< Back to all career advice

Find Your First IT Job: Guide For Non-Tech Specialist

Leading IT companies promote an employee-oriented culture. They offer the best benefits packages, have the most modern and comfortable offices, and, of course, offer the most attractive opportunities for professional growth and development. No wonder they take first place in various ratings of businesses people want to work for.

Some other reasons why candidates want to join IT teams are:

• High salaries

The stability of the IT domain almost doesn’t depend on external factors such as economic crises, quarantine, and other global events. If you seek financial stability and constant salary increases - IT companies are your best option.

• Various and exciting projects

IT services are required in almost every industry: medicine, transportation, finances, e-commerce, etc. Even if you get bored with one project, you can easily switch your focus to another one.

• Remote job and flexible schedules

If you aren’t a fan of public transportation or traffic jams, a remote job is perfect for you. And the majority of IT companies don’t care where and when you work. They are solely interested in your productivity and results.

• Numerous job offers

Despite the economic crisis, the market for IT jobs keeps growing. Thousands of job offers for IT specialists appear in US companies every day. And the best thing is that you don’t have to limit yourself to American companies. With the remote opportunities, you can find a job in any part of the world.

We believe that these reasons are more than enough to try your hand in the IT domain. But what if coding seems like something too boring and too complicated at the same time? There are a lot of options for candidates who don’t care about programming!

Take a look at this list:

• Product manager

Product managers are responsible for the commercial success of the software product. They analyze the market, competitors, and potential users to create applications that will be profitable.

• Project manager

While a product manager answers the question “what should be done for the success of the product?”, a project cares more about the question “how are we going to do this?”. Project managers estimate and control the resources, compose project documents, and track the team’s productivity. In short, they do everything so that the project is finished in time and within budget.

• Business analyst

A business analyst is a mediator between the client and the development team regarding how both sides see the final result of their work. He or she surfaces business needs and goals and turns them into specific software requirements and features.

• Sales manager

If you’re not really interested in the process of software development and feel more excited about earning money for yourself and your company: the sales department is a perfect place for you. Your main responsibility would be to find and communicate with potential clients and persuade them to entrust your team with the project.

• Customer support manager

This role is essential for product companies that sell their software solutions to businesses and individuals. If you consider yourself a people person who doesn’t mind taking care of someone else’s problems - customer support will be a suitable occupation for you.

You don’t have to be a developer, QA, or DevOps engineer to become a member of the IT community. However, it doesn’t mean that getting a job as a non-tech specialist doesn’t require any preparation. We’ve created a list of helpful tips that will boost your chances to get your first non-tech job in the IT company of your dream!

10 tips to get an IT job as a non-tech candidate

1. Make your choice

Don’t try to chaise all the career paths at the same time. Although a few options of non-tech jobs may seem attractive to you, set your priorities and pick one of them to focus on in the nearest future. First of all, hiring managers can feel the difference between a candidate who is truly passionate about a specific job offer and a person who just wants to get any job at all. Guess, who would they prefer? Secondly, you’ll have to choose eventually - you can’t work at both jobs. Weigh the pros and cons now and pick your path! After all, you’ll always have a chance to try something else later.

2. Complete a relevant course

Finding a job without theoretical knowledge about your potential responsibilities will be extremely difficult. The online education market offers many options to learn about any non-tech IT job. There is a huge difference between candidates who learned about project management (for example) from Google and the ones who took two- or three-month courses with a professional lecturer. Besides, companies that sell courses frequently help the best students with employment afterward.

3. Take care of your resume

Whether you are a student or a career-changer, composing a decent resume can be a challenge. If that’s your first ever job, it may be hard to impress hiring managers without any work experience whatsoever. And if you switch your career to IT, you have to think of a way to present your skills properly so that they suit a new domain. In any case, our experts are ready to help! Apply for professional resume writing services, and they will come up with a resume that will get you dozens of job interviews!

4. Surround yourself with helpful content

Completing the course is great, but the learning process shouldn’t end there. Make a list of books and articles on a topic that you should read and try to cross out at least a few items every month. Find and follow the social media profiles of the experts who are considered opinion leaders in the sphere of your interest. Look for blogs and podcasts that you can read and listen to regularly to keep up with the trends in the IT domain.

5. Freshen up your professional social media profiles

Social media is a powerful tool for the job search, so don’t miss this opportunity. Of course, the most popular professional social media is LinkedIn. Both job seekers and hiring managers consider it an efficient platform in terms of employment. So what should you do? Create a profile (if you still don’t have one) and follow the LinkedIn instruction to fill it with information about your career path. But if you aren’t good with words - get help from one of our LinkedIn profile writers. We’ll make your LinkedIn profile shine like a diamond!

6. Tailor your resume for each job offer

Making a whole new resume for every job offer is a waste of time. You don’t have to rewrite the whole document. For example, you shouldn’t change sections about your work experience or education as these are simply facts that stay the same no matter what company you apply to. But we recommend adjusting your summary and skills sections so that they will be more relevant to the employer's expectations for the role.

7. Respond to job offers that you’re genuinely interested in

As we’ve mentioned above, a hiring manager can see the difference between a candidate who actually wants to work for the company and a person whose only interest is making money. Before applying for a job, do a little research about the company. Would you be interested in the projects that this business usually works on? Do the company's values align with your beliefs? Does the social package meet your needs? If the answer to at least one of these questions is “no,” reconsider your decision to apply for a job that doesn’t correspond with your expectations.

8. Add a short cover letter to your application package

A cover letter is your chance to answer the questions that hiring managers might have after they see your resume. Don’t make a list of your skills or tell about your work experience - they don’t need a copy of your CV. Here is a list of things that you can share in the cover letter:

• Why you’re interested in this particular company/job offer
• How hiring you will be beneficial for the company
• What business cases of the company has got your attention
• Why you’ve decided to switch your career path (this one is for career changers)
• How studying in college has prepared you for this role (this one is for students who are looking for their first job)

Or you may order a cover letter writing service from one of our specialists who have a significant experience in this domain.

9. Prepare for every job interview

Surprise, surprise! Looking for a new job is time-consuming. Before each job interview, you have to find as much information about the company and its projects as possible and carefully read it. You should also make a list of questions about a job offer for the hiring manager. In this way, your interviewer will see that you take this opportunity seriously. We also recommend looking for the social media profiles of your future interviewers and quickly scrolling through them. If you have something in common - a hobby, a pet, a favorite music band - try to mention it casually during the interview. That doesn’t consider stalking! It’s just another way to connect and show your human side.

10. Don’t take rejection personally

The job searching process can be really tough, especially if you don’t have any relevant experience in the IT domain. You might have to send a hundred applications and go through a dozen job interviews to become a new member of the IT community. Or you can find a perfect place within a few days! That’s equally a matter of luck and your skills. In any case, don’t take rejection personally. There is a wide range of factors that influence the hiring process, and you can’t feel responsible for every failure. Just do your best and keep moving forward! The more job interviews you do, the higher the chances for a happy match!

Hundreds of people find their dream job in the IT domain every day, so what stops you from trying? Lack of experience, fear of failure, or anxiety about changes? None of these things will matter when you reach your goal. Follow our guide to speed up the job search! And if you want to learn more about composing a perfect resume - check out our article on the topic.

next advice >
10 Common Mistakes in the
Entry-Level Resume