From: ujlh@pool.info.sunyit.edu (James Henrickson)
Subject: Re: What is the charter of this group?
Organization: State University of New York -- Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 21:31:45 GMT

In article <1d6d4sINNg8d@bigboote.WPI.EDU> tai@starbird.WPI.EDU (Lisa Taikitsadaporn) writes:
>In article <1992Nov3.153056.3044@unixland.natick.ma.us> bdowning@unixland.natick.ma.us (Bill Downing) writes:
>>Is there some FAQ or mission statement for this newsgroup? It's clear
>>from scanning the postings over the last several days that few, if
>>any, of the jobs here are entry-level -- if you define entry-level as
>>suitable for a college grad with no job experience in that particular
>>field.
>>
>>If recruiters and companies are going to simply use this newsgroup as
>>a cross-posting for job opportunities for experienced candidates only,
>>then I humbly suggest that this group be moderated or abolished.
>
>	I completely agree with Mr. Downing here.  Consider that in the other 
>newsgroup the jobs posted there are all looking for someone with quite a 
>number of years of experience.  It would be ideal to devote a group to
>entry-level positions, targetting at recent college graduates (regardless
>of their degree, as some MS and PhD grads don't have industrial work 
>experience).  I, amoung the many, is looking for an entry-level position and 
>in this economy our career center can only do so much.  So, let's hear from
>companies who are interested in hiring for their entry level positions.

I have seen a few jobs posted here that were far from entry-level, but
the majority are entry-level.  Don't let the experience thing bother
you, sometimes they are just wishing. :-)  You can also get around the
experience problem by showing them how good you are.

A lot of college students get disgusted when they see a large wish list.
You would have to take classes full time for six years or more to meet
all of the requirements.  True, but there is also such a thing as "self
study", which many students don't do.  For example, I made it a goal to
learn all that I could about UNIX systems.  I know the user, programming
(C and shell), and system administration aspects fairly well, and am now 
getting into networking and learning the user and configuration aspects 
of the X Window system.  Most computer science students will agree that 
you can't learn all of that in college classes in four years.  I didn't.  
It took me four and half years, and most of it was self-taught (and of 
course, non-credit).

The point is that we, as students, need to familiarize ourselves with
the requirements of our future employers and plan our education so we
can meet these requirements.  Simply meeting degree requirements is far
from enough for most jobs.

One more thing.  Many students overlook a good source of experience:
volunteer work.  My initial system administration learning was from a
volunteer position with the local charter of the IEEE.  There is always
someone out there that can use your help, it's up to you to find them.
You don't get paid for it in the form of money, but you learn a lot
and gain experience.

(Now I have to figure out how to put all this stuff on my resume!)

Just figured I'd offer some suggestions...

-- 
Jim H.
*
* James L. Henrickson  |  "I don't need a signature, I need a job!"
* ujlh@sunyit.edu      |  BSCS, December 1992