IT Consultancy Job

[genuinegraphics]

Hey all,

I am hoping to go into the IT Consultancy field and just wanted to know what would be the best part time job for me take as I havn't worked anywhere besides my 2 week work experience at school a few years back so I want to have a part time job to gain that experience but not sure what is the best route? Would it be just in retail like PC World or something? or would an actual IT Consultancy company actually recruite me for a part time job to do basic jobs for them?

Any IT Consultants on here want to share their way?

Any help is much appreciated

Thank you

 

[iksol]

I would start by asking yourself what an IT Consultant does, what is his/her role? What skills or attributes does an IT Consultant have, what does it take?

If you can't answer that, I would ask why you want to be one.

I've come across plenty of people who called themselves IT Consultants, simply because they'd spent 6 months programming straight out of uni.

 

[genuinegraphics]

I have researched about it hence why I want to go down that route. I am starting Uni next month doing a degree in computing however, I want a part-time job too on the side but not just any random job I want something that would look good on my CV when i'm applying for consultancy jobs after I graduate.

So just wanted to know what would be a good part time job that I could do? Would it be in retail like PC World or would I have to do something else to show that I have experience in the field?

 

[iksol]

I shall choose my words carefully, as I don't wish to come across as an arrogant so and so, but PC World is for numpties. Well, OK, they do a worthwhile job I know, but the words 'consultant' and 'PC World' should not be uttered in the same sentence.

If you really value yourself, you should be aiming a lot higher.

If your skills lie in web design, then approach a number of digital agencies and offer your services on a part-time or casual basis, maybe even as a freelancer. Do your research, pick a selection of about 20. I'm sure the majority will turn you away. But if you're confident, and tenacious, you will get lucky.

 

[mit74]

I would look to do volunteer work at colleges or even better businesses in their IT departments as they'll unlikely take on people without experience. I think as a part time job PC World is not as bad as it sounds. They have business departments that deal with businesses and may be good experience to see how other business work and what their demands are. Generally I think IT consultant is probably a long term goal as you need alot of experience not just programming but how businesses are run.

 

[Tunnel-Hosting]

IT Consultant isn't very specific, what particular field in the IT industry are you hoping to excel and consult in? What do you have in mind when you think of an IT Consultant?

 

[Logistika]

The keywords are ~"VALUE ADDED" Unless you can add value, consultancy will never pay.


Additionally, 90% of consultants are over 45, hence clients are buying in years of skills. The only field I have seen 20 somethings succeed in are short term contracts.

 

[Jay-UK]

Hey all,

I am hoping to go into the IT Consultancy field and just wanted to know what would be the best part time job for me take as I havn't worked anywhere besides my 2 week work experience at school a few years back so I want to have a part time job to gain that experience but not sure what is the best route? Would it be just in retail like PC World or something? or would an actual IT Consultancy company actually recruite me for a part time job to do basic jobs for them?

Any IT Consultants on here want to share their way?

Any help is much appreciated

Thank you

Which area of IT Consultancy? Which speciality?

What is your understanding of IT Consultancy?

You must realise majority of IT Consultancy's are merely Infrastructure services providers as opposed to wider IT Consultancy. So it really does depend on what you want to do...and if this area if what you think it is

 

[WebWizard]

What speciality? Theres a large field here hehe.

 

[genuinegraphics]

Thanks everyone for your replies

I haven't really thought about which type of consultancy to go into to be honest I thought maybe I could decide that during my time at uni.

I've read this about IT Consultancy: http://ww2.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/it_consultant_job_description.jsp

and also spoke to some IT Consultants and they told me roughly the same thing as the above link.

So my job now is that I need to know which field to go into? and there is a lot so i'll probably decide that during my time at university but as for the part time job I think i'll probably contact different IT companies in that field and see whether I could do any volunteering work or even part time hopefully

Thanks everyone for the replies! really appreciate it

P.S Any consultants in this field feel free to PM me

 

[JohnStevenson]

as a start first decide what do you want to work, to be occupied with and more importnat what can you do and provide as services

 

[JohnStevenson]

Or consult with any human resources company about the available positions and what are they for ?

 

[Astaroth]

Do you mean consultant or contractor?

If your interested in true consultancy you either need to have a lot of very strong IT experience working in relevant organisations for your speciality (software houses, corporates etc) or you need to work for an existing consultancy like Accenture or IBM.

All the consultancies I have known only take on graduates or experienced people but they may offer an intern type offering if your willing to work for free in exchange for something for your CV.

Obviously if your doing contracting rather than consultancy then you just need to gain the skills that you want to be able to sell - so if your want to be a systems analyst then you need to get yourself in that field and at least a year or two's experience before you can switch from employed life to contracting.

 

[cityit]

I would strongly advise you to take a junior position at an IT service provider. Somewhere big enough that you can experience the gamut of 1st and 2nd line support, project work, migrations, rollouts etc.

You need a base.

 

[pixelbob]

You can also try work from home IT service provider. Because now all you need is a remote access and you only need to be there if the problem is physical.

 

[wykthorr]

In my view a consultant needs have vast experience in his field so you'll need a lot more experience than a part time job in uni to be able to get a good IT consultant job. As it's been stated before in the thread you need to focus on a certain section of IT. There are a lot of specialties that go under the IT umbrella so you can't be an expert in all of them.

I'd say: Experiment with a few IT jobs in different sectors, to start with, and after you've decided which one you enjoy most try to get a serious job in that sector. You can't start as a consultant so you'll have to start at the "bottom" by doing some stuff, but at least your future clients will see you were able to do the stuff so you know what you're saying.

Don't want to kill your enthusiasm, but you're on a long road.

 

[Json]

Ambition is good indeed, it's brilliant that you know what you want to do or at least where you want to go, many people pre uni don't actually know what they want to do.

Anyway, just to add my two pence, maybe you should try to go for an engineering job first and work with IT infrastructure, that would give you a good base and understanding of the building blocks and what makes software work

Good luck to you and enjoy your journey.

 

[WJP]

If you're going to be studying at university and money isn't a huge issue, take a look at the summer internships offered by several larger consultancy companies. I've known people to take an internship one or two summers (usually at least after year two) and make a good impression, being offered a job when they finish their degree. Certainly worth considering.

 

[genuinegraphics]

Wow thanks everyone for the very useful advice! It has really helped and given me new ideas on what to do.

Do you mean consultant or contractor?

Consultant but will give a go in asking for the volunteer work I was also thinking if anyone of them would be giving part-time but I think having a online business (just closed it down a day ago because of uni) and other businesses is looking quite good on my CV but obviously I wouldn't mind having more to put on.

You can also try work from home IT service provider. Because now all you need is a remote access and you only need to be there if the problem is physical.

I've gotten tired of working from home lol I've ran 2 of my past businesses at home and so just closed my recent graphic design one but will be working on it without a website so what ever design work comes to me i'll just do it from what I usually charge the only thing that will be missing is my website but I will get it back up again after I finish uni as i've got the domain under my name so will keep it for a few years and then start it back up again.

I'd say: Experiment with a few IT jobs in different sectors, to start with, and after you've decided which one you enjoy most try to get a serious job in that sector. You can't start as a consultant so you'll have to start at the "bottom" by doing some stuff, but at least your future clients will see you were able to do the stuff so you know what you're saying.

Don't want to kill your enthusiasm, but you're on a long road.

Very good idea mate and I will try that too. Thanks and no problem I understand it is a long road and will be tough but I don't mind the challenge that's why I started up my business during college to see what i'm capable of and honestly it has given me a much clearer view of what I can handle.

Ambition is good indeed, it's brilliant that you know what you want to do or at least where you want to go, many people pre uni don't actually know what they want to do.

Anyway, just to add my two pence, maybe you should try to go for an engineering job first and work with IT infrastructure, that would give you a good base and understanding of the building blocks and what makes software work

Good luck to you and enjoy your journey.

Thank you I will try to get in touch with IT Companies and see what they can offer me

If you're going to be studying at university and money isn't a huge issue, take a look at the summer internships offered by several larger consultancy companies. I've known people to take an internship one or two summers (usually at least after year two) and make a good impression, being offered a job when they finish their degree. Certainly worth considering.

Well since i've been in business since start of college money is always on my mind now but if I really have to work for free to help me out in the long run then I wouldn't mind.

 

[JohnStevenson]

Working from home is really comfortable and plesent but will be more usefull for yourself if you work in a company - to earn more skils and experience.
Defenitely IT juniour position is for you

 

[JohnStevenson]

You are right but not at all - working at home gives you more free time to read, to think and experiment. Have more personal time

I agree with you.
But the skils that you can earn from your colleagues are one.
The problems that you can met and can make your character also....

 

[JohnStevenson]

What do you think? Working for a big company or for smaller not so popular is better and will train your professional character?!

 

[JohnStevenson]

No comment...
Beeing afraid not to look spammy or non ethic...
Excuses to everyone

 

[genuinegraphics]

Hey all!

Glad to see the post is still going! thanks for the replies.

Just start uni yesterday but still looking for the job lol have applied to a few places some medium sized some small.

The most recent is for a Information Assistant I applied for the other day where I can do typing and database stuff and since I know a fair bit about databases thought i'd give it a shot..still waiting for a reply though hopefully

 

[oldeagleeye]

I think that you might have more sucess geting a job by dropping the ridiculous title of IT Consultant.

Not being rude mate but you are only just starting uni. You know nothing about the work of an IT Consultant. Worse still I think - and I really do hate to be negative but even when you leave uni your come out with some useless degree never even heard of Cisco systems

Client virtualization

• Workplace optimisation consulting services

Device deployment and management

• Platform integration and deployment services
• Software platform management services

Just to name but a few the knowledge base required by an IT Consultant.

If you want to use a fancy titlse then OP - do what the rest of us do.

Have a little brass plaque made with the words THE BOSS engraved on it and scew it to the handle of a bloody big broom because if you don't learn how to use that first and gain experience you ain't going nowhere fast.

 

[genuinegraphics]

I'm not looking for a consultant job right now as that would be impossible just looking for a part time job that would give me a better chance of becoming one or practising some of the work that is involved and also since most jobs are asking for experience I have to find something!

 

[oldeagleeye]

What uni are you at

 

[stugster]

As oldeagleeye has already said, you probably wont be taught anything Cisco related (at least nothing past CCNA anyway - which is the first step on the Cisco ladder), but you almost certainly wont be taught useful principals like PRINCE2 or any real project management for that matter.

You'll be spoon fed the stuff you need to know to pass the qualification, and nothing more I'm afraid.

 

[stugster]

I'm not looking for a consultant job right now as that would be impossible just looking for a part time job that would give me a better chance of becoming one or practising some of the work that is involved and also since most jobs are asking for experience I have to find something!

If it was me... Here's what I'd do:

Get yourself a part time job during the weekends. 8 hours on a Saturday, 8 hours on a Sunday. Doesn't have to be anything special; retail, whatever.

Use some of the money from your first salary to pay for Student membership in the British Computing Society. You'll get monthly ITNOW magazines which are a great resource.

Get swotting up on Microsoft systems; SBS2008, Windows 7, etc. and look at becoming an Microsoft Certified Professional. Don't take this lightly, plan realistically for it.

In your spare time in the evenings during the week, why not chuck around some flyers in your local area for computer support work? Get a copy of Solar Accounts to keep tabs on your books and register as self employed too if things pick up.

Use some of the money from your flyering work to get yourself onto a CCNA course (or buy the equipment from ebay with the technical stuff). Ideally your University, but you can go to many places for it. If you can, do the CCNA Exploration one. If I remember correctly, that's the best of the CCNAs.

If money permits, drop the part-time retail job and focus on driving the business with home support (don't try and support businesses, you can't offer the levels they need if you're at University).

Once you've finished Uni, move on to supporting local businesses and tie them into 12 month contracts.

And lastly: Focus on your Uni degree above all else. It's only 3 (4 up Scotland) years of your life, and you'll regret it if you muck it up. Haivng said that, I know many people who don't have any qualifications at all who are much more successful than those with.

 

[Seal-tech]

Cracking Advice Stugster

Couldnt agree more with your suggestions.

 

[genuinegraphics]

That's a great idea mate. Thanks

I may just try that too but understand on the degree thing I don't put anything before my education even though it's very easy to get off track but thanks for the idea. Appreciate you sharing that too

 

[JustJohn]

stugster what an excellant post, have been considering a similar route as you posted.

Looking at home support as a money making hobby and developing it into a small business. Was considering HND in Technical Support at Falkirk college, your advice regarding registering as self employed was interesting.

In all honesty a degree might be a step to far so would be happy to leave supporting business organisations to others.

Watched to many people getting ripped off by local shops hence my interest, plus at age 55 approaching my sell by date regarding current employer (engineering).

 

[dagaul101]

It would help if you could get some kind of qualification like MCSE or CCNA, that would help enormously getting your foot in the door

 

[JustJohn]

It would help if you could get some kind of qualification like MCSE or CCNA, that would help enormously getting your foot in the door

How do you obtain MCSA? College etc?
TIA

 

[JohnStevenson]

How do you obtain MCSA? College etc?
TIA

Better to research around in your local area
For further more information look for it into googe. Lots of results.