Trouble getting a foot in the door, please critique my resume

ramos

Hi guys,
I recently moved to the US to join family. I have been applying for jobs for the last six weeks, but so far not a lot of response. The responses i get are mainly from very "sketchy" recruiters that don't even have a working website, just an email address. My background:
- Diploma in IT (common in Europe if those that don't go to university).
- Attended two years of college towards a B.Sc. in MIS, but dropped out due to family issues.
- Did two internships. The first internship landed me a part-time job. The second internship was basically a one-man show. I was responsible for all IT Support.
- Been self employed for the last two years as a PC consultant/repair technician. During this time i worked with companies as well as individuals. please let me know how companies view self-employed IT professionals.

i know that these are difficult times, but i also know my resume is selling me short. I am very bad at selling myself. I realize that now. So far i have been working in my comfort zone, i was part of a network, knew a lot of people. I didn't need to work very hard at selling myself. But now i do.

I also think that there are some factors working against me: Like Dropping out, no industry certifications, all my work experience, education is in europe. I suspect many recruiters/agencies may not consider me because they don't feel like going through the process of verifying my credentials. Also I never specialized in something. Remind me of that saying, "A jack of all trades, master of none". I could go and get some certificates to “increase” hits. A+, and MCTS for starters, but i'm not sure if that would help much.

Please critique my resume and feel free to give your opinions/suggestions. I appreciate all your input.
Click here for the resume file ----> File name: TE_RES.pdf File size: 61.4 KB

sheckler

We spell it "enthusiastic" here.

Also maybe you should mention somewhere on there that you're legally able to work here. Companies may see all your education/experience from another country and think that they have to sponsor you for a visa.

ramos

@sheckler thanks. That was something i slipped in just before uploading. I guess i forgot to run spell-check. Also English is not my primary language, even though i'm was born here in the states.

Btw, i'm a dual citizen, USA and European Union and have a valid us Drivers license.
I've considered putting my legal status in my resume, but was hesitant because i never seen it on a resume before.

ramos

Took the feedback so far and made a couple of tweaks here and there. Here's the new one:
TE_RES.pdf

ptilsen

Keep the formatting consistent. Your first experience should be bullet poi-- er, arrows, just like the rest. Also, keep tense and style consistent. You use the first person in the top piece of experience, but no tense in the others. No tense (just past tense, that is) is preferable.

I would say try to add more points in short sentences, rather than fewer points with longer sentences. As someone reviewing resumes, I want to quickly skim through points, not read entire sentences. Many hiring managers will barely even skim your resume, so long sentences are not a good thing.

Perhaps more importantly, you want to try to have your experience descriptions reflect your accomplishments more than your responsibilities. "Ensured business access to key services through preventative maintenance techniques" might be better than "Monitored servers; Checked event logs, utilized CPU/Memory, free space on server hard disks. Checked the virus definition files on the servers and scheduled updates." To a technical professional, sure, it's not as clear what you did. But, as a technical professional, I don't need more than 30 seconds to get a decent feel for what your technical abilities are, based on the scope of your experience and specific skills listed. To a non-technical hiring manager, they truly don't care how you accomplished [x] or [y]; they care that you accomplished [x] and [y] and that [x] and [y] were valuable to your employer.

To get into the more technical criteria, I would recommend you pursue some certifications. Go figure someone on techexams.net recommends this. But really, I can get a general feel of your skills and skill level from your resume, but with entirely independent and volunteer work in a foreign country, I'm gonna have a hard time proving it, even to myself. If you have an A+ I at least know for sure you have a certain level of skill with computer hardware. If you have MCSA or MCITP:SA I know I can let you touch servers. If you have Network+ I'm going to feel comfortable letting you configure an SMB router/firewall or even switch. Right now I'd for sure hire you, but it would be for a fairly entry-level field position doing DST-type work.

On another note, be accurate on the details. A lot of IT professionals are probably not too specific, but some of us are real ass holes about it, including myself. You lose points when I see "MS server 2000 to server 2003" or "100MB Ethernet", since neither are technologies that exist. I know I'm nit-picking, but think of it this way: When I see two otherwise similar resumes, but one has even minor errors in labeling technology, I'm going to choose the one that doesn't have minor errors.

If the work status is a serious concern, I don't see any problem listing it on your resume. Being a citizen tells employer that A. You're, well, a citizen, and able to work in pretty much any position and B. that you are probably at least fluent in English if not native in it. Also, don't worry about being a generalist. There are a lot of positions working either for SMBs or MSPs that basically require generalists. I'm not saying you shouldn't start specializing, but your wide array of experience is exactly what I look for in a field engineer (I lead a team of field engineers at an MSP). Specializing in security, or management, or both, also tends to favor, if not require a generalist.

Finally, from my standpoint, your career started in January of 2006. January of 2012 is three-and-a-half weeks from today. You have six years of experience, not four. No one is count the gaps or the part-time work. Years of experience = time passed since career began.

Overall, your resume is actually pretty good, probably significantly better than the average resume I come across. You have a good combination of experience, soft skills, and hard skills, and I would definitely consider you for a level 1 field engineer position. If you can effectively apply some of my tips, and maybe get a certification or three, I would gladly hire you for a level 2 field engineer position. Add a year or two of corporate experience to all of the above, and you can do my job.

The truth is that yes, with your lack of full-time corporate experience, certifications, and a college degree, you will struggle to get jobs that match your skill and experience levels. There's no way around that but to A. Get certifications B. Get a degree C. Get some full-time (preferably corporate) experience, or, best of all D. Get some or all of the above.

Spruce up your resume, start studying, and start applying. I have little doubt you will succeed if you put your mind to it.

ramos

Thank you so much ptilsen for your input and the kind words. About the years of experience, i just realized that i didn't update the profile part, i just translated it, very sloppy of me. I see i have a lot to work on.

After reading your reply i decided to take the A+, just finished scheduling the test on Friday (both the Essentials and Practical Application).
I'm targeting entry level IT Support Jobs right now. So MCITP:SA might be overkill for now. Perhaps Network + or MCTS: Windows 7 next, not sure yet. Thanks again.

Moki99

Looking at your resume, I personally think you've done enough entry level IT support. You should try to move on to bigger things. MCITP:SA is not too bad or try for the CCNA.

ramos

I agree, but i'm afraid that's all i can get right now. I will be working towards the MCITP: SA and CCNA in the near future.

ramos

I'd like some suggestions on the best way to write that i've attended two years of college, but did not finish. I'm struggling to keep it short and concise.

ptilsen

Transfer / apply to another school and make it a degree in progress. I don't know of a good way to put that you attempted college, to be honest. You can always discuss it at the interview, but it doesn't really make sense on a resume.

Akaricloud

What was your reason for dropping out? Are you close to an AA degree at least?

If it was truly for family issues then mention that in a cover letter or during an interview. You can list it as like 82/90 Credits Completed toward AAS degree on your resume.

ramos

ptilsen wrote: »

Transfer / apply to another school and make it a degree in progress. I don't know of a good way to put that you attempted college, to be honest. You can always discuss it at the interview, but it doesn't really make sense on a resume.

My thoughts exactly. For now i just listed on my resume that i have earned a certificate at the university, its a certificate of the completed courses and credit hours.

ramos

Akaricloud wrote: »

What was your reason for dropping out? Are you close to an AA degree at least?

If it was truly for family issues then mention that in a cover letter or during an interview. You can list it as like 82/90 Credits Completed toward AAS degree on your resume.

I send all transcripts last week to be evaluated by an evaluation/translation service. I'm still waiting for evaluation, but i'm confident its at least equivalent to an associates degree.