How does one gauge an employement rejection email?

I've been job hunting as of late, trying to get out of the Service Desk role and something more specialized. Looking for something in the networking realm, like an entry level network technician role. Just have a Net+ cert, working on Sec+ and CCENT. I do have some hands on experience and have been doing the Service Desk gig, currently working as a Tier 2 analyst, for a little over 3 years and feel like it's time to move beyond that. I've been applying for several months now for something in networking or even desktop support, but no bite. I know that a lot of these rejection emails are coming from the recruitment team of the companies I apply for but my question is basically if there is a way I can find out why I'm not being selected? I've applied to dozens of places but not even getting the opportunity to get to the interview level. I've only had one interview a few weeks ago and that was for a tier 3 role within the organization that I work for and I had to email the manager of said department to even look at my resume.

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cyberguypr

Are you positive your resume is solid? If you are not getting calls I would look at that first.

NetworkNewb

You could post your resume on here and see what people think of it. Removing personal info first. Can usually get some good advice...

Otherwise, should be working on more advance certs than the Comptia ones you have you listed as the ones your working on if you want to move into something more specialized. Assuming those are part of your degree program. You really have to show employers you have a passion and drive to learn. And just getting a Net+ in the last 3 years makes it look otherwise. I'd push to get your CCNA asap if you want to get into networking.

scaredoftests

Yes, post your resume..

MontagueVandervort

You're getting rejection emails just for applying? I never even got rejection emails after an interview nevermind for just applying. Usually I got the "We will be in contact with you" but then I never heard back (after interview only) and absolutely no word for just applying. Companies in your area must be very courteous.

If you're not making it to the interview stage then something is probably "wrong" with the resume. You could put it on here and have people look at it.

All we can do is make sure our resumes are good, self-examine after interviews, pay attention to verbal cues and body language during interviews, and hope for the best. Generally, there is really no way to find out why we weren't hired. Maybe in some circumstances we could even ask, but that's no guarantee we'll even get the truth from those we ask.

Self-examination and social awareness are your best analyzers here when it comes to why you failed an interview and resume (and possible geographical/cultural) examination is the analyzation you want if you're not even making it to the interview stage.

gespenstern

No calls = bad resume.

Need to beef it up. But not overblow it as this may lead to bombing interviews.

Bomb too many interviews = skillset doesn't match resume claims.

NetworkingStudent

Rejection emails from companies...? It's probably your resume.

As others have said, I would post a resume that TE members can review. (you can remove the Personal and Company info)

Also, each resume needs to be tailored to the job you're applying to. You will need to look at each job description and taylor your resume, so that it matches up to what they're looking for.

At the very least, your resume that you use to apply for desktop support jobs, should be different from the one you use to apply for Networking jobs.

Spiegel

This is the contents of my resume.

Profile
Service Desk Analyst with hands-on experience providing technical assistance and world class customer service. Demonstrates ability to integrate computer skills, customer support, and related education to exceed technical, business, and customer requirements. Skilled at troubleshooting and fixing problems while minimizing customer stress levels at a conventional pace.

Education
Western Governors University
Information Technology - Security B.S. Orlando, FL 2017 - 2018

Experience
Adventist Health System
Service Desk Tier 2 Analyst
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714 1/2017 – Present
Responsible for operation and execution of Tier 2 incidents and requests within the Adventist Information Technology Service Desk.

Respond, diagnose, troubleshoot, & resolve incidents & requests

Generate outbound phone calls and provide world class customer service and desktop support 24x7

Provide clear, detailed, and concise documentation (including troubleshooting & resolution steps) in the ServiceNow ticketing system

Provide advanced technical troubleshooting and desktop support using various remote access applications

Trouble-shoot hardware, software, and network problems for the clients they support.

Service Desk Analyst
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714 5/2015 – 1/2017
Responsible for operation and execution of Tier 1 incidents and requests within the Adventist Information Technology Service Desk

Provide Tier 1 call center support for all AIT supported systems, applications, and equipment.

Create and maintain Service Desk knowledge base documentation. Monitor and processes Service Desk daily work load of calls, emails, and voice mails to ensure work is being processed within Service Desk departmental goals.

Interfacing with Administrators and Department Managers regarding support and services offered by the Information Services Department.

Record problems and concerns, establish acuity level and perform follow-up on recorded tickets.

CenturyLink
Tech Support Technician 1
Apopka, FL 32801 5/2014 – 4/2015
Responsible for troubleshooting and maintenance of residential Internet services and devices.

Analyzed network connections between the central office and customer's home

Assisted with email account management and issues

Provided support for third-party email client applications, troubleshoot connectivity issues with Prism (IPTV) devices.

Skills
 Desktop Systems  Troubleshooting  Ticketing
 Customer Service  Technical Support  Hardware Repair
 Optimization  Mac OS X  Microsoft Office
 VMWare Player  Active Directory
 Office 365  SOHO Networks
 Skype for Business
 Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10

Certifications
CompTIA
A +
Network +

AXELOS
ITIL Foundations

Jacinto1023

Not to hijack but can i also post my resume here?

NetworkingStudent

Jacinto1023 wrote: »

Not to hijack but can i also post my resume here?

No, please start your own thread under IT Jobs/Degree asking for resume advice.

sillymcnasty

NetworkingStudent wrote: »

No, please start your own thread under IT Jobs/Degree asking for resume advice.

I lol'd

NetworkingStudent

Spiegel wrote: »

This is the contents of my resume.

Some things to change.

Profile (Change to Professional Summary) Professional Summary
I think the professional summary should be different for each position. Network vs Desktop.

Since you have experience drop the education to the bottom of the resume right below the last job you held.

Education
Western Governors University
Information Technology - Security B.S. Orlando, FL 2017 - Spring 2018 (expected)

Take all your skills and move them into your jobs.
For example in tier one or two did you use AD or Office 365?

I made some notes by the skills

Also, what does this line mean?

Responsible for operation and execution Were you a manager or lead?

 Desktop Systems  Troubleshooting  Ticketing
 Customer Service  Technical Support  Hardware Repair (what did you repair)
 Optimization (What did you optimize?)  Mac OS X  Microsoft Office (which version)
 VMWare Player  Active Directory (Server 2012,2008..?)
 Office 365  SOHO Networks
 Skype for Business
 Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10

skswitch

This could just be preference and I'm also curious of what other's here think..

You mentioned that you were working on Sec+/CCENT? When I'm in the middle of a certification I will list it under the others but (work in progress) or something similar to the side. This could be used by people as a poly to trigger a filter that a company could be using. Meh. I use it more for a conversation starter and to show effort in development. Again, only preference.

Also, have you done any projects? I usually put the job responsibilities under the titles then off in another area I list new builds / over hauls / migrations etc that I've done outside of normal day to day. Since most people may skim bullets its another chance of them seeing something they may also have a similar project in the works. This actually has worked for me last two interviews that lead to an offer I accepted. One was a company looking to deploy the exact same infrastructure to their sites that I just finished deploying.

NetworkNewb

Spiegel wrote: »

Create and maintain Service Desk knowledge base documentation. Monitor and processes Service Desk daily work load of calls, emails, and voice mails to ensure work is being processed within Service Desk departmental goals.

Interfacing with Administrators and Department Managers regarding support and services offered by the Information Services Department.

Record problems and concerns, establish acuity level and perform follow-up on recorded tickets.

I'm not a fan of the "wording" in the section above.

"processes Service Desk daily work load of calls, emails, and voice mails to ensure work is being processed within Service Desk departmental goals"

You process things to ensure they are being processed? within your goals?

"Interfacing with Administrators and Department Managers"

Who says they are "interfacing" with someone?

"Record problems and concerns, establish acuity level and perform follow-up on recorded tickets."

You establish acuity level huh?

It just sounds like your trying way too hard and you broke out a thesaurus and started replacing words that sounded more professional in random spots. Think it makes it harder to read to the average person. At least to lower grammar professionals like myself.

NetworkNewb

Just cause I felt like reading more.

You put you "troubleshoot" issues in 4 of the 6 bullet points in your current position. Also, I'm not sure what this line even means:

Trouble-shoot hardware, software, and network problems for the clients they support.

Who are "the clients" and who are they supporting? That might make sense to you, but a random person reading your resume will not know what your business does and what that means.

scaredoftests

Get rid of Profile, get rid of bullets and write a brief summary (like 2 or 3 paragraphs). Get rid of skills (you can put that in a cover letter). That is what stands out to me right now..

Spiegel

Thank you for the feedback everyone. I'll rework the resume with a lot of your suggestions in mind. I personally didn't like it myself but wasn't sure in what direction to go. I'll post a revised version later.

yoba222

Couple small points:
I feel as if the opening title is self-limiting: "Service Desk analyst with . . . " since you aren't applying for service desk positions. Something along the lines of "IT professional with . . . " or even "Network professional" or similar would work better in my opinion.

This advice may sound like total BS, but I would spell out "Information Technology Security B.S." fully.

Still waiting for an unwitting university to offer a Bachelor of Science in Health IT. That would be fun.

jibtech

Tense agreement between entries is what got my attention the most.

All past, all present or all neutral. Don't mix them.

Pick a voice. Passive, active or neutral.

Don't over-complicate the language. If you had 30 seconds in an elevator to tell me what you did at your last job, in order to convince me to give you this new job, what would you say? Start there, with that language. IT has more than enough jargon that will eventually fill your resume. No need to help it along.

ande0255

If you are near a Metropolitan Area there are 4 basic steps to move up the IT food chain rapidly:

1. Meet with all IT recruiting firms in your area
2. Take every assignment they give you whether its a 1 day project that sucks, and do a great job and impress the client
3. The more you impress recruiters clients the more they will want you at client sites representing them well
4. The more opportunities you will get as recruiters are competing for you being a competent and respected contractor for them

That is when recruiters will be coming to you with the best roles they can given your skillset they can sell to the hiring manager, and you can negotiate between recruiters as you would for a Salary for a single job, to get positions that bump up your skill set and your pay simultaneously.

Do this and you will succeed, and those recruiters clients might even ask to hire you directly to their company for a position, which is now generally called 6 month to hire timelines for the contracts.

If you are in IT you probably live near a Metro Area, and there is just no reason not to use that model, and move up if not quickly very steadily as contracts move along.

Good luck!

Spiegel

After taking everyone's suggestion into consideration here is an updated version of my resume. Changed the order and toned down the vocabulary in certain sections.

Professional Summary
IT professional offering an array of skills in troubleshooting and world class service with an ability to resolve issues rapidly. Proven analytic skills to asses needs and develop value-added solutions that streamlines efficiency.

Technical Highlights
• Network configuration / support
• TCP/IP knowledge
• VPN support
• Office 365 install / support
• Windows XP/Vista/8/10 | Mac OS X
• Testing & Troubleshooting

Experience
Service Desk Tier 2 Analyst
Adventist Health System
• Perform higher levels of troubleshooting and problem resolutions
• Interact with Tier 3 departments as needed to resolve an issue
• Provide education/training to team members and Tier 1 analysts
Service Desk Analyst
Adventist Health System
• Provide Tier 1 support for supported AHS systems, applications, and equipment
• Answer basic questions and provide instructions to supported features (i.e.: password resets, application installs, access and equipment request forms, etc.)
• Escalate issues to Tier 2 as needed
Technical Support 1
CenturyLink
• Provide technical support via chat system of Internet connection and ISP services.
• Troubleshoot connection issues, line stats diagnosis, IPTV support, field support dispatch, email client support

Education
Western Governors University 2018 (Expected)
Information Technology – Security B.S. Orlando, FL

Certifications
CompTIA A+ | CompTIA Network+ | Axelos ITIL Foundations
CompTIA Security+ & Cisco CCENT (In Progress)

Deus Ex Machina

Do you have any connections you can find? I can tell you from personal experience that just randomly applying to a bunch of companies is a bad strategy- many companies won't even look at your resume, it's just another one to add to the pile. You need to have some legitimacy for why you want to work with that particular company.

Friends, family, social networks...all you need is for someone to vouch for you and that will put your resume on top of the pile. That will give you the interview you have thus far been denied.

scaredoftests

Get rid of the summary, you can put that in your cover letter...

kaiju

Education
Western Governors University
Information Technology - Security B.S. Orlando, FL 2017 - 2018

Certifications
CompTIA A+ | CompTIA Network+ | Axelos ITIL Foundations
CompTIA Security+ & Cisco CCENT (In Progress) **Most entry level Networking positions will require CCENT on Day 1 unless you find an employer who is will to train you**

Employment History

Adventist Health System
Service Desk Tier 2 Analyst
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714 1/2017 – Present

Diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve Tier 2 incidents and/or requests.
Generate outbound phone calls and provide world class customer service and desktop support 24x7
Provide clear and concise documentation in the ServiceNow ticketing system
Provide advanced technical troubleshooting and desktop support using various remote access applications
Troubleshoot hardware, software, and network problems for clients.

Adventist Health System
Service Desk Analyst
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714 5/2015 – 1/2017

Responsible for operation and execution of Tier 1 incidents and requests within the Adventist Information Technology Service Desk
Provided Tier 1 call center support for all AIT (Spell it out the first time so the potential employer will KNOW that you know the acronym) supported systems, applications, and equipment.
Created and maintained Service Desk knowledge base documentation. Monitored and processed Service Desk daily work load of calls, emails, and voice mails to ensure work is being processed within Service Desk departmental goals.
Interfaced with Administrators and Department Managers regarding support and services offered by the Information Services Department.
Recorded problems and concerns, established acuity level, and performed follow-up on trouble tickets.

CenturyLink
Tech Support Technician 1
Apopka, FL 32801 5/2014 – 4/2015

Troubleshot and maintained residential Internet services and devices.
Analyzed network connections between the central office and customer's home
Assisted with email account management and issues
Provided support for third-party email client applications, troubleshoot connectivity issues with Prism (IPTV) devices.

Operating System, Software and other IT Experience:
Mac OS X
Microsoft Office (What versions? 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013?)
VMWare Player
Active Directory
Office 365
SOHO Networks
Skype for Business
Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10

Try that! Do not jumble your work history together.
Make a Linkedin account and reach out to the recruiters.

scaredoftests

Don't put *in progress certifications// Get rid of Operating System, software and other IT experiences (Save that for cover letter or during an interview)..OR write it where you used it in your job experiences...Get rid of the bullets and write a few paragraphs.