Resume Feedback
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I had my resume professionally done a few years ago and it really helped me find a job. I was able to get several interviews immediately after putting out my new resume. I added two other employers and now it is 2 and a half pages in length. I would like to get it down to two pages.
I am going to take off the part of about testing efficiency. Do you think I should drop off GeekSquad too on my Resume? I was also thinking about removing the High School Diploma part. That should go without saying, right?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-Zj7y7G1-C_cUhzODRXYnpLd28/view?usp=sharing
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Sorry was distracted by beer last night. Looking now.
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This reads very oddly... it sounds like a hiring objective for a job description rather than an objective of your goals. It's short and to the point, but it sounds like the certs are your objective, not getting a job.
Personally I would remove that section completely because the objective is to get the job that you are applying for - stating another objective here is either redundant or detrimental.
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Absolutely drop this. Even high school graduates with nothing to show shouldn't have their high school diploma on a resume in most cases. This is a level of career where if you are even remotely considered for the position, that you went to high school should not matter in the least. So it ends up being filler. And draws attention to something you'd want to ignore... high school. You don't want anyone thinking that you think that high school is somehow significant compared to your professional experience.
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This section is fine but takes up way too much of the space overall as a percentage. I would consider condensing it to two columns so that it takes up half the space on the page. This isn't significant and should not be as prominently highlighted as it is.
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Same here, condense as well. Do not include IDs.
Drop the MOS. Maybe drop the A+. No matter what get the important ones on top rather than the worthless ones. Highlight your skills, not your "foot in the door" stuff from a long time ago.
Important data on top, less important on the bottom, unimportant don't include. That's the rule.
And the Network+ is one word, not two.
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Definitely remove this section.
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Your IT certs are WAY more important than your technical training. Flip the order there.
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Your GS experience is long ago and adds only eight months total onto your timeline, drop it. If you are concerned about dropping it completely and you have space after other changes you could consider condensing it to like one line. I hate having resume gaps and so have some 40+ jobs condensed into a two sentence description on mine so that they exist, but don't take up space. They are just described in general, no details or even names.
Don't include the references bit, that's assumed and just filler that you don't want.
You CAN handle the GS/BB thing by adding a line elsewhere that says "IT Professional since 2005" and let people ask if they want to know more. You don't want to highlight that it was BB, nor do you want to highlight that it was August. You have been in IT long enough that you can just use the year for this and let people forget that it might have been in the later half of the year. We are talking about 11 vs. 11.5 years of experience. It's time to be rounding to the year.
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The addition of achievements feels weird. You have a bulleted list of achievements without a title. Then you switch to check marks and list more achievements. I can't tell what the two lists are supposed to show but I'm pretty sure that it's weird and that there should just be one list. Having it split in two is confusing and distracting. There is too many changes in bullets, fonts and styles in too little space. And I don't know what it is supposed to convey.
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Good feedback, Scott. We were thinking the same thing in a few areas.
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Feedback:
This section is fine but takes up way too much of the space overall as a percentage. I would consider condensing it to two columns so that it takes up half the space on the page. This isn't significant and should not be as prominently highlighted as it is.
How would you condense this section?
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Personally, I don't like the Summary of Qualifications bit. I've seen hundreds of resumes and they all have this bit and they all essentially say EXACTLY the same thing, to the point where I just ignore it. It's just words. It feels like a cut and pasted collection of cliches.
Like where you write "a commitment to providing outstanding customer service and forging, positive, supportive work relationships"
It's not like an employer is going to say "Oh, sorry, you're not suitable for this post because we're looking for someone to provide poor customer service with a focus on dysfunctional work relationships.On the hand, all resumes have it, so maybe it's necessary!
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@IRJ said in Resume Feedback:
@scottalanmiller said in Resume Feedback:
This section is fine but takes up way too much of the space overall as a percentage. I would consider condensing it to two columns so that it takes up half the space on the page. This isn't significant and should not be as prominently highlighted as it is.
How would you condense this section?
I was only thinking that you break it into two columns rather than one. So condensing vertically but not removing words. So the bullets are side by side. I might remove the contact hours, I'm not even sure what that means and it takes up a lot of space. If you need them, put it once and abbreviate to 300 CH after that.
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@Carnival-Boy said in Resume Feedback:
On the hand, all resumes have it, so maybe it's necessary!
Mine does not. I always leave that stuff out.
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The formatting is screwing up anytime I try to move anything around. I might have to redesign this from scratch.
P.S. Is it more professional to include your resume as a DOCX or PDF? The majority of people seem to use DOCX, but I feel like a PDF is better since nearly anyone can read them.
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@IRJ said in Resume Feedback:
The formatting is screwing up anytime I try to move anything around. I might have to redesign this from scratch.
P.S. Is it more professional to include your resume as a DOCX or PDF? The majority of people seem to use DOCX, but I feel like a PDF is better since nearly anyone can read them.
PDF. It doesn't require any special software and is a recognized format.
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@IRJ said in Resume Feedback:
The formatting is screwing up anytime I try to move anything around. I might have to redesign this from scratch.
P.S. Is it more professional to include your resume as a DOCX or PDF? The majority of people seem to use DOCX, but I feel like a PDF is better since nearly anyone can read them.
I use PDF
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I am down to a page and a half now.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-Zj7y7G1-C_V25JUmNYamRwcHM
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@IRJ Awesome.
