Looking for some resume critiques :)

I redid my resume based on the guidelines from the sticky topic; looking for any extra advice you guys can offer. I'm applying mostly to Level 1 Help Desk and PC Tech jobs given that I don't have any certs and limited on-the-job experience. I will be getting my A+ probably by the end of this month or early March. I've only had one interview in the past couple weeks, and that was with a Robert Half recruiter, not an actual employer, so I'm looking to get this thing as good as it can get with my limited IT experience.

Here's the resume (minus personal info, formatting and references):

***EDIT: Please see the resume posted below, the first one sucked!

Thanks again for any advice

-Russ

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Comments

bobofgog

Anyone?

Gundamtdk

Without the formatting the resume is very hard to read, so I can't make the proper judgment.

But find it disorganized.

The skills set needs to be divided into sections.

Kaminsky

Woah! reading that is like gettting slapped in the face with a baseball bat and I still don't really have a clue of what you are good at.

Go load that up into Word and sort the structure out properly. Imagine I am an employer and you send me that. If you can't be ar sed to format it properly, I really can't be ar sed to read it... FILE TO BIN!

sprkymrk

Yes, I agree with the others, it's not too good. Formatting will help a lot, and I know you mentioned you left off formatting and references but find some way for us to see it formatted properly.

Content - your biggest thing going for you is your Bachelor's Degree, so put it up top. You don't really have much work related IT experience, but you seem to have done a lot of marketing type work, so you should know what you need to do with your resume is get someone interested FAST. I barely made it past your first paragraph and never would have got to the part about working part time for 4 years while attending college which is a great accomplishment. The only reason I continued reading it was because you posted it asking for critique. If this resume came across my desk for a job opening, I'm afraid that I wouldn't have continued past the first couple lines.

Leave out the part about 10 years independant IT study for two reasons. One because everyone over 16 these days claims that and it doesn't impress anyone in the business world. Two, because if someone claimed they studied independantly for 10 years and still didn't have an A+ or CCNA to show for it I would stay the heck away from them.

With your Walgreens experience, leave off the listing of responsibilities as they are irrelevant to IT work and instead list your title. I think it's good to mention the part time work was while attending college, as it shows dedication and good work ethic.

Finally, with the PP Mortgage experience, use bullets that are quick and to the point, like this:

Hardware and software troubleshooting User account management in Windows 2003 and Exchange 2003 Maintained office wireless network Performed graphics work using Adobe Photoshop Designed and maintained company website Customer financial consulting
If you're not too discouraged by now, go ahead and rework it with some of the suggestions offered and let us have another look. Sometimes it takes several rewrites to get a good resume. Good luck!

bobofgog

Thanks for the advice. I agree that that resume was pieced together pretty quickly. Here's an updated version that's a little more organized:

SKILLS

OPERATING SYSTEMS
* Windows 2000/XP, some work with Windows Server 2003.
* Apple OS X.
* Varying knowledge of Fedora Core, Debian, SuSE, Ubuntu, and Kubuntu.
HARDWARE
* Installed and troubleshot off-the-shelf PC components in Windows and Linux, such as AGP and PCIe video cards, 10/100baseT and 802.11g network cards, sound cards, motherboards, power supplies, RAM, processors and cooling systems.
* Installed and troubleshot laptop components, such as RAM, keyboards, and LCDs
NETWORKING
* Built LANs in Windows 2000/XP and many Linux distributions with both wired and wireless topologies.
* Configured Linksys WRT54G style routers running both proprietary Linksys firmware as well as the open-source DD-WRT operating system.
* Experience with Apple OS X networking, including file-sharing in a Windows environment via Samba.
* Basic firewall, NAT, and Ethernet configuration in Linux.
WEBSITE ADMINISTRATION
* [url]www.humandiscourse.com[/url], a political and sociological discussion webpage.
* [url]www.peoplesmortgageteam.com[/url].
* Also administered and provided original audio content for [url]www.horracemcknight.com[/url], a monthly podcast devoted to up-and-coming musicians.
* Basic HTML coding. Some limited CSS work (mostly tailoring an existing CSS script to fit a design idea).
APPLICATIONS
* Adobe Photoshop CS2, Microsoft Office Suite, Steinberg Cubase SX3, Propellorheads Reason 3, Nvu, Open Office.org 2.0.
OTHER SKILLS
* Over seven years of customer service experience in multiple settings, including an inbound call center.
* One and a half years of management experience.
* Excellent written and verbal skills.
* Strong work ethic; I don't like to leave a job unfinished.
* Quick and dedicated learner.
* Passion for all forms of technology.

WORK HISTORY

May 2006 to Present—Peoples Mortgage, Inc. in Aurora, Illinois. IT Technician/Marketing Specialist.
Oversaw basic hardware and software troubleshooting in a small business setting. Configured and maintained user accounts in Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Exchange on Dell equipment. Planned and executed transfer of hosting services for company website. Maintained office wireless network. Designed and maintained [url]www.peoplesmortgageteam.com[/url] through Ala Mode template software. Redesigned company logo, business cards and direct-mail marketing pieces using Adobe Photoshop CS2. Consulted customers on the best course of action for their financing needs.

September 2004 to May 2006—Walgreens #5280, Oshkosh, WI. Third Shift Assistant Manager.
Was responsible for ordering merchandise, designing merchandise displays, store cleanliness, employee training, maintaining and troubleshooting store hardware, and servicing all customer needs.

May 2000 to October 2004—Walgreens #5280, Oshkosh, WI. Worked part time as a Certified Photo Specialist while pursuing my degree.
Oversaw One Hour Photo lab. Developed customer photos. Trained new employees in Gretag and Fuji photo processing machines.

EDUCATION

1999 TO 2004 BACHELOR OF LETTERS AND SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN, OSHKOSH.
Major: English, emphasis on creative writing.
Elective courses included Introduction to C++, Object Oriented C++, Machine Language and Data Structures.

I redid this before reading sprkymrk's comment, so I'll probably end up bulleting my individual IT stuff I did at Peoples Mortgage. I have to ask though, is my B.S. going to stand out even though my major was English? That's the main reason why I put it on the bottom. I can post a link to a sample of my resume on my website if anyone is willing to download it (again, without the personal infos of course). Unfortunately, the CODE function only allows for so much formatting

EDIT: Here's a link to an RTF file with all the formatting-- http://humandiscourse.com/sample.rtf

Thanks again for the comments, they're very helpful! And I should point out that even with that sucky first resume, I have had a couple interviews with recruiters for entry-level help desk positions. So hopefully the good resume will get a much better response

I guess I'm lucky that there's a pretty big IT boom here in the Chicagoland area...

Gundamtdk

Better.

I recommend adding extra space between each skill type (Hardware, Network, etc.) It looks too cluttered now.