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It's nice reading posts here with people in similar situations knowing I'm not alone, so maybe explaining my story will help. Backstory I'm 31, live in Northeast Pennsylvania, and recently lost my help desk job I was at for four years. Before that, I worked at a warehouse job doing manual labor for a three-year stint before going to college for my Associates Degree and then doing the same warehouse work on a separate shift for another year before being disgusted to the point of walking out. Before that, I worked a few years doing minimum wage retail jobs at a few places. My Associates degree is in Music Recording Technology since I got bit with the "Money isn't everything! I want to have a job that's FUN!" bug when registering for college. It being my "dream" job is a good reason too. I adore music and would eventually like to play on stage in a band and be around more live/studio recording sessions to learn more things and have enough money to one day have my own recording equipment to tinker with. I'm also slowly learning my way around the guitar and want to take vocal lessons eventually. Good grades were never an issue. My college has four honors societies and I'm a member of all of them and graduated with a 3.9 GPA. Graduated in the top 10% in high school with a similar GPA as well. As you can most likely discern, there are no lucrative jobs in the music industry out of college. I was left twisting in the wind after graduation since I figured I would at least get my foot in the door somewhere and move up as I got more and more experience. So, in order to fund my "Plan A", I've fallen to my "Plan B": Computer work (hence the four years at a help desk). I'm naturally an introvert, but the reason I stayed so long at that help desk position was because it was easy. The company I worked at takes calls from pharmaceutical employees for tech support and is broken up into different desks. I went from one dealing with several different companies to one of these accounts breaking off onto their own independent "wing" of the help desk company after a successful job interview and being in the good graces of the Help Desk Manager for that particular account. From then on, I worked night shift (which I don't mind since I've always been a night owl) and took anywhere from 3-6 easy calls over the course of 8 hours and got to surf the web, watch videos, etc. In hindsight, I should have studied for certifications more and watched Youtube videos less, but I grew apathetic due to a combination of this company hardly ever giving raises or chances for promotion, me being complacent, no other jobs I've applied for getting back to me, and them just being unprofessional in general. Present Day So that's the past, and now for the present: This aforementioned company is blocking my ability to temporarily get unemployment benefits for "willful misconduct" (which is complete bullshit; have an appeal hearing on Tuesday), my savings are gone, I'm barely keeping my head above water by paying my bills with my mom's SSI (which makes me feel like a scumbag; feeling like I'm being a burden on someone is one of the worst feelings in the world), my SUV from 2001 needs repairs on it and gets 13mpg on a good day (at least it's paid off and is phenomenal in the snow), and my fiancee is 2 months pregnant and we have been trying to move out of the 4-room apartment she's lived in for over 10 years and I'm freaking out because I can't help her financially at all and want some financial stability in our lives before our child is born. My ideal computer job would be a desk job (I can't stand for a long period of time anymore due to being born with a club foot and have increasingly bad arthritis pain in it as I get older) where I do "behind-the-scenes" work and flex my existing IT skills and learn new ones too. A local Lowe's distribution center had a "night planner" job I applied for due to a recommendation from someone who already works there that was basically an computer job tracking inventory with minimal supervision. According to him, I killed it at the job interview I eventually got, but they had to give the job to someone else who already worked there because of a special circumstance. This was devastating as I was perfectly qualified for that job. It would have been perfect.  I'm on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, and Careerbuilder in addition to having a headhunter from a staffing company try to find me a job after explaining all of this to him. I keep trying to follow-up with him, but don't get anywhere. I've applied for pretty much any IT job within 20 miles of me (plus an IT job at Amazon that's 40 miles away, which will kill me in gas, but I don't have any options left), but my phone isn't ringing. My resume is here (took out my personal info from the header) https://www.dropbox.com/s/6pbgzb8fqgyp5l6/Updated%20Resume.doc?dl=0. I have also moved my objective information to a cover letter I made here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7u7ldqkd0kky6yb/Cover%20Letter.doc?dl=0 Am I doing something wrong? Should I be searching for a very specific computer position I keep missing on my searches? Sorry if I rambled too much but I really don't have anyone to talk to seriously about this stuff, am pretty discouraged, and get my thoughts down on "paper" much better. Thank you for anyone whom has read this and can help at all.  EDIT: I've spruced up the body of my resume based on the feedback I've received so far and replaced the Dropbox link. Let me know if that's any better or not and what the best way would be to re-format the Objective and Skills sections to say: "Yo, I'm pretty good at this computer stuff since I've been messing around with them forever. Give me an IT job where I can use these skills, learn new skills, not want to pull my hair out every 5 minutes, and eventually move up and make enough money to be a provider and take care of myself finanically." Charles Martel fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Sep 8, 2015 |
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Sep 6, 2015 06:53
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The first thing that stands out to me isquote:I am currently studying for my Cisco CCENT and CCNA certifications to move away from customer service positions and to develop specialty, hands-on, “behind-the-scenes” skills to build upon my strengths. If you're applying for customer service positions it seems like a bad idea to say you want to move away from customer service. No one wants to hire someone they know wants to leave. Maybe rephrase it like "I am currently studying for my Cisco CCENT and CCNA certifications to increase my skillset and provide more in depth customer assistance" or something. You want to phrase everything so that it is to the job you're applying for. I'd put experience first and education last, given your education is irrelevant to the IT industry. I would also give this more attention: " I have also earned training certifications here for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Microsoft Office 2010."
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Sep 6, 2015 08:09
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Yeah, good point. I'll rephrase that right away and try swapping the work experience and education around.
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Sep 6, 2015 17:55
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Maybe this is moot in the digital age, but I always roll my eyes at 2-page resumes with such little substance. I mean, come on, you have seven lines devoted to HIGH SCHOOL. You list every single loving windows operating system. Stop filling up your resume with useless junk. Focus on the important stuff. And by important stuff, I mean whatever is in the job description of the job posting you're applying to. Delete that vague objective, bullet point your actual achievements. Here's an example of what I mean, using a chunk of my old resume: SAT and Academic Tutor Sept 2007 – 2014 BAD summary: Worked as a tutor for several years in a multitude of subjects, including algebra, geometry, precalculus, calculus, chemistry, and AP chemistry. Developed relationships with many families in most of the local private and public high schools. Focused on developing the ACT and SAT curriculum in all areas such as math, english, and science. Was promoted to senior tutor after my third year of tutoring and helped run the office, hire, and manage new tutors. Now, that is a poo poo summary. It's a poo poo summary because it doesn't give any specifics, it doesn't highlight what I did that was different from any other employee, and it doesn't give a clear picture as to how I benefited the company. GOOD summary: - Wrote 100-page math curriculum for SAT manual currently used by all students - Headed academic and SAT prep teams - hired, trained, and supervised ten tutors - Hired and trained academic director for company expansion to larger location - Created new revenue stream by selling our SAT and ACT manuals to outside tutoring agencies - Taught individual and group SAT and academic prep for 200+ families - 100% positive client feedback in online satisfaction surveys every year - Acquired 80+ new clients by recommendation, resulting in over $50,000 in additional revenue each year - Ran company in CEO's absence for one month Look how much more impressive that is. And so what if only five parents bothered to respond to the survey, I had a 100% positive feedback! Notice the focus on the company - I'm creating revenue for the company, I'm helping the company expand. Think of everything you did that was helpful, and figure out a way to spin it to make you look your best. Don't put in poo poo that anyone could do. "Put price labels on clothes"?? That's what five year olds do at garage sales. What did you do that showed you had responsibilities? What did you do that showcases your skills? Delete the word utilize from your vocabulary. Why did you get that top performer award? I don't see why from reading your summary.
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Sep 6, 2015 18:34
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moana posted:Maybe this is moot in the digital age, but I always roll my eyes at 2-page resumes with such little substance. I mean, come on, you have seven lines devoted to HIGH SCHOOL. You list every single loving windows operating system. Stop filling up your resume with useless junk. Focus on the important stuff. And by important stuff, I mean whatever is in the job description of the job posting you're applying to. Delete that vague objective, bullet point your actual achievements. Here's an example of what I mean, using a chunk of my old resume: Thank you very, very much for all of this. Awesome feedback. As you can tell, I never had a way for someone to show me how to "formally" create a resume or portfolio. Just to make sure I understand what you're saying, I changed my help desk job summary from this: Old Resume Description posted:Helping my team of co-workers assist various end-users including office personnel, scientists, and pharmaceutical sales representatives with computer-based and iPhone / iPad technical issues over the phone and via inbound e-mails. I utilize various software programs such as Apropos and Syntellect to keep track of my incoming calls, Siebel Horizon and ServiceNow to document my call issues and customer’s tickets, and also use on-site client machines to access network accounts via Active Directory as well as initiate remote sessions via Bomgar for advanced software, printer, and VPN issues. I have also earned training certifications here for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Microsoft Office 2010. To this: New Job Description posted:• Assisted thousands of end-users in the pharmaceutical field with a professional ticketing system. What do you think? Should I get rid of the whole "Skills" section on the right side or just reduce it? I want to drive home that I have been tinkering with and configuring computers since the Windows 3.1 days, so what would be the best way to do that?
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Sep 6, 2015 19:44
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moana posted:Maybe this is moot in the digital age, but I always roll my eyes at 2-page resumes with such little substance. I mean, come on, you have seven lines devoted to HIGH SCHOOL. You list every single loving windows operating system. Stop filling up your resume with useless junk. Focus on the important stuff. And by important stuff, I mean whatever is in the job description of the job posting you're applying to. Delete that vague objective, bullet point your actual achievements. It's not moot. I will not hire a person who submits a 2-page PDF for an intro-level job; it demonstrates that they can't prioritize and present information clearly. OP, your resume makes me wonder why so many jobs have overlapping dates. Did you work part-time at multiple jobs, or did you get fired a lot? You don't have to list all of your experience on a resume, so be selective. Don't put anything on your resume from more than 10 years ago unless it's really impressive and relevant to what you're looking for. Charles Martel posted:Should I get rid of the whole "Skills" section on the right side or just reduce it? I want to drive home that I have been tinkering with and configuring computers since the Windows 3.1 days, so what would be the best way to do that? Put your bullet points in priority order. If someone was going to read only two of your bullet points, which ones would you want them to read? Put those first. "Top Tech of the Month" doesn't seem like it should be buried at the bottom of the list.
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Sep 6, 2015 20:59
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Zanthia posted:It's not moot. I will not hire a person who submits a 2-page PDF for an intro-level job; it demonstrates that they can't prioritize and present information clearly. So in November 2005, I gave a two-weeks notice to Gamestop since I was sick and tired of making $6/hour and of retail in general and went to doing warehouse work for $9/hour instead. I bettered myself in that time by shedding almost 100 pounds and reading self-help materials to try and become a more functional person and to better take care of myself (grew up in a dysfunctional family and without a father; it's a long story). In May of 2008, the owner of the fitness center I was going to set me up with a job bussing tables at a new restaurant. I gave a two weeks notice to the warehouse job and went back to working with the public, but the restaurant closed down after only a couple of months. Luckily, I was able to collect unemployment before starting college in the Fall and the benefits kept my head above water temporarily. I worked part time at the Eddie Bauer Outlet, eventually left that to focus on my internship at a friend's recording studio that didn't pan out (the owner did everything himself and prefers things done his way and wasn't looking to hire any help), and eventually went back to the same warehouse job after not being able to find any work after college, which never stops being depressing no matter how many times I say it or type it out. By 2011, they were putting the screws to me to the point of me just walking out once day, which is something I never saw myself doing. I figured it would be easier to say I just worked there for almost six years than to explain all of that. And with the "Skills" section...in other words, I should keep it, reinforce it with what is popular, and delete all the miscellaneous stuff, correct?
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Sep 6, 2015 21:26
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I've only ever hired for Sys Admin positions, not desktop positions, but if I saw a resume that listed stuff like, 'Creating New Files Paths' and 'Fixing Registry Errors' and 'Configuring Shortcuts', I'd toss that resume immediately. The top item on your resume is 'Senior Help Desk Technician'. The impression I get from someone who has 4 years at that position but still lists 'nothing skills' like 'Printer Setup' makes me immediately assume incompetence and I'd not give you the time of day.
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Sep 6, 2015 21:53
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Charles Martel posted:Should I get rid of the whole "Skills" section on the right side or just reduce it? I want to drive home that I have been tinkering with and configuring computers since the Windows 3.1 days, so what would be the best way to do that?
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Sep 6, 2015 23:35
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Charles Martel posted:I bettered myself in that time by shedding almost 100 pounds
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Sep 6, 2015 23:39
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:I've only ever hired for Sys Admin positions, not desktop positions, but if I saw a resume that listed stuff like, 'Creating New Files Paths' and 'Fixing Registry Errors' and 'Configuring Shortcuts', I'd toss that resume immediately. The top item on your resume is 'Senior Help Desk Technician'. The impression I get from someone who has 4 years at that position but still lists 'nothing skills' like 'Printer Setup' makes me immediately assume incompetence and I'd not give you the time of day. That's a bit harsh, but understandable. I'm trying to show all of the small areas I'm familiar with. I'm getting the impression I should just axe that whole sidebar altogether. moana posted:I think it looks better, and I also think you should probably post to SH/SC in that job thread to see if they have any helpful critiques. I'm not a tech person so I don't know what would be best to highlight or how in that regard. Thanks! I'll make a post there shortly. And yeah, I've brought that weight loss up in the last few job interviews and interviewers seems impressed by it.
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Sep 7, 2015 01:21
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:I've only ever hired for Sys Admin positions, not desktop positions, but if I saw a resume that listed stuff like, 'Creating New Files Paths' and 'Fixing Registry Errors' and 'Configuring Shortcuts', I'd toss that resume immediately. The top item on your resume is 'Senior Help Desk Technician'. The impression I get from someone who has 4 years at that position but still lists 'nothing skills' like 'Printer Setup' makes me immediately assume incompetence and I'd not give you the time of day. Yeah. I've never hired for tech jobs but this is a very bad resume resume. It's too long AND the content doesn't sell you. Everyone else's advice is spot-on. Most of your competitors have similar experience/skillsets to you, and everyone is going to say that they're amazing. The way that you stand above the rest is by having accomplishments that others don't, making a good case as to how your history makes you well-suited to the job, and appearing reasonable and professional (=not too cocky, not too naive.) Picking it apart: Objective statement --> it's jargony and mostly meaningless. The parts about certifications and the length of your experience are good, but belong in the cover letter. "Dedicated, organized, and intelligent" are traits you need to show, not tell. Skills section --> Write in your cover letter, "I've been tinkering with and configuring computers since the Windows 3.1 days." It doesn't come across from your skill list at all. That just looks like a list of basic computer functions. IF you have a skill list, it should be only stuff that's relevant to your position and that the average computer can't claim. EG: anyone who's ever opened "Excel" could write that on a skill list, but not everyone can write "Excel (macros, pivot tables)." Position descriptions --> You're on the right track, but too verbose. I bet you can't read each sentence of these out loud without your eyes glazing over. Cut out the least impressive stuff. Cut the self-aggrandizing adverbs and adjectives. Imagine a stranger saying to you, "I used constant newfound product knowledge to thoroughly meet the customer’s needs and makes them aware of present and future sales and promotions." It sounds like he's bragging about something that isn't worth bragging about. University education --> The paragraph-long description of your program is self-evident from the name. Cut it. High school --> Your high school performance a decade ago isn't relevant to anything. Cut it. Honor societies --> Induction dates don't matter. Fold it in to your university education section. If you can cut your resume down to one page that sounds like a human wrote it, you will be in a way better position already.
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Sep 8, 2015 03:06
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Saeku posted:Yeah. I've never hired for tech jobs but this is a very bad resume resume. It's too long AND the content doesn't sell you. Everyone else's advice is spot-on. Most of your competitors have similar experience/skillsets to you, and everyone is going to say that they're amazing. The way that you stand above the rest is by having accomplishments that others don't, making a good case as to how your history makes you well-suited to the job, and appearing reasonable and professional (=not too cocky, not too naive.) Thank you for your constructive criticism. I've modified my linked resume by nixing the Skills and Activites & Awards sections (made a small note of the honors societies in my college education section since I am proud of that accomplishment and believe it shows of my resolve). I also removed the Objective Summary completely and will place that in a cover letter which I will place a link to in the OP and here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7u7ldqkd0kky6yb/Cover%20Letter.doc?dl=0 Let me know what you think. Also, could you elaborate on the position descriptions being "too verbose"? I agree that bringing my resume down to one page would be best, but how do I go about doing that while bringing out the best experiences I've had in each job. I swear I'm not being dense, but I don't exactly know how to do that.
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Sep 8, 2015 04:43
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I've fixed the margins on my resume, showed where my name and contact information would go in the header, rewrote a few things here and there, and it's now down to more concise page-and-a-half. I need further help on what to re-word, what to combine with what, and what to get rid of completely to get it down to a single page. If I delete anything, I feel it is taking away from describing all of my strengths.
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Sep 8, 2015 20:30
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You are looking for a grownup job now... if I were you, I would get rid of the high school section and the retail sales section and make sure the rest fits nicely on 1 page.
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Sep 8, 2015 21:00
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The summary paragraph under your college education section doesn't really serve a purpose, and should probably be cut entirely. Same with "Graduated in the top 10% of my senior class." That stuff just doesn't really matter in terms of jobs. Your list of retail jobs isn't really helping you either; pick the most recent one or two, give them 2-4 bullet points for each job, call it good. Another thing with the bullet points, try not to make them "These were my job responsibilities." Make them "These were measurable things I did that show drive and initiative to improve my workplace for my employer." For example, "Was recognized company-wide many times as the “Top Tech of the Month” and received awards for outstanding customer service and company compliance." is actually a good statement if you re-word it to be actively voiced; "Earned "Top Tech of the Month" honors X times and received X awards for outstanding service and compliance." But "Helped my team of fellow employees provide exceptional customer service and reach constant success on sales goals and percentages." for example doesn't mean anything. There's plenty of room to cut the fat and get this down to one page. You've got a fine starting point, just have to keep refining it until it's reasonable.
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Sep 8, 2015 21:27
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Droo posted:You are looking for a grownup job now... if I were you, I would get rid of the high school section and the retail sales section and make sure the rest fits nicely on 1 page. Yeah I would erase the whole retail sales section - it's probably not going to help. If you have any particularly good stories from them that demonstrate your ability, you can talk about them in an interview.
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Sep 8, 2015 21:31
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Ok, if I nix the entire Retail Associate and High School sections, everything falls nicely on one page. I'm guessing it's assumed that I graduated high school if I graduated with honors from college? If I get rid of the Retail Associate section, does my help desk experience hold it's own as far as showing off my customer service experience? More opinions, please. I just want to be absolutely sure my resume shines enough to get my foot in the door and I'm not making any more dumb mistakes. Is it a good rule for resumes to always be one clean page? Edit: High School section is gone. What about my Cover Letter? Is it too wordy? Thank you to everyone who has replied so far. You guys are awesome.
Charles Martel fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Sep 8, 2015 |
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Sep 8, 2015 22:28
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Resumes don't strictly have to be one page, but there better be a good reason if it's not.
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Sep 9, 2015 03:41
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I got rid of the whole Retail Sales section, so my resume is now one page. How does that and my cover letter look now as someone looking for further IT work?
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Sep 9, 2015 22:29
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The cover letter sounds like a third grader wrote it. The cover letter should describe (1) How your experience is a good fit for the position and (2) How the position is interesting to you. Nobody cares if you are "working on" some certs so take that out. The resume - getting it down to one page is critical for where you're at - the second page will never be looked at if there is one. So that's good. What goes on it again depends on the details of the position. As it stands, it's pretty good but depending on the position description you could maybe be more clear about emphasizing specific skill sets.
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Sep 10, 2015 01:57
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slap me silly posted:The cover letter sounds like a third grader wrote it. The cover letter should describe (1) How your experience is a good fit for the position and (2) How the position is interesting to you. Nobody cares if you are "working on" some certs so take that out. If a third grader had some of those words in his vocabulary and had 20+ years of computer experience, I would be impressed.  But seriously, I hashed together a new paragraph that I hope sounds better. Is it still too wordy or is it too short? I'm having trouble here since I can only make "did some odd-jobs in a warehouse" and "did your average help desk grunt work" sound so glamorous.
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Sep 10, 2015 02:50
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This version works better for me, specifically because you have got rid of "dream" and toned down the other vague crap. You also put the specific intersection of your skills and their needs right in the first sentence, nice. When you say something like "I thrive on learning new skills daily" it's just as well to follow that with a short example or anecdote of something useful you learned in a day. Otherwise it's just self-serving babble. Same for everything else in that sentence. It's "attention to detail", not "attention-to-detail". Don't say "Please look over this document". They know what they want to look at. Say "More details are in the enclosed resume" or something. If the job posting is help desk / customer service, mention something in the cover letter about your experience providing rapid and thorough resolutions to caller problems, or some poo poo. Wouldn't hurt to mention your service awards here too. Phrasing like "tinkering", "plenty of", "great" candidate, exclamation marks is all pretty informal and you might want to consider stepping that up a notch (but without getting stilted - it's a difficult balance!) Oh, and don't forget how the position is interesting to you. Yes we all need jobs so we can pay the rent, but what kind of progress can you look for in the position? This is also a difficult balance, as someone mentioned before you don't want to imply that you're going to get trained up a bit and move on after 6 months.
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Sep 10, 2015 04:09
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slap me silly posted:This version works better for me, specifically because you have got rid of "dream" and toned down the other vague crap. You also put the specific intersection of your skills and their needs right in the first sentence, nice. Good advice and I made some of those changes. I'll have to think of an example to put with the "learning new skills" that doesn't drag on for too long. Should I mention customer support in the cover letter even if I want to go for the higher tiers of IT work that don't involve customer support? I'm not keen on doing help desk/customer service work for another 4 years, but I'm sure employers value people that can work with and understand people even if a job in question doesn't have me answering phone calls.
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Sep 10, 2015 21:14
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Get thee to asks manager.org and follow her resume/cover letter writing advice. Seriously.
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Sep 12, 2015 16:15
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:Get thee to asks manager.org and follow her resume/cover letter writing advice. Seriously. Go where now?
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Sep 12, 2015 22:31
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Charles Martel posted:Go where now? askamanager.org
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Sep 12, 2015 22:42
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Sorry, new phone. It hasn't figured out my crappy fast typing yet. I meant askamanager.org
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Sep 12, 2015 23:40
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Cool, I'll give it a look. Couldn't make out what site you were talking about.
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Sep 13, 2015 00:33
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Will you have your CCENT soon? Knocking out a cert during your "downtime" would look really good.
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Sep 13, 2015 01:59
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MrKatharsis posted:Will you have your CCENT soon? Knocking out a cert during your "downtime" would look really good. Probably not. I can't afford hundreds of dollars for a lab kit or a test voucher right now. I should have gotten it when I was working but got a bit discouraged when I couldn't find any network engineering jobs around here.
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Sep 13, 2015 16:59
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If you're an IT professional, how come you removed your name from the resume, but didn't clear our the metadata with your name in it 
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Sep 14, 2015 02:48
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