mean anyone) who says: you need qualifications;
experience; capital; contacts or any of that rubbish. It's
simply not true. Sure, all these things help but they are not
pre-requisites for you to make a blazing success starting on
your own. I started my own consultancy from scratch and I had no
money, no contacts, no computer consultancy experience, and
worse of all, I was heavily in debt.
Nowadays - after 5 years experience - I have contracts that pay
me over $200 per hour. This is a far cry from the pitiful wage I
used to earn before I got into IT.
What does it take to get into IT by starting up on your own?
Two things: Knowledge and Action.
Action Action is the easy part. You just do it! Of course, you
need the motivation to get going, to overcome your inertia. But
once you start seeing the results, you get pulled along by it
all. Your results give you the motivation to take action and the
action brings more results. You get caught in an upward spiral.
Knowledge Knowledge is more difficult. The reason is simple:
everyone is full of good sounding advice and it's difficult to
know who to listen to. After all, if you listened to most people
they would put you off starting in the first place. That is
self-defeating.
My recommendation is to only listen to those who have been where
you want to go. Talking with someone who runs their own business
will give you great insight into what it is really like. Talking
with someone who has never run their own business will teach you
nothing.
Best of all, speak to someone who is in the industry you want to
get into. The information will be 100% relevant and therefore
quite likely to be effective. Don't take everything they say as
the gospel truth. They may want to help you out but will not
divulge their closest kept competitive secrets for fear of
losing business to you. This particularly applies if you are
local to each other and may therefore cannibalise each others
area.
How do you get this information? Again, there are many methods,
some easier than others. You could phone up a small business (1
to 5 employees) outside of your locality and ask if you can take
the boss out for lunch. Be up front that you want to get into
the same industry and would like some advice. I had one guy ask
if I would help him a few years back. I was happy to and took
great pleasure in it. Now, he is earning a very healthy living
doing what he enjoys.
The alternative is to buy related books and materials where you
can get in-depth information "How to do it" style.
Conclusion
It does not matter whether you have experience or not. If you
have some reasonable computer skills and you want to get into
IT, you just have to decide to do it. There is so much
opportunity in this rapidly changing industry that your chances
of success are very high indeed.
Take those vital first steps now!
Jon Lawrance
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