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If you’re seeking a new role in an area of the tech field you don’t have much experience in, there are ways to make you a more appealing candidate to IT recruiters anyway.  Whether you’re looking to land your first Helpdesk role, or you want to move from Desktop support to a Network Engineer role, here are 3 ways to beef up your application materials and impress technical recruiters.

1. Seek out opportunities within your current employer to get hands-on learning experience relevant to the IT jobs you want to work in.  You might be able to do this in your current company in 2 ways.  Firstly, your bosses may allow you to get some hands-on experience in a formal way (like a side project for a different department).  This is probably the most preferable.  If you do well, you can demonstrate that you met the expectations of a manager in this area.   If your company can’t help you out with any formal learning opportunities, you might still be able to informally shadow the people who hold the roles you’d like to hold one day.  While this isn’t something you can put on a resume, it will help you to better direct your own study of relevant skills and technologies.

2. Seek out opportunities outside your current employer to get relevant hands-on learning.  You can volunteer, take freelance jobs, or perhaps create your own project on your own time.  IT recruiting firms have an easier time placing somebody who can point to demonstrable experience, even if the candidate made that experience happen.  Consider offering your services for free or reduced charge to local nonprofits, checking websites with volunteer opportunities, or reaching out to people within your network to seek out hands-on learning opportunities for the skills and technologies you’re interested.  If you’re learning how to code, create your own website, etc.  Having a portfolio of examples of your work will certainly make you more marketable to IT staffing companies.

3. Consider getting a certification if there are any relevant ones.  Employers generally put a lot of trust in certifications, so these can be a great way to help IT recruiting agencies visualize you in the roles you want.  IT recruiting companies always find that that candidates with certifications can get at least a bit of  an edge over those who don’t have them.  Certifications can also be a way to gain more hands-on experience with technologies or skills.  (Some certifications actually require hands-on experience.)