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I recently got my GIS certificate from SFSU and have been applying for jobs for about 3 months and haven't gotten even one interview. I spent 7 years in publishing and have lots of project management experience just no practical GIS experience.
I'm not too familiar with the GIS job world, I am having no trouble finding gourds of jobs but I can't get a bite. I send out a resume, thoughful cover letter, and link to some map samples. Am I missing something? Any words or wisdom for this newby?
Thanks in advance!!!!
I'm not too familiar with the GIS job world, I am having no trouble finding gourds of jobs but I can't get a bite. I send out a resume, thoughful cover letter, and link to some map samples. Am I missing something? Any words or wisdom for this newby?
Thanks in advance!!!!
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Arizona
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Re: Help and Advice?
Sat, October 27, 2007 - 9:09 PMAre there any GIS user meetings in the areas where you want jobs?
If so,go along and meet people, find out about jobs, who you should send your resume to, etc, etc.
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Re: Help and Advice?
Thu, November 15, 2007 - 1:54 PMTrix, since you went to SFSU I am going to assume you are still in the Bay Area. One group in the region where you can start to make contacts is the Bay Area Automated Mapping Association (www.baama.org). They have meetings every month or two, I forget which. Besides the job listings that are on their website, each of their meetings has a segment where attendees can make job announcements and those seeking jobs can also stand up and let everyone know they are looking, what their core skills are, and what type of GIS work they are looking for. -
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Re: Help and Advice?
Tue, November 20, 2007 - 12:26 PMI was looking in the bay area but now I've decided to move to Flagstaff... no job or anything there but have always wanted to live there. Thanks for the tip though and maybe I'll see if I can find any AZ groups like that.
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Re: Help and Advice?
Thu, November 15, 2007 - 12:29 PMWow, that's a bummer. :-( Are the places you are applying to actually "hiring" or just "accepting applications"? I've found that you get a better response from those that are actively hiring.
When I was fresh out of college, my difficulty was that most places that were hiring wanted you to have at least two years of experience. That really sucked. So I ended up having to take an intermittent "apprentice" position. Funny, because my position was actually the only GIS position in the company and I ended up running all of the GIS programs, fixing their databases, and organizing all of their data. It wasn't an apprentice job, it was managerial work under the guise of an apprenticeship title and pay. Anyhow, I stayed untl I got my 2 years experience, then went and applied for other jobs that were out there.
I find that you get the best response from government positions. Federal, State, or County. They tend to have great hiring programs, and decent pay and good benefits.
Hope that helps??? -
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Re: Help and Advice?
Tue, November 20, 2007 - 12:30 PMThanks Noel.... it really does help!
Yeah, the places I am applying for are hiring but almost all the jobs I apply for want/require 1-2 years experience... like you said... I have to overcome the conundrum of the experience thing.
I have applied for state, county, and city jobs and I also have been told that it often takes several weeks and maybe even several months to hear back since governments are really slow moving. My new strategy is to get some other work and then try and volunteer somewhere for GIS experience.
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Re: Help and Advice?
Sun, November 18, 2007 - 5:41 PM -
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Re: Help and Advice?
Tue, November 20, 2007 - 12:31 PMThanks Xander... that's a great site!
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