Resumes Dos and Don'ts guide line for getting contacted

Steely

Keenon,

I'm in a situation where I have no IT work experience and just want to get my foot in the door in an entry position. Since I have no work experience, should I put my certs and high school education before I list some special skills that I obtained during my training. Skills like Norton Ghost and Bart PE for example. Please advise.

Kaminsky

One thing that I think would help, especially with people trying to get a foot hold in the industry, is to have a seperate sheet showing what skills you have and what applications you have an understanding of. If you don't have a lot of previous IT experience to write about but it has been an interest for a great many years, write down a list of the things you know how to do already.

eg
PC Support might include installing X, X and X operating systems from scratch and X office product and networking up to other PCs.
Network admin might include building a home network, making fly leads by hand, designing and installing devices for a small business one off job.

Although nothing to do with the CV and it is just a list of things in different catagories and not conversational text, a skill sheet might just tip the balance for you. They don't have to read it!

Agencies will typically just scan in your CV for later text searches and rarely read it. When searching for candidates they will type in what the client is looking for and if you haven't listed a certain thing like "windows 2000" on your cv, you won't come up as a possible match. A skill sheet could possibly end up ringing a lot of bells when scanned in with your CV.

Steely

Kaminsky,

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll see if I can work something out like that. I'm really trying to grasp this new career field. Overhauling my previous career resume to IT resume is more challenging than I thought.

keenon

Steely wrote:

Keenon,

I'm in a situation where I have no IT work experience and just want to get my foot in the door in an entry position. Since I have no work experience, should I put my certs and high school education before I list some special skills that I obtained during my training. Skills like Norton Ghost and Bart PE for example. Please advise.

I've been laying low for a minute now.

In response to your question. I would definitely list certs that you have earned as it shows dedication to the "craft". Any experience gained during this would be listed under professional studies as you don't have any "work" experience. I would suggest not using the dreaded OBJECTIVE but using Summary.. ex Self starter looking to gain experience .. blah, blah......

MQuinn6

Steely & Fernando –

I’m a career changer too. I used a functional resume, which is used to highlight your transferable skills rather than the types of positions you held. I know some people frown upon deviating from the normal setup of a resume, but it worked for me.

Here is my resume just to show you what one looks like.


***************

Summary of Skills
- Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks in a pressured environment
- Quick learner who can rapidly master all aspects of a job with minimal training
- Self-starter who can work both independently and in a team environment

Certifications
- Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)

Professional Skills
TECHNICAL SKILLS
- 80 hours of hands-on experience with Cisco routers and switches
- Demonstrated knowledge of C++ and JavaScript languages
- Developed test scripts to assure the quality of scripts distibuted with ******, a macro language interpreter

ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS
- Developed and implemented test procedures for ****** desktop products
- Responsible for scheduling, payroll, and yearly budget
- Developed and implemented behavioral treatment plans for students

INTERPERSONAL AND SUPERVISORY SKILLS
- Supervised and trained 12 employees in a residential group home setting
- Oversaw case management of eight students
- Communicated regularly with parents concerning student needs, progress, and day-to-day activities

Employment History
- Child Care Provider, ****** Household, 2002 – 2004
- Quality Assurance Specialist, ******, 2000-2001
- Residential Group Home Manager, ******, 1998-2000
- Program Specialist, ******, 1997-1998

Education
****** College –Cisco Networking Academy Program
****** University – Certificate of Software Development
****** University - Master of Arts, General Psychology
University of ****** – Bachelor of Arts, Psychology

addiktion

Arturasj wrote:

All this advice sounds great, but how would you go about describing the very similar jobs. For example say that you at your third job which is exactly the same as the previous two. How can you describe them all without repeating yourself? What if at your first job you’ve done X, Y and Z tasks, as well as at the other two…

I wanted to add something to go along with this. I like to try to make my current position sound tons better then my previous experience. It helps convey that your gaining more experience as you continue down your career path.

Also with education I like to put what I'm currently training for so companies can feel like they are getting a deal when they buy into my resume because not only are they meeting their business needs and requirements they are guaranteeing themselves a more valuable employee in future months down the road. I.E) Oh wow hes learning PHP too. We are implementing a PHP web server in 6 months. He may be able to contribute. etc.

coldbug

this Resume Topic is so great!
lots of Professional Resume Writers will probably be hating this site now since they might go out of business...hehe

Fluidly Unsure

removed unnecessary quote

How do you spell "Good riddance"?

Aquabat [banned]

This thread is great.

Keenon, you should do another sticky on Cover Letters.

blackmage439

Fluidly Unsure wrote:

Mikephyu wrote:

this Resume Topic is so great!
lots of Professional Resume Writers will probably be hating this site now since they might go out of business...hehe

How do you spell "Good riddance"?

My stepfather had his resume looked-over THREE times by a so-called professional resume writer. I think the end product is crap. The section on his education experience was all just one jumbled mess. On top of everything else, the moron (the "professional") didn't even remove the hyperlink from his email address! Luckily, my s. father's company paid for the sessions.

keenon

Aquabat wrote:

This thread is great.

Keenon, you should do another sticky on Cover Letters.

I would but i don't do cover letters however in short its good to make it a brief summary of all the jobs and skills.. kinda like a summary but even more vague oops i mean high level.

Main Event

Once again, how do you get a foot in the door without actual experience? I have a 2-year but no I.T position... my job experience has nothing to do with I.T. Do non I.T jobs hurt my resume? With my 2 year degree on my resume, my resume gets NO feedback and NO callbacks so I know I'm doing something wrong. I would like some help and if you'd like to help you can pm me.

Thanks....

Mishra

What kind of jobs are you applying for?

Main Event

Very basic I.T position like PC Support, Helpdesk, PC Tech....

mrhaun03

Main Event wrote:

Once again, how do you get a foot in the door without actual experience? I have a 2-year but no I.T position... my job experience has nothing to do with I.T. Do non I.T jobs hurt my resume? With my 2 year degree on my resume, my resume gets NO feedback and NO callbacks so I know I'm doing something wrong. I would like some help and if you'd like to help you can pm me.

Thanks....

Give your resumes to everybody. If they don't call you, call them. See if they're still looking for people. Don't sit around and wait for someone to find your resume on Monster. Just apply anywhere. If you don't have a job now, make "getting a job" a full-time position. You can't wait for a job to fall in your lap.

No, non-IT jobs do not hurt you. It can show the employer different skill sets and that you're a well-rounded person.

Stay focused and keep looking for jobs...it may take some time, but you'll get one. Hang in there!

keenon

go after contract positions and firms take short term gigs and all

Main Event

Can someone show me a good resume format? More entry level..... you can pm me or email me at militantxxl@aol.com.

Thanks

keenon

a good format is something easy to read and very concise to the point.

1. name ( with a professional email address as mentioned in the very first thread

2. summary ( If using an objective keep it very direct but this will have you changing it constantly when applying for new gigs)

3. education or skills ( which ever you decide needs to come first or if last after jobs)

4. past work experience ( this is where alot of people get burned so decide the format bulleted tasks or paragraph form) I use a bit of both which takes a bit of tweaking but i have been writing resumes since 2000

thorton84

Really cool stuff, I am actually surpised to see skills listing and omitting the refrences available on request in your thread. I had my resume look at by several people and I actually got suggestions like the ones your purposed! Keep up the good work

remerolle

I am a somewhat new member to this site, and I just want to thank everyone for all the posts and information that you have shared throughout the forums. I have taken a CCNA focused course through my college in the fall, but I never had the time to actually take the CCNA exam. Instead our final dealt with a hands on practical in our lab dealing with some real world situations. Adding to my exposure this spring, I took a course focused on CCSP topics. Anyways, now that it is summer, I am have been studying at frantic pace in order to grasp some of the content we were forced to skip over (ISDN and some small details about the various CCNA topics which we had to push through). Your website as really helped me in several ways.

After reading this post, I became quite excited due to the fact that I have been also trying to perfect my resume as of recent. The first thing I am looking to do is remove my Objective, and fix up my summary of qualifications. Once I resolve those two issues, I am then looking to rework my wording of my various jobs/experiences. Any help or critiques you could offer would be much appreciated! I really need to fix this resume up! It is all in 8 font except for the name of course. With my new internship this summer, it will just about go over the two page mark. Is this ok? Should I enlarge the font and take up two entire pages? Should a 21 year old college student have over 2 pages of a resume? Thank you again. Back to studying for this CCNA, I am panicking about this and the CCNA! I really need to relax soon, too bad my internship starts in 12 days! I hope this all is not too forward of me.

P.S. Do not worry about the formating issues, everything is basically formated out to avoid confusion. The only problem with spacing is from line to line since it is squished on one page in 8 font and spaced at 1.15. I put networking as a section just because it was a class and I do not yet have my CCNA, if/when I get it should I remove that section?

NAME
_____________________________________________________________________________
OBJECTIVE
_____________________________________________________________________________
Seeking an opportunity for a fall 2007 internship or job in any type of
position relevant to the field of Information Technology. I am a very
flexible worker and a quick learner. With combination of a firm technology
and business education I believe I can fulfill any tasks assigned to me.
_____________________________________________________________________________
SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS
_____________________________________________________________________________
Operating Systems:
Windows (98, ME, XP, 2003, Vista), Linux, & Unix
Networking:
Routing Protocols (RIP, RIPv2, EIGRP, OSPF), Static Routing, VLSM Network
Design, ACLS, DHCP, NAT, PAT, CHAP, PAP, Subnetting, Basic Security
Practices, Cisco IOS, Cisco PixFirewalls, Cisco Routers, and Cisco Switches
Software:
Microsoft Office Suite (including Visio), Open Office Suite, Adobe
Photoshop, ImageReady, & Dreamweaver
Programming Knowledge:
HTML, XML, XHTML, PHP, Visual Basic, CSS, Java, JavaScript
Professional Training:
Cisco Networking Academy Network Security I Curriculum (‘07), Cisco
Networking Academy Network Security II Curriculum (‘07), & Cisco
Networking Academy Wireless Communications Curriculum (‘07)
_____________________________________________________________________________
EDUCATION
_____________________________________________________________________________
Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY
Bachelor of Science Information Technology expected May 2008
Minor in Information Systems Cumulative GPA 3.403
Relevant Coursework:
(to save on space and formating issues, i removed these courses)
(courses are listed in groups of four in a table with no bordereds)
_____________________________________________________________________________
EXPERIENCE
_____________________________________________________________________________
IBM - Monarch E-Review Project, Poughkeepsie, NY 1/07 - 5/07
Asst. Project Manager/ Backend Coder
-Analyzed the IBM E-Review system in detail to understand its shortcomings
-Designed a replacement web application in order to create a highly
intuitive yet advanced web application
-Utilized PHP and MYSQL in order to create a functional collaborative
document review system
Home & Office Group, Thomaston, CT 12/06 - 1/07
IT Technician
-Server & desktop assembly, maintenance, and repair
-Supported both Linux and Windows based servers and desktops
-Analyzed and implemented security policies for small to medium sized
business clients
Access Rehab Centers LLC., Waterbury, CT 11/06 – 12/06, 6/05 – 1/06
Administrative Assistant/IT Technician
-Compiled simplistic therapist databases using Microsoft Access and Excel.
-Developed & implemented company wide HIPPA digital security policies.
-Consulted with administration on WebMD Medical Manager negotiations.
-Handled first line support for company servers, desktops, and LANs.
Tri Tec Electronics, Inc., Waterbury, CT 4/03-1/05
IT Technician
-Windows network administration
-Server & desktop assembly, maintenance, repair, and support
-Designed websites by utilizing Macromedia Dreamweaver, Notepad, Adobe
Photoshop, and PostNuke
-Developed and implemented technology infrastructures customized to individual
customers’ needs
_____________________________________________________________________________
HONORS & ACHIEVEMENTS
_____________________________________________________________________________
Marist College:
-Dean’s List Recipient (Spring ‘07, Fall ‘06, Spring ‘06, & Fall ‘05)
-Elected Lower West Cedar Resident Student Council President (‘06 – ‘07)
-Appointed to the Student Life Council (‘06 – ‘07 & ‘04 – ‘05)
-Elected Leo Hall Resident Student Council President (‘04 – ‘05)
-Awarded merit based Marist College Scholarship (‘04)
_____________________________________________________________________________
REFERENCES
_____________________________________________________________________________
Available upon request.

keenon

hmm,

honors and acheivements this maybe alright but i would kill it after not getting responses to the resume..

the references upon request.. trust me they will ask for them no need to advertise

it looks as if your going for the bulleted format of the resume. this sometimes can be hard to summarize as bullets look like job highlights thats just to me

remerolle

It is not that I haven't gotten responses to the resume. I will be graduating next May, and I really just want to remove the junk, and fix the wording. If I am able to do this, I feel that i can really grab a company's attention.

michael_knight

In part 12 of the guideline it said not to list hobbies (which I don't do anyway) but I find that when I'm asked that question I always have to make something up like "go camping and fishing" (which I have done so it's not a lie) The things I really like doing like going to Hip-Hop shows and Dee Jay competitions wouldn't quite sit well in corporate America, so I'd like to know what a good reply is to that question.

keatron

Very good post Keenon. If half the resumes I've skimmed over the last few months would have followed your suggested format, they might have actually gotten a call.

Some examples to show what Keenon is talkng about;

One resume had a section that went on for about 8 sentences, just to say he turned on the Windows firewall for all the pc's he supported at his company.

I agree with Keenon again on the fact that'd I'd rather see a nicely formatted 2 page resume than a one page resume that's crammed so tight it looks like a page out of the King James version of the Holy Bible (I see this all the time).

Try not to be so wordy with details. Instead of doing that, make the experience statements read so that they give a glimpse into the depth of your experience. In other words, make me want to find out more details about your experience, kinda like a very effective teaser. (Like the trailer for Fantastic 4 - Rise of the Silver Surfer ). It gets your resume pulled to the side, and it also makes for flowing and interesting conversation during the interview.

DO NOT be to proud to get professional help. There are some very good resume writing firms that do an excellent job. And let's face it, most of us in technology aren't known for being the most effective and engaging writers. Start by taking ALL of Keenon's suggestions, come up with something pretty solid, then spend the 30 to 50 bucks or so to have it re-vamped by people who specialize in writing stuff that gets people's attention. I use these groups all the time when I have to prepare biographies, and profiles for speaking engagements (and consulting engagements). Often times I'll show up with 5 to 6 pages. I do this on purpose so they can get a good feel for what should be included. They return it to me in a 1 to 1-1/2 page version. If I like it, I keep it. If not, I send it back with modifications.

Keatron

Tech109

One thing that you should DEFINITELY NOT OVERLOOK is proper grammar and spelling!

I see a lot of the postings in this thread, including the original post, that contain mis-use of words such as your vs. you're, their vs. there, etc.

I hope you all are using spell-check on your resumes and having them proof-read by someone who is proficient in English.

When I see postings, emails and resumes that contain such errors, it just makes me think that the person is not a well-rounded professional and it makes me doubt the person's communication skills.

It's one thing to have an obvious typo (although in a resume that is not a good thing) but people can tell the difference between a typo and someone who obviously does not know the correct spelling of a word, or the correct use of grammar.

TheFORCE

When applying for a position online from sites like monster. Sometimes they have a direct email to the recruiting manager or the company website.

I want to know, when you send your resume. 1. Do you send it as an attachment or as part of the email. 2. Do you say anything on that email? for example, im sending this resume for this XXX position and i have attached it on this email.

keenon

i just send them the resume, unless i'm skeptical about the job and then i will email them a question or just give them a call

ajs1976

What order does everyone use for the sections in their resume?

I use:

Name / contact information
Summary of Qualifications
Professional Experience
Certifications
Educations
Computer Skills

Since I only have an Associates, but I have two higher level certifications (MCSE & CCEA), I will usually list the Certifications above Education. When I complete a BS, I will probably switch the sections.

Am I missing any sections?

7lowe

I've been working on my resume lately. My old one was very plain and straightforward. Browsing the templates in MS Word 2007 I found one that I liked the look of, but it's a little fancier using tables to make boxes and stuff. It also had check marks instead of bullet points, which I thought was a little too much so I changed them back to standard bullets.

I just wanted to get opinions on whether it's better to be a little fancy so that you'll stand out, or just be plain and simple.

Some people have told me that it's best to have 2 versions. A fancier one for human eyes, and then a simple plain text one for companies that scan them in and have some software sort through them. What do you think?

7

dynamik

I don't think there's anything wrong with adding a little bit of style. Just make sure it doesn't take away from the readability or the professionalism of the document. A hot pink background with neon green text would stand out, but it probably wouldn't do so in the way you want.