Please Review My Resume!!!

ChickenNuggetz

Well, its that time folks. Time to make the plunge and do the career switch. I'm officially 2 weeks from the end of my teaching contract. Here's my resume, please tell me what you think! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


**It took me FOREVER to get it down to one page, so if you're suggesting adding more info, if you could please advise on what I could possibly part with so as to make room!!**

Thanks in advance!

teresumedraft.doc

the_hutch

I like the format. You managed to fit a lot of information into a single page. I need to work on something like this, as mine is currently 3 pages long

emerald_octane

Lots of white space.
Where are your accomplishments? You tell me what you did, but not what impact it had on the organization.
For instance:

• Troubleshot network connectivity issues and general hardware issues as needed during testing, providing consistent customer experience and reduction in downtime.

You should spell out CCENT so that the keyword searches pick it up.
Why is CCNA pending? Are you taking the test? I wouldn't put it on there unless you've taken it or you're awaiting certification after you've passed the test. At the very least i'd put "in progress" instead of "pending".
I think it's implied that you designed the topology for the test lab so i'd take the last line off.
Is there annnyyyy way you could fudge that teaching position into a technical focus? Did you use your machine to deliver any type of computer based learnings?

Best of luck on your search! It looks good otherwise!

ChickenNuggetz

@ the_hutch: I'd like to take credit for the format, but I found it on a similar template from a random google search. I was really trying to keep it to one page!

@ emerald_octane: I definitely see what youre saying about showing the impact on the organization, thank you for the input! As for fudging the teaching position, I'd rather not do tha;, I'm a career switcher, the only reason I put it on the resume was to show no gaps in employment history and to show that I have the ability to plan efficiently and manage effectively. I figured going into interviews I'll have to talk about why I'm switching careers etc etc.

ChickenNuggetz

Any other suggestions or advice?

lantech

I don't like the format. For me it's hard to read because I naturally want to keep reading to the right instead of stopping in the middle of the page and going to the next line. With that format I don't think there would be a way to get all the major headings even which might make it look better.

Under your experience section you have a comma in between the 2011 and 2012 for volunteer technician when the rest of your experience has a dash in between the years. It's also out of alignment with the rest of the years.

Why are you trying to keep it to one page? You have seven years experience and an education. It's alright to have a resume that's more than one page. Just don't make it 5 or 10.

htebazile

i agree with lantech about the format and length. after you have several years of experience, most people need longer than one page. (as a contractor, i have had a lot of jobs - mine is 3 pages and i am constantly consolidating to keep it at 3 pages!).

psenior

I don't like the format. Recently, I modified my resume to be more like this sample resume I got from Reddit. It's very clean and simple.

Having said that, I think that since you live in VA, you should have no problem getting a job. With your teaching background, have you thought about getting your CCSI certification?

ChickenNuggetz

Thanks everyone for the input! I'm actually getting a lot of mixed advice about the format, many love it, many hate it, so I'm not entirely sure what to do. The format helps me keep the resume to one page and still keeps it pretty clean looking, so I'm inclined to keep it. As for length, do you all really think I have enough technical experience to warrant more than one page? To answer pesenior's question, I have heard of Cisco's CCSI cert and I do enjoy teaching, however I'd like to get some real world networking experience before trying my hand at teaching anything!


Format aside, what do you all think of the content of the resume? Are the bullet points too vague? Do I need to list more information, i.e. be more specific? Should I be highlighting more/less skills?

ChickenNuggetz

Alright, I took all the advice from above and remade my resume with a the new suggested layout. I also tweaked the verbiage about some of the job duties and certifications as we recommended earlier. Here's two versions of the resume: content is the same, format is different. Let me know what you all think!



teresumedraft.doc teresume_draftlayout2.doc

sheckler

You can't just have a second page that's half-full. It should all be on 1 page, something like this.

teresume_draftlayout4.doc

psenior

I like what sheckler has done, but I would make some minor changes. Remove the underlines, remove other experience section completely, put months next to the years on the dates in the professional experience section.

In the technical skills section, I would use tables to make nice pretty columns of info lining up perfectly. I would also would not use any semicolons, just commas. Put education section at the bottom and reverse the order of the 2 lines.

If you can come up with any bullet points that demonstrate where you saved or earned X amount of dollars or made some kind of improvement that can be expressed as a number or a percentage, that would be good.

parmarg

In my opinion pls dont use the second, named as teresume_draftlayout2.doc , because i use that format for long time and did not get any response.
thats my point of view. remaining is what seniors will advice u.

bmy78

Agreed, I like what sheckler has done.

Being a teacher who is about to switch careers, I think you and I are in the same boat, though it looks like you have more professional technical experience than I do. I spent several years in an online marketing capacity at a book publishing house in NYC. Other than the time I spent working at compusa 10-12 years ago, that's about it.

Keep us posted on your progress. Good luck!

ChickenNuggetz

Thanks guys for all the input. I've really taken to heart a lot of the comments and suggestions and I've also read a few of the other threads on resume advice! I've added a few extra sections to really sell myself and I've beefed the hell out of the content, especially the job descriptions and accomplishments.


techexams resume layout 2.doc


What do you guys think?

boredgamelad

So, I feel like smaller snippets (like what you have under technical skills) are fine when italicized, but reading that whole summary section put a fair bit of strain on my eyes and I'm a young (handsome) guy (with big muscles). Personally I'd get rid of all the italics, but if you're going to leave anything italicized, make it the technical skills section. Your certifications look weird being centered also; left align those babies. Otherwise I think it looks pretty spot-on.

ChickenNuggetz

@boredgamelad: Thanks for the input, I considered your advice and implemented your suggestions; I think it looks better!

Any other suggestions? How about content, Professional Experience section, etc?


techexams resume layout 2.doc

chopperchez

Am I wrong in thinking the more accepted format is PDF? I know this is true with legal documents. I thought this extended across other industries as well.

boredgamelad

Job postings will usually specify the preferred file format for submitting resumes. It's a good idea to have a Word and PDF version of your resume ready, as well as a text-friendly version free of tables/other formatting.

Jasiono

I'm stealing your "other experiences" idea.

N2IT

Formatting has improved a lot.

Jasiono

boredgamelad wrote: »

So, I feel like smaller snippets (like what you have under technical skills) are fine when italicized, but reading that whole summary section put a fair bit of strain on my eyes and I'm a young (handsome) guy (with big muscles). Personally I'd get rid of all the italics, but if you're going to leave anything italicized, make it the technical skills section. Your certifications look weird being centered also; left align those babies. Otherwise I think it looks pretty spot-on.

Got any pics of said muscles?

ChickenNuggetz

N2IT wrote: »

Formatting has improved a lot.

Thanks, I've been working on it a lot!