Resumes Dos and Don'ts guide line for getting contacted

it_consultant

The most important "Do" is to have a good and concise cover letter. A lot of times a good cover letter will get you the interview before the reviewer even goes to your resume.

You can get creative, interactive resumes on disk, which is good because a lot of IT guys can't cram all they can do in one page.

Definitely...without a doubt...have a cover letter. Have your non-tech friend review the cover letter and ask for advice. This is where you have the chance to unabashedly sell yourself in two or three paragraphs.

keenon

The jury is still out on this one for me as I have operated with and without both. I have had better results with the just the resume itself. I occasionally will redo resumes and they always get called.

za3bour

it_consultant wrote: »

The most important "Do" is to have a good and concise cover letter. A lot of times a good cover letter will get you the interview before the reviewer even goes to your resume.

You can get creative, interactive resumes on disk, which is good because a lot of IT guys can't cram all they can do in one page.

Definitely...without a doubt...have a cover letter. Have your non-tech friend review the cover letter and ask for advice. This is where you have the chance to unabashedly sell yourself in two or three paragraphs.

Is there a website a template or any kind or recourse that helps ? i suck in writing a cover letter always was.

it_consultant

keenon wrote: »

The jury is still out on this one for me as I have operated with and without both. I have had better results with the just the resume itself. I occasionally will redo resumes and they always get called.

Sometimes, with a cert like CCNP, you could write your resume on toilet paper and still at least get a call!

za3bour - I dont have a good resource, I have always been a fairly good writer, but I know this talent is not prevalent in our community. Thats why I recommend having a non tech friend, maybe someone who went through business school, review your cover letter. I have always used my cover letter to outline my IT philosophy and my goals / expectations for whatever company that I go into.

As an example, my current cover letter (I got a job with this last year when there were practically zero jobs available) has a paragraph in it about how as an IT guy, I love new and emerging technology, but I have developed the maturity to be able to understand when a new technology is something that a small or medium sized business would actually realize a return on investment on within 3 years, or if it is (1) something inapplicable to the company - like MPLS or (2) a fad - google apps.

One of the main problems with IT guys is that we do an awfully poor job explaining our value. I always tell my clients, my number one goal is YOUR business' profitability. In order to contribute to that, I provide highly available and affective technical solutions and processes to your employees. You will get a much more receptive audience when they realize that your goal is the same as theirs; to be able to afford a big boat someday.

keenon

it_consultant wrote: »

Sometimes, with a cert like CCNP, you could write your resume on toilet paper and still at least get a call!

za3bour - I dont have a good resource, I have always been a fairly good writer, but I know this talent is not prevalent in our community. Thats why I recommend having a non tech friend, maybe someone who went through business school, review your cover letter. I have always used my cover letter to outline my IT philosophy and my goals / expectations for whatever company that I go into.

As an example, my current cover letter (I got a job with this last year when there were practically zero jobs available) has a paragraph in it about how as an IT guy, I love new and emerging technology, but I have developed the maturity to be able to understand when a new technology is something that a small or medium sized business would actually realize a return on investment on within 3 years, or if it is (1) something inapplicable to the company - like MPLS or (2) a fad - google apps.

One of the main problems with IT guys is that we do an awfully poor job explaining our value. I always tell my clients, my number one goal is YOUR business' profitability. In order to contribute to that, I provide highly available and affective technical solutions and processes to your employees. You will get a much more receptive audience when they realize that your goal is the same as theirs; to be able to afford a big boat someday.

Cert doesn't make a difference. Even someone with a CCIE can get overlooked for a poorly written resume. Either way I have been doing this a long time (writing resumes and IT) and I go by what works best.

Its true most IT ppl cant explain what they do. I did have someone sum it up in layman's terms "we are an insurance policy for the business technologies" hence why we study, practice and do certs.

it_consultant

Couldn't have said it better myself. Insurance policy; you think you can go without us, but it would be a really bad idea. Besides an insurance policy, a good IT department can bring real efficiencies and cost savings to companies.

I consulted for a professional staffing firm which specialized in resumes and cover letters. That, including my personal experience is where I draw my conclusion that the most needed "do" that is lacking is a cover letter.

It goes without saying that a poorly written cover letter is much worse than no cover letter at all. I would compare IT jobs to MBA level positions; would that candidate even consider sending a resume without a cover letter? In fact, many of them send letters of interest or intent before even sending their resume in.

jschreck

The song, not sure of the title, but the main punch line comes "Another one bites the dust."

I will be joining the school in the month of august. My personal plan, to nock out comptia a+ and N+ so i can get those life long certs.. now lets see what the mentor says.

za3bour

This has been taken care of

bermovick

OK, I'm horrible at selling myself, but here's what I've come up with, based on what I've gained going over these 6 pages repeatedly.

Let me know how bad it is

keenon

from what I read your summary reads like an objective
under skills which model of cisco routers and switches?
which versions of linux?
which version of office?

but over all i comprehend that your trying to change fields but to add you may want to try in house. being that you have moved up once before and it may make the transition easier.. just a thought

SAMIRAND

Hello Keenon your thread is very useful for us, I HAVE started writING my resume, I have got 2+ years experience in Broadband/Telecommunications sector. i think My resume which i was written doesn’t look very professional. Maybe somebody can look and tell what is not good? Thanks
and I don’t know how I can write my experiences in Telecommunications
etc: wi max testing, base station testing ....

Sam7777 Cv

mmurillo64

Hello Techies;

First off, let me start by saying how much I love this forum. This is an invaluable source of information for anyone in the IT industry. Anyhow, I am posting my resume that I have been working on for weeks, and I think I finally narrowed it down to something more clear and specific. But I have been prone to illusions of grandier in the past . Please let me know what you think. I am targeting Technical Support for now, with hopes of moving into network administration, and subsequently network security.

By the way, I start with WGU on November 1st working towards my Masters in Information Security and Assurance. I can hardly wait. And do not be afraid to be blunt, frank, and forward about my resume... by all means, spare me the formalities . Thanks for taking the time enough to care.


I couldn't find where to add an attachment therefore I have posted my resume on LinkedIn using Slideshare; it is at the bottom of my profile. Here is the URL:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/mxmurillo


Best Regards,
MM

"For evil to flourish, all that is needed is for good people to do nothing." Edmund Burke

bermovick

I'd updated my resume and had forgotten to re-post it here with most of the changes you'd listed keenon. Here's my current one.

There are 2 pieces of information I'd like to throw in there but I'm not sure how to.

First; my military service. I've heard businesses get some kind of perks for hiring veterans, plus my having a previous security clearance I'd think looks a bit good (even though it's inactive). The problem is that putting it in there creates a 9 year gap (8 year if I add the temp agency I worked through before getting hired in 2003)

Second; Off and on during that 8 year gap I did do IT work; either X months at an ISP/repair shop (fired - boss was a super paranoid person), Y months at another ISP/repair shop (laid off cause business was slow - the place closed down within a year), and just doing stuff for friends/family/friends of family. I even had my own "business" doing that (tax ID and everything), but it was never really serious, and when I moved I just didn't pursue that anymore. The recruiter at the staffing agency I went to told me that's still experience and I should put it in somehow/somewhere.

Third (I lied!) I've seen resumes where people break down their skills a LOT more; they list experience with TCP/IP, routing protocols (I've sent them up in my home network/lab!), STP, etc. I'm not sure if I should do that to beef up my 'skills' area since my 'experience' area is weak.

earweed

That resume doesn't look like a good IT resume. No IT experience mentioned. Utilize your own business you had and use that business to list your IT experience. Use it as a "catch-all" for all your experience you had at the short term jobs.
I'd probably get rid of the summary and the cert you don't have yet. Also don't put the space in the skills section, it's distracting.

bermovick

Oops; that space wasn't supposed to be there. It's gone.

I've heard differing opinions about 'in progress' certs - on one hand, anything you don't have you ... well, don't have. But I've been told if I'm close to completing, I should put it. Since I need .. more, I figured why not. Hmm.

And IT experience? I don't really have anything at all recent. Last time I really did anything IT-wise was probably 6-8 years ago when I built a friend a new PC (it was a K6; barton core, if memory serves). So if I leave out non-IT experience I really don't have anything to list under the experience header (except 8, 10, 15 year ago things). My own business was ... I'm going to guess somewhere between '96 and '98, and that CAN'T look good:

92-94 - stuff
(94-96: ?)
96-98 - stuff
(98-02: ?)
02-10 - stuff

earweed

Were you doing the stuff for friends/relatives during the down time. List your business and under what you did include what you did at those other IT jobs so you're not listing a bunch of short term stuff. You're gonna have to list the jobs you have there already to fill the time gap,
List your business as something like
My Comapany Springfield, Il
Independent IT Consulatant Date
@ Built x computer
@troubleshoot system problems
@something you did at x job (don't reference x job)
@something you did at y job (don't reference job)

You want to list your EXPERIENCE in IT. If you have skills you have utilized before you need them listed. That resume you have will get you a lot of offers as an insurance agent/claims agent. You're looking for IT.
Were you the go to guy between the gaps? This approach will help you get rid of the gaps.
I did something similar to this and got 2 temporary jobs (not best things to get but more experience) within weeks of fixing my resume. Use your business as a gap filler and as a catch all for what you did at all those short term jobs. Potential employers care that you actually HAVE those skills, not where you got them. By the way one of the temp jobs I just did, a PC rollout where we used USMT 1.4 to backup/restore the old machines, I have that new entry just listed under my consulting business list of experience.

Repo Man

What's the general rule of thumb for promotions on a resume? Should they be placed as a separate category or just a separate line?

earweed

Good question!
If you have space and the promotion was considerable in responsibilities and such then give it a section. If it was someting like moving from helpdesk to desktop support then just a line.
This is just my opinion and others may vary.

jmritenour

I'd appreciate a couple of extra sets of eyes on mine.

sthompson86

Good thread - I have a quick question that. My resume is 1 page, and it perfectly describes my history etc . I was told that I need a 3 page resume, but if I would have to start adding 'fluff' to make it more than 1 page.

I personally believe a resume should state nothing but the facts and nothing more.

Any advice is appreciated. - Thank you.

Repo Man

When you are employed by a contractor but work at an individual site (large company with good name recognition) how should you list it on your resume?

For Example should you word it like this:
Contractor XYZ working on location at Company ABC

Sounds Good

if a job posting doesn't require a cover letter, should i include one anyway?

for instance, on monster.com, you can choose to include a cover letter for every job you apply for regardless of whether or not the job posting requires it.

what to do?

jeffGr

Hi guys

hers what I have so far

delet sample cause of lack of intrest: oh well have fun thanks

JDMurray

LinkedIn did a buzzword analysis of its user profiles and came up with the top ten over-used "buzz phrases." These are also excellent to avoid using in your resumes.

lifehacker: Avoid These Overused Phrases to Make Your Resume Stand Out

Killermac

Is anyone here still looking over this thread? Or would it be considered a dead subject.

keenon

considering its been here and getting questions for over 5 years. this subject isn't going away. as more people get into IT having a solid resume becomes imperative item you can't go without. We like our resumes have to evolve or get left behind

Turgon

Unfortunately many people's resumes read more or less the same as more people have more or less the same experience. It's getting harder to stand out.

carajean

Hey if anyone has the time im need to redo my resume. I currently work at a job im having a hard time describing or making it "better" sounding. Im gonna post it let me know where I can do better. I need to relocate and I keep sending out apps but nothing not even for low level tech support. I know I live in michigan but jez.

cyberguypr

carajean wrote: »

Hey if anyone has the time im need to redo my resume. I currently work at a job im having a hard time describing or making it "better" sounding. Im gonna post it let me know where I can do better. I need to relocate and I keep sending out apps but nothing not even for low level tech support. I know I live in michigan but jez.

Resume

Suggestion, you should post this as a new thread.

carajean

Ok I will try that also.