Have at it! (Resume Thread)

Hey all,So this is my resume, rough draft. Here's my situation:I'm separating from the military in about 5 months, so I've began to work on my resume. I grabbed the format from another user on here, I don't have your name but for this I thank you. I've tweaked it quite a bit though.I'm looking for every bit of criticism or any suggestions you all can give. Thanks a lot. Edit: A refined resume with some of the suggestions is now attached. - Still looking for any and all feedback from fellow TE members.

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Stuppored

Looks like you've got some great experience behind you.

I'm wondering about what employers think of the formatting/layout of your CV? To me it's very tacky... I'm curious if anyone out there hiring would reject a CV just for it having a certain formatted template despite having a great range of experience. I've seen people make various decisions based on some of the simplest things that I myself would ignore.

I think you'll do well in the job market! I think you have the right to be picky about which job you take on because of your experience level. Have at it!

Everyone

Yeah I don't like that format, too busy. Also that bottom gray line bleeds onto a second page with nothing else on it.

There's something about the summary at the top that bothers me too. I can't quite put my finger on it, not sure if it's just because the whole thing is bold, or if it's the use of "the Enterprise environment" (which kind of sounds weird.)

I must also say the same thing I end up telling most people in these threads on here. Where are your accomplishments? I see a couple bullets listing responsibilities for each position, but nothing showing what you accomplished while in that position.

Are you getting out of the Navy early? I see only 2 years of experience on here. What did you do before you were in the Navy, anything relevant?

Having been in a similar situation, I can tell you what this resume will get you, a few calls, most from the DC area, from recruiters who picked up your security clearance on a key word search. If you want to expand your options to non-DoD contractor jobs, it is going to have to be better. Speaking of getting picked up by key word searches, may want to change "Clearance" to "Security Clearance" and "TS/SCI Active" to "Active Top Secret/SCI" as those are more likely to be searched.

Here is an example from my own resume showing Military experience. The table borders are hidden on my actual resume, so ignore them. Notice how it contains both responsibilities and accomplishments.

341^st Communications Squadron, United States Air Force
Manager of Network Security, Manager of Web Development, Systems Administrator, 3C071
Malmstrom AFB, MT
10/04 – 08/06

Led 2 web developers, 32 content contributors, and 5 network security technicians. Perform vulnerability assessments, intrusion detection, and computer forensic services for a segment of the DoD Global Network, using eEye Retina, Internet Security Scanner, and other tools. Administer and maintain external DNS, and enterprise PKI Certificate Services. Create security scripts and GPOs to enforce compliance with standards. Develop security policies and best practices. Provide mentorship and career counseling to subordinates. Conduct annual performance reviews and make promotion recommendations.

Created and carried out unique exercise scenarios to test both user and IT staff reactions to attacks ranging from complex Social Engineering, to malware and hacking threats.

9^th Communications Squadron, United States Air Force
Network/Systems Administrator, Webmaster, PKI Program Manager, 3C071
Beale AFB, CA
08/02 – 10/04

Provide Tier 2 support for over 75 servers, 4000 workstations, and 6000 users on a segment of the DoD Global Network. Administered and maintained Dell/EMC SAN, Exchange, Defense Messaging System, Windows Servers, PKI, IIS, SQL, SMS, Symantec anti-virus, GFI MailEssentials, GFI MailSecurity, and Blackberry Enterprise Server. Write logon scripts and perform patch management.

Developed and deployed one of the first Blackberry Enterprise Server solutions used in the Air Force, providing training and documentation that would later be used Air Force wide.
Designed and implemented an emergency notification system.
Pioneered the implementation of PKI services for smart card logon, digital signatures, and encryption. Deploying Common Access Card readers and ActiveCard middleware base wide. Represented the base at the DoD PKI Conference.

9^th Communications Squadron
Help Desk Technician, 3C071
Beale AFB, CA
01/02 – 08/02

demonfurbie

if ya want the original file i used pm me your email addy

word selection is very hard, it looks like you have the experiences but its hard to follow

vanquish23

JustAnotherUser, if you want to make use of your clerance, PM me and we can exchange emails. I work for General Dynamics on Fort Bragg, NC as a Sr. Network Tech at the Network Control Center. Not sure if your planning to move or not but I can put you in contact with recruitors and search the internal job database as well.

JustAnotherUser

Stuppored wrote: »

Looks like you've got some great experience behind you.

I'm wondering about what employers think of the formatting/layout of your CV? To me it's very tacky... I'm curious if anyone out there hiring would reject a CV just for it having a certain formatted template despite having a great range of experience. I've seen people make various decisions based on some of the simplest things that I myself would ignore.

I think you'll do well in the job market! I think you have the right to be picky about which job you take on because of your experience level. Have at it!

I appreciate the input. This is why I posted the resume on here in the first place, thanks a lot!

JustAnotherUser

Everyone,

First, I want to say thank you for the huge response. - The "Enterprise environment" thing, I agree on totally, I laughed no lie when I read what you said about it. I feel the same way, that will surely be removed.

Nope, I'm not getting out of the Navy early, 4 years, honorable, maybe I should mess with the experience portion a little to fix that issue and I will also change the wording of the clearance. I believe the only reason I listed it like I did was because "Security Clearance" ended up like so:

Security
Clearance

On the resume when I would prefer it to be Security Clearance. However I agree with what you're saying so I'll most likely change that.

I would also like to thank you for posting a piece of your resume up on here, I had a different resume format before and was told by others that it looked like a dinner menu. That's kind of why I looked for a different style and found this one.

I appreciate your input and will try to make good changes.

JustAnotherUser

Thanks demonfurbie, I think I'll send you that PM, would like to see what the original looks like.

- Thanks a lot for all the great input all, I'd love some more if anyone else has anything to say. I'll try to fix it up a little bit, might have to go with a different layout too I suppose. I was just trying to keep everything on one page but perhaps it looks a bit busy?

Everyone

JustAnotherUser wrote: »

I believe the only reason I listed it like I did was because "Security Clearance" ended up like so:

Security
Clearance

Yeah you'll have to play with the formatting for that.

I messed with it, I think it looks slightly cleaner if you take that left column there and align it to the left instead of center. The bold text had to be dropped down to 10pt in order to fit "Security Clearance" on 1 line. If you change all the bold text to the same size, it looks good.

"Installing, Configuring and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional" should be something like "MCP: Windows XP", it will fit on a single line then too, and that is what it is.

For that column, I would make sure the "Security Clearance" is at the absolute top (delete the empty line above it). For the rest of it, make the spacing more like this:

Security Clearance
TS/SCI Active

Certifications
CCENT
ITIL V3 Foundations
CompTIA Security+
CompTIA Network+
CompTIA A+
MCP: Windows XP
Homeland Security Levels I-III

Education
Bachelor of Science, Information Technology
College, State
Projected Graduation May 2013

Associate of Applied Science in Technical Studies,
College, State
Graduation June 2011

JustAnotherUser

Wow, thanks a lot for the great help / suggestions.

Do you think the clearance and other headers look good with 10pt font? I'm opening up the resume to make the corrections you've suggested to see how it looks. I really appreciate it.

Oh one other thing.. THANKS a lot for the MCP suggestion, I started out with something like that but thought I would get bashed for doing so.. However I really dislike the full title being in there, it's just so long.

JustAnotherUser

Alright, a little updated resume has been posted with some suggestions.

Everyone

The left side looks a lot better. I still think the summary paragraph should NOT be bold. Definitely flows a little better since you removed "the Enterprise environment".

Still only seeing ~2 years of experience. I know you have more than that based on other info you gave in this thread, but if I was a hiring manager looking at your resume, I'd think you only had about 2 years. With only 2 years, I'd say you'd be looking at an entry to mid-level position at best. If I received your resume for anything higher than that, it'd probably go straight to the trash.

I'll pull from my personal experience again... I left the Military on an honorable discharge after a 4 year enlistment + 9 month extension. I had 2.5 years of experience that was only loosely IT related prior to going into the Military, but I put it on my resume anyway, and it helped. Being able to show roughly 7 years experience total landed me a Senior level job as my first job after getting out. Point is, I think you're selling yourself short.

Another thing to think about, what type of job are you going to go after? I created a couple different versions of my resume. I had one that highlighted my Systems Administrator experience, one that highlighted my Information Security experience, and one that highlighted my IT Management experience. I'd often tweak them based on the job I was applying for too.

ImTheKing

The information you put down is solid. It portrays that you have a fair amount of experience and knowledge.

That said, I don't care much for the format to be honest. I'd much rather go with a more traditional/standard format because I find the use of tables/borders to be a bit distracting and hard to follow.

JustAnotherUser

Everyone,

I do still need to change the bold, I will. Also need to re-work the experience portion. I do have more experience in IT but nothing in a real official capacity where I was getting paid $x.xx/h; just more of do this receive this. I would be willing to add it though, there's just no room on this thing. - Would you recommend a two page resume? I was going for the one pager but I would be willing to go for two.. Which brings me to my next request..

Could someone possibly post a more "traditional" IT resume. I would be willing to move my information over to one as well as re-edit this current one and post both to receive feedback. - Also, ImTheKing, the tables/borders won't be there on the actual resume, i'll remove them all except the thicker ones. Would that still be as much as a distraction?

Everyone

If you have enough experience to warrant 2 pages, then go for it. Anything beyond 2 pages is pushing it though.

I removed my name and contact info from my resume, and attached it. Mine is a little more "traditional" and it is 2 pages. I've had a very high success rate with this one. (my old one was awful).

Attachment not found.

Resume 2011 - Messaging - Example.doc

JustAnotherUser

Wow, there is a lot of information in that. Thanks. I'll work on transferring my information to it and adding some pre-military experience in it as well. We'll see what happens. I'll update when I do.

ImTheKing

JustAnotherUser wrote: »

Could someone possibly post a more "traditional" IT resume. I would be willing to move my information over to one as well as re-edit this current one and post both to receive feedback. - Also, ImTheKing, the tables/borders won't be there on the actual resume, i'll remove them all except the thicker ones. Would that still be as much as a distraction?

Even without the tables/borders, I'd have a hard time accepting that side column.

I was always taught that your resume should be as simple as possible. To me, traditional means one bold heading at a time and then information within, generally 1 font type, 1 page if possible. I'm not sure my resume is anything to brag about, but I reworked your info into a format that I'm used to.

With that said, you have had a fair amount of job titles, so the most important info is on the front page (work experience, education) with certifications, security clearance info, and specific skills on the last page. My skills section should probably be implemented differently, but you should get the gist.

Attachment not found.

If you play around with the format/fonts, you might find a way you like it. "Traditional resume" in Google Images will give you some ideas, too.

resume-tech.doc

JustAnotherUser

Imtheking,

Thanks a lot for taking the time to do that. I've been working with a modified version of Everyone's resume, I barely tweaked it to add a skills section but it is up top.. Now that I've seen yours and you have it at the bottom, I might do that instead.

I'm still working on fixing it up, I'm pretty sure I've tossed my original format out the window.

I'll post an updated resume when I feel comfortable with one. Maybe I'll post it today after work.. It still needs to be modified but I would like peoples opinions about it.

Stuppored

ImTheKing wrote: »

Even without the tables/borders, I'd have a hard time accepting that side column.

I was always taught that your resume should be as simple as possible. To me, traditional means one bold heading at a time and then information within, generally 1 font type, 1 page if possible. I'm not sure my resume is anything to brag about, but I reworked your info into a format that I'm used to.

With that said, you have had a fair amount of job titles, so the most important info is on the front page (work experience, education) with certifications, security clearance info, and specific skills on the last page. My skills section should probably be implemented differently, but you should get the gist.

Attachment not found.

If you play around with the format/fonts, you might find a way you like it. "Traditional resume" in Google Images will give you some ideas, too.

That's the style I find much more comprehensible for the average human being.

JustAnotherUser

Well, this is a bit later then I wanted but here is the new version of the resume. It's a bit rocky, needs to be refined. I'm not satisfied with some of the job descriptions but here it is.

So once again TE, please, have at it! Let me know what you think and I appreciate all criticisms and ideas for improvement.

Thanks a lot to Everyone for letting me use his resume format.Attachment not found.

TE_Resume_T3.pdf

Qord

Personally, I like to see "skills" and competencies near the top, at least on the first page. BUT...that's a preference thing.

Just one small thing I noticed: In your summary you list CCNA, but in your certs section you have CCENT listed.

On a side note, I went to Corry in '97 for CTM A school. That place sucked.

JustAnotherUser

Qord wrote: »

Personally, I like to see "skills" and competencies near the top, at least on the first page. BUT...that's a preference thing.

Just one small thing I noticed: In your summary you list CCNA, but in your certs section you have CCENT listed.

On a side note, I went to Corry in '97 for CTM A school. That place sucked.

Yep, you're right. I didn't catch that. I'm taking the second half of CCNA here soon so hopefully I'll be able to keep it. I've just changed it though so thanks for that.

Also, yeah, Corry was kind of lame.

coreyjt

Hey. I started in the field about 10 years ago and got out when the tech field crashed and salaries tanked. I did operations and account management and am coming back full circle as the industry that I'm in is crashing with the economy. So, I just picked up the Security Plus cert on XMAS eve and am ready to jump back in the field. I've been studying and getting hands on with simulators for the past 6 months and it's going to be a slight adjustment getting back in since I've been out of the game for nearly a decade. Should I include the operations and account mgmt positions? I know that they are totally unrelated but if I leave them out, I will have a huge gap in my employment. The Security position is made up but is a measure of what I have been doing everyday for the past 6 months with studying and lab time. Please advise. Thanks again.

Note: Formatting is off as I had to paste it in here.

ObjectiveLooking to apply knowledge of security concepts, tools and procedures to mitigate security incidents.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

QUALIFICATIONS

Hardware
Cisco 7X00/4X00/3000/2X00 Routers, Cisco 3X00/2X00 series switches, IDS/IPS, PIX/ASA Firewalls, Juniper Routers

Software
Windows XP, Windows NT, Windows 7, Netcool, McAfee Data Protection, Norton Anti-virus, Wireshark, Netcat, NMap, MBSA, Languard, Snort, Microsoft Office
__________________________________________________________________________________________

EXPERIENCE

Company 1Atlanta, GA
Security Engineer
August 2010 to Present
Designed secure network systems by creating and implementing standard security policies. Identified insecure systems within an existing environment. Trained onsite and remote users. Performed initial risk assessments. Hardened all systems including services, ports, and operating systems. Responsible for encrypting files and securing data storage, create and manage user accounts. Deployed IPSec and secure remote systems, internet activity, networks and wireless interface. Tested, tracked and profiled systems including troubleshooting.

Company 2, Atlanta, GA
Operations Manager
January 2005 to August 2010
Responsible for company operations of privately owned Apparel Company. Maintained sales, invoicing, purchasing, inventory control, vendor/supply negotiations, cost control and customer service. Developed business growth model that increased sales by 15% annually. Acquired 100 sustainable accounts aligned with company’s goals. Implemented guidelines and policies, created business strategies and maintained sales goals through independent and salaried consultants. Ongoing duties consisted of book keeping, accounts payable, payroll, taxes and deposits. Recruited, interviewed and retained subcontractors. Sustained low staff turnover through effective motivational strategies. Managed processes for online distribution in nationwide campaign. Influencer of “Win Win” ideology and solution-based strategy.

Company 3 Atlanta, GA

Account Manager

July 2002 to January 2005

Responsible for managing operational areas within liquidation company, including sales, P/L, bids,

contracts, purchasing, inventory control, vendor/supplier negotiations, cost control, and customer service.

Partnered with Online channels including Amazon, EBay, Liquidation.com, and Overstock. Achieved

$1Million+ in yearly gross merchandise sales. Managed and maintained over 200 accounts. Achieved 10%

average annual sales growth over 3 consecutive years. Received and processed incoming orders, handled

shipping, receiving and documentation of goods and products.

Company 4, Atlanta, GA

Network Engineer

June 2000 to July 2002

Monitored public and OOB network consisting of Cisco Routers and switches, NT and Unix servers,

Alteons via load balancing, and firewalls via Netcool and Whats UP Gold Install. Configured Cisco

Routers and Catalyst Switches 6509 along with troubleshooting, Revived Netscape, IIS, and Apache web

servers via pcANYWHERE, telnet or direct interface with downed server. Assisted Implementation

Managers with successful launch of new clientele. Handled customer support via e-mail, Remedy Ticket,

and/or phone call.

Company 5, Atlanta, GA

Network Engineer

January 1999 to June 2000

Configured, installed and supported Cisco routers RIP, IGRP, EIGRP. Monitored HP OpenView and

remote testing of telecommunications network elements including ISDN and Frame Relay circuits.

Executed specification layout and preparation for network installation. Responsible for TCP/IP addressing

and masking assignments. Assessed Layer 2 and 3 network problems along with trouble shooting while

backed up files to TFTP Server.

Company 6, Atlanta, GA

Systems Engineer

October 1997 to December 1999

Provided day to day NT server support and troubleshooting in a multiple master domain environment.

Installed, configured, and optimized Windows NT 4.0 Servers and Workstation clients. Performed

deployment and acquisition of new hardware, software and cabling equipment.

EDUCATION/CREDENTIALS

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 1997

B.S. Degree - Business

Certifications - Security +, CCNA, MCSE, A+

andre81

I agree with the other posters; let your experience speak for its self.

Everyone

Getting there...

Separate your certifications with a comma instead of listing them each on their own line. Lots of wasted space there.

As far as the skills section goes, you don't really need it. Work those skill keywords into your experience section. I used to have a huge skills section. I got rid of it, waste of space. Anything relevant in it was already shown in my experience.

Side note: "Center for Information Dominance" just sounds awesome.

I went to Pensacola when I was down at Hurlburt Field for some training with the Air Force, but never went on the Naval base. Never thought of putting my USAF Tech School in the Education section of my resume before.

slushi

Everyone wrote: »

Never thought of putting my USAF Tech School in the Education section of my resume before.

Army National Guard here, currently stationed at Ft. Couch. My MOS training was 6 months long

! I have all the courses I have taken while I was at Ft. Gordon under the Education section on my resume.

JustAnotherUser

Everyone,

I've thought about taking out the skills section and moving all that information into my job descriptions and also changing my certification section but there is one thing that just bothers me when I remove it all..

I have a small 2nd page and then it looks horrible!

Any suggestions? - I'm also still working on hm.. fine tuning some of the job descriptions, one in particular.

Apologize for the slow response, been so hectic around here lately.