Resume advice

Route->This

I just updated my resume I was told it was to long with to much detail and just needed to summarize my role and highlight my achievements. I basically focused my energy restructuring my current position. Please let me know how it looks I am looking to start applying for mid tier roles. Thanks in advance.

Route->This

Also, this was my original that I edited if it helps any.

yzT

take care of the format

AverageJoe

It looks like you could easily get this on one page. I'm not one to argue all resumes should only be one page, but I also wouldn't stretch it to two pages just to have two pages.

Also, I like it when people include an objective because it helps me consider where this person would fit in best, but your objective is very general without saying anything. I'd much rather see something shorter that clues me in on what kind of position you're looking for. If you're willing to take any job in order to "surpass company goals" that's great, but probably you're not really meaning that. If you want to leverage your troubleshooting skills and network experience as a system administrator, tell me that. If you're looking to expand into information security, tell me that. Hoping to one day be a manager, tell me that. You can be general, but at least give me a clue of what you're really looking for.

For your Field Technician job, you did that for 3 months? Yet you gave that as much space as you gave your current job of 2 years and much more space than the job you had for 6 years. Seems odd. I'd skinny it down a bit to match the 2006 job (about 4 lines).

You should get your verb tense right. For your current job you used past tense verbs, but that should probably be current tense since you're still doing it. For your previous jobs you (mostly) used present tense even though they are jobs in your past. Worse, you mixed tense by having mostly present and one or two past tense bullets. Inconsistent. Ditto for periods at the end of bullets. Use them or don't, but you should be consistent.
Just my 2 cents. Good luck!
Joe

Route->This

Thanks for the advice. Great tip on the tenses and summary. I managed to get it down to one page. I took out the field tech gig it was only 3 months n part time and I don't think it'll add much to my cause.

petedude

Not to hijack a thread, but. . . I wasn't sure my question is worth opening up another thread for. If anyone chimes in, I'm sure it'll help.

If you're looking to move up, and you don't have lots of numbers for your accomplishments (e.g. saved a million bucks by doing X) how do you promote it in your resume? Just to invent an example, "helped other techs close tickets" is nice, but what if you can't remember how many or figure out how to polish that so it sounds better?

AverageJoe

petedude wrote: »

Not to hijack a thread, but. . . I wasn't sure my question is worth opening up another thread for. If anyone chimes in, I'm sure it'll help.

If you're looking to move up, and you don't have lots of numbers for your accomplishments (e.g. saved a million bucks by doing X) how do you promote it in your resume? Just to invent an example, "helped other techs close tickets" is nice, but what if you can't remember how many or figure out how to polish that so it sounds better?

Well, off the top of my head, you might emphasize being a team player who partners with other technicians to ensure the best possible customer service. Or relied on by supervisor to assist teammates in troubleshooting and solving high-level outages. Assisted senior tech in providing expedient solution for CEO's laptop VPN crisis. You don't have to give a lot of specific examples, but you could mention a few things that might stand out.

Route->This

This is the updated resume. Let me know what you think. Thanks guys

SCL1419

You're updated resume is alot better but honestly, get rid of the objective paragraph, move the certifications down closer towards your education and outline your objectives in your cover letter. It gives you a little room to explain your overall goal. Try to cram as much as possible so that the resume flows really concise. Im sure you are irritated at this point but keep going it looks professional!

AverageJoe

Looks much better! It looks much more appealing to the eye and is easy to follow.

I agree that if you submit with a cover letter then you can take out or shorten further the objective, but it's good to have multiple versions of a resume. This looks like a much more solid baseline that can stand by itself, but then you should also tailor it for individual positions you apply for and match those versions up with the position and cover letter.

Bottom line is that a resume is really never done. You shouldn't have to completely re-write it often, but you should freshen it based on your changing goals and positions sought, experience and education gained, and the expected audience that will be reading it.

DCD

Like SCL1419 said change objective into a summary. And start it off with something like this "As a Voice Engineer I setup several Call Manger Express Solution and Engineered and solve Sip trunks issues".

And move your Education and skill above your employment history.

Route->This

This is my current updated resume. Only real change was that I shortened my summary for my current job and moved it to my general summary. Tell me what you think!

Thanks in advance

yzT

you better use a standard font like Arial, TNR, Verdana.... Calibri is a Microsoft Office font and it may have problems in another systems. For instance, I use Linux and I see the dates divided in two lines, but I guess you're seeing them in one line, aren't you?

Route->This

Great tip! I changed it to Times new roman the others you suggested brought the resume to 2 pages.

Route->This

This is the pdf version if anyone had any issues opening in word or didn't have word.

Route->This

Is it laid out so perfectly that noone needs to comment

lsud00d

If you put your contact information in the header then you can buy yourself a lot more space. In this instance you could add more relevant information to the professional experience section.
I'm a fan of tables in general and a table for your certifications is ideal. I list mine like:



Microsoft Cert, Microsoft certification ID
Date completed


CompTIA Cert, CompTIA certification ID
Date completed



This allows the prospective employer to verify what you claim and also evaluate several things like time elapsed since completion, time between certification achievements, etc.
I saw one or two 'ciscos' that weren't capitalized properly.
You don't need a comma after troubleshooting in your summary.
Also in general about your summary...you're sentences are all dependent clauses which lends itself to a list rather than a paragraph format. Either rewrite it as a cohesive read or change to a list format.

xnx

lsud00d wrote: »

If you put your contact information in the header then you can buy yourself a lot more space. In this instance you could add more relevant information to the professional experience section.
I'm a fan of tables in general and a table for your certifications is ideal. I list mine like:



Microsoft Cert, Microsoft certification ID
Date completed


CompTIA Cert, CompTIA certification ID
Date completed



This allows the prospective employer to verify what you claim and also evaluate several things like time elapsed since completion, time between certification achievements, etc.
I saw one or two 'ciscos' that weren't capitalized properly.
You don't need a comma after troubleshooting in your summary.
Also in general about your summary...you're sentences are all dependent clauses which lends itself to a list rather than a paragraph format. Either rewrite it as a cohesive read or change to a list format.

*Your

lsud00d

xnx wrote: »

*Your

Lawdy! Look at me pointing out grammatical mistakes and I faux pas myself in the foot. That sentence started as one thought and shifted to another

Route->This

lsud00d wrote: »

Also in general about your summary...you're sentences are all dependent clauses which lends itself to a list rather than a paragraph format. Either rewrite it as a cohesive read or change to a list format.

I get what your saying and honestly I wanted to restructure the summary to sound more like a cohesive paragraph it would irk me reading it but I was basing it off of plenty of other resumes I looked at online. Not saying its exactly right just found most of them with that style of summary. I also wanted to stay away from having it sound like "I did this, then I did that, I supported this, I thought of that" it just doesn't sound good to me.

petedude

to the OP:
My two cents, for what it is:
1. Each job needs at least a one-line summary. Co-opt one from your job description, or copy one from a similar job posting.
2. After the summary, THEN you bullet point your contributions/successes/achievements. "Dependent clauses" can be passable on bullets if you have a suitable summary.
3. And yes, you did this/supported that/etc. Just be mindful how you say it. Look at others' resumes in this forum for ideas.