Is it my resume? Or am I just not qualified enough?

Last year, prior to obtaining my Associate's Degree and my Security+, I applied to some 30-40 jobs, and got the same attention I currently have. I even landed an interview. I decided to continue bartending because it was convenient for taking one more class that I wanted to, as well as making watching my kid easier. Well, the restaurant I worked at closed in January, and since then, I've been applying to at least 10 jobs a week on average, usually 15-20. I have gotten a few calls back, but nothing ever worked out, because they required an active secret clearance. The ones I didn't get called back for I am sure had to do with my lack of experience. I find it hard to believe that it is my resume because I have posted it before here on the forums, and have modified it since then. It's still possible though so I will post my updated resume and see what you guys think. It's probably a bit too long but I am not sure what I should cut out, aside from maybe the objective or the summary's of my past jobs.

The thing that kills me is that I was under the impression that if I could at least get an Associate's Degree, and have a certification, then that could make up for my lack of experience, and help me get some run of the mill entry level position. So far, I am wrong. I think if I only had the clearance, I would have a better chance than the degree and certification. I just don't know how I am supposed to get a clearance when nobody will hire me. These aren't top tier jobs either. I am applying for entry level help desk 1 positions, desktop support 1, jr help desk etc. How can people recruit for entry level positions, yet require you to have something that you can't get unless you have already been in an entry level position? Maybe I am looking in the wrong places? I usually go to indeed.com, career builder, monster and websites like that. I think I need to look for smaller companies or start ups but I have no idea where to find them, because it seems that only bigger companies recruit via the popular websites.

I guess my questions are, is my resume as good as it can be? What other positions should I be looking at based on my qualifications? Should I maybe do internships/volunteer somewhere just to put it on my resume? Where else can I look for jobs?

To anyone who helps me, I am extremely grateful. I'm just trying to give my daughter a good future, as well as do something that I really enjoy.

RyansblankITResume.doc

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Comments

gbdavidx

i'd get an A+ cert if your trying to get help desk, if your doing bartending at night im sure you could find an internship sometime during the week?

it may help if you put in what your degree is in, it just said arts degree? Was it liberal arts? social science? How would someone know you got a degree in computer science? at this point it is all guessing

also check your local craigslist for something, try and find a job that's entry level most usually pay 16 bucks an hr, it sucks but its a starting point in a new career, then as you get more experience shoot for bigger certs such as ccna and/or microsoft certs depending on what interests you

Kimura410

Thanks for the response, Ill have to change the degree info. As far as A+, I see it a lot less under the requirements for any given help desk/desktop support job. Its usually "Must possess A+, Network+, or Security+", or its just Security+. There are times its only A+, but I feel like I see A+ required 1/3 of the time that I see Sec+ required. Regardless, I apply anyways, hoping that if they realize that if I can pass the Security+, that I could most likely pass the A+.

gbdavidx

Getting Network + may be beneficial, also check to see if there are any local meetups as networking is key too

keenon

did you read the how to resume post? i can see there are some things you could modify that would be helpful. with that being said you should apply with all of the staffing firms in the area and accept any tech job they offer as this is a doorway to the industry. i'm sorry to tell you but your going to have to take the crap jobs for a while 1-12 month and work on gaining another cert while doing so.

Kimura410

yeah i recently realized that I'm going to have to take a less desirable job for a little while. but thats a good idea, i need to reach out for help to organizations like staffing firms. i have no problem with a crap IT job though, I think a crap IT job is still better than bartending or being an electrician. thats only my opinion though, as I have grown sick of both professions and have limited interest in them.

gbdavidx, what do you mean by local meet ups? do you mean events such as job fairs? I am just trying to get some examples, because I think this would really help me out a lot. I'm a people person and like to talk, and think that my people skills gained from working in restaurants could make up for not having experience, I just need to find a way to meet potential employers in person.

TechGuru80

A couple things...at the top with IT experience...group that stuff into a logical table setup for instance OS...windows 2k3 or whatever. Second make sure you tweak your objective a little to each job.

Most smaller contractors probably want an existing clearance. It definitely has value but you can only get one with a govt or contractor sponsor company employing you. Find the ones that say currently possess or ability to obtain.

paul78

Kimura410 wrote: »

I have gotten a few calls back, but nothing ever worked out, because they required an active secret clearance.

BTW - what kind of jobs are you applying to? Unless it's a government related job, you shouldn't be running into that too often. Most entry-level IT jobs in private sector are not going to be requiring a clearance unless they are a contractor for the government. You should be able to find a heck of a lot more IT jobs in private sector. Any reason why you are limiting your job search?

ajs1976

can your school help setup an internship / externship?

gbdavidx

Find your people - Meetup search for "tech" meetups or smb meetups, i found one <15 minutes away, usually knowing someone is the best way to get your foot in the door, anywhere

Trashman

Don’t start with an objective. They’re generic, vague, overused.
Recruiters and hiring managers don’t like them because they focus on the needs of the job seeker rather than the needs of the potential employer.

In today’s job market, employers don’t want to hear about what you want.

What first hit me is that you have a few different occupations listed under your work experience (a good thing!),
but the employer will question this.

What you need is to obtain some form of work experience to back up the description and certification in your resume.

Volunteering in terms of computer training for some group or your local church might need some help to set up wireless network or printer.
Whatever you can get your hands on.

You mention that a crap IT job is still better than bar-tending or being an electrician.

Please be advised that there are different IT personalities and the biggest one that comes out among a lot of IT people is being arrogant, very very confident, and to give the impression that they know everything.

So, IT personalities comes in different combinations, such as being very VERY social. Talk a lot about IT etc.
Especially in help desk environments.

Remember everything on the resume is fair game for the interviewer to ask.

Kimura410

techguru- thanks, yeah i have always thought my resume was a bit lengthy, so ill take your advice and simplify some things.

paul- I've been applying to jobs that I probably shouldn't be, after reading some replies. they are either govt or have contracts with the govt. the last call back i received said that i would be working on a military base, so it was required to already have a clearance. i feel like i apply to every single job i see, and none are more on the private side. if they are, they are few and far between, but its probably because of the websites I use to job search. I definitely need to find more results from private companies.

ajs- I'm going to have to check with my college this week. I'm not currently enrolled in courses because I just don't have the money, and I kind of felt like they wouldn't help me much since I'm not currently paying them

Worth a shot though. I have an advisor that I went to for a few years, so she may help me out.

gbdavid- thanks! I'm definitely going to check meetup out. Ive heard of the site before but never really used it or knew what it was for exactly.

trashman- I agree with getting rid of the objective. I read somewhere (maybe on these forums) not to include them. But some resume builder/tips websites said to use one so I wasn't really sure. I want to make my resume just a page long, so that should help. I also think volunteering is a really good idea. I know many people at a local church that I used to attend, so I think they would help me help them. I don't even care about money right now, I just want to gain experience, even if I'm not getting paid.

Thanks for all the replies. I know what I need to do now. It was silly for me to think that just two pieces of paper would guarantee me a job.

stryder144

One thing that I did during my job search was to pay attention while I was driving around. I made (mostly) mental notes of all of the businesses I passed. When I got home, I looked up their websites and looked for job/career links in order to see if there were any IT jobs available. I think, for the most part, I was sending out around ten or so applications a day. Very discouraging, to say the least.

Since you have an electrical background, have you considered applying for a field tech position with a telecommunications company? Just a thought (full disclosure, I have a full-time job with a telecom company).

W Stewart

Skip the internships and recruiters and hit up craigslist. You'll find businesses willing to take less experience candidates for a lower pay rate and that's how you get your foot in the door.

LionelTeo

My suggestion as follows
- Font is too big. Use a more standard font
- Put in your expected salary, if not recruiter would not know where to benchmark you against other candidates
- Reduce the number of pages (once again this is cause by the font size)
- Put a summary like " Fresh Graduate with Security+ seeking an Security/Networking Environment"

BGraves

My suggestions-
This resume needs to be a page long.
Take out your high school education, if you have a degree listed it is assumed you have a hs diploma.

-Proficiency with Microsoft Excel, Powerpoint, and Word.... aka "Proficient with Microsoft Office"
-Familiar with Active Directory and Group Policy (Where did you get these skills?)
-Familiarity with network devices, network blah blah (Where did you get these skills?)
-Familiarity with backup and restore operations (Where did you get these skills?) May not need this one a help desk/desktop support job
-web design/programming -leave off if you're not targeting this kind of job
-Successfully built a fully operational computer...(Experience with custom computer builds and installs)
-Relevant coursework includes - List this under education perhaps? Not a skill

People tend to know what a bartender, assistant manager, electrician do for a living. (Generally) The point of professional experience is to tell a potential employer how you benefited the company you were working at. Use numbers!

"Provided outstanding customer service to over 800 restaurant patrons a day."

"Restocked bar on a daily basis to ensure optimum service levels for restaurant, assets valued at over #$"

"Supervised # of restaurant employees, ensuring facility was staffed at optimum levels"

"Worked with a team of # to ensure a great customer experience at the restaurant, which was rated highest in customer satisfaction by blah blah blah"

"Handled # of financial transactions on a daily basis with 100% accuracy."
Employee of the month is good, "Employee of the month, Month/Year, Highest Customer Satisfaction"

(Use your electrician experience to highlight that you (hopefully) learned troubleshooting skills, quickly learned technical documentation to become a electrician....etc..)

Most of the suggestions above are spot on....you have no real paper IT experience. Try to convey that you are a quick learner, motivated to learn, etc. Most places will train the right person if they have these qualities.

^Despite what LionelTeo says, I would suggest against putting an expected salary in this resume. Just my opinion for this situation. A recruiter will know how to manipulate a resume to add it if required.

Remember, the resume is only designed to get potential employers interested in bringing you in to interview you. Not tell a life story. Make it eye catching and sell yourself in the interview.

Kimura410

bgraves- those are all really good points. I've got some work to do to my resume it seems.

I'll give craiglist a shot as well.

Thank you for the feedback.

LionelTeo

Hey BGraves,

I guess that may be somewhat a country culture thing. In my country, somehow there are recruiters who has budgets for position and therefore they would want to take in candidates that is within budget as primary consideration while leave the rest without expected salary as secondary consideration; of course i don't agree with the practise of selecting the lowest cost for the job, but that is some stuff that is happening out in a market. From someone looking from a job perspective, its a mix feeling thing, essentially we hope the company benchmark not base on last salary or expected salary but general market value, but its hard to find that in Singapore, i simply put a resonable figure and push a good explanation if employer asked. I was lucky to be able to find my two companies in my short 4 years careers giving me higher than what I expected.

BGraves

@LionelTeo
That makes sense and I appreciate you explaining it to me.