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I never thought I would be writing these words on here. I need some advice or insight… I was just let go from a company I have worked at for the last 21 years. Was not expected and I am still reeling from it some what. Besides the fact that they cut me and a host of others loose on on June 28, they added a little insult it seems by also ending my health benefits on June 30th for me an my family. But that’s not why I am here.

I am looking for any insight or advice from those who have been through this in the past. I am currently looking for a new job. My biggest issue is of my own fault too. I learned a lot of my knowledge on the job. I always kept meaning to get back into school and get a degree or at least some certifications. But something always seemed to come up either at work or in the family that would cause me to put it off. I would always say " there will be time for me to do it." Now I find myself unemployed with a lot of work experience and no certification or degree to back it up.

Any ideas on how to approach this situation?

Thanks in advance to all those who respond

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That’s still ok as experience is great.

You just have to work now on being able to sell that experience, which I find is tough putting ‘experience’ on a resume without writing a book.

If a job says it requires a degree, I’d apply anyways if it’s somewhat of a fit as you definitely have the years of experience to ‘make up’ for it.

Congratulation on the new job! ‘JobHunter’ is your new job title… :¬/

PS: Also that really sucks, sorry to hear that, hope things are going to go better.

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If you look at a lot of job postings, it will say a certain degree or a certain number of years in lieu of that degree. As long as you are able to convey your experience, I don’t think you should have too much difficulty. Just go into your interviews with confidence and be prepared to answer any question they throw at you. Good luck!

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Not helpful to your immediate position, but we just hired a member onto our team about 4 months ago who was in exactly the same position you are. He has been a great addition to our team so far. Job Searching sucks, but Experience is Key. Certs and education mean nothing except you can memorize facts and right exams.

Sell you Experience like mentioned above and don’t get hung up on the lack of formal education

Sorry to hear about losing your job. Good luck with the job hunt!

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Hi Larry, Sorry to hear you were let go. I went through something similar after 17 years with a company. I wouldn’t focus on the training right now, but have some advice from my own hard knocks:

  1. Don’t despair. It is really hard to put that much of your life into one employer, and then find out you were nothing more than an employee to them. If you’re like me, you probably haven’t interviewed in forever and your resume is in a format of software that doesn’t exist. My advice? Start over and reflect on your entire career. Make sure you have others proofread your resume.

  2. Being at a company for over 15 years almost felt like a detriment to my job search. I was 40-41 at the time, so I don’t feel it was about age, but be prepared to address your long stay with interviewers and assure them you’re willing to learn new tricks. Be sure to highlight that you are excited about the opportunity to work someplace new, but that you stayed 21 years because you’re loyal and grew in the job… Highlight any promotions you received over the years to show that you stayed because your employer wanted you there and you were valuable.

  3. I wasn’t well networked with a lot of coworkers who had moved on, so professional recruiters and representatives helped. If you have a network of former coworkers, call or email them ASAP and let them know you’re looking. Be ready to send that resume in at a moment’s notice. Get on the phone quickly with recruiters. Don’t wait to find a job advertisement online. They know of jobs that aren’t advertised.

  4. Talk over what you liked and what you learned on the job with your spouse or family. This will help dissipate the pain, bring you closer to those who matter most, and help bring focus to what you should highlight in your resume. It’s hard writing a cheerful, energetic sounding resume while an uncertain future looms. Just remember you’re not the first to be in this situation.

  5. Find a way to destress. I lost 20lbs while laid off by walking every morning before sitting down to my new day job: Job hunting. Get dressed like you would it you were going into the office, and find a place to work at home that becomes your workstation for job hunting.

Best of luck. Please let all of us on Spiceworks know your area of expertise just in case one of us has knowledge of an opening. Yes, I can see it in your profile, but make sure to include what you can do for firms in everything you write in a job search period unless it’s an RSVP to a wedding: Then talk about it at the reception.

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I’m job hunting myself, and I’m finding more and more say “XX degree required or equivalent experience” So I think you’re OK in that regard, many employers, especially in tech, are realizing that experience >= education. Don’t have much else to offer, but I hope that helps with the stress a bit. Best of luck to you!

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Sorry to hear of your abrupt career change.

Apply for any job you are qualified for (that is clearly spelled out on your resume).

I’ve never weighted certification and education anywhere near as much as experience in many years of successful hiring decisions.

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Great point, Tom0517. Don’t put much stock in what employers put in their job requirements. Give them a copy of the resume anyway.

Certifications are like learning basic math. You may be able to do the calculations, but if you can’t turn the word problems you experience in the real world into the book problem you learned in the certification class, then all that knowledge doesn’t really help resolve the problem.

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My boss mentioned in the past that some people have 20 years of experience, but they have the same experience every year.

IT cannot operate that way. In IT if you have 20 years of experience, each year has to be different from the last.

20+ years of adaptive experience is very hard to disregard because of a piece of paper.

Not saying that the degree isn’t helpful, but at this point in your career I would keep looking forward instead of backwards.

If anything maybe look at a cert in a field relevant to your interest.

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Lots of IT professional will agree with me that experience > certifications > degree in the IT field.

So, list those experiences out and send out those resumes!

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Redundancy always produces uncertainty and I have been through it. You survive, you look around and eventually you find a job or occupation that suits you. You then have an advantage over many others in that having had it happen once you are not so worried about it ever happening again. You may well have to take a pay cut to get working again and you may change your career direction. If you have a job then it is easier to get a better job.

More specifically in your case you have experience as opposed to paper qualifications. If I were you, I would sit down and list all the skills that you have acquired with some examples of how you have used them. You will find you have a long list. Look at job adverts and you will see more ideas for your list. When you apply for jobs use that list as a reference to state how well you meet the requirements, Don’t get depressed about lack of success since you don’t need a high hit rate to get a job. You only need to succeed once and that occasion can “come out of the blue”. Every time you write that application it will be better than the last time. Look very critically at it.

Best of luck.

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Get yourself out there. I’ve found 1 job on Indeed and 1 on CareerBuilder within 9 months (first one didn’t quite work out, unfortunately - too much traveling for me to handle). I only have Security+ and experience behind my name. Invest in that first as it will open the doors to almost any government contract based job. I’m still wrestling with whether I really want to go to school for a degree or not. I’m definitely going to get more certs (I’m required with the new job to get Linux+). Sorry, I’ve rambled. Point is, update your resume. Creatively embellish without lying. Post it EVERYWHERE you can. ZipRecruiter, Monster, Glassdoor, Indeed, CareerBuilder, etc just to name a few. Have confidence someone will recognize your value based on your talent.

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Have you considered consulting on your own? If you know a handful of people that need help, you may be fortunate enough to get some referrals. When I was laid off almost 20 years ago, I started networking with everyone I knew who needed help. Eventually, my business grew. Meanwhile, I kept looking for work. If you were with a company for so long, perhaps you made some connections that will prove to be fruitful.

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I can only come from a tier 1 help desk support perspective but I got my job from experience rather than qualifications (Only had an MSP in Win 2000 Server) but I ran my own bushiness for 5 years. My manager told me the main reason I got the job was they wanted someone flexible and not stuck in their ways, wanting to do things their way because they have always done that way.

So my advise in the interviews is to make a point that you are willing to adapt to their company. They will have different policies and software and different ways of doing things. Your experience can help grow (not change) the company.

Good luck in finding a new job and co-workers. Who knows what people you will meet :slight_smile:

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Certifications and degrees are not all that they are made out to be. If you can afford to get a few in the downtime or at least start studying for them, you can put that in your resume or your letters to prospective employers.

However, I would just suggest you focus on your top five skills and find a job that’s suitable for them and vice versa.

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At this point, it’s important to find a job you can live with for the short term to get essential bills paid and take care of the family – your first priority. You probably won’t like it, the work might not be interesting or challenging, but it needs to serve that purpose for a while.

Use half your free time to begin training for certification testing. Don’t worry about the cost of formal training or certifications just yet. Use the free/inexpensive tools available and get all you can from that. Update your resume and LinkedIn profile to quickly summarize your experience (that’ll be a little hard) and show you’re “pursuing higher certifications in _________”. That’s important. If you get to the point that you need to take your exam, I would use the credit card and save cash for meeting essential bills.

Use the other half of your free time to post your resume your favorite job boards, like Indeed…and also a local or state board. Follow up on these daily and e-mail daily. Check out every lead, even if it looks like a dead end. Sometimes it’s those extra connections that can help you land on your feet again.

Good luck!

…

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That’s been my biggest hurdle. After lots of studying and ‘worst case scenario’ lab exercises, I find it hard to dial back and think small when approaching issues. Experience should definitely be more valuable to any decent company.

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In addition to all the other excellent advice you’re getting from DZee and everyone else, I look at it this way: Job Hunting was my first job, and I’ve had a lot of experience at it so I’m really good at it.

Job hunting is just another job. If you approach it with the same professionalism and commitment as you did your 2nd, 3rd, etc. jobs, you’ll do fine.

Don’t waste your time with HR! Their only function on Earth is to keep you out on the street. Find Hiring Principals and engage them; they’ll deal with HR.

Good luck!!

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I think relevant experience trumps degrees and certs any day.

Degree and cert requirements on a job description are just an easy/lazy way to filter people out. Read the job description. If you have experience relevant to the problems described in it, re-write your resume to show that. If you resume shows you have experience meeting the top 5 requirements of a job, you’ll most likely get a call to start the interview process. But you do need to submit a targeted edit of your resume for each job you apply for. Nick and I talked about this exact topic in episode 4 of the Nerd Journey podcast .