Please critic my resume also. Getting no bites

I have been trying to find a different company to work for because the one I currently work for is too cheap. Been sending out tons of resume but only got back around 2 call backs.

Money wasn't there for the two call backs so I had to turn it down. But I probably sent out close to 100 resumes and only two call back out of 100.

Please critic my resume to see what you think is wrong and causing me to lose out on alot of other opportuniites.

Thanks

http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e388/invalidiuser/?action=view&current=testresume.jpg

Also, the reason I only got 7 years showing on my resume is because all my other jobs are not related to computers or networking. It was just all operating machinery only so that is why I thought I leave it out.

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Comments

mog27

First thing I noticed was that "references available upon request" was in there and that is generally not in resumes these days. It used to be. Should take it out.

TechJunky

Unfortunantly, it looks to me that you do not have any certifications or a degree at the moment. This could be a big factor for many employers. Also I noticed that you have only 2 years of professional computer experience. I would obtain your CCNA, since I noticed you are currently working on obtaining that certification anyhow. Having a certification would defiantly improve your job hunting.

Most employers expect to see someone after 2 years of computer experience to have obtained atleast their A+.

Good luck and keep at it!

int80h

TechJunky wrote:

Most employers expect to see someone after 2 years of computer experience to have obtained atleast their A+.

False. CCNA is a good entry level cert to start out with. A+ is in general for people with 0 yrs experience.

sthomas

Like others said take out the references section and replace it with a certifcation section once you obtain a cert. Also, you could put what certification you are working on under the certification section on your resume. I would recommend getting A+ first, since you already have a lot of experience it should be a cake walk for you. Next look at either Network+, MCDST/MCSA, and/or CCNA. Good Luck!

int80h wrote:

TechJunky wrote:

Most employers expect to see someone after 2 years of computer experience to have obtained atleast their A+.

False. CCNA is a good entry level cert to start out with. A+ is in general for people with 0 yrs experience.

Some people will argue that CCNA is not an entry level certification. I do agree that A+ is a good certification to start with for someone with no IT experience but even if you have a few years experience in IT it is good to have because most employers know what is is and ask for it.

protocol167

mog27 wrote:

First thing I noticed was that "references available upon request" was in there and that is generally not in resumes these days. It used to be. Should take it out.

Thanks, will remove that.

TechJunky wrote:

Unfortunantly, it looks to me that you do not have any certifications or a degree at the moment. This could be a big factor for many employers. Also I noticed that you have only 2 years of professional computer experience. I would obtain your CCNA, since I noticed you are currently working on obtaining that certification anyhow. Having a certification would defiantly improve your job hunting.

Most employers expect to see someone after 2 years of computer experience to have obtained atleast their A+.

Good luck and keep at it!

Actually, I have seven years of experience. I wasn't thinking about certification until I signed up to this site. I use to think that the MCSE was of no value because it was flooded with people that don't even know anything about computers and can still pass it with brain **** or other cheating sources. So that made me stay away from Microsoft's MCSE course a while back.

I always thought that employers usually look for just experience in the IT field. But I guess times have changed so that is why I am now studying for my CCNA and work my way up.

I guess no more slacking for me then. I was too comfortable where I was besides the company being cheap and didn't want to get out of my comfort zone. But now is time to get out of my comfort zone.

sthomas wrote:

Like others said take out the references section and replace it with a certifcation section once you obtain a cert. Also, you could put what certification you are working on under the certification section on your resume. I would recommend getting A+ first, since you already have a lot of experience it should be a cake walk for you. Next look at either Network+, MCDST/MCSA, and/or CCNA. Good Luck!

Thanks for the tip.

Mishra

The biggest problem I see is that you list 7 years of experience but can only vouch for 1 page of skills. I would start listing a lot more of what you have done in the last 7 years.

Some things are

* big projects completed
* average tickets completed in a day
* tailor your resume to what job you are applying for... For example, write up exactly what you have done with Citrix and what you know if the company is asking for Citrix experience... Don't just put "Citrix"
* List everything you have done for disaster recovery... (documentation, restores, backups, testing, an actual disaster you applied your plan to)

and so on

Also take out that you are pursuing your CCNA. You can put something like "want educational and job experience with Cisco" in your beginning sentence to let them know you like Cisco.

Think of it as if you were the employer... If you went out looking for a tech that could come in and refine your disaster recovery plan and needs to manage your AD and DNS. Would you interview the guy that says "I did disaster recovery, AD, DNS" vs "I completly implemented a disaster recovery plan that covers complete building disaster and single equipment disasters. We have successfully tested this plan out with 5 major failures in our data center at a restore time of 4 hours a piece. I manage an entire 6000 user AD domain infrastructure with separate domains and subnets. Perform full backups and routine maintenance in order to keep our AD (you get the point.

keenon

ok, have you had a read at the getting contacted thread under jobs?

anyway, heres my 2 cents. which i don't give 2 often and i feel as this will be a long 2

words like I, ME, WE, OUR, MY or anything defining a person or people should not ever be used..( i know there are some spots your using for replacement fillers). Using the term users is fine.

when defining for example the PBX .. hmm

you should be listing the model/hardware numbers, any particular management console/apps or software revisions used

your resume only shows 2 jobs with dates that cover about 5 years.

I would suggest creating a skills section as this will aid them in scanning your resume for the "skill sets" they are looking for easily.

drop the references piece

what type of desktop support? windows, linux, novell this should be clearly spelled out. this should include any major hardware sellers.. dell, netgear .. you get the example

lan hardware: what kind? which models?

if your getting where i'm going, it seems like a resume rewrite is going to happen

look at it as a chance to get the calls you want to get

protocol167

Wow, definately awesome tips and information there mishra and keenon. Thanks alot!!!! No wonder I have not been receiving any call backs. Now that I read what you guys are saying, It does seem like the resume so very plain and vague.

Going to rewrite it. Thanks everyone very much!!!!

corey1980

I did not read the entire resume but the suggestions I give here would apply to the entire thing.

You need to be much more specific on certain responsibilities that you had/have. For example: "maintain and improve network security". what do you do to maintain network security? What tools do you use? Has security improved by x % since you took over? Did you come up with an idea that made security better? Name some statistics for how large the network was you maintained. Example #2: "maintain disaster recovery plan". Pretty much same questions as above. Explain in detail what you do to maintain the disaster recovery plan. Do you maintain the RAID configuration? Do you have tape back ups? Have you improved the process or came up with a new idea that made it better? Etc, etc, etc.

Don't just tell them you worked on something, tell them exactly what you did, what tools you used, how you made it better, etc.

Good luck!

TechJunky

Actually, I have seven years of experience. I wasn't thinking about certification until I signed up to this site. I use to think that the MCSE was of no value because it was flooded with people that don't even know anything about computers and can still pass it with brain **** or other cheating sources. So that made me stay away from Microsoft's MCSE course a while back.

I always thought that employers usually look for just experience in the IT field. But I guess times have changed so that is why I am now studying for my CCNA and work my way up.

I guess no more slacking for me then. I was too comfortable where I was besides the company being cheap and didn't want to get out of my comfort zone. But now is time to get out of my comfort zone.

Sorry, I totally mis-read your resume. For 7 years you really need to get specific. Not to sound harsh, but your Resume looked like a 2 year MIS tech's. You need to start listing hardware brands, microsoft specific applications, vendor specific applications etc. I only have 5 years of admin experience and mine looks WAY different. If I could go about it and still look professional I would have over 3 pages of technical information to put down. So with this in mind, put the most pertinant info that applies to the position your are applying for. IE, windows admin, put down group policy, domain controller's, Exchange experience, SMS, DNS, DHCP experience, scripting tools used, IE: scriptlogic, batch files etc. What type of protocols you use, HL7, tcp/ip? Employers want to know exactly what kind of experience you have after 7 years. Dont slack on the resume. Remember your resume is what gets you in the door, the interview seals the deal.

Also, I know exactly what you mean about paper certs. I have worked for a couple fortune 500 companies and pretty much 80% of the staff is nothing but paper certs. But guess what... They obviously got the job because of those paper certifications, so I decided to get some certs as well and suprisingly enough i started getting promoted really fast. Did I know any more then when I didnt have them, not at all. But they sure thought I did. Amazing what a piece of paper means to some people.

/usr

First thing I noticed was that "references available upon request" was in there and that is generally not in resumes these days. It used to be. Should take it out.

Just curious...should you replace that with actual references, or assume they will ask for references if they want them?

TechJunky

References should be on a totally seperate page.

techED

You have potiential a great resume.
First has Mishra said, you need to give details, disaster recovery is an excellent skill expand on it. VPN, what about, what did you do, how did you do it, Blackberry server, what aspect were you invovled in. So, much to talk about.
One page is good. I'd put the certs under education.
Also, look at the job posting and pick the relevant aspect of your resume that match the posting and elaborate on that.