My resume

michaelcox

Anyone want to take a peak at my resume and give me some pointers?

michaelcox

lets try that attachment again..

michaelcox

none? does that mean its really good? Or does that mean its so bad no one wants to even take a stab at it?

darkerz

Very little space, it was blocky, take out the missionary notice, certifications look nice but listing CompTIA stuff and then saying it's from the 90's.. A big no no.

Overall; This ADHD techie has no idea what you want to do. All I know id "You like electronics".

Now imagine HR.

michaelcox

darkerz wrote: »

Very little space, it was blocky,

Ok. I'll work on that thanks.

take out the missionary notice

only reason I have it on there is so I have a 10-year work history. I'll take it off as its been 9 or so years.

certifications look nice but listing CompTIA stuff and then saying it's from the 90's.. A big no no.

I only recently added the dates on there. Should I keep the test numbers on there or take those off as well?

Overall; This ADHD techie has no idea what you want to do. All I know id "You like electronics".

Now imagine HR.

I don't know what I do half the time either...

darkerz

"A+ Certified"

That's all anyone needs to know. Let them poke if you interview.

michaelcox

darkerz wrote: »

"A+ Certified"

That's all anyone needs to know. Let them poke if you interview.

I have all 3 for life plus I've enrolled in the CE program. Would you put, after I have CE something like:

A+ Certified / A+ CE

Dr IT

It looks neat and nice

but may be i could remove the name / email and address details from the second page as well ( as it already mentioned in the front )

michaelcox

References in resume? yes or no?

rsutton

It's hard to see what you specialize in. Your experience is broad, looks like you have worked with quite a few systems. This can be a plus if you are applying for a help desk position. If you are applying for sys admin / net admin type positions, your resume doesn't really tell me how skilled you are in front of a server.

More on the latter, I would take out "Maintained Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, various Windows Server 2003 servers, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 workstations." and replace it with some content that tells me what you can do with these systems. Just about every entry level technician to your senior systems admin touches these systems so it's important to indicate what you have done and what you are capable of.

I would take off the Missionary statement. I understand what you are saying about the gap, but this is your first impression with someone and they may have some bad ju-ju vibes about your faith or religion in general. I would explain the gap in the interview if they asked about it.

Here are some other general lines that should be re-worded:
Ensured secure operating environment.
Major applications include Micros Opera, Micros POS 3700/9700, and MAS 500.
Administered and serviced Novell intraNetWare (4.11) network
Maintained in-house personal computers and printers
Installed and maintained Windows NT 4.0 Network and in-house computer systems.

On the other hand I thought these were very good:
Maintained TV headend in hotels and apartment complexes. Replaced modulators, line elimination filters. Created a few property specific channels.
Setup and maintained VPNs between various affiliated businesses with SonicWall and WatchDog appliances. - you could provide more details about the maintenance

Under your education and training section, are those first ones college courses? Might be confusing to whoever is reading that. Your college years span 10 years, I think mine did as well, you may just want to put the date you received your degree . I have never thought High School information to be relevant unless you very entry level, which in your case you are not. For the CompTIA stuff, you may want to change them to active / expired instead of putting the dates on there. I would also through the Microsoft Acronyms on there for the MS certs which you hold, since those jump out at hiring managers / keyword screens.

This post kind of got away from me, sorry it's so long!

michaelcox

thanks for everyones feedback so far. Here is rev 2. still more work to do...

mikedisd2

Better but still too busy-looking. Thoughts:

Remove all addresses and phone numbers from your job history; it servers no purpose and clutters the page.

Keep the reference section but don't list the references. Just have the line "Available upon request". I'm sure they don't want they're details posted everywhere.

It may seem paranoid but don't list your own address either. You want to minimise how much personal information you are submitting to the public arena. All they need to know is your name, email address and ph for contact.

People have differing opinions but I always suggest to put certs at the top. Those catch the HR goon's eye. Boy Scout would go into an "Extras" section at the end.

Are your personal details in the header? If so, make it smaller, faded and have a proper title for the resume. There isn't enough margin at the top and it gives the busy look as mentioned. Have a "Page x of 2" in the footer as well if you want. Make it small and faded.

You have 10x bullets for your current 1+ year job but only 6 for you previous 6+ year job. Seems a bit uneven.

michaelcox

here is rev 3 and I'm off to bed. Thanks for everyones help. I'll work on it some more tomorrow.

jtoast

1) I'm not a fan of the "career objective" section. To me thats something that you put in the cover letter if you feel it's necessary. I personally always avoid it because if there is a second unpublished job that doesn't fit your description, you may not get the opportunity to interview for it.

2) I would suggest an "accomplishments" section. Don't tell me what your job was, tell me what you did. For example, instead of

Setup and maintained VPNs between various affiliated businesses with SonicWall and WatchDog appliances.

try something like:

While acting as project technical lead, designed, installed, and configured Virtual Private Network to be used by over 500 users to connect to 15 different home office locations using both SonicWall and WatchDog appliances. Project came in on time and under budget.


For your own business, instead of "...grew business from nothing to over 1,000 clients," put something along the lines of how you ran successful business with xxx number of employes and had so many thousands of dollars a year in revenue. That shows you know how to handle a large budget if you end up going for a supervisory position.

3) Overall it looks good, but it only tells me what your job was. It doesn't tell me anything that proves you were better at that job than all the other candidates competing with you for this opportunity.

eansdad

jtoast wrote: »

1) I'm not a fan of the "career objective" section. To me that's something that you put in the cover letter if you feel it's necessary.

2nd that, maybe change it to a summary of skills otherwise it's looking better.

veritas_libertas

Ham Radio!

michaelcox

thanks everyone for all your help. I really appreciate it. here is 4th revision.

I think its looking better, but now I'm up to 3 pages.

jtoast

I just realized that your current title doesn't match your responsibilites.

If you are the "Director of Information Technologies," are you actually getting your hand dirty performing "tech support for 5 hotels...etc?" My guess is no you are not. My thought would be that what you are actually doing is supervising the techs (or technical managers) who do and simply forgot to update your resume.

...at least that would be my was until I see that you listed "technical Lead" under your accomplishments. At this point I start thinking you might just be embellishing your accomplishments.

Also, what type of position are you targeting? Network?, management? Desktop support? Your resume goes in several different directions. You should be rewriting your resume specifically for each job you apply for. This allows you to add in specific buzzwords from the listed job description and go deeper in the areas they are looking for.

For example, if I were looking for a network admin position, I would probably leave off the info regarding desktop antivirus support and replace it with specific router and switch models that I was familiar with. If I were targeting a technical management position, I would think there should be more information regarding things such as employee reviews, budgeting, number of direct reports, etc.

michaelcox

At current company that I'm at, I am the entire department.

eansdad

Current employment should be written in present tense.