First resume critic

markv8

hi, i just passed the a+ exam and im going to start looking for entry level jobs. this resume i compiled, dowload here in .doc format http://64.158.167.120/webresume.doc
please critic so i can make it better. its not much but better than nothing. if you can remember your first resume and what you wrote might help.
Thanks.

ajs1976

After a quick read through. Under Certifications. The company is "comPtia" not "comtia"

Ghent

One type I noticed, "Excellent verbal and spelling skill" should be "Excellent verbal and spelling skills".

Carson_Mage

"Skilled in Microsoft Office including Word and Excel and Adobe Photoshop."

Should be:

"Skilled in Microsoft Office including Word, Excel and Adobe Photoshop."

btw adobe photoshop is not part of microsoft office.

• Part time webmaster (2001-present)

Were you hired to be webmaster of a website? otherwise it shouldn't be there under employment experience(unless you're running a business).

• Full time student in high school (1999-2003)

This shouldn't be under employment experience either(i could be wrong though since CV aka resume's are probably done differently in the U.S)

Ghent

Yeah, you don't list high school as job expierience. Actually if anything that looks really bad.

Webmaster

"Depending on the position." Depending should be depends.

"To provide excellent costumer support, helping internal and external user in there computer problems." should be:

"To provide excellent customer support, helping internal and external users with their computer problems."

fast learner instead of quick learner,

it is CompTIA

"in Windows 98/NT/200/XP." should be "with Windows 98/NT/2000/XP."

"Skilled in Microsoft Office including Word and Excel and Adobe Photoshop." as mentioned in the post above, Adobe is not yet owned by Microsoft , you could replace "and Adobe" with "as well as Adobe ..."

"Excellent verbal and spelling skill, a team worker, and good with costumers."

skills instead of skill, customers not costumers

"Excellent verbal and spelling skill" if you are going to say that, you should be 100% confident there are no spelling or grammar errors in your resume.

I would do a complete rewrite of the Objective part... or perhaps the entire resume... you need to include some info about yourself 'who you are' (good points and bad points), not just a list of your experience/job history and education I've been at many interview, at both sides of the table, and to be honest, yours doesn't look good...

People tend to spend a lot of time on learning things, getting certified etc, but a resume is at least as important as a certification. It should be a big enthusiastic advertisment which use to sell yourself. A resume alone won't lead to a job, but it should lead to being invited for an interview.

A good place to start is online job and resume sites and read resumes of other people with the same amount of experience etc..

markv8

thanks a lot for the replies im going to read through them and make some changes.

markv8

yeah looks like my l33t spelling skills shined through hehe. anyway i made the changes, maybe i should remeove the photoshop since i wount be applying for any graphic jobs. about the objective i will probebly write a couple lines depinding on the position illl be applying for or this sopposed to be like a prifile of me? ill look at some more resume example. thanks for the help.

kicker22

how old are you?

you are focusing so much on your tech skills in your resume..
try to diversify... and have interests... and that you volunteered..and your objective...and management skills you have... experience skills and what you did and how you gained it...

trust me..that resume wont take you anywhere...
for example, what I do is... I have my own portfolio site...that I have all IT projects I've done... and resume in details on it...
and my resume describes everything about me in one page... and to be able to do that... you need to find a certain format of resume that will allow you to represent yourself fully...
search on the net.. you will find samples..and learn
actually... a good site will be www.monster.com
they have good tips for IT resumes..

Morad

markv8

im 19 just finished high school last year, so i dont have any it realted it jobs. only job i had was a busboy 2 years ago. so i cant really focus on expirience. ill look some more at resume example and see what i can come up with.

trick000

markv8 wrote:

im 19 just finished high school last year, so i dont have any it realted it jobs. only job i had was a busboy 2 years ago. so i cant really focus on expirience. ill look some more at resume example and see what i can come up with.

You should only include experiences that are relevant to the job. If you dont have any on the job experience then list what you did when you went to that technology school.

Take out the redundant stuff on there too. For example, under the skills section you have Comptia A+ certified and you also have it under Certifications.

Take out excellent verbal and spelling skills and that part about being good with customers. You can summarize it under your objectives. Here's a sample:

To obtain a [insert job applied for here] utilizing my high aptitude for technology, attention to detail and interpersonal skills.

Read the job description of whatever job you're applying for and put skills that they list into your objective. Make sure you have those skills. :P

Make your skills section look neater. For example you should bulletize everything from the third skill bullet all the way to the sixth like:
Knowledgeable in the following:
- troubleshooting blah blah
- implementing blah blah
- installing blah blah

Change what you have under activities. Those are already under your skills. Put other stuff like volunteer work etc. in it instead and put it in the bottom of your resume.

You should take out the References available upon request part (employers already expect you to have references).

Take out that graphical logo of comptia as well.

Try to make your resume as concise as possible. You can expound on your other qualities on your cover letter which you should always submit with your resume. Do not be redundant.

You should go get a degree if finances permit. Certs are great but degrees will raise your salary cap and your marketability. It will also look better on your resume.

2lazybutsmart

markv8 wrote:

im 19 just finished high school last year, so i dont have any it realted it jobs. only job i had was a busboy 2 years ago. so i cant really focus on expirience. ill look some more at resume example and see what i can come up with.

I used MS Word's Professional Resume template. lol The resume has already been prepared for some fictitious F&B programmer or something. It looks cool, but do try to keep it neat and short. The biggest thing here is that you should put some hook to your resume and a punch at the ending. Like a well done commercial.

BTW, I think putting your logo at the top left corner of your "cover sheet" (not your resume O.K.) is a good idea.

I'd take that busboy experience thing off the resume if I were you. Just doesn't sound good to me. I'd also rephrase the CISCO semester thing a bit.

markv8

thanks for all the suggestions. ill make some changes

viper75

Is it bad for a resume to be over two pages long??? Mine is!!! I've heard that it should only be one page. No matter what I say it goes over to 2 pages.

2lazybutsmart

It doesn't have to be one page, however, a one page ad is better than a two page ad, so to speak. I've yet to find resume length being a huge factor for that matter. Short and Sharp are the keywords.

Carson_Mage

Perhaps you should use one of those resume templates that you get with MS word to give a more elegant/professional look.

markv8

2lazybutsmart wrote:

I'd take that busboy experience thing off the resume if I were you. Just doesn't sound good to me. I'd also rephrase the CISCO semester thing a bit.

do you think not having anything for job expirience is better than the busboy since i never had other jobs. i think its called CISCO Academy so thats what i put down, tho it was never completed. also are there actual volonteer work that includes the IT field or anything any technical work?

2lazybutsmart

do you think not having anything for job expirience is better than the busboy since i never had other jobs.

Not the least. The job is a job. And I'm not saying any job is better than another for any reasons whatsoever. But what i'm trying to say is that you're applying for a techincal job, and it would be better if u put only techincal experiences on the experiences list. Now since you haven't ever worked on the technical field, it's not a shame not to have job experience. c'mon man, everybody started out without brains in the beginning right? We were all born wet and hungry....then it just got worse.

2lbs.

Chadae

markv8: I agree with what was said in the previous post. But first and foremost--the spelling should be checked. I know that when an employer is looking through a resume and they find several or perhaps one word--it looks rushed. And that can imply that things weren't taken seriously. So if you must after your finally done with it...let someone else give it a look. You'd may surprised at what they find



Looking at your resume --I think the left margin is off. You should at least have it at 1.25. Aside from the spelling errors--In the Skills area " Excellent verbal and spelling skills, a team worker, and good with costumers." I think this should be in the cover letter. As you said you dont have much work experience--so maybe a cover letter would explain more about your skills--and what you can do for the company.

The work experience should be out. I dont think it does anything for your resume in my opinion. For the education part--"Danforth Collegiate Technical Institute high school, Toronto (1999-2003)" maybe you could put that you Obtained a HS Diploma from there...

"References available upon request" should be removed completely. Good Luck!







I think asking others to critique is a good idea too.

bellboy

when i was made redundant, i had several resumes. i had worked in the print industry for 16 years, so i had my print industry resume, and i was also studying for a+ at the time, so i had my computer technicians resume.

both evolved over a period of time (i had been given 3 months notice and spent a further month jobless), and i think my last resume was pretty much on-the-ball. i hardly needed it though, most companies over here use application forms. that way they get answers to the questions they need to know and can avoid the crap that people usually put into their cv.

markv8

thanks everyone for the info. i got a volontering job for now. might look for job later.

Carson_Mage

What kind of jobs can you get at entry level?

Webmaster

First level support (office or home users):
- call desk
- help desk

PC repair technician

Assistant System Admin

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