yet another resume critique thread

No one ever gets tired of these, right?

I'm a week out from achieving my CCNA, and after spending about a month tweaking my resume and really examining my job functions and accomplishments I think I have a decent shot at landing an intermediate level job in the area. My primary job function is help desk analyst, but I do a heck of a lot more than that, and that's what I want to get across as much as possible in the document.

This is a basic version of the resume that will be tweaked for every job. Also, do people typically fire off cover letters when possible? I haven't crafted one yet.

Any critiques are welcome. I originally had a technical summary but ended up following someone's advice (networker?) and nixing it in favor of having a longer experience section.

Edit: improved version in post #9.

Attachment not found.

treehouse_resume.doc

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Comments

gbdavidx

That is a lot of reading, its like an essay!

treehouse

Is it too wordy (not concise enough per bullet point), or too many bullet points/too much information? I've been told I am wordy.

gbdavidx

If I were a manager I would not want to read that. should be one page. I use bullet points in my resume. Just my two cents

Too much information in my opninion

Essendon

That IS a lot of reading, I have to concur.

- You've wasted too much white space.
- The margins could be smaller, the bullets could start further to the left.
- I'd move the certs up, right after the summary. No need for Professional Associations, IMO.

This resume here is a fine example of a fantastic resume. Lucid, concise, easy-flowing, gets your attention. Model yours on this one and it'll come out a winner. Mine is very similar too and more than a few times I've had interviewers remark about my resume saying it was one of the good ones they've come across.

UniqueAgEnT

Agree with other comments so far. Even though you have been at the same position for a while, I would prefer a 1 page resume.

Summary
Certs/Education
Experience

MrXpert

I think it is overly verbose and you should try to make your bullet points underneath your Treehouse job more succinct. You should just state your job position, dates worked and then demonstrate in bullet points what positive things you have done in your role and how Treehouse benefited from it. Employers are looking for what your successes are rather than a full list of what your duties were.

I'd also suggest putting your certs before your work history. Just my opinion.

When a hirer receives CVs they usually have 100s to go through and spend no more than 20 seconds glancing over each one. They then put the ones they like in one pile and bin the others. The ones that made it through to the pile are then looked over further and possibly discussed with colleagues.You want to be in a positon to make it through onto that special pile and make it easy for whoever is hiring you to read over your CV quickly and hone in on key words rather than them having to feel they need to read the entire document in order to gleen something from it. Remember also that not every hirer will know anything about IT so their attention spans will be short when it comes to reading IT related stuff.They just want the answer to jump out at them rather than "hunt and pecker" approach.

in an ideal world where hiring people take the time to read stuff yours would be great. Many many years ago, hiring managers would spend a few minutes looking over CVs. Those days are sadly gone and we are now living in a world where convenience is everything and nobody takes the time to smell the roses.

treehouse

I really appreciate all the advice. This is my first time venturing 'out in the world' so to speak (I've worked at the same place my entire adult life), so I have no practical experience with the job hunt. I'm going to revise and repost a 1-page version.

treehouse

Okay, here is a ptilsenified version. Any further thoughts on formatting? Does anything in the actual language jump out at you as problematic?

I also removed my (expected) Bachelor of Technology. I will add it back in after I get my A.S., but I needed the space, and the education section only exists to show that I'm working on my education. I don't actually hold a degree yet and I don't want to look presumptuous.

Attachment not found.

treehouse_resume_revised.doc

Essendon

Awright, much better than before. Create a table, then put the Cisco certs in one column and the Comptia's in the other. Then make the tables lines invisible. This way you'll save another 3 lines which you can dedicate more space to the real part of the resume, your experience.

- Your first 2 bullet points are hard to read. They go on and on. I reckon bullet points should have no more than 2 sentences for increased readability.
- You have a weak opening sentence where you go - Provide end-user support in help desk environment. Sure, it may be a help desk environment but you can word it better. Cant suggest off the top of my head right now, but you need to change it that makes you come across as atleast a system/network admin because you appear to be doing much more than resetting passwords (kind of what helpdesk usually does). Not saying you lie, but just word it better.
- Decrease the number of bullet points. Keep only the ones you feel will enhance your prospects of landing an interview and eventually a new job.
- Remove/make lighter the big black line you have above IT Specialist. This brings me to another point - why have you written IT Specialist below your contact details? I dont think it serves any purpose at all.
- Try putting the section headers (Professional Summary, Certifications, Education, Experience) in the middle of the page. Provides a clear demarcation.
- Club education and certs in one section. Call it Certifications/Education. You dont have too many of either (no offense), so put them together.
- Change font to Tahoma, size 10. See if you like it.

I like the Summary section, that's a good one.

Hope this helps.

treehouse

I like Tahoma 10. That's definitely going into the next revision. I started making other formatting revisions as you suggested and I'm not sure I like them as well.

I agree that Information Technology Specialist serves no purpose there - it's my official job title, though. Should I put down the job role I actually fill right now (system administrator)? I am trying to get into a network analyst/network engineer job if that helps.

You said to make more room for my professional experience, but then said to have fewer and smaller bullet points. I am not sure how to proceed there, but I think I can pare down the first two bullet points to 2 or at most 3 lines, and spruce up the opening lines of my job description.

Thank you!

Essendon

No worries!

Dont put anything where you currently have IT Specialist. Serves no purpose whatsoever. Instead tailor your resume for the kind of roles you are after. You may end up having 2-3 (maybe more) versions, and that's a good thing.

I was referring to clubbing together certs and education so there was more space for your experience. Whittle down the first 2 bullets, perhaps incorporate into the opening paragraph. Dont make the opening too long either, any more than 4-5 lines is again overdoing it.

Just reiterating, keep the bullets you feel are important to get the prospective employer interested.

treehouse

Thanks again Essendon, I made a few more modifications to the verbage and submitted this morning.