Please critque my Resume

Wilson502

Hey guys, I am going to be graduating from CSU Fresno in 6 weeks with my degree in my signature. I have been getting replies here and there but nothing substantial so far. This could be obviously due to the fact that I am wanting to relocate and I am applying for jobs out in the bay area and Orange county and I cant really start a new position until I graduate. Anyway, I thought I would upload my resume here to see perhaps what improvements I can make to it to make it stand out better or make it more efficient with space. Input would be greatly appreciated.

TE Resume critque.pdf

ChickenNuggetz

My first thought is that it is too long. In my experience, two pages max. Remember that your resume will likely be part of a larger pile that some HR person is filing through, keep it simple and concise whenever possible. Also, what type of gig are looking to grab? By the looks of your resume I'd either say desktop support or sys admin? Dont be affraid to cater your resume to a specific job, especially when you have so much varied experience and "core competencies." For example, if you're not applying to a healthcare IT place, remove the EMR and HL7 stuff as it really wont matter. Here's some other ways to reduce a lot of the filler you have in there:

• Core Competencies sections is taking up far too much space. Try different formats to help reduce its size. Remove your WPM. I would suggest either revising or removing your networking column as those things could be listed under a job duties section for a particular postion. Generally speaking you only want to list networking technologies you're able to work with, such as: TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, OSPF, RIPv2, etc, etc. Network drive mapping can be good to highlight, but not in this section.
• Remove the Installations section. This info should be included with job duties descriptions. If you REALLY want to keep it, then I would suggest reformating your tables and reorganizing the information (i.e. Networking, Software, Hardware, Systems, etc)
• Without a doubt your first listed postion is the one you want to highlight. Play with formating to help reduce space it takes up. Instead of listing everything out with bullets, give a single paragraph describing the day to day then a bulleted list highlight projects/achievements.
• Remove the unrelated jobs. You have enough continuous experience between your jobs and the contract work to remove those jobs that are unrelated to IT. You dont NEED to list every job you've had in the past 5 years. So I would remove Alorica and Anderson Clayton as those seem unrelated to IT.
• Move "Key Contracting Engagements" (this sounds wierd IMO) up with the rest of your job positions and retitle it as Contracting or Consulting or something to that effect.
• Remove your academic project. As a general rule you only put this stuff if you are lacking any real world experience which you seem to have plenty of.
• Remove Fresno College, you got your BA from xyz school, that's all that matters.
• Refrain from listing certs you are studying for or dont have. This is a pretty much how must of us do it. You can mention things like "I'm studying for xyz cert" in your cover letter or during the interview.

Lastly, keep your resume consistent. If you decide to give a paragraph/small statement describing the job and duties performed, make sure you do it for all positions. It will look sloppy if your resume isnt consistent. Keep in mind a lot of people are visual and if they dont like the way it looks, they may not even bother looking/reading