Just got my CCENT, and about to get CCNA - Having Trouble Finding Job

Hello everyone,

I just recently got my CCENT, and I'm about to test for my CCNA which I'm really confident I'll pass. I've applied to so many places to be a Jr. Network Admin and nothing has hit at all, not a single response. I was hoping maybe someone could help me out and tell me why or maybe somewhere I should apply or a cisco job fair/event? I don't know....maybe someone here can help a young network admin out.

Find more posts tagged with

SAVE $250 on Your Boot Camp — Use Code "EXAM26"

Exclusively for TechExams members for Infosec Boot Camps starting before April 30, 2026

View Boot Camps

Comments

Phileeeeeeep651

First things first, I would take down your resume and scrub the PII!

Off the top of my head:

To me, for only having two jobs, 3 pages seems like a lot. Two pages I could see but not 3. From a purely visual standpoint, there sure is a lot of white space. Formatting to one page would be ideal. For education, list your school, major, and dates attended/graduation date. References should go!

techfiend

Please redact your personal info. Some brief suggestions with the resume:

- Change objective to professional summary that points out your strengths
- Have the layout be Summary, Experience, Certification, Education. Remove everything else
- Reduce to 1 page
- The style looks nice but you may have better luck with a plain professional look
- For experience section describe your role in a few sentences and then a bullet list of achievements

Phileeeeeeep651

techfiend wrote: »

- The style looks nice but you may have better luck with a plain professional look

THIS!! I've gotten the most hits off my resume after I put a simple and professional look to it!

Pheonyx

Thank you both!

Robertf969

You type incredibly fast like 40-50wpm shy of the world record, I would probably think that's BS if I was reviewing your resume. Also I wouldn't include it. You have a ton of white space I would simplify, drop the references (they will ask for them later), drop the objective (duh your objective is to get a job with their company). You could do a professional summary in place of the objective but I have dropped that off my resume too. The average HR rep spends something like 6 seconds deciding if they are going to read your resume further. Emphasize Education, Certifications and Experience. Everything else can pretty much go away.

Pheonyx

Robertf969 wrote: »

You type incredibly fast like 40-50wpm shy of the world record, I would probably think that's BS if I was reviewing your resume. Also I wouldn't include it. You have a ton of white space I would simplify, drop the references (they will ask for them later), drop the objective (duh your objective is to get a job with their company). You could do a professional summary in place of the objective but I have dropped that off my resume too. The average HR rep spends something like 6 seconds deciding if they are going to read your resume further. Emphasize Education, Certifications and Experience. Everything else can pretty much go away.

I got my first keyboard when I was 3 years old. Thank you for the compliment and for your advise, much appreciated!

Kinet1c

Robertf969 wrote: »

You type incredibly fast like 40-50wpm shy of the world record, I would probably think that's BS if I was reviewing your resume. Also I wouldn't include it. You have a ton of white space I would simplify, drop the references (they will ask for them later), drop the objective (duh your objective is to get a job with their company). You could do a professional summary in place of the objective but I have dropped that off my resume too. The average HR rep spends something like 6 seconds deciding if they are going to read your resume further. Emphasize Education, Certifications and Experience. Everything else can pretty much go away.

Just wanted to put emphasis on the above. HR are looking for keywords, as are most hiring managers... let's make it easy for them

kurosaki00

Robertf969 wrote: »

You type incredibly fast like 40-50wpm shy of the world record, I would probably think that's BS if I was reviewing your resume.

40-50wpm is standard data entry level. Last time I took a data entry test (like 3-4 yrs ago for a job) I ended with like 62 wpm. World record is above 125wpm. I'm pretty sure if I used my home keyboard I can nail 70 wpm easily.

*Navid, my friend. Please take off your personal information from resumes if you post them online.
Second, there's nothing in your resume that explains why you deserve a network engineer position.
Jr System admin maybe, but network eng? There's no experience with protocols, circuits, etc.

I see a "tcp/ip intermediate", "network config intermediate" but I dont see why. Why are you an intermediate on those? Where are the details? Your achievements with the companies. How did you made a difference?
Oh god plz remove references too from public resumes...

Pheonyx

kurosaki00 wrote: »

40-50wpm is standard data entry level. Last time I took a data entry test (like 3-4 yrs ago for a job) I ended with like 62 wpm. World record is above 125wpm. I'm pretty sure if I used my home keyboard I can nail 70 wpm easily.

*Navid, my friend. Please take off your personal information from resumes if you post them online.
Second, there's nothing in your resume that explains why you deserve a network engineer position.
Jr System admin maybe, but network eng? There's no experience with protocols, circuits, etc.

I see a "tcp/ip intermediate", "network config intermediate" but I dont see why. Why are you an intermediate on those? Where are the details? Your achievements with the companies. How did you made a difference?
Oh god plz remove references too from public resumes...

I am looking for a Jr. position. I can't take the resume down, there is no option to delete attachments apparently, under "manage attachments". Sorry it annoys you to such a high extent.

Pheonyx

I've also tried removing my attachment but I'm pretty new to this site, and its not giving me an option to do so. sorry for the inconvenience!

thomas_

Pheonyx wrote: »

I've also tried removing my attachment but I'm pretty new to this site, and its not giving me an option to do so. sorry for the inconvenience!

Click the gear icon at the top. Then on the page that loads on the right hand side you should find a "My Settings" box. You should see an attachments link close to the bottom and can delete it from there.

Pheonyx

thomas_ wrote: »

Click the gear icon at the top. Then on the page that loads on the right hand side you should find a "My Settings" box. You should see an attachments link close to the bottom and can delete it from there.

Deleted. Thank you!

kurosaki00

My other recommendation still applies.
You need to be more specific with your experience. Projects, technologies, achievements you had in your jobs that would make you a good Jr NetEng

LeBroke

kurosaki00 wrote: »

40-50wpm is standard data entry level. Last time I took a data entry test (like 3-4 yrs ago for a job) I ended with like 62 wpm. World record is above 125wpm. I'm pretty sure if I used my home keyboard I can nail 70 wpm easily.

Nitpick, but the post said "just shy of world record"

So it's probably something like 80 WPM, which, while achievable by normal people, is generally much higher than normal typing speed.

Robertf969

kurosaki00 wrote: »

40-50wpm is standard data entry level. Last time I took a data entry test (like 3-4 yrs ago for a job) I ended with like 62 wpm. World record is above 125wpm. I'm pretty sure if I used my home keyboard I can nail 70 wpm easily.

Yeah, his resume said he typed 120-140 WPM world record is something like 200, 120-140 is insanely fast. I could probably do about 70-80 if I wasn't paying attention to my spelling and grammar.

Shoe Box

I've been doing Desktop Support for 3-1/2 years, and I have never encountered a situation where typing speed mattered. I'm getting paid by the hour, so I'm in no hurry.

I didn't get to see the resume, so repost it after you make changes and I will put in my two cents.

Pheonyx

kurosaki00 wrote: »

My other recommendation still applies.
You need to be more specific with your experience. Projects, technologies, achievements you had in your jobs that would make you a good Jr NetEng

so in other words, im not worthy of a jr network admin job unless i already have relative experience in the field. interesting. I feel I've heard this story somewhere else before. lol.

techfiend

If you dig you'll probably find something. Network troubleshooting, firewall rules, setup small networks, etc. Engineer is typically a high level position. You should aim more for jr admin.

Pheonyx

techfiend wrote: »

If you dig you'll probably find something. Network troubleshooting, firewall rules, setup small networks, etc. Engineer is typically a high level position. You should aim more for jr admin.

I said "Jr. Network Admin".

Phileeeeeeep651

If you make another copy of your resume without all the PII and post it again you might be able to get more assistance on what to do in your job search/how to better your resume.

Pheonyx wrote: »

so in other words, im not worthy of a jr network admin job unless i already have relative experience in the field. interesting. I feel I've heard this story somewhere else before. lol.

I don't think that's exactly what anyone is saying, I believe what they are trying to get at is that you need to be able to demonstrate on your resume that you deserve to land a Jr Net admin position.

If I can recall, I don't remember your resume highlighting a lot of networking. What have you done in the positions you've held that relate to networking? kurosaki00 asked you some great questions that you should use to get the ball rolling. Expand on those kinds of projects and tasks, remove the clutter from you resume, and try again.

Pheonyx

Phileeeeeeep651 wrote: »

If you make another copy of your resume without all the PII and post it again you might be able to get more assistance on what to do in your job search/how to better your resume.

I plan on it

tomorrow!

kurosaki00

Pheonyx wrote: »

so in other words, im not worthy of a jr network admin job unless i already have relative experience in the field. interesting. I feel I've heard this story somewhere else before. lol.

My comment was more towards you need to abound more in the details.
Network Admin
Worked with several server technologies (2k8, 2k12, 2k12R2, CentOS, etc).
Was in charge of Access Control groups in AD. Created distribution lists based of groups, etc.
Notice the difference between that and just saying "AD" on your resume. I'm not an AD guru so someone else can give you better examples.

Highlights: *Saved department 10% of net fund by switching to open source technology.
* Reduced ticket queue average resolve time by 45%
* Was in charge of XYZ project

You need to be detailed with your job experience

Pheonyx

I took everyone's input and made this version of my resume. I tried my best to keep things "to the point" and brief. I have one more job I could have added but that would have made it two pages. Any thoughts? And thank you for helping me out!

New Resume PDF.pdf

thomas_

I'd drop the skills section, move any certs you have into its own section, work the rest of the keywords in your skills section into your bullet points. I would also drop the "References available upon request, that is kind of implied.

I would try to flesh out your bullets more. Other members suggested to me the STAR method, google it and then redo the bullets. Basically what you did, and the end result of what you did. Ideally, it will have a positive impact from a business standpoint.

Think about all of the different types of hardware and software you have workes with and supported. Think of model numbers too. Try to work those into your bullets. i've had more than one interviewer comment on how I have experience with a certain brand of WAPs and how they either have that brand or they're just switching over to that brand.

I wouldn't worry about spilling over to two pages if you need the room.

White Wizard

You continually change from past to present tense in your job descriptions, change this. Your skills sections is too broad. Creative resolutions? Be honest here and tell the person reviewing your resume what you are capable of.

NetworkNewb

Not a fan of that "Profile" section at the top. Think it should be omitted completely.

Maybe put an objective statement in there instead.

datacomboss

Use the following format for your experience:
- Brief description of your duties using 1-3 sentences. Would be nice to give an idea of the overall environment size as maintaining 9 VMs doesn't take much effort.

- After the description, list 4-8 bullet points (with most recent job having the most) for each job and how you (through IT) helped your previous/current organization:
*Make money
*Save money
*Save time
*Make work easier and more efficient
*Solve a specific problem
*Be more competitive
*Build relationships
*Expand the business
*Attract new customers
*Retain existing customers

datacomboss

Use the Dack.com BS generator if you're at a loss for buzzwords.

dack.com > web > web economy bullshit generator