Not getting any hits. Maybe it's my resume?

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

Well, it's that time again. I'm on the job hunt and I've recently spruced up my resume. I've gotten a lot of professional advice on these forums that I've used with much success. I've been applying to systems admin positions for the past month, but I haven't gotten any calls from anyone. I'm guessing there's something wrong with my resume.

Currently, I work as a systems admin, but only deal with web, file, and application servers. I'm trying to land a position where the job scope ranges from managing application servers to infrastructure servers and networking equipment(email, dns, active directory, switches, routers, etc.). Basically, I want to do more than what I'm doing, but don't know how to portray this.

I've incorporated a lot of the advice I've seen from the other resume threads. I've replaced my objective with a short summary. I've spelled out my certs and systems that I've worked with to hit the keyword searches. My job history includes a short summary of what I've done at each position followed by bulleted major accomplishments. I tried to cut my resume down to one page, but felt that I was selling myself short by leaving off key information and other jobs I've held. I know one page can be done, because I've seen some people here with way more experience than me do it. I usually don't put my education on the first page, but decided to do this so that all my strong points can be shown up front. I tried leaving off the jobs on the second page, but doing so makes me look like I've only been working for the past 4 years.

So, go ahead and tear it apart. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

Priston

Your font is too small I can't read it. If I can't read it, HR can't read it. Also garamond? please stick with the main font types:
Times New Roman, Arial, courier new, or verdana

On my resume the smallest font I use is Times New Roman 11

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

Ok, I changed the font to Times New Roman.

Sounds Good

Alif_Sadida_Ekin wrote: »

Ok, I changed the font to Times New Roman.

change the font size

erpadmin

Your resume does show nice experience. However, it is a bit sloppy. In education, for example, the city and state should be alligned equally. You want Salt Lake City, UT and Sanford, FL to be aligned with each other. Those minor issues are the difference between getting a phone call or going in the trash bin.

Also, your resume seems to be a "catch-all" to every IT job, as evidenced by your statement above the qualifications. I would rather you tailor it to just a system administrator job, since you have that experience. If you are gunning for a desktop support-type job, you can tailor your resume to just that job. Also, lose the "etc." That's almost as bad as saying "yadda-yadda-yadda" on a resume. Either list everything or list nothing...actually the more you can list, the better.

Lastly, there is something about the way you have your experience that I don't like. I'm thinking it's how it seems to not have consistency between some items that are bulleted and some that aren't. Maybe you want to have a skills list in addition to the O/Ses and systems you've used. Also, if you're going to have a two page resume, get rid of the white space. Either have 1 full page or 2 full ones. 10 point font is almost unreadable too....want to change that as well.

It's not a bad start, but you still have tweaking to do.

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

erpadmin wrote: »

Your resume does show nice experience. However, it is a bit sloppy. In education, for example, the city and state should be alligned equally. You want Salt Lake City, UT and Sanford, FL to be aligned with each other. Those minor issues are the difference between getting a phone call or going in the trash bin.

Yeah, the formatting got messed up when I changed the font to Times New Roman (check the first post to see how it used to be). I'll incorporate your suggestions and re-post. Thanks.

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

Ok, I upped the font so that the smallest is Times New Roman 12. This also addressed the issue with the excessive white space on the second page. I changed the wording in the summary "Certified IT professional....." to systems administrator. I left the bits about desktop support and training since a lot of admin positions I see, state desktop support and end-user training as some of the job duties. Is there a better way I should write out the summary to better reflect systems admin experience? Should I even have this at all?

As far as the experience section goes, I'm not sure I'm following you erpadmin. The bullets show major accomplishments at each of my jobs. Should I have a separate list labeled "Accomplishments" and stick those there? Or should I just bullet point everything under each job to take out the paragraphs?

za3bour

Alif_Sadida_Ekin wrote: »

Ok, I upped the font so that the smallest is Times New Roman 12. This also addressed the issue with the excessive white space on the second page. I changed the wording in the summary "Certified IT professional....." to systems administrator. I left the bits about desktop support and training since a lot of admin positions I see, state desktop support and end-user training as some of the job duties. Is there a better way I should write out the summary to better reflect systems admin experience? Should I even have this at all?

As far as the experience section goes, I'm not sure I'm following you erpadmin. The bullets show major accomplishments at each of my jobs. Should I have a separate list labeled "Accomplishments" and stick those there? Or should I just bullet point everything under each job to take out the paragraphs?

I'm not an expert but gotta say that it looks much better the moment you changed font to Times New

erpadmin

Alif_Sadida_Ekin wrote: »

Ok, I upped the font so that the smallest is Times New Roman 12. This also addressed the issue with the excessive white space on the second page. I changed the wording in the summary "Certified IT professional....." to systems administrator. I left the bits about desktop support and training since a lot of admin positions I see, state desktop support and end-user training as some of the job duties. Is there a better way I should write out the summary to better reflect systems admin experience? Should I even have this at all?

As far as the experience section goes, I'm not sure I'm following you erpadmin. The bullets show major accomplishments at each of my jobs. Should I have a separate list labeled "Accomplishments" and stick those there? Or should I just bullet point everything under each job to take out the paragraphs?

Alternatively, you could have a brief mention of your accomplishments in your cover letter if you're going to keep the format of your current resume.

I took the liberty of making a couple of minor edits (mainly bumping the font size in your Florida school and getting rid of the bullets). What do you think?

It is my hope others critique this revision of your resume.

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

I'm trying to envision myself as a hiring manager trying to read this. My fear is if I took out the bullet points, the accomplishments wouldn't stand out and would just get buried in all that text. I always thought bullet points were easier to read, but if everyone thinks that it looks good that way, I guess I could give it a test run.

sentimetal

Alif_Sadida_Ekin wrote: »

I'm trying to envision myself as a hiring manager trying to read this. My fear is if I took out the bullet points, the accomplishments wouldn't stand out and would just get buried in all that text. I always thought bullet points were easier to read, but if everyone thinks that it looks good that way, I guess I could give it a test run.

That's why tailored resumes are better, because you can emphasize the what stands out to an employer. If an HR person is glancing over your resume, she's going to look for keywords that match the job description her company has posted. If an IT manager is looking over the resume, they also are going to look for relevant keywords - only they'll be able to interpret things.

zerglings

I was always told not to use more than two font sizes. Not sure if it matters or not but I just want to throw it out there.

Essendon

Thats not a bad resume mate. You have already fixed the fonts and formatting, the other thing that stands out to me is how you have a whole soup of sentences before you begin the bullet points for each role. This makes the resume looked crammed and greatly reduces the readability. I have my resume that has the bullet points first and then have a short 3-4 bullet point section that says projects completed/achievements. This has enhanced the readabilty and lets me highlight my projects.

erpadmin

Essendon wrote: »

This makes the resume looked crammed and greatly reduces the readability. I have my resume that has the bullet points first and then have a short 3-4 bullet point section that says projects completed/achievements. This has enhanced the readabilty and lets me highlight my projects.

That was exactly why I didn't like it! When I removed the bullet points, I was able to read it.

Of course, HR isn't going to go through that BS...they got too many resumes to do all of that.

ehnde

Your resume has been addressed, I looked at it and I think it looks pretty good!

But what about this.....

I've been applying to systems admin positions for the past month, but I haven't gotten any calls from anyone. I'm guessing there's something wrong with my resume.

If you're not getting any hits they're not even READING your resume. Not to be a joker and captain obvious, but is it set to publicly viewable? Where is your resume posted?

Have you thought about directly applying to Microsoft partners in your area? You have several Microsoft certs. I'm not sure if this is the right link: https://solutionfinder.microsoft.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

it_consultant

You may cringe when I mention this, but depending on how long you have been out of work you may want to employ a professional resume writing service who can help you with your resume and cover letter. It may not be that your resume is particularly bad, its just that there are LOTS of medium good resumes out there and you need yours to stick out just a little bit more.

I am eating my own lunch with this recommendation, I will be using a professional service the next time I look for a job.

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

ehnde wrote: »

If you're not getting any hits they're not even READING your resume. Not to be a joker and captain obvious, but is it set to publicly viewable? Where is your resume posted?

I don't have my resume posted publicly. I only use it to apply directly for positions I find. I've chosen to do this so my current employer doesn't accidentally stumble upon my updated resume. This has happened to me before with bad results. It's one of the reasons why my stint as IT Support Technician in November, 2006 – February, 2007 was only for three months....lol

Every single post here contains excellent advice! Alright, I've gotten rid of the paragraphs in the work experience section and took Essendon's advice. I bulleted everything, which makes parsing the information easier. I put a subsection under each job titled "Projects Completed/ Accomplishments". This took out any white space I did have on the second page, so now I have two full pages. I also unbolded the company names and bolded the job titles so they stand out better.

I never realized how these little changes made a world of a difference.

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

it_consultant wrote: »

You may cringe when I mention this, but depending on how long you have been out of work you may want to employ a professional resume writing service who can help you with your resume and cover letter. It may not be that your resume is particularly bad, its just that there are LOTS of medium good resumes out there and you need yours to stick out just a little bit more.

I am eating my own lunch with this recommendation, I will be using a professional service the next time I look for a job.

Luckily I'm still employed. However, if worse comes to worse I've always thought of using a professional resume service as plan B.

ehnde

Very nice! I love the latest revision, it's GREAT.

In regards to not getting any call backs, you probably will just have to apply to more positions. They won't contact you except for an interview. Best of luck!

erpadmin

Your resume is very readable now! Go West, young man (or East, North, South....anywhere where they will hire you and you'll be comfortable.)

The earlier mixing up of paragraphs and bullets did make me not want to read it. It is definitely an improvement now.

Essendon and his Crown-provided education definitely gets the +1

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

Thanks for all your help guys! This is why I love this forum.

Essendon

Thats much better!! Just one more thing I might add, do away with the qualifications section. IMO, a waste of space and I mean how can you be qualified in Putty and VirtualPC?? If you do want to keep this section so as to get more fish in the HR keyword dragnet, you should rename it to skills. Thats what it is, qualifications are certs and education. Again, much better resume than before. I have also been told by a couple major recruiters that Trebuchet MS font is best for the eyes. You may want to give that a try toi.

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

Essendon wrote: »

If you do want to keep this section so as to get more fish in the HR keyword dragnet, you should rename it to skills.

Yep, that's the main reason why it's there. I'll probably just rename it to "Skills" and take out some of the useless crap in the "Other Systems" subsection.

Essendon

erpadmin wrote: »

Essendon and his Crown-provided education

That cracked me up mate!!

I am glad I was of help. 3-4 years ago I was a complete n00b (certification-wise and otherwise), knew (almost) nothing about IT and didnt know what to do after my MS. This website has given me a lot and is the reason where I am in my career. It feels real good to be able to help others. A big pat on the back for the mods, Johan and all the contributing members that make this place worth coming to more than a few times each day.

Markv

I think the CompTIA bullets look stupid.

• CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, CompTIA Project+

That would look a lot better in my opinion