Resume opinion, please.

Can you guys/gals, take a gander at my resume and let me know what I need to fix? I'm thinking the second page has too little information. With our layoff coming sooner or later (within 2 years), I'd like to see if anyone nibbles on monster.com. Thank you in advance.

Resume.pdf

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ehnde

Assisting in the design and deploy company LANs, WANs, and wireless networks, including servers, 
routers, hubs, switches, UPSs, and other hardware.

"Assisting in the design and deployment of company...."

I really like your resume! It's very readable and well written.

Monkerz

Thank you!

I see that I am missing a bullet as well.

pentest

Just in case you didn't know, but the parts blacked-out can still be read..

cyberguypr

pentest wrote: »

Just in case you didn't know, but the parts blacked-out can still be read..

That's because he used a knockoff Sharpie. Must use an original one.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Essendon

I liked it too! All I can say is to move the certs to just below the Objective. You want a HR goon to be immediately interested into reading the rest of your resume, after they have read the certs and objective bits. Have certs? Flaunt them!

Heero

I don't really think you should put your high school gpa from 2004 on your resume.

Monkerz

Thanks everyone, I have made the changes you suggested. I didn't realize I still had my GPA on there. Been awhile since I have updated this thing.

Essendon

Do you want to post the updated version so we can decimate it again?

ibcritn

Monkerz wrote: »

Thanks everyone, I have made the changes you suggested. I didn't realize I still had my GPA on there. Been awhile since I have updated this thing.

I don't see any need to place your high school education on the resume at all. I think its assumed that if you have a 2yr A.S. that you have completed HS.

lastly, you should consider focusing your job descriptions less on your Day to day operations and more on your impact to the business/accomplishments.

Don't get me wrong its important to describe your day to day operations, but it might be more marketable to talk about how you improved their systems to accomplish XYZ.

Good luck!

mattlee09

Your objective sounds brutally honest - the part about a position that allows for advancement.

That's kinda run-of-the-mill I'd think, but by mentioning it sounds like your already prepared to get in there and start knocking people out on the way to the top. The Senior Network Engineers who get first chop at your resume might not think so highly of that. (Just bringing it up for conversation, don't know if it works like that or not necessarily).

I have seen a PC tech turned down because they thought he would only stick around for 6 months - 1 year...just long enough to learn the environment and not be of any actual use.

And yeah, move the certs up to the top for sure! That second page might get torn off by accident somehow..

ampersand

I'd agree with the previous recommendations of quantifying your achievements and maybe condensing it down to a page.

First, though, I would change the objective section to a summary. Objectives are, through no fault of your own, rarely interesting or informative. But if the first thing a recruiter reads is a summary that mentions your years of experience, impact in former positions, and multiple certifications, they'll definitely keep reading!

518

I agree. I would prefer to move the certs on top of the page. I cant remember the last time I used the "Objective," I got a cover letter to use.

+1 for quantifying achievements. Whenever I revise my resume, I ask myself: what did I do? And so what?

SteveO86

Since you have the CCNA, their probably isn't a need to list your CCENT anymore.

Looks good!

Dakinggamer87

I would also recommend moving your certs up to the top of your resume below the objective

woot

Dakinggamer87 wrote: »

I would also recommend moving your certs up to the top of your resume below the objective

agreed this will help grab attention faster

Monkerz

Whoa, look at the dust on this thread...

Ok, it's time for me to start looking for a new job. Time to layoff is approaching real quick and I thought I would review my resume. Could you great people give me some feedback?

Attachment not found.

DummyResume.pdf

ptilsen

Take CCENT off, since it is implied. It has no standalone value when you are a CCNA. I also dislike seeing "In Progress" certifications listed. While showing ambition and desire to improve is good, a resume is about your accomplishments. When I finish my MCITP:EA, I'm not going to list "Microsoft Certified Master - In Progress", because it would look, well, silly. CCNP may not be as outrageous of an "In Progress" as MCM, but I have yet to interview a CCNA who wasn't "In Progress" on a CCNP, and I wasn't impressed by the "In Progress" on any of them. You have four-years-and-change of relevant experience and good certifications, so you don't need to tease anyone with an "In Progess".

Overall your resume is not bad, so don't take this as harshly as I'm going to phrase it: This simply should not and cannot be a two-page resume. Even in IT, with all the stuff we get to do, a two-page resume should signify a lot of experience. Two jobs over less than five years does not justify a two-page resume. Few employers are going to do more than skim-through a content-heavy one-page resume. Almost no one is going to read a two-page resume for someone with less than ten years of experience applying for a non-managerial/non-extremely-high-level position.

On that note, I would recommend you keep your bullet points to one line where possible. I try to skim your resume and cannot because there is too much text. I'm a fellow IT professional actually interested in what you've done, and even I find it too wordy. Your diction and syntax are far better than the average IT professional, but it appears to be to your disadvantage as you are far too verbose. Also, for current positions, stick with either past tense or simple present tense (Collaborate with the Senior Network Engineer), as opposed to progressive present tense (Collaborating with the Senior Network Engineer). No matter what you choose, stick with the same tense within the same job description ("Overseeing installation" followed by "Ensure network" is a tense change and does not flow well).

I will also strongly agree with previous posters in that your bullet points should represent accomplishments and how they impacted the business positively as much as possible. Yes, you should still list responsibilities, but your greater focus should be on what you did to improve the business. "Ensured network connectivity of all critical business equipment" is better than "ensure netowrk connectivity of all [x], [y], [z], [a], ". One of your existing lines, tense aside, is a great example: "Configuring networks to ensure their smooth and reliable operation for fulfilling business objectives and
processes."

Regarding your education, I don't see that you have a college degree. It's apparent that you have some kind of formal technical education, but it's not clear to me from either version what it is. If it's not an actual degree, even an A.S. or A.A.S., then you should keep you high school diploma on the resume. Many employers can forgive you for not having a college degree, but relatively few will forgive you for not having a diploma. If you don't have a degree, a diploma is not implied. If you technical education is training rather than a degree, one option might be to bullet point it rather than have a brief description.

Finally, and I am open to others' disagreements here, but I haven't seen any evidence that even having an objective on your resume is a good thing. If an employer wants a cover letter, you write a cover letter. If they don't want a cover letter, they don't want your objective, either. Even if they want your objective, whether it's on your resume probably won't affect whether you get the interview. If you get the interview, they will ask you questions which lead to a determination of whether your objectives are in line with theirs. If anything, your listed objective, if different from the prospective employer's, risks causing them to pass over you for an interview. More than that, though, is that the goal or objective takes up space that can be filled with quick and easy-to-read-and-skim details of your skills and accomplishments.

djfunz

ptilsen has some listed some great points. I picked up some good info myself. Thanks for taking the time to write all that. The grammar pointers are something I think a lot of us could improve on.