- one last call for resume help -

[demonlurking]

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i think i've got it to a point that i like. i'm still not real happy with that education part, but i can't figure out how to make it better. i only had passing grades for about two semesters (about 1 year). so, my academic record isn't that great. so, here are the two options i've got at the moment:

http://www.dementia.org/~lurker/resume_2009_rc3a.pdf

http://www.dementia.org/~lurker/resume_2009_rc3b.pdf

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Comments

[sue-n-julia.livejournal.com]

I'm not up to looking at it tonight, but tomorrow is likely (headache issues). Can you wait that long??

S

[wanderingpixie.livejournal.com]

He's got someone in HR looking it over Friday morning, so tomorrow should still be fine.

[allthingsnoisy.livejournal.com]

I have your resume, I will respond early tomorrow morning.

[c-star.livejournal.com]

Generally when I am helping my students write thier resumes I tell them never to put degree incomplete. Put the dates that you attended each institution for example I would do this:

Fall 1996 - Spring 1997 Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Information Systems and Technical Writing

Let them either ask you or come to the realisation that 1 year is not enough to complete a degree.

[cyano.livejournal.com]

agreed.

[wanderingpixie.livejournal.com]

So, the main problem is that demonlurking attended in two very separated chunks. How do you make "Sep 1994 - May 1995 and Jan 1998 - Dec 1999" work?

It also implies that he's got 1/2 of his college classes taken care of... which he doesn't. It does say so outright, but it's an awkward misconception to correct.

a few resume tips

[allthingsnoisy.livejournal.com]

* When listing your work experience, I would start each heading off by your job title. Employers are less concerned with where you worked than what you did while you were there.

* I don't like the repetitiveness of "Worked as..." Of course you "worked as..." It's the work experience section! See above.

Even if you don't do that, you don't need to put your Job Title in single quotes.

* Under your U. Pitt listing, using "present" is fine since at the time you'll be sending this out, you will still presently be working there. At the end of that, "Related Website" is fine, since there is only one URL. Same goes for under New Beginnings Learning Center.

* What did you do between December 1998 and September 2000? I see this unexplained gap. Actually, you have a few gaps that if I was interviewing you, I would inquire about.

* Your promotion with Telerama is a good key to your management skills. Can you draw upon how your duties changed with that change in title?

* Technical skills look good.

* I would leave off your high school diploma. One can assume that if you got into a university, that's a given.

* If your CMU degree is incomplete, and you have no expected graduation date, put the number of years that you attended and note examples of concentrations or classes that you took. List your QPA at the time you left.


(I might have more later.)

Re: a few resume tips

[demonlurking]

the job title in single quotes was a way to separate the roman numerals that so many places use these days. especially my most recent position. Systems/Programmer I looks a little silly and looks like bad grammar.

Re: a few resume tips

[wanderingpixie.livejournal.com]

Moving them up to the job header will solve that problem, though.

Re: a few resume tips

[allthingsnoisy.livejournal.com]

The Roman numerals are an internal designation and do not necessarily need to be carried over to a resume. Include only seniority titles like Lead, Senior, Director, Manager, etc. You can list yourself as Systems/Programmer, sans single quotes (which is incorrect punctuation).

Re: a few resume tips

[demonlurking]

What did you do between December 1998 and September 2000? I see this unexplained gap. Actually, you have a few gaps that if I was interviewing you, I would inquire about.

the short answer is "nothing" or more properly "job hunting" or possibly "unemployed". just ask visionline.

[yuggazogy.livejournal.com]

My suggestions?

You're not specific enough in your technical skills section. For example, list specifically what versions of Windows/Linux/etc you've supported. A lot of job searches are done electronically using things like this as keywords, and unless your resume contains a keyword an employer is looking for (say, 'Office 2003' or 'Red Hat 4'), you're not going to trip that flag and register as a hit/potential hire.

I also agree with the other points mentioned here as well.

[demonlurking]

For example, list specifically what versions of Windows/Linux/etc you've supported.

that's easier said than done at this point. i've been supporting windows and mac (both OS and software (ie. word, office, photoshop, pagemaker/indesign, etc.) for about 20 years now. if i were to give a full list of the versions i've supported, i wouldn't have room on my resume for anything else.

there's got to be a way to simplify that and still have room for experience.

[yuggazogy.livejournal.com]

I did it on mine-did you want me to email you a copy?

[demonlurking]

hopefully it's not too late, but yeah, that'd be useful, thanks.

[sue-n-julia.livejournal.com]

I'm e-mailing a copy of my resume so you can see how I implemented some of these suggestions (many of them I received from an HR manager years ago).

Drop "responsible for" and stated recommended, repaired, etc. Responsible for is a phrase HR managers skip over.

Put your job titles in the same line as employer, year, etc.

Bullet-point your resume. HR managers will find what they are looking for much more easily. I like starting my bullet points with highlighted keywords (Equipment Purchase, System Maintenance, etc.).

Make sure you use a good quality paper. Don't use bright white (actually is harder to read) or ivory (everyone uses that to stand out). I've actually used a light blue high quality paper and gotten rave reviews from interviewers.

S