ITT Tech = Bad for your resume?

[BurnITTDown]

Ironically, I've read that you can actually hurt your chances of landing a decent job by listing ITT Tech degrees in the Education section of your resume. Some have claimed that ideal employers will actually throw out any resume that has ITT Tech listed on it. Supposedly, there is a blacklist of degree mills and for-profit schools that employers use to weed out applicants that they'd consider "unqualified" for the job.

The problem with this is that I *am* qualified for the jobs that I am applying for. And I hate the idea of employers simply discriminating against us and not giving us a chance because we made a mistake in the past of attending a lousy for-profit school. They obviously didn't provide a quality education at the school but I did self-teach and learn a lot of things on my own while attending. These employers must realize that SOME of us ITT Tech grads are not totally incompetent morons, incapable of tying our own shoes. I know, just like any graduate of any college, that I have to prove myself in the field. But how can we even do that when employers simply toss our resume because of the ITT Tech curse?

Well, one solution I've thought of is to simply exclude ITT Tech from my resume. At least until I get in to a community college. Would this actually increase my chances of landing a desired job? It is an experiment worth trying, I think. I could always add it back on my resume at a later time, after I have gained a lot more experience and "proven myself" in the field. Do you guys have any insight on this?

[sevenalive]

Employers in general like education, but they prefer experience + education.

If they get someone who has 10 years experience, no degree vs. someone with a degree and no experience. I think they would choose the guy with 10 years. That's why you see "4 year degree in Computer science or 5 years experience" in job ads.

I would leave it out, then when they ask about your education in the interview, tell them you have some college experience but no degree yet.

[ITMonkey]

All I can comment on is my experience, but I'd have to say that listing a degree from ITT is a bad idea, especially if it's your only degree.

What I do is list the certifications I've earned, and I list my time at ITT in the education section of my resume along with the other schools I've attended, but I don't list the degree itself and I don't talk about it anymore unless the interviewer brings it up. Most people I've spoken with in the IT field do not consider an ITT degree to be a real degree.

If your field of study has some sort of certifications you can earn I suggest earning those and featuring them on your resume. I wouldn't flat-out deny that you went to ITT, but I wouldn't uptalk it either, because companies are very aware of the weaknesses in the various ITT programs.

Once I stopped listing my ITT "degree" on my resume, I started getting a lot more calls for interviews.

[Bootsy]

I would list ITT tech on my resume, but I wouldn’t uptalk it like the previous post mentions. It is quite suspicious how they provide students with a leather portfolio that has ITT emblazoned with gold all over the front of it. Talk about standing out. If you show up with ITT tech on the front of your portfolio you are labeling yourself in the worst possible way. If I was an employer and I came across an applicant that had the ITT leather portfolio I would automatically assume he was dim witted and naïve. Does that sound like someone you want on your network? I do not think so. The leather portfolio is a classic example of corporate narcissism. The whole idea of any job interview is to distinguish you from the competition and the mass produced leather portfolio with ITT tech emblazoned in gold really allows you and the previous 5 applicants to accomplish that. I went out and purchased a real leather portfolio. I will not advertise ITT during a job interview, we have TVs for that.

If I was an employer I would certainly throw away resumes with ITT on them. I know what a lousy school it is. One third to ¼ of the enrollment into Computer Networking systems have never installed windows. If I was ever hired into an IT department I would advise them that going forward we should not consider any further graduates from ITT. Employers want you to make smart decisions in their organization and attending ITT is clearly not a smart decision. Employers know that an associate degree should not cost nearly 50,000 dollars, and that will demonstrate your poor judgment to them.

I know all this is true, because I had to listen the dean at the Utah campus rant on about it. The dean tried to personally explain this away to me by saying, “Every employer has certain schools they don’t like to hire from.” and that he personally knew of a company that didn’t like to hire from BYU. I guess that some schools are just simply more blacklisted than others, but I wouldn’t brag about any kind of degree from ITT. Employers know about the caliber of students ITT takes on.

[Job+help11]

I agree that experience can be huge on a resume as there are not many highlights to mention from education alone. I think there are all kinds of feelings about particular institutions from potential employers, but I definitely think that you should include the information for any of your studies. Education is a good thing, but it becomes more valuable with relevant experience. The job market is tough, and you have to remember that someone doesn't always hire you based on where you went to school, but instead, how you market yourself on your resume and what you can bring to their company.

[surmar2010]

I'm actually going back to school so I can take ITT OFF MY RESUME. Biggest mistake of my life. I have about 6 years experience in my field and I'm very good at what I do however I just lost out on 2 job interviews mostly because the employers don't trust hiring ITT grads. The #1 complaint is to many students graduate without knowing anything. The only available jobs are low paying temp jobs.

[aka name]

take ITT OFF MY RESUME. .

I did the same. I worked while attending ITT so just used the those jobs to cover the time space on my resume - and left the ITT "degrees" off.