what can I add to my resume to help advance my career?

phillyyy15

Hello, I'm 25 years old, recent graduate with a Bachelors in IT. I want to add stuff to my resume that employers will like. Eventually I want to get into security, but for now I want anything that will help me advance it on my resume. Oh yeah, and I wanna know things other than certs because thats one thing. Thanks guys!

N7Valiant

Experience. I don't know about other colleges, but mine generally requires multiple internships as a requirement for a Bachelor's.

vanillagorilla3

You can't just add things that you don't know. Get some experience. Volunteer somewhere. Gain certs.

stryder144

Since you have a degree and you know about the various certifications, I would recommend a few additional things:

1. A solid social media presence. Make sure you have a LinkedIn account and that it is not only up-to-date but also active. They have a blogging feature...use it but only if your grammar skills are solid. If not, or if you want to avoid embarrassment, use Grammarly. A Twitter account where you can cross-post to is also a good idea.

2. Get a free blog, if you don't want people to have to sign in to read a LinkedIn article. Again, grammar (and spelling, naturally) is king/queen. You can cross-post between a blog, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

What you write about is up to you, but I would stick to technical issues at first. Then, as you gain experience (and credibility) you can branch out to management-type posts. Either way, this is one way to let would-be employers see what you know and that you can communicate well. A lot of people will create a series of blog posts about whatever certification they are pursuing.

3. Volunteer - animal shelter, houses of worship, community center.

4. Teach - this is another opportunity to gain credibility in the marketplace. Not to mention, your knowledge level will deepen considerably and you will find a lot of topics easier to recall when you teach them from time-to-time.

Cheers

phillyyy15

stryder144 wrote: »

Since you have a degree and you know about the various certifications, I would recommend a few additional things:

1. A solid social media presence. Make sure you have a LinkedIn account and that it is not only up-to-date but also active. They have a blogging feature...use it but only if your grammar skills are solid. If not, or if you want to avoid embarrassment, use Grammarly. A Twitter account where you can cross-post to is also a good idea.

2. Get a free blog, if you don't want people to have to sign in to read a LinkedIn article. Again, grammar (and spelling, naturally) is king/queen. You can cross-post between a blog, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

What you write about is up to you, but I would stick to technical issues at first. Then, as you gain experience (and credibility) you can branch out to management-type posts. Either way, this is one way to let would-be employers see what you know and that you can communicate well. A lot of people will create a series of blog posts about whatever certification they are pursuing.

3. Volunteer - animal shelter, houses of worship, community center.

4. Teach - this is another opportunity to gain credibility in the marketplace. Not to mention, your knowledge level will deepen considerably and you will find a lot of topics easier to recall when you teach them from time-to-time.

Cheers

you are the man, thanks for the great response

LordQarlyn

In addition to what Stryder wrote, one of the best things to put on your resume/CV are accomplishments. Seriously, hiring managers like to see and notice if in your previous jobs you (not necessarily in order of importance):
1. Improved productivity and/or operations (i.e., got more out for the same inputs).
2. Lowered operating costs.
3. Brought in more revenue.

You have a history of past jobs where you did one or a combination of the above three, I assure you that you are very likely to get noticed and contacted, at the very least. Naturally make sure you can back up your claims.

Always look for ways to spin your resume to have accomplishments rather than mere job descriptions or technical skills (though having technical skills and expertise on your resume is of course important too). Again make sure if you spin it, you can back it up.
And we should always be looking for ways to improve our work functions.

N7Valiant

LordQarlyn wrote: »

In addition to what Stryder wrote, one of the best things to put on your resume/CV are accomplishments. Seriously, hiring managers like to see and notice if in your previous jobs you (not necessarily in order of importance):
1. Improved productivity and/or operations (i.e., got more out for the same inputs).
2. Lowered operating costs.
3. Brought in more revenue.

You have a history of past jobs where you did one or a combination of the above three, I assure you that you are very likely to get noticed and contacted, at the very least. Naturally make sure you can back up your claims.

Always look for ways to spin your resume to have accomplishments rather than mere job descriptions or technical skills (though having technical skills and expertise on your resume is of course important too). Again make sure if you spin it, you can back it up.
And we should always be looking for ways to improve our work functions.

Is this a normal thing in the IT industry? I always see those listed when I look at someone else's posted resume, I just find it hard to imagine collecting the specific data.

But then again, I'm coming from retail where I would imagine it's hard to gauge how much fruit I personally made sure was sold given multiple employees at all times. But even when I was interning as a PC Technician my supervisor didn't exactly have the time to add up how many devices I repaired/troubleshooted and how much money it all would be.

It doesn't seem like the sort of thing that's easy to properly quantify unless your supervisor moonlights as an accountant or unless you alone were assigned projects for which the costs and revenue can easily be attributable to your work with a paper/computer trail.

Again, seems doubtful this sort of thing can be quantifiable at entry level positions like the help desk. Something to look out for in the future when you start getting assigned actual projects, but I'm not sure people getting their foot in the door can use it.

NetworkingStudent

phillyyy15 wrote: »

Hello, I'm 25 years old, recent graduate with a Bachelors in IT. I want to add stuff to my resume that employers will like. Eventually I want to get into security, but for now I want anything that will help me advance it on my resume. Oh yeah, and I wanna know things other than certs because thats one thing. Thanks guys!

This link should help

Tech Exam Resume Resources

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/113891-resume-writing-resources.html


4-resume-fixes-thatll-make-you-way-more-popular-with-recruiters

https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-resume-fixes-thatll-make-you-way-more-popular-with-recruiters

3. Have I Included Tangible Metrics to Help Illustrate My Successes?

Your outstanding achievements and notable statistics related to your work effort are most easily digested when you assign a number or result to everything you’ve done of note. Having something that a hiring manager can quickly grasp, especially if it demonstrates your excellence, will help you stand above the rest. So, if you not only met but exceeded your sales goal month to month, you’d have a bullet saying, “Exceeded sales quota by 30%.” If something you did helped the organization cut costs and reach a desired end result sooner, be clear about how all that happened. Don’t just say “Oversaw website redesign,” say, “Completed website redesign two weeks early, resulting in $5,000 cost savings.”

4. Is it Easy to Spot My Key Achievements?

Call out your accomplishments by adding a dedicated “Key Achievements” subsection under each of your jobs or creating a stand-alone “Key Achievements” section on your resume if you don’t feel that you have enough content for every single position you’re listing. The trick, however you decide to do it, is to make these easy to spot without cluttering up your resume. You can bold the words “ Key Achievements ” or you can consider making your tangible metrics bold; for example, “Created new invoicing system, resulting in a 25% decrease in late payments .”

Ultimately, spending more resume real estate on what you’ve accomplished and focusing less on your day to day responsibilities will pay off. It’s great that you manage your company’s Twitter page but it’s even more impressive that you’ve doubled the number of followers since you took over writing and scheduling tweets. Did you design a training program for your company’s new software rollout? That’s impressive, but mentioning that this program resulted in a 100% increase in user adoptions is what will catch a recruiter’s eye.


Resumes that highlight specific, meaty stats are the ones that catch my attention when I’m scrolling through hundreds of applications. Few things are more meaningful to a person reviewing these materials than featured results, numbers, and key accomplishments . Homing in on what yours are and refining them so that they stand tall is what’s going to get you noticed—not the fact that you are responsible for answering prospective client inquiries or that you belonged to the Environmental Club and were a member of Phi Beta Kappa sorority. You’ve worked hard, now’s the time to show it off.

LordQarlyn

It probably isn't a normal thing in the IT sector, yet. But there are many ways you can attempt to quantify your achievements. Going over my work history and revising my resume to include such accomplishments, quantifiable numeric accomplishments, probably did more to get me contacted than anything else I did.
While it's true entry level may not have as much opportunities (and most hiring managers including myself don't have the same expectations when it comes to those in entry level positions), as NetworkingStudent supplied in his/her reply, there are many tiny numerous examples you can use. Getting even small projects done ahead of schedule and or under budget can be listed, especially if completing them early saved money.

N7Valiant wrote: »

Is this a normal thing in the IT industry? I always see those listed when I look at someone else's posted resume, I just find it hard to imagine collecting the specific data.

But then again, I'm coming from retail where I would imagine it's hard to gauge how much fruit I personally made sure was sold given multiple employees at all times. But even when I was interning as a PC Technician my supervisor didn't exactly have the time to add up how many devices I repaired/troubleshooted and how much money it all would be.

It doesn't seem like the sort of thing that's easy to properly quantify unless your supervisor moonlights as an accountant or unless you alone were assigned projects for which the costs and revenue can easily be attributable to your work with a paper/computer trail.

Again, seems doubtful this sort of thing can be quantifiable at entry level positions like the help desk. Something to look out for in the future when you start getting assigned actual projects, but I'm not sure people getting their foot in the door can use it.