Resume Help + Want to to break into IT in Orlando FL

Oresama

Hello everyone!

I believe this is my first post and so I wanted to first thank the everyone for all the insight, help and motivation you provide.

Having said that I need more direct assistance in landing my first job in the industry.

I reside in the Orlando Florida area and am having a hard time to say the least.
I often times don't get a return call or progress into even a phone interview.

I've pasted the contents of my resume and was hoping I can receive some help and guidance on what I should do next.

A few things I need clarification with are:

• Are any of my skills transferable into a help desk role ( I assumed my call center exp would but ), and am I not "selling" those transferable skills effectively, if any, to potential employers?
• What constitutes technical support experience? While serving in the USN, we often deployed in small teams with our own laptops and software. Aside from assistance with a ships IT shop for network integration, we often performed our own hardware and software troubleshooting, driver updates, data backups, OS installs. Would this count as technical support?
• Do any of my college courses matter, do they count as experience? should they even be on my resume?
• Was I expecting too much given my experience or lack thereof?

If I come up with anything else ill engage everyone in the replies below.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and I thank you all in advance.



Skills and Abilities

• Strong Customer Service Skills
  
• Excellent Written Communication Skills
  
• Problem Solving Skills
  
• Public Speaking Skills
  
• Attentive to Detail
  
• Operating systems: Windows 7, 8, 10
  
• Microsoft Office Suite Proficient
  
• Word Processing & Typing: 40+ WPM
  
• Team Player
  
• Flexible / Mobile / Military Veteran
  
• Bilingual: Spanish

Professional Training/Coursework

• Hardware Configuration|2016 • Software Configuration|2016 • Information Security Fundamentals|2016
  

Experience

Collector II: 2013- 2016
Wells Fargo,
Responsible for inbound and outbound collection and servicing efforts for past-due first mortgage and home equity accounts. Accountable for evaluating customers' financial situations and negotiating repayment solutions unique to their circumstances. Professionally overcome customer obstacles by guiding away from negative non-payment impacts, and persuade towards the benefits of timely kept payment arrangements to bring accounts current. Required to accurately and quickly type customer account interactions while maintaining exceptional standards for overall call quality and customer satisfaction.

Accomplishments:

• Recognized for achieving excellence in multiple metrics to include promises kept, call quality/compliance adherence, and conversion.
  

Home Retention Specialist/Collector: 2012 – 2013
Homeward Residential,
Responsible for English and Spanish inbound and outbound collection and retention activities for accounts past-due 60 days or greater. Utilized dedicated mortgage servicing software to provide customer support for mortgagors inclusive of escrow inquires, modification options, initiating repayment plans, identifying loss mitigation candidates when collection not possible, and collecting payments via check by phone, money gram, and western union speed pay. Required to accurately and quickly type customer account interactions while maintaining exceptional standards for overall call quality and customer satisfaction.
Accomplishments:

• Recognized for achieving 100% call quality and adherence for month of February 2013.
  

Sales Representative: 2010 – 2012
Advance Auto Parts,
Mid-management sales representative. Required to open and close store punctually. Service customers professionally both in person, and via telephone. Resolve customer concerns, questions, and complaints positively. Balance register and prepare daily sales summary and deposits. Manage and organize stock overage, pricing, removal and addition of inventory by utilizing both computer and electronic portable stocking equipment.
Accomplishments:

• Employee of the Month for June 2011.
  

Front Desk Clerk: 2009 – 2010
Veterans Center,
Accepting inbound and placing outbound calls. Directing inbound calls to proper resources that matched Veteran’s needs. Qualifying, registering and scheduling both new and returning Veterans. Greeting and providing a comfortable environment. Physically file as well as digitalize documents via Microsoft Office.


Weather Technician: 2004 – 2008
United States Navy
Created over 500 meteorological/oceanographic analysis products and data tables utilizing numerous military software as well as MS Office suite. Publicly presented said analysis products to hundreds of Naval Personnel, and high ranking Naval Commanders and decision makers. Responsible for troubleshooting, maintenance, and escalation of issues related to portable laptop, software, and server equipment while deployed at sea.
Accomplishments:

• Employee of the Year, 2007.
  

Education & Certifications

• A.A. (Emphasis: Information Technology)| 2016
• High School Diploma
• ITIL Foundations Certification (In-progress, exam scheduled for: 09/1/17)
  
  

EANx

How's that ITIL coming? It's not exactly the first certification I would have chased but if you're in the middle, might as well finish ITIL Foundation. I think you need the A+ more than anything else though. Help desk and call center are two very different things so call center doesn't mean experience in a help desk.

Oresama

EANx wrote: »

How's that ITIL coming? It's not exactly the first certification I would have chased but if you're in the middle, might as well finish ITIL Foundation. I think you need the A+ more than anything else though. Help desk and call center are two very different things so call center doesn't mean experience in a help desk.

Hey thanks for the response!
That was the exam I was initially studying for, but jobs in the Orlando area listed the ITIL cert as a pre-requisite for entry level positions much more often than they did A+ .

I decided to switch my studies to ITIL's Foundations exam as it was more affordable, did not expire, and again is in much more demand in my area.

Do you think the cert situation is all that's holding me back?
If it is that would be a relief, as I was assuming issues in my experience and resume format were also a problem.

EANx

Experience is always a concern. While I'm more likely to take a chance on someone who has certs but no experience, no certs and no experience means I could be hiring someone who decided IT pays better than real estate. Think of it this way, give me a reason to hire you. Everyone has to start somewhere and certs mean you're at least trying to play the game.

DatabaseHead

Agreed ITIL, is icing at best. Where's the funk is the meat and potatoes?

ice9

You should apply for a Help Desk entry level position at Lockheed Martin on Lake UnderHill Dr.

I started out years ago there with LM, and with company loyalty you can take advantage of benefits like tuition reimbursement and other training.

Monster.com I am sure has some open help desk analyst contractor positions open.

Oresama

EANx wrote: »

Experience is always a concern. While I'm more likely to take a chance on someone who has certs but no experience, no certs and no experience means I could be hiring someone who decided IT pays better than real estate. Think of it this way, give me a reason to hire you. Everyone has to start somewhere and certs mean you're at least trying to play the game.

Thanks for the advice. I'm definitely serious about IT. My major's in Computer Networking. I'm a little over halfway to completion, and felt that the certs would allow me to get an entry level job while I pursued my studies at a slower pace online. Thanks for reassuring me the cert path is the right one at this point and college courses alone won't cut it.

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Agreed ITIL, is icing at best. Where's the funk is the meat and potatoes?

Thanks for your comment, I'm hoping ITIL gets my foot in the door in my local area, as it is asked for repeatedly as far as entry level help desk positions go.

ice9 wrote: »

You should apply for a Help Desk entry level position at Lockheed Martin on Lake UnderHill Dr.

I started out years ago there with LM, and with company loyalty you can take advantage of benefits like tuition reimbursement and other training.

Monster.com I am sure has some open help desk analyst contractor positions open.

Awesome, thanks for the advice Ice. It's very encouraging. I'll definitely look into it!

Press ANY Key

You don't really have any IT background BUT you are a veteran. That could play into your favor down the line. If you still have a clearance, that would be good. You may want to look into a service desk role.

1- Why not make a sacrifice and go down to Tampa? CENTCOM HQ is there. There are TONS of IT jobs at MacDill AFB.
2- Get some baseline certs and go overseas for a year or two. There are companies willing to sponsor you. Once you come back, your resume looks good, you will have some hands on experience plus some hard earned cash in your pocket.

Just a few suggestions.

FSF150

Do you have a LinkedIn? If not, set one up. Lots of recruiters in the Orlando LinkedIn-sphere with low level contract IT jobs.

Get A+ on your resume and even a short contract stint to demonstrate relevant experience and I think you'll start seeing more success. Agreed with the other poster's comment about LM, but their recruiting process has been... glacial. In my experience. Orlando is starting to see some good tech startups pop up so I don't think you'll need to move just yet, but I will concede that Tampa usually looks hot for jobs too.

I would rewrite your time as an AG to include the tech-related aspects as much as possible too!

Edit: Also, as a current college student I think you'll have some good internship opportunities. Don't discount them, every career progression I've had since 2014 has been a result of a successful internship that year.

labscloud

FSF150 wrote: »

Do you have a LinkedIn? If not, set one up. Lots of recruiters in the Orlando LinkedIn-sphere with low level contract IT jobs.

Get A+ on your resume and even a short contract stint to demonstrate relevant experience and I think you'll start seeing more success. Agreed with the other poster's comment about LM, but their recruiting process has been... glacial. In my experience. Orlando is starting to see some good tech startups pop up so I don't think you'll need to move just yet, but I will concede that Tampa usually looks hot for jobs too.

I would rewrite your time as an AG to include the tech-related aspects as much as possible too!

Edit: Also, as a current college student I think you'll have some good internship opportunities. Don't discount them, every career progression I've had since 2014 has been a result of a successful internship that year.

I second this, my current job is owed to the internship I completed my last semester of school. If you can get accepted into one, it will make the transition period from when you finish school and into the workforce much easier, employers like to hire someone who's finishing school and just wrapped up an internship where they learned some skills.