Please let me begin with a clear note that I am writing these for candidate who are well deserved as QC professionals. They have systematically learnt QA process, and are prepared for this break. Please don’t misunderstand that I am writing this for people who think QC is a stop gap. A good QC professional is best in his breed and has selected this career not as the last option, but as a career of his choice.
I have found that approaching directly to a company with no experience has often been fatal. If you are extremely lucky, you may get pass the HR scanning but the QA manager will have a high probability of not selecting you as he also is answerable to someone. He would not like to gamble when there are other more experienced candidates.
I have found that if you want to get a jump start in your career, please approach the small consulting firms who are second level vendors. They often have more time and are more willing to listen and interview you.
Once you get on to their list, they often can you get a good break.
This is how it works: When IT departments or companies need people in rush for short medium or long term projects, they often approach their top vendors to produce skilled staff for the same. They often rate these vendors efficiency on a quick turn around not to mention also pay them a butt load of money. They assume that skilled man powers could be bought in supper markets.
So these vendors to prove point, as they also have to compete with others, resort to these second level vendors. These are the times when your consulting firm whom I am referring as second level vendors, pushes your resume to the direct vendors. In these cases resume scanning less stringent and sometime even an informal interview can get you in.
Once you are in it is up to you to prove your worth.
I am not saying this works always but I have seen many people getting their first break in QC in similar fashion.
I know many of you may not agree to this. But if you have other suggestions, please go ahead so that the candidates who are looking for their first break can use your help in this regards.
Of course networking, forums, groups etc helps too.
Worst resort, get into a company as an intern. Trust me, if you are good in your job, it won’t take time for you to be recognized and rewarded appropriately. There are always shortages of good QC personnel.
