Advice on my CV

ssjaronx4

Hi Guys,

I am redoing my CV and wanted some advice on the wording and any advice you can give. I have put it on Google Docs so the formating is a completely off but I'm looking more at the content as the format looks good once printed and I'm very happy with it.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddpqvjdd_0378cc9fk

Let me know what you think and any advice would be very much appriciated.

Aron.

sprinkl3s

Personal profile section:

I would shorten this as it is rather long. I would say no more then maybe 2-3 short sentences here. I would also relabel it to to read (professional summary)

Technical Knowledge section:

I would be sure to shorten this list when sending out your resume. And only list relevant skillsets to the position you are applying for.

Also instead of technical knowledge use relevant skillsets or just skillsets. I would also remove the following two lines:

Experienced in using and supporting

Technical Knowledge of

you also list active directory twice under your list of skillsets. You should really only list this once and I would maybe say something like "AD, GP, sites" all in one line. I would also suggest shortening your skillset lines to a summary without too much detail.

Employment history section:

I would suggest renaming this to just Experience.

I would also remove the categories under your individual employments. This is just taking up space and is not needed.

I would also shorten the lines as they also seem kind of long.

I'm not sure that I would list my reason for leaving on a resume

Overall:

you have a good skillset but the resume is fairly long to read. I know you want to sell yourself to the best of your ability but this really needs to be shorter. With only 2 years of relevant experience I would say your resume doesn't really need to more then 1 page

ssjaronx4

Hi all,

Thanks for the advice above. I have a week off this week so I have been revising my CV all day. The below is a link to my revised CV. Take a look and let me know what you think.

http://www.4shared.com/file/61305335/d9a91bcf/Aron_Johnson_-_New_CV_Online_1.html

the_erickee

IMO, if you go to two pages, make sure you fill up two pages. seems to be a waste of paper and my not look good to some employers. Making the margins smaller could fix that though.

dynamik

You should really try to make it one page. It looks like you're certs will get pushed back to the second page, and some people might not even look at that. Remove the spacing between all the bullets and try see if you can get things on one line instead of spacing it out, such as your MCTS certs.

i.e. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Vista Configuration and Exchange 2007 Configuration

LarryDaMan

dynamik wrote:

You should really try to make it one page. It looks like you're certs will get pushed back to the second page, and some people might not even look at that. Remove the spacing between all the bullets and try see if you can get things on one line instead of spacing it out, such as your MCTS certs.

i.e. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Vista Configuration and Exchange 2007 Configuration

Do you think one pagers for everyone or was that recommended based on this specific instance?

I have resumes for different circumstances. Companies at job fairs just scan them, so they get my 2 pager. I bring my one page resume to interviews. It really depends, I have enough for a good 1 1/2 pages!

snadam

LarryDaMan wrote:

dynamik wrote:

You should really try to make it one page. It looks like you're certs will get pushed back to the second page, and some people might not even look at that. Remove the spacing between all the bullets and try see if you can get things on one line instead of spacing it out, such as your MCTS certs.

i.e. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Vista Configuration and Exchange 2007 Configuration

Do you think one pagers for everyone or was that recommended based on this specific instance?

I have resumes for different circumstances. Companies at job fairs just scan them, so they get my 2 pager. I bring my one page resume to interviews. It really depends, I have enough for a good 1 1/2 pages!

+1 mine is about 1 1/3. I already messed with the fonts and tabs, but its all I can do unless I ditch the summary and integrate it into a cover letter, which makes it 2 pages essentially...maybe i should work on fixing that?

dynamik

LarryDaMan wrote:

Do you think one pagers for everyone or was that recommended based on this specific instance?

I have resumes for different circumstances. Companies at job fairs just scan them, so they get my 2 pager. I bring my one page resume to interviews. It really depends, I have enough for a good 1 1/2 pages!

I had a career development course in college as a filler to round out my schedule, and about 1/3 of the class focused on resumes. One page is a general rule of thumb and should be adhered to by most people. They brought in HR people from major companies, and the lack of attention they said they give to resumes was really eye-opening. They will more than likely not look to second or third pages. There are obvious exceptions to this. People such as doctors, lawyers, and JD will have huge resumes, but most of us should stick to one page.

bertieb

I had one guy applying for a role who had a 9-page word document CV It went into the recycling bin without even being scanned.

As dynamik has said, I'd say keep it to one if possible though the more experienced people will need two (though no more than two and definately not nine!)

LarryDaMan

dynamik wrote:

LarryDaMan wrote:

Do you think one pagers for everyone or was that recommended based on this specific instance?

I have resumes for different circumstances. Companies at job fairs just scan them, so they get my 2 pager. I bring my one page resume to interviews. It really depends, I have enough for a good 1 1/2 pages!

I had a career development course in college as a filler to round out my schedule, and about 1/3 of the class focused on resumes. One page is a general rule of thumb and should be adhered to by most people. They brought in HR people from major companies, and the lack of attention they said they give to resumes was really eye-opening. They will more than likely not look to second or third pages. There are obvious exceptions to this. People such as doctors, lawyers, and JD will have huge resumes, but most of us should stick to one page.

Pretty much what I thought. I like a one pager too. When I know for sure it is going into a scanner to be searched for keywords and such.. then I will deviate from the one page.

Our egos are what makes it hard to pare these resumes down. I am important. I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!