Resume Review

f16jetman

Hello all, I have been applying to many jobs lately, with very little response. This may be due to my resume so I would like a fresh set of eyes to take a look.Resume_AWS_Certified.pdf

I know I will get flack for bullet points, but if I had paragraphs I would get flack for those as well.

It is possible that my lack of response could be because companies can't waste their time to scouring every resume and reply. Myabe my cover letters suck. I would at least like feedback for my resume.

Thanks!

EANx

Think of it this way, you were one of 30 resumes to make it through HR and I'm reading through them either during lunch or between meetings, knowing that the report the CIO asked for is two-days late. I'm itching to reduce that number from 30 to something smaller.

I'm one of those ones that would round-file due to bullets. Beyond that:

"4 years of experience in operations" makes me wonder "what kind of operations?" Network? Server? Generic IT?
I don't like the "beginner" listed next to Python, especially since it's at the beginning of "Languages". You usually list your strongest ones first.
Is GitHub a platform like AWS and ESXi are?
Move the certs to the end. When I see certs or education before experience I assume the person doesn't have much experience.
Your "network technician" role: You don't have anything about networking listed. You also typo'd "ensured"

In general though, I see someone with scattered experience, a resume is a document that should be TAILORED based on a SPECIFIC position. I'f I'm looking for a Windows Server admin, there's a good chance that I don't care about your Linux or Cisco experience. Putting in extra skills can show flexibility as long as they're related but it can also distract from the image you're trying to portray. Yes, tailoring a resume is hard work. It also generates better results than not tailoring.

LeBroke

I'm really not a fan of all the irrelevant stuff in your resume.

You're trying to be an SRE, but then you have stuff like "Operating Systems: Windows XP - 10" listed. Who cares? You're not trying to do desktop support. Focus on stuff that's relevant and quantify it like "Expert knowledge of CentOS/RHEL 7, intermediate knowledge of Debian 8 and Windows Server 2008-2016." Not necessarily this example, but add some kind of qualifier (even if it's years of experience).

Software: Microsoft Office 2003 - 2016, Slack, Git.
Ticketing Systems: Zendesk, Tigerpaw.

Again, who cares? It's expected someone on your level would know how to use these tools or would be able to pick them up. You're not a receptionist fresh from community college who may have picked up a computer for something other than Facebook and Netflix for the first time a few months ago.

Mention Git maybe, but in the context of something else, like "Provisioned AWS resources using Ansible for Infrastructure as Code, stored in version control."

Manage AWS EC2 instances used exclusively compute intensive task

What have you done with them? I'm not getting any useful info from this. Did you login once a month and run yum update -y && reboot, or did you create a new system + deployment from scratch and optimized deployment? Or did you automate their creation? And why is it relevant the tasks are compute intensive. If I'm hiring you for an AWS role, I'd love to hear everything you've done with AWS.

- Manage VMware Vsphere environment with 3 esxi host on site, 1 esxi host off site at colocation
- Monitor and test the integrity of Veeam repository and backups
- Manage the 25 Windows servers used in production - DC, Vcenter, DNS, DHCP, deployment, inventory, print, file,etc.
- Manage 3 Linux test machines

Generally, I'm a fan of quantifying things, but this screams SMB to a potential hiring manager. They may just send it to the trash bin. Remove quantifiers and reword it to something more neutral. And stop using manage so much. Example:

"Deployed Linux cluster for QA automation"

Respond to and complete user submitted tickets

Yes, I'm hoping you responded to tickets people submitted you. Relevant if you're applying for help desk, but if you want to go into DevOps/SysEng, talk more about what you've done/created/provisioned/etc, especially if it's new at your company. Stuff like "Built a Prometheus-based monitoring system to ensure prompt alerting on soft metrics" is much more useful, even if all you did was follow a DigitalOcean tutorial.

PS: wanted to answer originally just to say that I have a throwaway account I use in a few places named f16fightingfalcon lol. Then actually answered on topic.

PPS: I'm not trying to be harsh on you. More like I'm in a very blunt mood right now, and I think your experience is very much on the right track. I just feel like your resume setup is about 2 steps down the career ladder from where you want to be for your next job.

If you want I can PM you my LI as well for some more ideas on how to write stuff.

N7Valiant

LeBroke wrote: »

PPS: I'm not trying to be harsh on you. More like I'm in a very blunt mood right now, and I think your experience is very much on the right track. I just feel like your resume setup is about 2 steps down the career ladder from where you want to be for your next job.

I personally prefer a blunt but honest assessment over people who hold back or even lie to you in order to avoid hurting your feelings.

The former makes you aware of the cliff you're about to walk off whereas the latter simply encourages you to march off the cliff that is your career.

f16jetman

Thanks LeBloke, that is probably the most honest resume review I've ever had. I need to get my head out of a traditional IT role and into a SRE/ DevOps one. I'll be updating my resume today!

cyberguypr

Great comments here. Let me add my 2 cents:

There are some issues that would make me discard this resume imediately:
- "Microsoft office"
- "Vsphere"
- "Vcenter"
- "Checkpoint" is a tax accounting product. "Check Point" is the network coompany.
- you start with the correct "ESXi" and then move on to "esxi". Mistake twice in a row.

Remember that this need to be 100% perfect. When you think you have it ready to go, put it aside, go do somehting else, and then revisit it. Have it peer reviewed (we can do that!), make changes, and then check it again.

f16jetman

cyberguypr wrote: »

Great comments here. Let me add my 2 cents:

There are some issues that would make me discard this resume imediately:
- "Microsoft office"
- "Vsphere"
- "Vcenter"
- "Checkpoint" is a tax accounting product. "Check Point" is the network coompany.
- you start with the correct "ESXi" and then move on to "esxi". Mistake twice in a row.

Remember that this need to be 100% perfect. When you think you have it ready to go, put it aside, go do somehting else, and then revisit it. Have it peer reviewed (we can do that!), make changes, and then check it again.

Great! This feedback is top notch, usually I have my wife look over my resume, but all she looks for is spelling errors so she would have never caught the wrong acronyms or stuff that is totally useless for the jobs I am applying to.

f16jetman

I am tempted to remove my CompTIA certs except for Project and Linux. Any thoughts on that?

N7Valiant

f16jetman wrote: »

I am tempted to remove my CompTIA certs except for Project and Linux. Any thoughts on that?

I would do that if you have other certs that are of a higher "grade", otherwise it would become redundant. I'm not 100% sure that's the case with CCNA R&S and Security, but I suppose you could drop R&S and Net+ for Sec+ and CCNA-Sec? As I recall, you need routing and switching to take the Security exam anyway, so anyone competent should know you have the earlier one.

f16jetman

Attached is my updated resume. I considered what everyone said and made updates.

itdept

Did you find the job you wanted?