ICT: how can I prove what I know?

[Benny]

Note on your cv that you have started your own business whilst at university fixing and troubleshooting peoples PC's. State the facts.

Save yourself the exam stuff.

[Penfold]

GL with it mate :thumbsup2:

No harm in getting a bit of paper - anything that makes you stick out of the crowd. If nothing else then it shows motivation and a desire for continuing professional development. Also, as Benny says, say that you started fixing people's machines and troubleshooting, again it shows some acumen and motivational mindset.

There's nought wrong with improving your skillset - so long as it's strategically aligned with your chosen career path of course (what is that btw?)

[T-Bag]

Note on your cv that you have started your own business whilst at university fixing and troubleshooting peoples PC's. State the facts.

Save yourself the exam stuff.

I started a business and it goes on my CV. It's just a nice way of putting "Director" under the jobs section. Well worth considering. A CV doesn't really care how successful a business is.

[Jabbs]

If you 'have your own business' then you can say you know other stuff apart from PC's.  If you do know a bit about servers and networks, then chuck that on your CV as stuff you do in your business.  If a particular job you go for requires specifics then learn that in a book.

As pthers have said, if you run a business that does x y and z, then there is the proof that you know what you are talking about.

Any self respecting employer will look at it and go "ah this guy actually DOES the stuff we want and not just on a piece of paper"

[Dewey]

As someone who also interviews and shortlists fairly regularly for web positions, I'd recommend the following:

• An employer may get hundreds of application forms, many sort them out into 3 piles, no interview, maybe, definitely - as you can imagine if you have a hundred application forms to sort out you have to be ruthless to sort the wheat from the chaff - so for me any form that is poorly written, isn't filled in correctly and/or has bad grammer - goes straight into into no interview pile (I may revisit these IF there are no other suitable candidates)
• Employers will pay particular interest to your education and jobs timeline since you left school or university etc and won't expect to see any gaps ie missing 12 months etc - if there are they will certainly question you about this in an interview, though some may even put you on the no-interview pile if the rest of your CV is average and they have other decent candidates- so never leave gaps in your timeline
• Read the application and JD thoroughly paying particular attention to the essentials of the job and ensure you meet each of these essential criteria in your application form - an employer is supposed to interview you if you've met all the essential criteria which you can usually work out from the advert and JD
• The Personal Statement can be the deciding factor between you getting an interview and and not - particularly if there are other applicants with similar qualifications etc - these can be quite tricky -so...
• Always, always get a few people you respect to check over your application form, one of these ideally should be excellent at grammar and the other knowledgable about the type of job your going for, - obviously your lucky as there are lots of people in dMw who could help you with this

One tip you may find helpful (and forgive me if I'm teaching you to suck eggs) but everytime you go for a job, and your filling in the 'Personal statement' - don't hand write it on the form (which is easy to mess up - handwritten statements are generally more difficult to read than printed) but type it in a word processor that way you can spell check it, you can amend it for other jobs changing it slightly to suit the type of job/employer your going for and it makes filling in job applications far easier if you can quickly load up a personal statement (though as I say tweak it for each job and constantly add and improve to it).
 
In interviews
 
As an interviewer - I find enthusiasm, the willingness to learn, pleasant personality (ie not over confident, big headed, etc) and someone who can give examples of their experiences in reply to the questions the panel set them often do the best in interviews. Also research the company and show the panel you've done your homework - you'd be amazed at the number of applicants who don't bother and come a cropper when you ask them what they think of your website for example!
 
Good luck with your job hunting.

[Jabbs]

@Dewey

One word:

Brilliant!