A+ will NOT get you an IT job by itself. With your skills, get the A+ ( should be easy ) then work on N+ (Network+) then on the Linux+ certs. The combo certs will help you more than just one will.

CCNA will get you a possible intro networking job ( running cable, doing some maint work, etc ).

And I agree with Muta on the CV changes, also Drop the Personal area and the fancy background design. Keep it simple.

On the testimonials : drop the friends entry and keep it professional only. As a manager, I want to know the professional recommendations, not personal.

BlueEyekid,

I've been in the IT business for a long time, and my advice may not be the best, but it is based on my observations of how people respond to others.

First, acknowledge your own desperation and factor it out of your thinking and the way you respond to situations. Everyone has financial problems at one time or another, and like everyone else, an employer does not want to inherit your anxiety about finances. So, deal with the fear at times when you are not sitting before a possible boss.

Second, don't rely on circulating resumes or CVs. I realize that people who are younger than, say 35, believe that everything worth knowing and experiencing can be reduced to clicking a button or texting someone else in a cryptic mishmash of syllables comprised largely of consonants and digits, BUT people who you may want to retain your services usually want more than a piece of paper. They want a voice and a face in the flesh. That means calling on the phone, making appointments, dressing up in a suit to show that you are seriously interested in pleasing them, and brushing up on your manners. I cannot tell you how many times I have crumpled up a resume before an interview even started when I heard every sentence spoken by the candidate in the hallway punctuated with "casual" swearing, a sure sign that he didn't have even the slightest understanding of what offends whom.

Many times, you can win a position, albeit a low level position, by "coming clean" about your professional deficiencies with the explanation that you want to be honest and you want the employer to know that you are willing to accept a low position at low pay in order to learn "the right way."

If you do land a job, dismiss from your mind the very first day you start working that you can come in at 9 and leave at 5. If you employer asks you to be at your desk at 9, be there at 8. If he asks you to stay until 5, stay until 7; and don't just sit there. Be productive in those extra, uncompensated hours. Show the boss that you are a more valuable person to have on staff than one of the other clockwatchers he or she employs.

Finally, if you get a job, don't be blind to the inefficiencies of your company. Write down the things that could be improved in a notebook, and DON'T SAY ANYTHING TO ANYONE ABOUT WHAT YOU OBSERVE FOR AT LEAST SIX MONTHS. After six months you will have enough of a perspective to BEGIN to form opinions that would be (a) respected and (b) informed. Look for patterns or links to more central issues or causes of inefficiency. Once you have identified them, then think about which ones can be solved the most simply. Finally, of those that can be solved the most simply, sift out those that you believe would have the most positive impact on the profitability of the company if they could be resolved. Then and only then speak to you boss about what you have observed with respect to those sifted out issues. You may be told that they have thought about that already or they may not have thought of it at all, but the end result will be that you will confirm in their minds that you were worth hiring.

Finally, think long and hard about what it is that makes you think you would be best placed in IT. Most people end up in jobs they hate. They feel stifled, suffocated, and frustrated by their work because in the long run, their capacity to spend always outpaces their capacity to save. In the end they become wage slaves. So, unless you can amass a fortune from a deceased uncle, I would suggest that you be very careful about choosing a career path. If you are creative and have been attracted to IT because it has allowed you to create things, don't make the mistake of thinking that IT work done for an employer will have that same "playing in the sandbox" feel to it that a hobbyist would have when doing programming for fun. Most importantly, if you think you have made a mistake in the direction of your career, don't be afraid to change that direction. Remember, you have to live inside your own skin. No one else can do that for you, and whatever you do by way of a career should further your own lifelong quest to understand who you are and what you can achieve. That requires a kind of personal bravery that seems to be in short supply these days, so be brave, takes risks, put in lots of extra effort into whatever you choose to do, and hope for the best.