Resume Critique Please - Entry Level Networking

DoubleNNs

I'm not currently looking for a job, but wanted to update my resume since I just passed my CCENT. This draft of my resume is tailored toward an Entry-Level Networking role: something like NOC Technician or Junior Net Admin.
Professionally, I only have about 6 months of IT experience, but I've followed suit w/ how a few others have described their experience int he field. (In fact, I've actually taken a few lines nearly verbatim from a few other resumes that I need to eventually change into my own words.)

Any critique of the resume - whether gentle or harsh - would be greatly appreciated.

On top of that, I'd also be grateful of any advice on how to go about actually landing an Entry Level Networking job in the future.

Thanks in advance.

ITcognito

Congrats on passing the Cisco exam.

As for your resume, it's good overall, but I feel that there's too much bolding of text throughout it. You don't really need to mention all of the educational institutes you attended. Just write the most recent one. If you mention TCP/IP, from my understanding it includes all the application level services like DHCP/DNS/FTP, so it's redundant mentioning them again.

Summary paragraph could be re-written without the usage of I or me:

Certified professional with 6 years of formal and informal I.T. experience and strong customer service background. Competitive, passionate and driven with outstanding work ethic. Continuously striving for success by aiming to be an asset and build value within the company.

Lastly, if applying for jobs through company internal web applications, use a SEO trick that I picked up: add a footer at the bottom and fill it with keywords in small font and invisible text, so the system doesn't pass over your resume.

Good luck on your job hunt.

danny069

Good resume, I agree there is too much bold, leave the bold for the main subject lines such as summary, skills, certs, etc. I would delete the independent consulting, try to get it down to one page. Overall it is a great start and you have many certs already that are marketable in the job field.

DoubleNNs

Is it that there's too much bolding, or should I get rid of the "keyword bolding" completely?
I implemented it to emphasis things I didn't want a resume reviewer to miss out on; I know most people reviewing resumes to fill a position spend all of 10-20 seconds scanning thru it. If the bolding is tacky I'll get rid of it. I could probably get a similar focus to my resume by simply thinning it out.

I planned on getting rid of both the Independent Consulting and Knight Notes after my next position - but as of now, that's the only IT-related experience I have. I want to gain more experience so I have something to replace the roles w/ instead of only having my current position (which was my foot in the door).
Would my resume still look strong w/ ONLY my "Jaguar Management, Inc" position on it?

Besides the invisible footer trick, what ARE some keywords that should be included on a resume tailored towards an entry-level Networking position? Maybe I could change some of the wording I currently have.

DoubleNNs

*gentle bump*

Ismaeljrp

I think once you have your CCNA you'll be able to replace some of the work experience. As you'll be able to elaborate more on saying you have experience with OSPF, EIGRP, ACLs ...and other ICND2 stuff. For example, I haven't used actual Cisco equipment at home. But in college I've gotten months of experience with , 2600/1800 series routers, 2900 series switches. And once I go through all CCNA stuff, and my labs I'll be able to put that down as experience. It's not in a production environment, but it's still miles better than just stating GNS3 and PT CLI experience.

DoubleNNs

Yeah, once I get my full CCNA and entry-level networking experience my resume will be an entirely different beast. I'll be able to get rid of a lot of content since I'll have stronger points to replace them w/.
Unfortunately, for now I just gotta work w/ what I currently have -- and thats a lot of informal experience, my current job which was my foot in door of my professional IT career, and 4 entry-level certs.

I see it's been hard to get a lot of critique on the resume. I'll take that as a sign that it's good - solid enough to not warrant a lot of critique, but not great enough to compliment. I'll take it for now.

A more concrete question however: How would I restructure/rewrite this bullet in my skills section since as-is, it is redundant:

· Strong foundation of networking concepts and protocols, including TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, NAT, NTP, FTP, HTTP, RIP, SSH, Telnet. Fundamental understanding of security topics.

DoubleNNs

I originally was looking for entry-level networking positions. However, I decided to dial back and look for a help desk / desktop support role where I can try to get my hands on a variety of different technologies. I'm continuing to study for the ICND2 in the meantime, hoping to take it late August or Early Sept.

This is my latest revision of my resume. I plan to start getting this version out there soon. Is it an improvement over the version I posted earlier?