Critique

rwmidl

Kind of as a carry over from a previous post, I thought I'd throw my resume up here for critique. I'm always looking for ways to improve it, etc.

Everyone

I recently got some good advice from people here on my resume. It was a 7 page monster, taking their advice in, I knocked it down to 2. I sent my new and improved resume into a Fortune 500 company yesterday at 6 AM, today at 3:30 PM I got an e-mail from their HR asking to schedule a 20 minute phone screening with me on Monday.

I'm not saying this to brag, I'm saying this because while not quite a 7 page monster, your resume looks very similar to what mine did before I got advice here, so I think you could benefit from the same advice.

1st, you're just barely over 2 pages, I think you can get it down to a solid 2. Cut the margins down to 0.5". Next, where you have your Company Name/Location/Title/Time Frame, put those on 2 lines max. Company name on the left side of page, location on the right, 2nd line, title on the left, time frame on the right.

I got rid of all my outdated certifications (Windows 2000!) and actually moved that section to the bottom. I ended up having just Security+ left. You have some good current certs, no need to list all those old ones, no one is going to care about them.

You've got some "Death by bullets" going on. Mine used to be the same way, some people here suggested going to paragraph form. I actually did a lot of research on Google for this, not just going straight off the recommendation here. I decided a hybrid approach would work best. Use a paragraph to sum up your responsibilities at each job. Then use bullets to highlight major accomplishments at each job.

Even if you decide to stick with a pure bullet form, I highly recommend coming up with some bullets that show accomplishments. All I see is a list of responsibilities.

Check your punctuation. I spotted you have "customers" where it should be "customer's"

Ditch the Software Experience section, the relevant portions of this should be sprinkled in with your responsibilities and accomplishments.

Get rid of the Professional Development section too, it's redundant. You have the certifications that prove you've done those things.

Your contact information should be at the very top of the resume. I hope that is what was there before you anonymized it with "ME". Repeating it as a footer is wasted space.

With your DISA/NIST IT Security policy work, does that include FIPS? If so you may try to work that in there, as that's recognizable in that industry.

Essendon

In addition to what Everyone said, there have been a fair few resume threads over the past weeks with some good info in them. Here they are:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/66105-my-turn-dust-off-resume-critique.html

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/66038-tips-my-resume-updated.html

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/66036-boss-leaving-move-another-job-resume.html

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/66039-critique-my-resume.html

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/66033-please-review-my-resume.html

Something to get you started on! With your experience and skillset, you can (and should) come up with a kick-ass resume.

rwmidl

Thanks for the tips guys!

cyberguypr

Everyone: your resume deserved its own show: "Extreme Makeover: Resume Edition".

It's great that you are already applying all the suggestions we provided. This community is a beautiful thing.

Also, great compilation by Essendon. You guys leave me nothing to add.

rwmidl

Everyone wrote: »

I recently got some good advice from people here on my resume. It was a 7 page monster, taking their advice in, I knocked it down to 2. I sent my new and improved resume into a Fortune 500 company yesterday at 6 AM, today at 3:30 PM I got an e-mail from their HR asking to schedule a 20 minute phone screening with me on Monday.

I'm not saying this to brag, I'm saying this because while not quite a 7 page monster, your resume looks very similar to what mine did before I got advice here, so I think you could benefit from the same advice.

1st, you're just barely over 2 pages, I think you can get it down to a solid 2. Cut the margins down to 0.5". Next, where you have your Company Name/Location/Title/Time Frame, put those on 2 lines max. Company name on the left side of page, location on the right, 2nd line, title on the left, time frame on the right.

I got rid of all my outdated certifications (Windows 2000!) and actually moved that section to the bottom. I ended up having just Security+ left. You have some good current certs, no need to list all those old ones, no one is going to care about them.

You've got some "Death by bullets" going on. Mine used to be the same way, some people here suggested going to paragraph form. I actually did a lot of research on Google for this, not just going straight off the recommendation here. I decided a hybrid approach would work best. Use a paragraph to sum up your responsibilities at each job. Then use bullets to highlight major accomplishments at each job.

Even if you decide to stick with a pure bullet form, I highly recommend coming up with some bullets that show accomplishments. All I see is a list of responsibilities.

Check your punctuation. I spotted you have "customers" where it should be "customer's"

Ditch the Software Experience section, the relevant portions of this should be sprinkled in with your responsibilities and accomplishments.

Get rid of the Professional Development section too, it's redundant. You have the certifications that prove you've done those things.

Your contact information should be at the very top of the resume. I hope that is what was there before you anonymized it with "ME". Repeating it as a footer is wasted space.

With your DISA/NIST IT Security policy work, does that include FIPS? If so you may try to work that in there, as that's recognizable in that industry.

Would it be better to leave the MCSE and/or MCSE:Security just for keyword purposes?

I noticed on yours you have "email address" right at the top, dead center. Shouldn't your name go there vs to the right hand side?

Was it your choice to put your certifications down at the bottom?

rwmidl

For one of my jobs/employers, I worked in multiple cities (location transfer but same job/position). Should I list out all the cities I worked in or just the last one (but have it encompass all dates ex: 2001- 2007 even though I was in multiple cities)?

Everyone

rwmidl wrote: »

Would it be better to leave the MCSE and/or MCSE:Security just for keyword purposes?

I noticed on yours you have "email address" right at the top, dead center. Shouldn't your name go there vs to the right hand side?

Was it your choice to put your certifications down at the bottom?

Your MCSE is is for 2000, 2000 went end of life last year. You have a CISSP, so nobody is going to care about your outdated 2000 Microsoft certs. Keep the 2003/2008 ones as those are still relevant and widely in use. If you're looking for another security related job, the CISSP is all 99% of anyone is going to care about.

My name is on the top left side. In English you read left to right, top to bottom. I put my name and contact info like that to make best use of the available space on the page. If I had just put it all in one block either on the top left, or top center, it'd eat up at least 2 extra lines.

rwmidl wrote: »

For one of my jobs/employers, I worked in multiple cities (location transfer but same job/position). Should I list out all the cities I worked in or just the last one (but have it encompass all dates ex: 2001- 2007 even though I was in multiple cities)?

If it was the same title/position/responsibilities at all locations, I'd group it together. Maybe just use the companies headquarters location, and note that your responsibilities spanned across several locations during your time there.

I had the same employer from 2002 to 2006, but different locations (Military service). I split it up by title and responsibilities. For example my Help Desk Technician job was actually at the same location as my Network/Systems Administrator/Webmaster/PKI Program Manager job. The responsibilities changed considerably with that promotion, so I opted to create a section just for it. Then when I got transferred to another state for my Manager of Network Security/Manager of Web Development/Systems Administrator job, my responsibilities changed again, so I split that one out too. Same employer for all of them. I did end up adding a department name before the employer name on them to help show the difference in position too, as that was unique for each location.

I only grouped 3 job titles together like that because I switched back and forth between those titles and responsibilities regularly, sometimes I had to do more than 1 of them at the same time. People would deploy for anywhere from 3 months to 1 year, and I'd have to take over their job while they were gone, while still doing mine. It also helped to make the best use of available space, otherwise my resume would still be several pages too long.

rwmidl

Everyone wrote: »

Your MCSE is is for 2000, 2000 went end of life last year. You have a CISSP, so nobody is going to care about your outdated 2000 Microsoft certs. Keep the 2003/2008 ones as those are still relevant and widely in use. If you're looking for another security related job, the CISSP is all 99% of anyone is going to care about.

My name is on the top left side. In English you read left to right, top to bottom. I put my name and contact info like that to make best use of the available space on the page. If I had just put it all in one block either on the top left, or top center, it'd eat up at least 2 extra lines.


If it was the same title/position/responsibilities at all locations, I'd group it together. Maybe just use the companies headquarters location, and note that your responsibilities spanned across several locations during your time there.

I had the same employer from 2002 to 2006, but different locations (Military service). I split it up by title and responsibilities. For example my Help Desk Technician job was actually at the same location as my Network/Systems Administrator/Webmaster/PKI Program Manager job. The responsibilities changed considerably with that promotion, so I opted to create a section just for it. Then when I got transferred to another state for my Manager of Network Security/Manager of Web Development/Systems Administrator job, my responsibilities changed again, so I split that one out too. Same employer for all of them. I did end up adding a department name before the employer name on them to help show the difference in position too, as that was unique for each location.

I only grouped 3 job titles together like that because I switched back and forth between those titles and responsibilities regularly, sometimes I had to do more than 1 of them at the same time. People would deploy for anywhere from 3 months to 1 year, and I'd have to take over their job while they were gone, while still doing mine. It also helped to make the best use of available space, otherwise my resume would still be several pages too long.

I just dropped you a PM. Have some other questions for you.

Everyone

I just noticed that I forgot to answer your certs at the bottom question. I answered it in your PM, but I think I will post it here as well for the benefit of others.

Initially I had my certs at the top. I moved them to the bottom because I noticed a trend in most job listings that match my career level (Senior/Lead level). I think it's important that as your career progresses, your resume changes to match.

When a look at a job listing for my current career level, I see that they usually start it off with the experience they are looking with. Then education, then certs, although the last 2 are sometimes switched around. Example:

Must have at least 5 years experience in Exchange.
Must have 10 years overall IT experience
Bachelors Degree in a related field or equivalent experience.
MCITP: Enterprise Messaging strongly preferred.

My goal was to get the flow of my resume to match what companies are looking for in someone at this career level. I'm not interested in entry or mid level jobs, so I don't care if my resume doesn't fit those. I would be interested in a management level position, so I could also rearrange my resume to match those types of positions.

While the 1st thing you're going to do is throw your resume up on a few job sites and hope for some hits, that's only 1 part of it. That resume is going to be your base template. When you get a hit, especially if it's from a recruiter, they're going to send you the job listing and ask you for an updated resume. Look at the job listing, and look at your resume. Customise your resume before replying. Try to get it to look as close to what they're asking for (without lying about anything of course) as you can.

You're also going to apply directly to jobs that interest you. Again, customise your resume to fit the job you're applying for.

Don't forget a cover letter. Don't use a generic cover letter either. Force yourself to write a unique cover letter for each job you apply to. It should be short, 1 to 2 paragraphs max. Don't repeat anything from your resume in it.

rwmidl

Thanks to everyone for their help. I used the advice given and here is what I came up with. As always, any and all advice is appreciated.

Essendon

Much better, here's some more critique.

1. The certifications MUST sit at the very top, right below the Objective/Summary section. You have some of the best certs out there, the CISSP, the GCIH, MCSE and so on, flaunt them. You want the HR baboon and the technical interviewer to be immediately interested in calling you in for an interview.

2. Everyone has their own opinion of a resume, but your resume reads like the middle pages of a text book. IMO, it should be laid out like this:

Company name <........some white space here............> Period of employment
Job title

• Your daily responsibilities go here
• more here
• some more here
• even more here

Key accomplishments (indented more than the above)

• Upgraded Exchange 2003 to 2010. Migrated 5000 mailboxes
• Developed new security policy
• Launched a satellite
• Finished off COD:4
• you get the idea!

IMO, this enhances readability. I just get lost reading through that whole soup of words in the paragraph in every role. This is also more aesthetically pleasing and grabs the attention of the reader.

3. You may also want to choose Garamond or Trebuchet MS as your font. Try changing it and see the difference. You'll get more space and it becomes so much more readable.

4. Begin each section by putting the heading in the middle, so that each part stands out from the other.

5. Notice how your 3rd and last roles have no bullet points. Try keeping it consistent.

6. Club the education into the cert section. On my resume I have a title called Certifications/Education right after a brief 2 line Summary section. I list my certs first and then the degrees.

Hope this helps!

rwmidl

I'll try changing the font around and see how that looks. The reason there are no bullet points in the last two jobs is because I was using bullet points to show off key accomplishments. Since there really wasn't any in those two, that is why there are none.

I think I'm going to keep the education separate. I got my BA 15 years ago, so at this point in my career it doesn't matter at much.