Getting into IT Support with no experience?

[Jimmy No Hands]

How hard is this? Most roles I see available require previous support experience and or numerous qualifications. There is definitely no shortage of roles, but I have a feeling this means no shortage of applicants either. As someone with zero support experience, what chance would I stand?

I did ICT & Communications at A Level and I'd say my technical knowledge rates fairly high due to being a throbbing nerd, I have been building my own systems for about 15 years. On a plus side I have a solid customer service background.

Worth throwing out some applications?

[Jimmy No Hands]

Am I naive in thinking the chances of acquiring an apprenticeship at 30 is rather slim?

I do feel being a bit older can and does play in my favour, I have a good work ethic and will gel with even the most diverse of groups. I am positive I interview well and really have no issues in terms of confidence (car sales took care of any inhibitions I ever had) so will likely just put myself out there and see what happens. I've been sporadically bouncing in and out of various roles since leaving school 12 years ago, for a number of reasons. I've been in Australia for the last seven months. My CV is probably incredibly unappealing and I am at the stage where I am fed up of fly-by-night roles and need to get into an industry with some scope and permanency.

Thank you all, I feel a bit better.

[Jimmy No Hands]

flibbage0 said:

I'm guessing people are not sure what search terms to use in job classifieds, would they search up IT trainee? 1st line support?

"IT Support" appears to cover most bases, at least on Indeed. Though the job title can seem to range from "Support Administrator" to "Service Desk Analyst"

Thank you for the encouragement all, I spent yesterday revising and improving my CV where I could, and have earmarked 3-4 roles to apply for.

[Jimmy No Hands]

Dinlowgoon said:

My advice would be save yourself a whole world of pain and future misery and pick a different career path to IT instead.
The IT service industry is crocked and you will be embarking on a life of constantly upskilling/retraining on more and more mundane products/platforms. It’s a way of life,not a job and the money doesn’t compensate for that anymore.
If I had my time again I wouldn’t go there with a barge pole.

That is interesting to hear. What other routes would you recommend? I think anything more in-depth would require some serious investment in re-training and I am not sure I could afford to at the minute.

[Jimmy No Hands]

To update this, I've not had much luck at all yet. I had an interview today which involved a degree of 1st line support, but for a certain set of products rather than general IT. I'm now debating looking at some more sales roles but deep down I know I don't particularly want to..

[Jimmy No Hands]

PurpleTurtle said:

OP, I see you are in West Yorks, are you flexible on location?

I got into IT 25yrs ago as a grad trainee but was living in Birmingham, where there were bugger all roles, and not much further north. Meanwhile in Reading where I relocated to for my first job people were falling over themselves to offer me a job. You’ve sometimes got to go where the work is - IT in the UK is very much South East/London centric, with of course the associated higher cost of living.

Ultima are a big local provider, they have a team in at my client co. They take entry level people, always hiring and promote from within, MD a massive petrolhead. Worth giving them a call to see what opportunities are on offer.

https://www.ultima.com/join-us/current-vacancies/1...

My partner starts a 12 month post-grad course in Leeds next month, so I'm sort of tied for the immediate future. I completely agree however, but at the moment it just wouldn't be feasible to relocate.

geeks said:

How close to Leeds are you?

I'm looking for a rental in Leeds right now, currently with family in Bradford.