Looking to improve odds of getting more calls...critque my resume

I'm trying to find a new position possibly as a Junior System Admin, I haven't been getting as much calls as I would like when posting my resume on job boards so I just wanted to see if I could get some feedback on what I could change to improve my odds..if my resume sucks let me know.

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pogue

A few things....

In the Skills/Certifications section...

Move all "skills" to follow the job history section.. The purpose of the "skills" section is nothing more than to generate hits on resume search engines/software. You are going to hit each of these in each job section anyways.

Certifications... You have this in the right spot, but you are prioritizing them incorrectly, in my opinion.

Your order should be:

CCNA, ITILv3 Foundation, CompTIA Security +, CompTIA Network +

In order of their percieved importance to first line HR, who are reviewing resumes to pass on to the more technical peeps.

I would actually format it this way:

Current Certifications:

Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
ITILv3 Foundations
CompTIA Security +
CompTIA Network +

Because of the way an HR person reads a resume, if you list these all out in one line and the one they are interested in is at the end, they may lose focus with what reads as a run-on sentence and mentally "give up".

Stacking it this way makes any desired cert they are looking for "pop out" at the reader.

I'm just gonna hit one section of the employment history, to give you the general vibe..

Onsite Contractor
Tier II Desktop Support Analyst

Promoted from Tier I Support to Tier II Deskside Support. I was responsible for providing technical support for more than 1000+ onsite and offsite employees. Responsibilities included:

• Active Directory design/management, OU management, provisioning PCs on corporate and customer domains, administrative privilege assignment, and user account management.

The idea again, is to prioritize your skills to show the most desirable, widely-needed skillsets, while painting those skilsl in the most favorable language possible. This first section, I said the EXACT same thing that you said, but put it in language that sounds technologically more precise. I am not being misleading, I am simply painting you in the best possible light to get you through HR. The technical interview, it's all on you, buddy.

You have to "smarten up your language."

Russ

alexander77

Thanks pogue, that's very helpful! I'm going through now to redesign the wording of my job descriptions now. Should I even put the A+ on there? I got it almost 10 years ago but I didn't think it would be much use considering I'm looking to move to a Jr admin role.

philz1982

alexander77 wrote: »

I'm trying to find a new position possibly as a Junior System Admin, I haven't been getting as much calls as I would like when posting my resume on job boards so I just wanted to see if I could get some feedback on what I could change to improve my odds..if my resume sucks let me know.

It is not very clear in your resume why someone should hire you. Block out 3 paragraphs in the first page to point out what you can do for the company.

Here is the cover letter I included in my resume for a position I recently applied to. It should give you some ideas. Don't mind the jargon. Just look at how I connected my skills to the business results they are looking for.

In your role, what are the business outcomes they care about? Database integrity to ensure profitability? End user functionality and up time so the workers can produce widgets? Uptime of a websever so the company can sell product? What is the outcome they care about then show how you can deliver.

Sample write up.jpg