MIS Resume - Recent Graduate - Desktop/HelpDesk/BA

I would really appreciate any feedback on my resume. I graduated in May and have yet to get my first "real" IT job. I have had a few interviews, mostly through recruiters, but they haven't worked out for one reason or another, usaully lack of "technical" experience.

I have been applying to Desktop/HelpDesk positions because I feel it is my best entry to the market, but I have also applied to any entry-level Business Analyst/Systems Analyst/Network Analyst positions I can come across, because in reality that is what an MIS major is geared towards.

It has been revised it a few times with help of various people, including IT recruiters and University advisors, but it would appear to me that a lot of "technical" resumes look different than mine. I have omitted an objective statement at the advisement of a few others, but in general that seems to be a debated topic so I am open to any suggestions.

Attachment not found.

Some general comments:
• Placed education/coursework/skills at the very top due to lack of experience, I feel these are the most relevant things to the positions I am looking at, certifications will go at top once acheived as well.

• Should I expand on the projects/go into more detail? A lot of feedback was to put projects at the top again, because these are most relevant skills a recent grad would have, although I am not sure how helpful to a desktop/helpdesk role they would be.

• Other skills I left out because, well I can't really figure how to word/place them or how relevant/professional "sounding" they seem are... experience building PCs from scratch+various hardware (ram, videocard, etc.) installation, expert in virus removal, experience formatting/imaging hard drives installing OS's etc, have been troubleshooting/formatting/fixing friends/family PCs my whole life.Thanks for any help guys!

BlankResume.doc

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

burfect

67 views but no constructive feedback?

Nothing?

Polynomial

As a fellow Bostonian, I'd be happy to share my thoughts later in the day.

ChickenNuggetz

If you want desktop support/help desk positions, you'll need to talk up your technical skills a tad more. The skills you list under that section is really general and kind of vague. Do you have any certifications? If you do, list them as well. You'll want to list things out like what OSs are you familiar with? Networking? Hardware?

Help desk jobs will be more customer-service oriented, so you'll really want to highlight your customer service skills. Dont forget to highlight both verbal and written communication skills as both will be needed in a help desk position.

burfect

Thanks for the response.

I guess I am wondering wether or not to omit the relevant coursework/skills section and change it to a general "skills" section but I feel there is value in specifiying certain things learned in a college level course... the way it is setup right now I am not sure where I would list things like OS's, hardware troubleshooting, etc.

I know a lot of my fellow graduates list out Operating Systems, Programming Lanaguages, etc.etc. But when I look at their resumes I often wonder how appropriate it is to straight out list Java and SQL as a skill (not that it would have much value in a desktop role anyway) because really, how much of a "skill" is it. I mean couple of introductory courses on OOP and a basic course on SQL queries yeah, but i'm not sure I feel comfortable listing it as a solid "skill." I know some go into "working knowledge" "proficient" "basic understand" etc. but to me that can look like a mess.

In most interviews I get that they love the customer service background but aren't sold on the technical side, I think this stems from my previous employer which was a VERY high end health club where I worked in constant contact with high profile clients... I really highlighted some "telephone" work in that section at the advice of an IT recruiter, but my previous version I had a few more "customer service" oriented bullets.

Thanks again and appreciate any others!

Polynomial

Desktop support is weird. Its a check mark for (in my opinion) early in your career. I got into it at minimum wage during my bachelor's at my school before I moved on so I had experience on my resume. However, minimum wage doesn't cut it after your bachelor's. And to make things worse, job listings for desktop support always list skills that if you're climbing the IT ladder, your next role would be responsible for, rather than the desktop role itself. HR throws buzzwords all over the place. Cisco, vSphere, Linux etc.

Your problem might be getting the interview. Certifications won't get you the job, but the LISTING of A+ might be enough to at least get noticed by someone skimming your resume (who may not be technical) to have it set aside for round 2 of screenings. I don't know how much you know, but I showed up to A+ after just doing practice questions on an Android app and passed.

So aside from getting lucky I think you're going to need to look into at least A+. While you do have a degree, its doesn't really scream desktop support. So if you want to go for this type of job I would do the following.

1) See if you can pick up A+. Its a stupid waste of money at over $300, but it should help. It allows you to say "yes" to the certification question rather than emit an awkward "no".

2) List out EVERY software and hardware you support at Blankers Bank and be specific. "Dell laptops", "Google Apps", "Citrix virtualization". For example, little did I know how big of a deal Salesforce and MS Dynamics were until AFTER I left my previous job.

3) You're not a student anymore, so move education down and put skills above it. If you can figure out buzzwords you're already working with, list them at the top.

If you are in Boston, (like me!), most of the good jobs are in Boston/north shore. Keep an eye on Craigslist/Indeed daily. Job descriptions go ALL OVER THE PLACE. Capital letters for emphasis

Santa_

Polynomial wrote: »

Desktop support is weird...

If you are in Boston, (like me!), most of the good jobs are in Boston/north shore. Keep an eye on Craigslist/Indeed daily. Job descriptions go ALL OVER THE PLACE. Capital letters for emphasis

I agree with this fellow Bostonian..

Craigslist was very ideal for me when job searching. I found more relatively similar jobs that I wanted than on job boards.

Have you followed up with any of the recruiting agencies? Maybe they might have something for you now. Though there are quite a few around Greater Boston.

Getting the A+ certification made a difference for me, even though I had experience. It seems that many recruiters like to filter A+ when they're looking for new recruitments. So even when I had the experience I probably didn't show up in their system of possbile resumes. Once I got it, easily received emails and calls for a good 2-3 weeks.

Of course now the decision is telling them what you're looking for and at times they can accommodate your needs. At least they did for me.

Best of luck!

Michael2

More and more I'm beginning to believe the A+ certification is a must-have for those wishing to enter the I.T. field or even to work with computers at all. Now a friend of mine said that they might offer you the job with the requirement that you get certified within a certain amount of time, however I think that only applies to CS majors. If you went into an interview for an I.T. position, even helpdesk, certification will be the first topic discussed.

Polynomial

Well, depending you you ask its usually this:

Experience -> Education -> Certification

or

Experience -> Certification -> Education

I got hired before actually finishing my bachelor's at my current job with no certification. Experience (and personality, its so huge) is king.

lsud00d

Yeah...A+ is not necessary but can be really helpful if you're having a hard time breaking into IT.

Like Polynomial I was hired full time while finishing my bachelor's with no certifications, but I was a student worker (experience) and had already done plenty so it was a no brainer

burfect

Polynomial wrote: »

Well, depending you you ask its usually this:

Experience -> Education -> Certification

or

Experience -> Certification -> Education

I got hired before actually finishing my bachelor's at my current job with no certification. Experience (and personality, its so huge) is king.

Appreciate the quality responses everyone. If you don't mind me asking, out of curiousty, what do you do now? I know you stated that minimum wage jobs don't really cut it after graduating, and I agree... but that seems to be the case with the majority of Desktop... do you suggest I look into other roles/positions based on my area of study, or should I stick to going after the desktop?

I know you mentioned to list education at the bottom, but the reason I listed it at the top with a Coursework/Skills heading is to highlight that I have taken CLASSES and LEARNED about these topics (SQL, Java etc.) rather than to highlight them as a SKILL leading someone to beleive it is a proficiency of mine in a sense...

I am going to flood it out again this week, so I appreciate any other last minute feeback and will try and change some things around and post again.

EDIT: Also, any opinions/feedback on project section? More detail, less detail, location of section etc. Reason I added was due to recruiters telling me it would be beneificial, and a selling point, considering lack of exp. Though, not too appliciable to a Desk role.

Polynomial

As much as I'd love to use this board to b1tch about my employer haha I like social media more, so my LinkedIn is my signature

I can only comment on systems and network stuff. No clue on programming. Despite my current role, my previous job/internship was jack of all trades, so I'm more experienced than my title suggests.

I guarantee any hiring manager will hire someone more personable and likeable than someone else a bit more tech savvy, but a robot. Its that important. You just need to get interviews and sell yourself.