What am i doing wrong??

swisschris104

I look for jobs all the time. The problem is i have no experiences and i'm sure my resume/cover letter can use some help.

Suggestions and improvements on them i'm not going to attach i will put them into [quotes]

COVER LETTER

Christopher J Gordon
[ADDRESS]
[CITY STATE ZIP]
[DATE]
To, Whom it may concern
[THERE ADDRESS]
[THERE CITY STATE ZIP]
Dear:
I have seen your recent posting for a [POSITION TITLE] . My qualifications and abilities both match and exceed the requirements as listed in the post, with this I have much to offer to this position.

I have obtained CompTIA A+ certification in January 2013. Through achieving receiving this certification I expanded on my knowledge of computer software and hardware, but most importantly how to troubleshoot problems involving the two. Shortly after achieving my A+ certification, I received my CompTIA Network+. Preparing for this really set a strong foundation of networking in my knowledge. After gaining Network + I began studying for CCENT, I am always willing to learn something new.
On top of achieving certifications in the two areas I have been fascinated with computing throughout my entire life and because of this I built strong skills in it such as keyboarding, Microsoft office, and the ability to adapt to new software and applications. I also attend school at ******* ****** Community College where I take multiple Computer/Network related classes that expend my knowledge and provide me hands on experiences.

Being new to the IT Job market I don’t have much notable experience, but since I always seemed to have a talent with computers. People usually came to me for help when something was going wrong on their computers, or networks. So I was either there to correct there issue, or I had to explain to them how to correct the problem there selves. This helped me build great communication skills.

With my technical and communication skills, and willingness to learn, I hope that I may exceed your expectations, and would welcome an opportunity to come in and meet with you, and discuss candidacy and qualifications. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Christopher [LAST NAME]

Enclosure

RESUME

Christopher J G*****
2255 address
city, Illinois United States zip
773-999-9999
[EMAIL="swisschris104@****.com"]swisschris104@****.com[/EMAIL]
Certifications

CompTIA A+ (Obtained January 2013)
CompTIA Network+ (Obtained February 2012)

Work EXPIRENCE



Cook County Clerk’s Office, City, Illinois United States
Election Judge
11/2012 - 11/2012


-Worked in a team of 4
-Setting up electronic voting equipment
-Troubleshooting thermal printer
-Worked with public
Education

****** ***** Community College P*** ****, Illinois United States 2012 – Present

Pursuing A.A.S in Computer and Local Area Network technician




******* ******* High School Blue Island, Illinois United States
2008 - 2012



-Provided training for Cisco CCENT

Clubs: Chess
Athletics: Wrestling

Skills


· Manages Windows desktop OS: user accounts, file permissions, printers, group policy, malicious program removal, network connectivity, strong troubleshooting skills.

· Software – CHKDSK, Windows command line interface, Memory Diagnostic tool, Event Viewer, Disk Defrag, anti-virus software, Windows firewall, SOHO router SDM ,

· Hardware: motherboard, CPU, RAM, hard drives, power supplies, peripherals, NICS, graphic cards,

· Networking: cabling, basic configurations of Cisco Switch(including SSH), Configuration of SOHO wired/wireless networks, Cisco “show” commands and CMD commands to troubleshoot network connection issues, strongly familiar with TCP/IP suite


· Produces high quality spreadsheets, documents, and presentations using Microsoft Office suite

· Relays technical messages in laymen's terms

· Great cable management and organizational skills.

I apply on every website possible, especially craigslist, but i rarely get calls back. Its hard to be more hire-able seeing as I don't have money to take the cert test. I got more skills than on resume, its just hard to think of them. Plus not having the certs to back them up doesn't help at all(does it?)

DoubleNNs

Well, you already have your A+ and Net+.

Have you tried walking into a local computer store?

Honestly, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you right now tho =/.

swisschris104

DoubleNNs wrote: »

Well, you already have your A+ and Net+.

Have you tried walking into a local computer store?

Honestly, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you right now tho =/.

I have called them, but they never seem to have a position available.

tpatt100

You might not be doing something wrong, it can be timing, luck, location, economy, etc. Sometimes you have to take an honest evaluation of yourself and realize it's not always something you are doing wrong. The lack of experience means you are more common rather than unique so you are competing with more people than most.

lsud00d

The cover letter needs a lot of work grammar and sentence structure-wise.

People on here disagree about it but I know when I was doing hiring and reviewing resumes/cover letters, if I got distracted by the writing to where I focused on that instead of the content, it went in the 'no' pile.

kohr-ah

A couple pieced of advice on my end.
Pick up an OS certification to help get foot in the door like Windows 7. You are more of a value to a company then rather than just break fix. That allows to at least work help desk. Also as DoubleNNs said local computer store is a good place to get foot in the door to get some experience under your belt.

· Software – CHKDSK, Windows command line interface, Memory Diagnostic tool, Event Viewer, Disk Defrag, anti-virus software, Windows firewall, SOHO router SDM ,
As a technical person CHKDSK and Disk Defragment aren't skills. Also list what anti-virus software you are familiar with. Trend Micro, Norton Enterprise, etc. It helps them know what can help in their environment.

Cisco “show” commands and CMD commands to troubleshoot network connection issues
I would reword it as something like "Cisco command like basics to troubleshoot network connectivity issues"


· Relays technical messages in laymen's terms
Perchance you ever worked in retail? Reason I ask if you can actually use that as a benefit
"Customer service skills from experience in retail"

Just a couple little things as an idea not saying they are all good but little things can make it better.
Also what other skills do you have that you dont know how to word it? Maybe if you put it on here someone can help you tell how to word it.

Akaricloud

The cover letter definitely needs a lot of work. The grammar in it is very far from perfect, not necessarily written towards the HR person that will reading it, and is very generic. I recommend editing or writing a new cover letter for each position you apply for and these need to be flawless. One out of place comma or poorly formatted sentence is all it takes to get filed in the circular filing bin.

As far as your resume goes it's a bit difficult to comment on much without seeing the native formatting. I can say from taking a look at what you've posted that this could use a lot of work as well. Your work experience section is very, very vague, your formatting isn't consistant, grammar isn't consistant, capitalization isn't consistant, ect, ect.

These are supposed to be examples of your best work and until you get them perfect I doubt you will be getting many hits.

swisschris104

I cant get any more certs because i do not have the money to pay for them. I will try to fix my resume, and everything up as much as possible, and start to apply. It just makes me want to give up, and just stop looking and studying for these exams if i can not even land a job or take a exam? Does anyone know a website that fixes resumes, and cover letters? free/pay doesn't matter.

Nemowolf

Building on something that others have pointed out, the grammar is not the best in the cover letter. Something that may be more obvious to a recruiter or hiring manager is that if your going to point out your communication skills, it MUST include both written and verbal communication. You will never work in an environment in IT that does not include written communications, emails are just too important. That being said, this shows that your highlighted strength is actually weak or misleading. My personal recommendation is to take an extra course in english or something of the nature.

(* I have a certificate in written communication and an associates in English. I write 80% of the documentation in my team and edit/rewrite the other 20%. This was the key to my first real IT job as my hiring manager saw i was able to do more than just break-fix *)

I would look through some sample resume's online and see how they are formatted. For recruiters, they skim resumes looking for keywords in familiar formats. If you use something that is reverse of what they are used to seeing, it will have an adverse effect on your ability to get properly reviewed. Everyone has different opinions on resumes and formatting so take this with a grain of salt but try going Skills, Work Experience, Certifications, and end with Education.

(* I am no expert and i have had mixed reviews on my resume that some hate the formatting and some love the formatting. *)

As also mentioned, the items you list as skills should be actual skills rather than intangibles. You should be able to use it in a simple action sentence to see if it makes sense. Example:

I know how to ... Create/Modify/Adjust/Build/Run/Etc ... Active Directory.
I know how to ... Create/Modify/Adjust/Build/Run/Etc ... Windows Command Line Interface.

You can do many things to Active Directory such as create, modify or delete accounts but that doesn't really apply to MSCLI. The CLI isnt something you can do something with or too. Knowing basic commands to run in the CLI also doesn't really demonstrate a skill, that is just knowing the command the syntax. One step further from this concept, CHKDSK is used to diagnose HD issues and Ping would be to diagnose LAN/network issues, so what you are implying is that you can diagnose hardware and network issues.

(*I personally think this is the most difficult section of a resume. *)