resume advice / references

jamesleecoleman

Can some of you go over my resume? I changed it all around and had help from the student employment services at my school. I took out the information from the section right under my name because it had my cell, address, and email.

For references, would I put where the reference works or their position when I was employed at the company? Also one of my references isn't working at one of the last places of employment anymore so I guess he's between jobs. Would I just put his name and number?

mattlee09

I don't know the proper way, but it wouldn't make much sense to me to have their current employment, aka - If he was your manager at your previous job, you should list him as such. His relationship to you as it relates to the reference hes giving (character would be a pastor or family friend, employment would be former boss, CTO, etc.)

Other than that, everything else looks alright I s'pose. Just be sure and tailor your resume to each position that you apply for. (Relevant skills, etc). You said that you edited videos and things for Blackboard. I mentioned to an employer that I had extensive Camtasia experience, and showed him some training videos I had made. I now am doing regular work with him making rudimentary CBT's. So - anything is possible. After that occurred, I added a section on my resume for 'skills' like Camtasia, Photoshop, etc.

The key is, anything that can get you in the door and working with/for that company. Especially when you have no job. Any job is better than no job

I've done tons more conceptual studying and even some other professional consulting that I found difficult to incorporate into my resume when I last updated. From the looks of yours (and mine, too, which is why I mention this) we'll have to rely on our interview to really let our skills shine.

YMMV!!

mattlee09

Someone else mentioned it in another thread about resumes as well - I just couldn't think of it earlier.

Maybe instead of just your day to day, you included a blurb on each employer stating what things you accomplished/improved by being there. You said internet research for computer applications - Maybe you found such and such application that provided more functionality than the current one at half the price, and facilitated the purchasing of it, saving X number of dollars per Y time. Stuff like that (which is also a great conversation starter in an interview).

mikedisd2

jamesleecoleman wrote: »

For references, would I put where the reference works or their position when I was employed at the company? Also one of my references isn't working at one of the last places of employment anymore so I guess he's between jobs. Would I just put his name and number?

You mean he's not currently working? In that case, I'd put submit them as "previously {position} at {company}". If they have a new job, just put their current title.

Your resume looks a bit squished. Make the font MS Trebuchet, sz 10.

Put a space after each line.

Indent and bullet your Certs and Skills sections in line with your history.

Itemise each cert in the Certification list and prioritise them, ie. CCENT first, A+ last. Remove the "Cisco:".

If you are including a Skills section, put a whole lot more into it; Customer service doesn't say anything. Try "Strong phone and remote Level 1 support". Also mention SOE experience and desktop support.

In the History section, List the company name and time frame in bold, with your position on the next line below.

ampersand

mattlee09 wrote: »

Maybe instead of just your day to day, you included a blurb on each employer stating what things you accomplished/improved by being there.

I'd second this advice. Your resume looks good, but it could have more impact! Anyone can be work as a Technology Assistant... but what did you do in that position that no one else could have?

For example, my previous employment description started as "Diagnosed and resolved issues in computer software and hardware and peripherals, etc." After I received that same advice from my friend that's an HR recruiter, it now reads "Performed diagnosis and repair of 20-40 computers on daily basis, resolved issues after less than 24 hours on average, and achieved 90% or higher customer satisfaction scores at Fortune 500 company’s technical support bench with annual revenue of $1 million." See the difference?

jamesleecoleman

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm slowly redoing my resume because of school is getting in the way.

Honestly, my customer service skills aren't really strong for the phone, face to face, and email. They're pretty much okay to the point where I have experience explaining information to the customer without cussing them out or degradethem. Not that I have thought about doing those things. I'm just trying to give sort of a broad view of things because I wouldn't want to exaggerate the current skills that I have.

As for the position that I had for technology assistant, I couldn't tell you what I did that no one else could have. Anyone could have done what I done if they learned how to do it. It was a work study position at school so I didn't have a lot of say in anything. I just learned how to use Blackboard and did the things under that job section.

I'm pretty hard on myself when I judge the skills that I have.

instant000

jamesleecoleman wrote: »

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm slowly redoing my resume because of school is getting in the way.

Honestly, my customer service skills aren't really strong for the phone, face to face, and email. They're pretty much okay to the point where I have experience explaining information to the customer without cussing them out or degradethem. Not that I have thought about doing those things. I'm just trying to give sort of a broad view of things because I wouldn't want to exaggerate the current skills that I have.

As for the position that I had for technology assistant, I couldn't tell you what I did that no one else could have. Anyone could have done what I done if they learned how to do it. It was a work study position at school so I didn't have a lot of say in anything. I just learned how to use Blackboard and did the things under that job section.

I'm pretty hard on myself when I judge the skills that I have.

I'll ask you a question a manager asked me before, in hopes of provoking thought on your part: Do you lack confidence?

I do not mean that in a bad way, but I think you do not give yourself enough credit.

Try this:
Action Verb ... doing something with a Technology

Example:

Produced 35 Educational Presentations Using Blackboard Learn Software

^^ Just an example, but you should get the idea.

If you've ever "installed" or "configured" TechnologyX, make sure to put that down, as people tend to love that, based on feedback I get on my resume.

Another thing I must say, is that you should not feel pressed to keep your resume to one page. Just try to keep it bulleted, but the way it looks now, I feel like I'm trying to read newspaper columns, or something.

jamesleecoleman

Thanks for the input. I've been busy trying to get this whole school stuff together. Next week is final exams.

I don't lack confidence.. if I did then I would have given up on everything long ago....
I'll see what else I can do with the resume.