Need opinions on my resume please

nevolved

Hey everyone,

My resume was 3 pages, but upon advice from those at school I have shortened it to a single page. Can you please give me advice?

Thanks,

skrpune

your resume doesn't really need to be just one page - I think that's a somewhat outdated sentiment. As long as it's not unnecessarily long and gives the basic info people need to be interested in you, then you're good. Three pages is a bit much if you don't have extensive experience to document, but spilling over to two pages is in my opinion fine if you have info to convey that can't fit into one page.

One thing you definitely need to update is the schooling section - with an expected graduation date of August 2008, people will either think you're behind schedule or that you forgot to update your resume...either way, not the impression you want to be making.

I personally like the idea of a "summary" section at the top of a resume that gives the reader a quick picture of you & makes them want to read further. At your current position, are there any accomplishments you can mention in addition to the tasks you performed? Or you can reword the tasks to put more of an emphasis on how your work has improved things or to be more "results" oriented or to 'fancy' them up a bit...for example: "Upgraded xxx to improve network performance" or "Established network documentation system." You might also want to put in some info about your boom operator position - it's not directly IT related, but there may be some "soft" skills that will transfer over.

How you order the sections of your resume is up to you, that depends on what you want them to focus on first. Do you personally feel like your employment history is the best lead, or do you feel like a qualifications/skills/certification section is more appealing, etc. Whatever you feel is the strongest point is what you should lead with. Ask yourself this: if you could only communicate ONE thing that you think would make people want to keep reading, what would it be? For me, after my summary section, I have a certifications & skills section...but that's because I don't have a long history of working in IT and I don't have degree in IT either, so I want people to see that I DO have certs & skills that I've acquired.

nevolved

Hey,

Thanks for the quick response. Man, I'm a year behind on that expected grad date. I'm really happy you noticed that, it should be 2009. I looked at your resume and liked how you had a summary at the top, and I think I will incorporate one as well.
I see what you mean about wording what I do at my current job to be more result oriented. I think that may be tough to accomplish, but I will try.


Thanks,

skrpune

nevolved wrote:

Hey,

Thanks for the quick response. Man, I'm a year behind on that expected grad date. I'm really happy you noticed that, it should be 2009. I looked at your resume and liked how you had a summary at the top, and I think I will incorporate one as well.
I see what you mean about wording what I do at my current job to be more result oriented. I think that may be tough to accomplish, but I will try.


Thanks,

you're very welcome! I'm a big fan of the "summary" section. Think of it as your "30-second elevator pitch" - if you had just a short elevator ride's time to tell someone just how cool you are & why they'd want to keep talking to you after the ride's over, what would you say??

Kasor

I will not put down your security clearance on the resume in a open public website. Now you are vulnerable to the enemy, unless you are on the specific job fair. First major NO GO.

YOu need to work on your job description and other section.

Job experience: you need more creative writing about being a Network consultant.

Software: List those that related with the job that you apply. For example, do you use cisco VPN or you actually configure the VPN (front/back). You need to specific your software and experience.

MCPWannabe

You have very strong credentials, but the resume is very, very weak. You should have no problems quickly getting a job with those credentials. I highly suggest that you put your certifications first to catch the attention of HR people. See, some of the other posts where people changed their resume. You have a lot on there to aid you in finding a job.

nevolved

There is no name associated with the resume for a good reason . Thanks everyone.