Resume Question

Good Day Techexam Fam!

I plan to move to Florida around Septemeber of this year. Of course this would require me finding a new job. Currently I have a linkedin account which I will base my resume and cover letter off. From a Hiring manager perspective, what are some things that usually catches and raises eyebrows when looking over resumes? Also I've heard that employers on various career websites usually search for key words when looking for potential candidates. I've never been too bright when it comes to making resumes so any input would help.

Thanks,

PS. Here is a link to my Linkedin account found below.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-hill-312b13b5

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pirlo21

I have a resume sample from a recruiter I once contacted that got me interviews and my current job, I just basically tailored it according to my experience. Let me look for it and I'll post it here.

Ok I just attached it, Idk if you can see it or download it.

Example Resume - 1-9.doc

cyberguypr

PSA of the day: resumes and onlien profiles need to be PERFECT, priod. There's ZERO room for error here. You have one chance to make a good impression and if you come accross somoene like me both of you would be immediately put in the ciruclar file.

Pirlo21: I'm unsure if the attached DOC is the sample or your actual resume, but jst in case: weird spacing, typos, wrong capitalization, 5 pages (are you kidding me???)

Chrisbari14 LinkedIn profile: also weird capitalization, weird spacing, needs some meat. Remember that this is one of your best self-promoting tools.

TechGromit

I agree, 5 pages it way too long, you should cut this down to 2 pages MAX! Unless your just including everything and tailoring it for each position posting, cutting out most of the redundant crap, condensing it down to one page.

Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft Office 2007. Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft Office 2003

Really? Redundant, Microsoft office is more than enough.

Cisco VPN, Nortel VPN, Microsoft VPN

Just say "VPN"

Don't even get me started on the all hardware you listed. Not to mention it looks like your senior jobs were in the past, who goes from Senior Network admin to Desk-side support?

ITSec14

That resume makes my eyes hurt.

So. Many. Words.

cyberguypr

Don't even get me started on the bullet fest.

scaredoftests

My pet peeve are bullets in a resume. A big turn off. WRITE a FEW sentences of what you did. Remember you are selling yourself. Make the resume short and sweet or else you will be passed by.

dizzy_kitty

scaredoftests wrote: »

My pet peeve are bullets in a resume. A big turn off. WRITE a FEW sentences of what you did. Remember you are selling yourself. Make the resume short and sweet or else you will be passed by.

I keep seeing both sides, that resume should have bullets vs that they shouldn't. It has really confused me. Is it possibly a generation issue?

scaredoftests

No, not really. Actually, a HR person told me that and that stuck with me. You can have bullets in a summary letter (that is what I do with a cover letter...). Especially if you are applying online.

cyberguypr

Consider this: the Oxford dictionary states that bullet points are used to draw attention to important information within a document so that a reader can identify the key issues and facts quickly.

By blasting the resume with bullets you are completely defeating their purpose.

They expand also state that bullet points are visually attractive and make it easy for a reader to locate important information. Nevertheless, you should try to use them sparingly: too many bullet-pointed sections in the same document will mean that their impact is lost.

If some generation misinterprets this, they need to go back to basics because business writing hasn't changed.

DatabaseHead

I've seen it a couple of ways.

Strictly bullets, not my fav
Paragraph better, but not great
High level summary AKA a few sentences then followed by a few bullets. This is my favorite, however I am currently going with the sentence model.

Ertaz

That's it! You guys win. I'm ignoring the family and the dogs tonight and redoing mine.

dizzy_kitty

Same! Thanks for the feedback

And also sorry OP for high jacking but I think the feedback from the other posters should be pretty helpful still lol

pirlo21

cyberguypr wrote: »

PSA of the day: resumes and onlien profiles need to be PERFECT, priod. There's ZERO room for error here. You have one chance to make a good impression and if you come accross somoene like me both of you would be immediately put in the ciruclar file.

Pirlo21: I'm unsure if the attached DOC is the sample or your actual resume, but jst in case: weird spacing, typos, wrong capitalization, 5 pages (are you kidding me???)

Chrisbari14 LinkedIn profile: also weird capitalization, weird spacing, needs some meat. Remember that this is one of your best self-promoting tools.

If you read my post, I said it's a sample that I got from a recruiter and just tailored it to myself. My actual resume is only 2 pages. That's just a draft.

Chill out guys, it's a sample lol.

My biggest advice to you is that your resume doesn't have to be perfect, it's just have to be good enough to land you interviews, so don't sweat it out, some people like bullets, some paragraphs, it's up to you or the HR or the IT director if they care or not.
What the IT Manager or whoever looks in you is the experience, your resume won't be perfect but if you got what they need and your resume mentions it, you're in for an interview.

cyberguypr

I guess we need to conduct a poll and see who accepts flawed resumes if they have the right experience. I do not care about experience if I get an unpolished resume. To me that is an insiputable indicator of absence of attention to detail. But I hold myself and my team to high standards, other may not do so. This is starting to sound like a good personal research project.

pirlo21

cyberguypr wrote: »

I guess we need to conduct a poll and see who accepts flawed resumes if they have the right experience. I do not care about experience if I get an unpolished resume. To me that is an insiputable indicator of absence of attention to detail. But I hold myself and my team to high standards, other may not do so. This is starting to sound like a good personal research project.

I would appreciate to point to me where did I mention that you can make it with an unpolished resume. A resume being good enough, we all know what this means, it has to be a good resume, polished with your info displaying nicely and being understandable.

An unpolished resume will get you nowhere. But then again bullets and paragraphs it's up to the preference of anyone.

NetworkNewb

That "Core Qualifications" section! DAMMM

Please fire your recruiter and find a new one if that is what he recommended as a good example. That whole section is crazy and no one would ever get to the second page of that resume.

Chrisbari14

pirlo21 wrote: »

I would appreciate to point to me where did I mention that you can make it with an unpolished resume. A resume being good enough, we all know what this means, it has to be a good resume, polished with your info displaying nicely and being understandable.

An unpolished resume will get you nowhere. But then again bullets and paragraphs it's up to the preference of anyone.

I like how my thread went from Asking Resume questions to blasting this guy for his resume

. Thanks for all of the feedback I suppose.

pirlo21

Chrisbari14 wrote: »

I like how my thread went from Asking Resume questions to blasting this guy for his resume . Thanks for all of the feedback I suppose.

That's not my resume tho, It's a sample a recruiter once handed to me, I wish I had 10 years of experience though.

pirlo21

NetworkNewb wrote: »

That "Core Qualifications" section! DAMMM

Please fire your recruiter and find a new one if that is what he recommended as a good example. That whole section is crazy and no one would ever get to the second page of that resume.

I obviously never went with the recruiter, I'm not into 3 months job opportunities with "temp to hire" title. I got the job myself.

It's funny how a resume sample can get so much attention.

pogue

Your Linkedin rundown of skills looked pretty solid, for someone working in a Help Desk position. I'd say a resume based on that, not changing too much, would be decent.

From a career advice perspective, I will throw out a few things here:

At 2.5 years in a Help Desk position, with what you've got on your Linkedin, you've pretty much maxed out the skillset a Help Desk type position will realistically be expected to give you. You need to start looking to progress your skillset, and that is going to require labbing up the more advanced technology, on your own.

What road do you want to go along? Depends on your interests. Your degree from WGU is titled "Bachelor's of Science in Information Technology - Network Administration" (BTW, as your career progresses, drop the "Network Administration" from this degree title. It smells like fluff, or of a degree that came from a shady organization that puts fancy names on degrees to get people in the door.). From the degree name as it stands now, it sounds like configuring network gear is a large part of the degree. If that interests you, you could benefit from pursuing Cisco certification, CCNA to start.

All in all, you are at a point in your career where an investment of a little time and money will pay off greatly. (Probably a lot more than the WGU degree). Build out a lab with older enterprise level server (Dell Poweredge R610/R710.) Put lots of CPUs/Memory/Storage in it. Install a hypervisor such as VMWare ESXi on it. Start building VMs of different operating systems on it. Start building out different network designs in GNS3. Find out what new application/technology is becoming popular, and lab it up at home.

Pogue

scaredoftests

Oh..don't ignore the dogs!!!

Chrisbari14

pogue wrote: »

Your Linkedin rundown of skills looked pretty solid, for someone working in a Help Desk position. I'd say a resume based on that, not changing too much, would be decent.

From a career advice perspective, I will throw out a few things here:

At 2.5 years in a Help Desk position, with what you've got on your Linkedin, you've pretty much maxed out the skillset a Help Desk type position will realistically be expected to give you. You need to start looking to progress your skillset, and that is going to require labbing up the more advanced technology, on your own.

What road do you want to go along? Depends on your interests. Your degree from WGU is titled "Bachelor's of Science in Information Technology - Network Administration" (BTW, as your career progresses, drop the "Network Administration" from this degree title. It smells like fluff, or of a degree that came from a shady organization that puts fancy names on degrees to get people in the door.). From the degree name as it stands now, it sounds like configuring network gear is a large part of the degree. If that interests you, you could benefit from pursuing Cisco certification, CCNA to start.

All in all, you are at a point in your career where an investment of a little time and money will pay off greatly. (Probably a lot more than the WGU degree). Build out a lab with older enterprise level server (Dell Poweredge R610/R710.) Put lots of CPUs/Memory/Storage in it. Install a hypervisor such as VMWare ESXi on it. Start building VMs of different operating systems on it. Start building out different network designs in GNS3. Find out what new application/technology is becoming popular, and lab it up at home.

Pogue

I find that it's soo easy to become confused with deciding what's next on the agenda. I had a meeting today with my manager and he asked me what was the next position I wanted to pursue since I was moving and leaving the company. (trying to give me some career advice) For the first time in my life I had no Ideal of what was the next job title I want to pursue. As you stated, I've done all I can at the helpdesk level. I don't plan at filling another Help desk position. I figured at this point in my career, it's time for me to specialize in a specific technology. I plan on taking my MCSA Server 2012 before the end of the year after I finish a couple of things. Maybe I'll try my hand at System Administration considering it's a hot bed where I'm relocating too.

Thanks for the advice!

NetworkNewb

pirlo21 wrote: »

It's funny how a resume sample can get so much attention.

It's even funnier how someone thought that is supposed to be an example of a good resume.

pirlo21

NetworkNewb wrote: »

It's even funnier how someone thought that is supposed to be an example of a good resume.

Whatever floats your boat, for some it works, for some it doesn't. I have tried both, bullets and paragraphs. From my experience, LIKE IT OR NOT, a mixed of both (bullet and cover letter) has landed me interviews and job offers (my resume is 2 pages long), something that a good resume and a good face to face interview can do. Again, you just need the resume to get a call or an interview, the 70% of the work is your interview face to face.

You can talk all you want but that's about it, you can show your resume if you think it's a good one and share it with the people here.

NetworkNewb

pirlo21 wrote: »

You can talk all you want but that's about it, you can show your resume if you think it's a good one and share it with the people here.

Thanks, but I have posted my resume on this forum a few times for critique already. Feel free to go digging on here if you wish to see it. I was just referring to the "Core Qualifications" (which I mentioned previously) and I highly doubt listing that much would be beneficial in 99.99% of cases and thought it was funny.

Not sure what you meant by "You can talk all you want but that's about it"... Well duh... I'm just sharing my opinion which is the purpose of this forum. So yes, that is what floats my boat. LIKE IT OR NOT.

Ertaz

yoba222

For The Linkedin Review, The Capitalization Really Is Inconsistent And Definitely Needs Review. For Example:

"Install Cat5/6 wire for Workstations, printers, and cameras"

What's so special about Workstations that it gets capitalized but not printers and not cameras? They should all be lowercase.

LinkedIn and resumes need to be perfect. When they aren't and you get an interview, you got lucky because the reviewer was either so desperate or lazy that it didn't matter to them and they settled for you.