Resume Writing
-
@coliver said:
What do people classify under accomplishments? I understand things like certifications would go under there. (Which I don't have unfortunately) What else? Significant infrastructure updates? Training's? Conferences attended?
How about for technologies know? What do people generally put under that heading? Specifics like VMware or more general things like Hypervisors?
So far I have the following:
- Name
- Contact information
- Technologies
- Work Experience (reverse chronological order)
- Education
- Personal Experience
What is acceptable for personal experience? Would I put a home lab in there? Or would this be more like things done outside of school/work but still "work".
Yes and no..
Something are 'fluff' when you are talking IT. Server 2003 Admin doesn't need to be listed for every job you do if the last 3 places have had a Windows 2003 server you worked on. List it once.
Same goes with some technologies. An adding machine (poor example) is a adding machine regardless of it being used in 5 jobs. It's a skill like riding a bike (sorta). I can ride a bike,.. Mountain, touring, cross - it's still a bike.
Also I don't think Employer Contact information is needed on a resume. Again, adds fluff. The resume is your sales tool while riding with the guy on an elevator to the 4th floor. To much extra information and they will miss the important things they are looking for.
- Name
-
@Minion-Queen said:
If you have a home lab absolutely state that. But under personal accomplishments.
So you should have a personal accomplishments section, similar to how you have work experience and education sections?
-
@g.jacobse said:
@coliver said:
What do people classify under accomplishments? I understand things like certifications would go under there. (Which I don't have unfortunately) What else? Significant infrastructure updates? Training's? Conferences attended?
How about for technologies know? What do people generally put under that heading? Specifics like VMware or more general things like Hypervisors?
So far I have the following:
- Name
- Contact information
- Technologies
- Work Experience (reverse chronological order)
- Education
- Personal Experience
What is acceptable for personal experience? Would I put a home lab in there? Or would this be more like things done outside of school/work but still "work".
Yes and no..
Something are 'fluff' when you are talking IT. Server 2003 Admin doesn't need to be listed for every job you do if the last 3 places have had a Windows 2003 server you worked on. List it once.
Same goes with some technologies. An adding machine (poor example) is a adding machine regardless of it being used in 5 jobs. It's a skill like riding a bike (sorta). I can ride a bike,.. Mountain, touring, cross - it's still a bike.
Also I don't think Employer Contact information is needed on a resume. Again, adds fluff. The resume is your sales tool while riding with the guy on an elevator to the 4th floor. To much extra information and they will miss the important things they are looking for.
My resume starts with my contact info and then a categorized list of technologies I know or have worked with to some degree. It's great for triggering key word searches from recruiters, etc.
- Name
-
Thank you everyone for the help. Would anyone be willing to look it over and critique when I'm done?
How do you list known technologies? Do you just use the bulletpoint buzzword mashup style? Or should I go into detail about how I know each technology? I assume the former since I will be going into some detail with my work experience section. Or do I forget about a dedicated technologies section and include them in the work experience section
(also I can't spell experience for the life of me.)
-
@coliver said:
Thank you everyone for the help. Would anyone be willing to look it over and critique when I'm done?
How do you list known technologies? Do you just use the bulletpoint buzzword mashup style? Or should I go into detail about how I know each technology? I assume the former since I will be going into some detail with my work experience section. Or do I forget about a dedicated technologies section and include them in the work experience section
(also I can't spell experience for the life of me.)
I'll show you what I use. It's worked well for me. I modeled my resume after one I got from @PSX_Defector .
-
-
That is right at the top of my resume, right before work experience, where I start with my most recent/current job, and work backwards.
-
@thanksaj said:
So you should have a personal accomplishments section, similar to how you have work experience and education sections?
Yes. Exactly.
-
@scottalanmiller said:
@thanksaj said:
So you should have a personal accomplishments section, similar to how you have work experience and education sections?
Yes. Exactly.
When @Katie looked at my resume, I had an accomplishments section for just that purpose, and she said to take it out. I had things I done in my lab and accomplished things personally that I had there but she said drop that section...so now I'm confused.
-
From the hiring side of these things, I want to see that you are making an effort to learn and trying to grow on your own time. Not being limited by your work environment.
-
One more question. How do you deal with nondescript titles in an organization? For instance my title is Director of Information Technology.... What I actually do is helpdesk, Systems administration, implementation, and design. In fact anything and everything that plugs into the wall is generally considered IT. Would a System and Helpdesk Administrator title work better for this? Or should I just keep the official one?
-
That is the reason for listing your job accomplishments and day to day responsibilities. Titles mean nothing.
-
@Minion-Queen said:
That is the reason for listing your job accomplishments and day to day responsibilities. Titles mean nothing.
Yeah, there is no title standardization in the industry.
-
I also know that Director of IT could mean you are the one doing day to day everything or nothing and just managing an IT team.
-
@coliver said:
Thank you everyone for the help. Would anyone be willing to look it over and critique when I'm done?
How do you list known technologies? Do you just use the bulletpoint buzzword mashup style? Or should I go into detail about how I know each technology? I assume the former since I will be going into some detail with my work experience section. Or do I forget about a dedicated technologies section and include them in the work experience section
(also I can't spell experience for the life of me.)
I'll look at it and offer what insight I can. My email is a.j.stringham-at-gmail-dot-com.
-
I would be happy to take a look. You know how to reach me.
-
Does the old single page resume adage still hold up?
-
No I haven't gotten a single page one in years. No more than 2 though
-
@Minion-Queen said:
No I haven't gotten a single page one in years. No more than 2 though
Yeah, I can't really condense mine down to 2...I tried...it's like 2.5 for me, but I've had quite a few different jobs.
-
@thanksaj said:
@Minion-Queen said:
No I haven't gotten a single page one in years. No more than 2 though
Yeah, I can't really condense mine down to 2...I tried...it's like 2.5 for me, but I've had quite a few different jobs.
Thanks, I've only had 3 "real" jobs, or at least one related to professional IT, so that makes it much simpler.
