Yes another Resume thread

Pash

Hi Guys,

Well I have done a small re-vamp to my current CV/Resume and I am still not getting that many responses as I would of liked!

Please critique my attached Resume and help Pash out!

Cheers mon breverins/sisters,

Pash

thenjduke

Nice layout but is it common for Europeans to put their health status?

wheez

First thing I noticed is a typo, which doesn't seem like a good thing to me: You misspelled Winndows in the Key IT skills section.

Apart from that I would probably try to shorten the IT skills part. It kind of gives me the impression your trying to list every single abbreviation you've heard of.. Not saying you don't know all these technologies, but is it really necessary to list them all?

Are you posting the resume on a job seeker board or applying to specific job openings? In the latter case you might tailor this section to better fit the job offer.

thenjduke wrote: »

Nice layout but is it common for Europeans to put their health status?

Not sure, but I don't.

veritas_libertas

I like the layout

apena7

Pash wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Well I have done a small re-vamp to my current CV/Resume and I am still not getting that many responses as I would of liked!

Please critique my attached Resume and help Pash out!

Cheers mon breverins/sisters,

Pash

I'm personally not a fan of the dedicated "Skills" sections on resumes. Honestly, I didn't read every single item in that section but just skimmed it. I'm sure HR would do the same since they have to go through hundreds of resumes a day. I think it's far more effective to instead list only the relevant skills in the work experience section. For example, under Hardware Skills you have "Cisco Routers/Switches (2500 & 2600 series routers, 2950, 3500, 3750, 4948, 6509 switches)" listed and for Career Summary you have "Installing a Cisco router and set-up a VPN tunnel." I would instead write "Configured a xxxx Cisco router..." or something like that.

I would also drop the Interests, Personal, and References section, but that's also a personal preference.

thenjduke

apena7 wrote: »

I'm personally not a fan of the dedicated "Skills" sections on resumes. Honestly, I didn't read every single item in that section but just skimmed it. I'm sure HR would do the same since they have to go through hundreds of resumes a day. I think it's far more effective to instead list only the relevant skills in the work experience section. For example, under Hardware Skills you have "Cisco Routers/Switches (2500 & 2600 series routers, 2950, 3500, 3750, 4948, 6509 switches)" listed and for Career Summary you have "Installing a Cisco router and set-up a VPN tunnel." I would instead write "Configured a xxxx Cisco router..." or something like that.

I would also drop the Interests, Personal, and References section, but that's also a personal preference.

I have to agree skills section has to be removed. I got rid of it in my resume too. gave me so much more room. Incorporate it into the work experience.

Xcluziv

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I like the layout

Ditto on that...I would definitely limit some of those skills in the Key I.T skills section....just seems like to much

As thenjduke stated, do people in Europe usually put their health status?

apena7

Xcluziv wrote: »

As thenjduke stated, do people in Europe usually put their health status?

Maybe we should do the same in the States....

I would also be down for putting HP, EXP, STR, and DEX points at the bottom of my resume

rob7278

For resume ideas I would type the name of the position I was applying for in a google search, for example- technical support resume
to further narrow down the results you could- filetype:pdf,doc technical support resume

Doing this is where I was able to find some of the best ideas.

Aldur

I like the overall layout of the resume, looks very professional.

I'd drop the 'Objective' section if I were you, I'm not a fan of seeing both an Objective and a Summary/Profile section in a resume.

There seems to be a few spelling errors, as mentioned earlier Windows is spelled Winndows. Also, I know in different parts of the world some words are spelled differently, such as color and colour. I saw 'Recongnised' and I've always seen it spelled 'recognized', although that might just be a location difference.

I think that the 'Skills' section is necessary but I'd trim it up a bit. Seems to be a bit wordy.

The '&' in 'Windows & Unix/Linux systems' didn't seem to get formated properly and looks funny.

Also, I'd be interested in the 'Health' section too. I can see that being important to an employer but I could see people going sue happy over something like that in the states.

mikedisd2

The objective could be covered in your application letter. Not sure if your resume is the place for it.

DNS management, including the creation of A, CNAME and MX
records, domain transfers.

This could go; it looks a bit newbie compared with all the other cool stuff listed.

As mentioned, fix the "Winndows" typo.

I'd remove the "Grade" column in the Qualifications section. Having the cert on your resume assumes you have passed it. The (B-D) doesn't look too good, and it was 12 years ago anyway.

Do GSCEs carry that much worth after everything else you achieved since school?

Is your CCNA expired? May not want that at the top of the list.

earweed

I like it actually. I'd probably put the experience higher up. Lose the grades as you don't want to advertise B-D. On some of the skills you put basic and advanced, not sure about that. I actually see a lot of jobs which advertise for a non smoker so that's probably a good thing to list.
Overall it looks good and you've got a lot of skills there. Surprised you're not getting more attention with it.

thenjduke

apena7 wrote: »

Maybe we should do the same in the States....

I would also be down for putting HP, EXP, STR, and DEX points at the bottom of my resume

You know I was thinking about this. I know in America it is against the law to not hire someone based off race and other things. Maybe our health is one of those things too.

thenjduke

syed2011 wrote: »

Health status is common, employer should know about your physicality too. I dont think you have done anything wrong.

Wow that is very interesting. I love learning about things in other cultures.

ssampier

Nice resume format. I think the summary is a bit too wordy, but that's just me. Personally, I dislike most resume phrases like 'hard-worker' and 'innovative'. These words aren't adding much to the conversation. You would never state the opposite ('lazy' and 'not innovative').

These words are expected, though, so you don't need to remove it.

At least you're smarter than the average bear.

tpatt100

I like the format also.

Stuppored

Pash wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Well I have done a small re-vamp to my current CV/Resume and I am still not getting that many responses as I would of liked!

Please critique my attached Resume and help Pash out!

Cheers mon breverins/sisters,

Pash

i'd knock off the professional profile and objective and think of 3 or 4 KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS to put in that newly formed empty space.

I'd almost put your qulifications right below KEY IT skills. (ranaming the word key to something else if you use the advice above) and then having career summary following this, followed by education

highschool seems irrelevant. interests, activities, references can all be replaced with more IT related things. of course references are available upon request, you think an employer is too ignorant to decide for themselves to know to ask you for them if they want them? i used to use it, but if you think about it... how will that line benefit you selling you? if you're gonna write that, might as well just send them letters of reference instead.

you do have a well versed amount of experience, i just think you could present it better. you want things to catch the employer's eye within 5 seconds, cause that's all they give you when they're looking through 50 or more resumes. take a good two hours and reevaluate it.

Pash

Wow. Thanks for the replies guys and gals. All valid and relevant points. I will put my CV through some more reviews soon. One of my goals is to have more certs to put on there ASAP! As you all know, this can be a struggle!

Pash

Well low and behold I take in the advice of several of you over the weekend and really do a proper harsh review of my CV. Spend 3 hours working on it and changing bits and pieces to sell myself as best possible.

Today I get three calls from recruiters, four emails and four job specs. Only one of them appears to be what I would be after and its 20 minutes extra commute. I honestly can't wait to see what I get tomorrow

I really want the jobs that require technical interviews on the phone first of all. It really helps me to relax when speaking about technical things and answering questions.

What can I say ladies and gents, the advice here is always second to none, not just from a certification perspective but also from an industry perspective. If you are new to these boards, stick around you wont regret it!

laidbackfreak

Pash wrote: »

I really want the jobs that require technical interviews on the phone first of all. It really helps me to relax when speaking about technical things and answering questions.

Glad you got it sorted

There arent many roles that require a technical interview on the phone this side of the pond. Usually the recruiter will try to get an idea of your skill set prior to sending your cv to the employer.
Then its usually face to face. I think I can count on one hand the number of telephone interviews I've undertaken, but maybe thats just the roles I've undertaken.

Pash

Hi again,

Update on the whole job search thing. I have literally had 10's of calls last week, loads of emailed job specs. I had an interview on Tuesday this week, have a phone interview today for which I have already done a technical test for and it looks like I have another interview early next week.

I really have prepared as hard as I can over the last couple of weeks to get myself to this stage. It really is amazing how much information you can retain technically and you only ever really doubt your knowledge when things aren't going your way.

I have definitely discovered that my Linux skills still need a lot of work and that's what I am working on!

Pash

/usr

Pash, would you mind posting a copy of your revised resume? I figured it might help those who are looking for a "proper" resume (since you managed to get so many calls, I figured you must have done something right!).

Pash

/usr wrote: »

Pash, would you mind posting a copy of your revised resume? I figured it might help those who are looking for a "proper" resume (since you managed to get so many calls, I figured you must have done something right!).

Yeh no problems dude I can do that when i have 5 at home.

Pash

It is an amalgamation of all the advice above really. I decided it best to emphasise relevant experience based on the jobs I am going for (hence the change of job role and title on first job, the technical experience is valid). Being a freelance website developer 4 years ago doesn't hold much salt if you haven't done anything recently . I hope that explains that and maybe this layout might be of use to some people.

*Removed, pm me if you really want it.