Some companies weed out based on education requirements; however, it is my experience that when companies are looking for someone, what really gets them through the door is previous experience.
I work for a large computer semi-conductor manufacturer. Due to the policy of the company, I cannot say who I work for, If you want to know PM me I will tell you.
I have been responsible for screening, interview, and hiring decisions for over twenty people for the company that I work for. The perspective here is mine, and does not represent the views of my company or its stockholders.
To give you a little background about myself.
I came from a Law enforcement/Military background into computers. Currently I hold the position of Architect and Engineer; this does not really mean much considering I get to make up my own title. I do software development, user experience, hardware, interface design, security analysis, networking, and systems administration. I do not have a Degree, I am not A+ certified, I am not Cisco Certified, and I have also not paid Microsoft for the right to limit my opportunities.
How do they get to me?
People submit résumés through various sources, Monster.com; our company website; to individuals working for the company; etc. If a resume is submitted by a employee of the company to the hiring manager, then they have already passed the original screening and will most likely get an interview. I would say over 90% of the people with an employee recommendations get hired from the outside. Its not what you know, its who you know. Those people who were not fortunate enough to know someone with the company get screened based on education and experience, and previous like experience to the job that is to be done.
What do I look for?
When I hire people for $50,000 - $200,000 a year jobs, I do not look at their paper education, I do not look at their certifications. A MCSE is about as useful to me as toilet paper. A MCSE says that you can read, Linux/UN!X says that you can think. The number one thing I look for is personality. Will the person fit into the group? The next thing I look for is desire, why is this person getting into computers? Is it for the money of the love of computers? And the last thing I look at is Honesty. I am a pretty technical person; I can tell when someone is trying to BS me. I have interviewed people who played keyword bingo; it is easy to weed people out who do that. If someone answered a question with "I don't know, but I can find out" then the question was answered correctly, if they tried to answer it with some wrong information and for the most part got it right, then they failed the question.
I have hired a person who was an Aquarium diver because she had a positive, team attitude; I felt she could learn quickly, and she was into computer out of passion not out of dollar signs.
A good company will look at you, and be able to determine your worth to the company based on the interview. This is assuming that you made it to the interview. The best way to get experience for IT related work was mentioned before; you need to get into a position that does not require lots of previous experience, help desk is where I got started. A couple classes of Quality Assurance procedures at a community college will open MANY a door. This is a commonly overlooked entry area. Many large companies offer intern positions if you want to go back to school. Some companies will guarantee hire if you have worked for them for three years and you graduate with a B or Higher grade average. If you do programming, and your looking for an in with large Corporations such as IBM, Intel, etc. (Not M$) Doing volunteer work in the Open source community is a BIG bonus towards you. Many companies secretly support Open source but because of fear of Microsoft do not advertise.
Another bit of advice is How bad to you want the Job? People who come in that are desperate, cause us to look someplace else. The whole adage, its easier to find a job if you have a job is true. Someone with a spotty work history sends of flags of warning.
Some questions that I ask are:
What do you see yourself doing in five years?
Where would you like to be in five years?
What are your goals in life?
Why do you want to work for us?
What can you contribute to the company?
There are many more, I will not bore you with them. Every single interview that I have done has had some permutation of those five questions.
If you have any questions, PM me.
Hope this helps.
I'm fortunate in that I've had the same boss for about 3 years now and I have no complaints. He's and old school techie that moved to management and is a real pleasure to work for.
