Resume Writing Tips
 

I started where I am approx. 5-6 years ago in the fileroom, and managed to carve a niche out for myself where I'm a system administrator now; the kind of guy that they panic if I take a few days off, because nobody else knows all my tricks, and they keep calling me for help.

But they don't pay me. Not enough to support a wife and two kids decently. And the specific job I'm doing can pay six figures easily. If (?) I really know what I'm doing. But I don't have a degree, nor have I been to any vendor training on this system. I've just figured it out along the way. Yes, there is tech support for my system, but I hardly ever use them (anymore), because I’ve learned and remembered everything I ever had to have them do for me.

So, my qualification is that I’ve been sys admin for 3 years, and that I taught myself how to do it (does that count for anything?) I’m in school now, working on a degree, but I don’t have it yet. But...I need more money. But...I’m slightly nervous that I don’t actually know what I might need to know.

Anyway, does anyone have some resume writing tips for me? I need to start putting myself out there, but I've never had to do a serious resume before. If I get an offer for twice what I’m making now (entirely plausible) at least I could say to mgmt “What are you going to do to keep me here?”

Oh, the other thing is, before the last 5-6 years my job history gets pretty unconventional. Independent contracting in construction industry, and various drumming gigs. I plan to do a chronological resume starting with present employer, fileroom, through one transitional position, and up to system administrator. That covers 5-6 years and 3 positions, but only one employer. It’s the only experience I have relevant to this industry. Can I just leave it at that?

I'm not sure about a strict chronological resume. I see what you're saying; I've been doing this for almost 7 years (and have also been promoted twice)...but before that I was in another world entirely.

Maybe consider a non-traditional resume which first highlights your accomplishments at what you are doing currently, then doing a subject type resume for the rest. After all, every experience is valuable and some employers look for the fact that the person has varied interests and can lend something "different." On more than one occasion, a reference to something I've done that is unrelated to the job I am going for has started a dialogue with an interviewer who found it interesting...and it showcased who I am.

Best of luck!

Well, don't put a funny name at the top of the resume if you want Radar to hire you.

If I was hiring someone who had done stuff in a previous career, I'd like to see a brief mention of that other stuff, just to account for that time. I'd want to know you weren't just living in your mom's basement playing video games. Not a lot of detail, just a line for the job title, employer and dates, and a second line for a very short description.

Can't help you with the other stuff, since I'm not in that industry.

Is Flint a funny name?

That depends: is your last name Stone?

Oh Flint, my friend. I would love to contribute to this thread. I intend to answer you more fully, later, when I can devote proper time and attention to it. For the time being, I will say that getting a job is a job. A different one from your current gig. That may seem obvious to you, but it wasn't to me and I benefited greatly from that knowledge, once I had it.

Also, specifically with respect to the resume "format". I like a functional resume for the scenario you've laid out.

Wow, I have a lot more; this is one of my favorite topics. But I have to jet now. More later.

And GOOD LUCK!

I do mine like this:

************

Name, address etc.

Overview - A dedicated blah blah blah. Gently but truthfully sell yourself here

Experience
----Company - Date
--------Project - Project Description - Skills Used

Education
----Don't forget to put in the courses you have completed.

Honors
----Could be employee of the month, recognition for work well done etc.

**************

I had to use the dashes to show indentation.

The main thing for technical positions is to show that you can handle the stuff they have for you to do and learn the stuff that you don't already know.

If you are discreet about looking around, then there is no reason you should worry about this. If you don't get picked up, you still have your current position.

Some quick hits from my record on the issue:

My own Quest.

job seeking free association by me....

a good example of how not to do it...

--Put a summary of your qualifications and experience at the top, and leave off the stupid phrase about "looking for a job which fits my experience and allows me to express myself" whatever. (I'm drawing a little blank on what you usually call that)

--Have someone else proof it.

funtional vs chronological
 

A functional resume probably makes the most sense for this position, as it is a specific skill set.

But my thinking on going chronological was that it tells the story of how I got myself where I am.

My story is that I learned all of it from scratch, in just a few years. To be perfectly honest, I'm hoping to be hired on the basis of my ability to adapt and learn new things easily. For having the mental facility to be a problem-solver who welcomes new challenges. I may not have Experience, Education, and Honors, but I have proven that I am quick-witted and resourceful.

In a chronological resume, my job history becomes the main section; and my experience in each position tells a story of career growth, of how I got where I am. The few positions I've had become large sections, full of accomplishment. If I had to list my job history in a separate section, it doesn't look like much, and it doesn't go back very far.

I thought I might do a functional-type resume in three chronological sections. More of a narrative resume.

Is this a feasible idea?

That's sort of what I had in mind. I was thinking of a first section which chronologizes (is that a word?) your current experience...then functionize (is that a word?) the rest of it.

I would refrain from using the phrase "(is that a word?)" on your resume. lol

If I had taken every resume I sent out in the last two years and shredded them and flushed them down the toilet, and then bombed the local sewage treatment plant to make sure nobody would find the shredded bits, dry them out, and paste them together, I would have gotten no less of a response than I actually did.

So you may wish to take my advice with a grain of salt.

I would rather hire somebody who is self-taught than somebody who has a vendor certification for every orifice but has no experience. All to many of these people picked up the certs by sitting in a class, cramming for a test, and not knowing which end of an ethernet cable goes in the computer.

The problem is you may not have your resume read by somebody like me. If it's read by somebody with a checklist of qualifications, they will compare your resume to the list and then file it. (And I don't mean in a filing cabinet.)

For my money, this guy gives excellent advice on how to navigate this process.

I don't know if this is a "functional" resume, but Mr. Clod is a sysadmin and his resume looks roughly like this:

Skillset (e.g., Linux administration)
--specific example of skill in use, with or without specific company name, e.g. "Maintained 20 Redhat servers with a terabyte of memory..." (I'm making shit up here, I am not a sysadmin)
--specific example #2
--specific example #3

Skillset (e.g., Network Maintenance)
--etc...


This has the advantage of name-dropping former employers without having to get too specific about the chronology of the job history. Plus, if you do a million different things in your job, it really makes more sense to organize it by skill. You can always save the "story" of your career for the interview.


Also, when it's ready, PM your resume to me if you're at all interested in moving to Austin. Mr. Clod's company is hiring sysadmins--has been for months, actually, because they're very very picky about who they get. It's all about the intelligence and the skills and the interview; they couldn't care less about certs or specific job history.

Flint -- I don't have a whole lot to add here to what everyone else has said, but the one question I have is how old are you? If you're "relatively" young, say 20-30, it's not too questionable to have periods of non-traditional employment in your chronology. If you're 50+ and have decades without a steady job, well, that's different.

I do like the idea of a functional resume for your situation.

Keep it short, exclude anything not directly relevant to the position you're applying for and write clear, simple English.

I don't know. I think that things not directly relevant are relevant in another way. My days with a second job waitressing at the Country Club show I'm not afraid to work. My experience in technical QA relate to my ability to document, and my attention to detail...etc.

You don't want to go overboard, but most experience is relevant in some way.

Exactly.

This year, a new question I've been asking in all my interviews is "have you left anything off of your resume? We're seeing a lot of candidates leaving off their jobs working at Starbuck's or waiting tables because they are not able to fit everything on one page. Is there anything you've left out?" (Primarily for entry level positions)

Probably 3/4 of the answers are affirmative, and they are leaving off jobs that show they are willing to work hard. Menial jobs, sure, but they show that you aren't lazy. I think it's bad advice that you should only include experience that's directly relevant. You never know if the guy looking at your resume thinks drummers make the best sys admins because they've got rhythm.

It annoys me that people leave major stuff off their resumes. They should put it all on there and let me decide if it's good or not. I'll probably decide it's good.

I've interviewed older 2nd career candidates too, and I'd like to know what they did in the past. If it's not relevant, I'll ignore it. But if it is relevant in some way that might not be obvious, it will make them that much more appealing.

@all: Thanks for your help!
 

I think I've got an idea of how I'm gonna do this:

By listing job history in reverse chronological order, my current position becomes my major skill set area. This will be the largest section, full of all the neat stuff I do.

Next, my transitional position, and original fileroom position can show background and fundamentals specific to the department/workflow where the system is used. It's important that I know how the dept works from several angles; I know how the dept ran before the system was implemented. And most importantly, when we got the system I instantly displayed an aptitude for it, and within a short time I was running it.

Before I worked here I was in construction, which can be spun as a useful skill set as well. Construction is used as a metaphor for Project Management. It's totally relevant. I know how to plan and gather the tools and resources needed to accomplish a specific task most efficiently. Project Management.

Before that, perhaps a combination section. One lump of related crap jobs I did. One skill set, several employers. Maybe two lines.

The drumming thing works into a "community service" section, as I have been playing at charity shows here at work, and have worked with several churches over the years. See, I'm a good guy. I have productive interests outside of work.

Education. I was in school like 15 years ago, but now that I have a career I'm back to do something specific with my education. Also, I have worked with vendors and consulting firms, giving site visits of our facility as a part of a course on this type of system. So, in a way, I've been involved with providing education in my field. I just now thought of grouping that experience with education. Think that would work? Where should I put that?

....I don't know how to write resume in other country, but in china, when you write resume, you'd better write your work experiece perticularly. and give detailed what you had done in your past job experiece, what role you are in your position. and of course your accomplishments-----this is extremly important! they will be the best thing to reveal your ability!

a good konwledge background is wonderful ,but if you do not attend university study will not a big problem. our employer just want to find the most suitable employee for the job. especially those who can do the job directly!or have some relevant experience.

if the employee do not have any relevant experience, you'd better get to know clearly the main tasks of the job you apply, and try your best to find out the relevant between your extra-job and this job.

i think interview is much more important than resume, and in resume, work experience is much more important than educational background!

....i don't know whether i express clearly...==||||

I've literally looked at thousands of resumes as a recruiter, headhunter, sales manager, etc. I would make the resume along the lines of:


Mr Funny Name
123 buttcrack st
Moscow, TX 47198

Experience

XYZ company 2000-Present

Current job title 07-08
*Mad skill one
*Mad skill two
*Mad skill three
*Mad skill four
*Big accomplishment

Previous job title 05-06
*Mad skill
*Mad skill
*Mad skill
*Big accomplishment

Previous job title 04-05
*mad skill
*mad skill
*Big accomplishment

COK Company 03-04
Job title

BOLS Company 02-04
Job title

TYT Company 01-03
Job Title

Education
Currently working on _____degree
Any, and I mean Any certifications you do have
OJT
Self education (you obviously learned the skills you have, point out the systems you've learned in comparison to some class)

___________________________________________________
Create a separate cover page for each job you send the resume. It can be a generic letter, with just a bit of customization for the company. Should state why you want to move (advancement, opportunities for further growth, possible better training opportunity)

___________________________________________________
Place most of your emphasis on your current job since it is the only one that you want to build upon. Show a progression of responsibility and authority from job title to job title. Previous jobs are mentioned as company name and title only, just so they can see you have and have been working for years. You are encouraging them to ask you about your choices without wasting valuable resume space with unrelated skills stuff.

That's exactly what I want to see in a resume. Lookout did a better job of describing it.

Thanks, lookout. And thanks, everybody, again.

For my job, there is no university degree. It doesn't exist.

My current title calls for:
I have the experience, and I'm about halfway through an associate's in networking.

Everything I have is self education/OJT, and that will be made obvious in the "mad skills" section.
I obviously have to know how to do what I'm already doing; I'm just not sure how to describe that "in comparison to some class" ...

I'm struggling with education as a section. My education is in my job history. I don't want to have a weak-looking section.

That's a degee.

List your OJT in your education section as exactly that:

On Job Training
*adh+
*buttkissing 202
*world fixing
* etc.

I want to thank you all again for all your advice. Many of you guys on here I consider role models in the IT field.

I have this thread open, both pages on a separate tab, while working on my resume while my daughter is taking a nap and my wife is at the store with little man.

I do so many different things it's a huge organizational task to list it all out. Haven't done that since my review two years ago, where they took what I typed up and copy/pasted it as my job description.

Now I'm trying to condense it into a list of concrete skillsets and accomplishments.

I wish I could just write "I will learn whatever system you have, because, look -- that's what I do!"

You're welcome, sweetie! :)

Different formats were proposed. You must decide what about yourself to sell. For example, do you sell your stability of employment? Then list the various types of jobs with how you worked those jobs until whatever. Do you sell your ability to grasp or grow in a job? Then sell how you took on new responsibility and how you did more than work a job - how you trained yourself. Do you sell yourself with experience to adapt to any jobs - from construction to flipping hamburgers to data processing, etc. Again, then sell that experience noting how each job was so different and how you adapted no matter what the job.

IOW before the resume format is selected, first decide what it is you want to sell yourself on. Chances are the resume may be written from different perspectives. Only then may it become apparent what is the best way to sell yourself.

You're right, tw, the entire format must be dictated to best display what I am offering in myself.

I've been doing some descriptive writing. It's late, and I have no idea how this opening paragraph sounds:
I'm aching to say "And I was a FILE CLERK at this place five years ago..." but I don't know how, or if I should, phrase that.

"I have risen to this level of responsibility..." is the closest thing I've come up with, without saying something that might be a turn-off.

Or write all the available formats and pick which one tells the story best. If you find yourself struggling with a format, it's probably not a good one for you.

Wait, you're impacting workflow in a place where there's a complex interplay? You're clearly pro-active, and adhere to best practices with deep knowledge capital in an impactful environment. Our human resources representative will contact you in short order so we can determine synergy going forward.

So what you're saying is, I should do the whole thing in Iambic Pentameter?

urk!

I am in that industry, and it's funny that you mention this. I put an ad in for the job the other day and in the first 2 days alone I've gotten about 60 resumes. I've been kind of shocked. I'm not paying much. Only $24-$27/hr, but I've been flooded with resumes from very qualified people with tons of industry certifications. Some have PhDs or Master's degrees with a lot of experience too. I've been trying to figure out why they would take so little for this job. I don't think the market is that rough right now. I think they just want to work in a relaxed environment, or especially work for a tv producer. I think they want to be "discovered".

My advertisement requested that they send me their resume in Microsoft Word format. Some were sent to me in PDF format. I can open either of them, but if they can't follow simple instructions, I am thinking I should disqualify them even though the contents of the resume are impressive.

A lot of them have very funny names, but not funny in the way I was discussing earlier. I don't have any Frank N. Steins, Lemonjello, Ocean, etc. names, but I've got a lot of very foreign ones. I don't discriminate on those kind of names, just the freak names by cruel parents.

In my personal point of view, hands-on experience is worth more than classroom education, certifications, or a college degree. I can tell within 2 minutes of an interview if someone is a poser or the real deal. If you've got hands-on experience you'll stand out in a crowd. A lot of people pad their resume or learn buzzwords hoping to get their foot in the door. I can spot these guys a mile away. Of the few that slipped through, I told them when they arrived for the first day of work, I'd give them 3 days to show me their stuff and if they can't hit the ground running or show me they know what to do, they'd be gone. Some didn't get past lunch on the first day.

If someone wants a document in MS Word format, I also send it in PDF, just in case they have a different version of Word.

Another bonus is that PDF opens way faster than a Word document, if you're not using Adobe Reader.

Grad school is over in three months... about time to polish my resume and start sending it out again... bah...

Spelling is important in your résumé. Even in the modern world there are still people out there who will bin a résumé that doesn't have the acute accents on both e's. Spelling is still used as a measurement of general level of education by many even though such a measurement is not usually accurate. You could have ten years of education and experience, but some employers won't even let you in the door for a first interview if you spell "separate" with three e's.

If your spelling is not top-notch, do not rely on a spelling checker, either for the résumé itself or the covering letter. Many spelling checkers are not able to tell if a word is used correctly, thus they will let through incorrectly-spelt words that happen to match the spelling of another word. For example, spelling checkers cannot distinguish which of "weather", "whether" and "wether" is the right word to use in a particular sentence. Spelling checkers are also limited by the contents of their dictionary and may not recognise some technical terms even if they are spelt correctly.

I suggest that you have someone else who is a good speller proof-read your résumé and covering letter for spelling, grammar and punctuation.

In IT, a sound grasp of spelling is important if you are writing applications that are sold to the general public, or are writing library functions that are going to be used by others. It is less important for system administration, although it helps to have a dictionary on hand if you need to write a Message of the Day or emailed memo.

Do you have a checkbox about parentage?

Application form for working for Radar for peanuts

Name: last___________ first_____________ middle initial___
Is that your real name? Y/N (circle one)
Are you shitting me? Y/N (circle one)
Are your parents
___twisted and cruel
___uninformed
___African American
___foreign so it's not actually a cruel name where they come from
(check all that apply and mark your application form SPAM. Unless that is your name.)

;)

What not to do.:headshake

I've got my resume sanitized and completely professional.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't sneak a little personality back in there.

Your personality? Better think on that. :stickpoke

That's a fair point. I thought about it and decided against it.

Someone else's would be cool though... then you could add "channeling" to your skill set.....

Crikey me! A sterling example of how the Cellar educates me.
I had to look wether up on dictionary.com.
I now know the correct word for a castrated ram. Thank you.

Did you for a moment imagine that we would steer you wrong? Bull!

Shit. Cover letter?

Dear Sir/Madam,

Flint was not able to turnin the job application like you wanted because the cat was sick on it and I only had a 2c stamp. Please excuse him from the cover letter part of his application, it was not his fault.

signed My Mom

Gawd, I hate cover letters. It totally depends on how you're sending in the resume, IMHO. If it's an email submission, you have to have something because a blank email with an attachment is just weird. In that case I think short and straightforward is best. "I am a [job title] in the [city] area with [number] years experience in [thing 1], [thing 2] and [thing 3], and believe I would make an excellent candidate for your recent job posting."

If you're actually mailing it in, a longer one might be more appropriate. Write it as if you're answering the question, "What makes you an ideal candidate for this position?" and just hit the highlights. If your personality should be allowed anywhere, it's the cover letter, but never too much. :)

A good post, but he mistakenly underemphasizes one section. He says, "suggest" when the right word is "insist". Having a different set of eyes read this material, including the cover letter, is **compulsory**.

Omit this step at your peril.

I would have written "insist" if I was a Cellar regular with half a gazillion posts, rather than an infrequent visitor who visits occasionally.

On re-reading it splashed over half a screen in humongous red letters, I realise that I should have omitted the superfluous clause and simply stated without any qualification: "Have someone else who is a good speller proof-read your résumé and covering letter for spelling, grammar and punctuation."

See? It is good advice to have someone else read something you've written. Even if everything is just spiffy as far as spelling, grammar and punctuation are concerned, there may nevertheless be something not quite right about the writing itself that you may not notice but that someone else can mention.

Yes, Kingswood, be subtle, understated and modest, if you wish. Keep in mind who your audience is, though. I was being complimentary in my remarks about your post. In fact, *all* I could add was the small change noted above.

Your post was excellent.

bold mine

If I WERE a Cellar regular...subjunctive mood.

;) Just messin'...

There is a resume that has been making the rounds here in LA, being emailed back and forth to audio engineers and producers, studio owners, etc.

It's from a kid who was graduating from an audio recording technical school, and looking to find a position as a runner at a studio. That's the guy who fetches lunch and straightens cables. It's the absolute bottom rung (aside from intern), but it's where everyone starts.

So, for starters, he puts a huge picture of himself in full whitey-gangster getup, with the one pegged leg on the custom jeans, gold dangling everywhere, you know the vibe. He's sitting in front of a huge mixing console, the same console that we all know because it's in every promo picture for the school he went to. (Hint - ego shots of big studio boards are not impressive if you're paying 16k a year to sit at that board).

Then, he proceeds to list this massive, monumental credits list of projects he engineered, or produced. They were mostly the "critical darlings" of the engineering world, projects that we all love, but that have never sold a million copies. He claimed to have won industry awards, been nominated for grammies in production, platinum selling albums, etc.

Ok, so, nobody with that kind of credits list is applying for a gig as a runner.

Then, and this is the kicker, HE EMAILED IT TO ALL OF THE ENGINEERS WHO HAD RECORDED THOSE SAME RECORDS! Talk about balls! The same thing happened like 50x over, where some intern or assistant was trolling through a stack of resumes, saw this one, brought it to the engineer, and said, "Um ... I thought YOU recorded Jeremy Enigk's Return of the Frog Queen."

Needless to say, with one swift move, this kid ensured that he would never get a gig in any major studio in town.

That is ballsy. Reminds me of a non-resume related story. A chick and her stud stole my checkbook when they broke into my car. About two weeks later I'm getting daily calls from the bank because they passing checks all over town. They were finally caught when they passed the check to the wrong person. They were trying to buy a bunch of camera equipment. From my girlfriend. At the store I managed. No shit. Talk about blowing an opportunity by not checking out the intended audience.

It's one reason why I like "talk like a pirate day". You can just use "be" instead of the inflected forms of the verb in all sentences. Avast! It be less messin' around.

I'm shaking the dust off my year-old resume and putting it back into circulation. I've got to make a move, geographically if necessary.

I am going through the same thing. I hate the cover letter!!!!

It's really just a formality to see how well you can kiss their ass. If they read the resume they can tell if you are qualified by the end of the summary of qualifications.

And another thing:
The other day I signed an application that said they were allowed to contact a reporting agency to get information, outside of 5 other things they listed, about my "good character".

Is there a reporting agency for this? An agency that confirms the state of your character? wtf?

I can see it now: everything came back clean and according to all this research and the recommendations, she is perfect for the job....but the team over at character research inc. says she is a bad person- so it is a no-go.

without back reading....too far anyway, has anyone heard that the use of "team player" in your description is a no no? i read it somewhere a few weeks back but then i'm looking at an engineering company (oil & gas) and they have "team player" described as to what they're looking for. now granted the website/news story i read was an "up to date/with the times (paraphrasing)" type of buzz word type of how to slut yourself to the job market. anyway, comments on the "team player" deal?

ah here it is......

cnn report

a tad more explanation....i work as an electrical designer (commercial pilot is a side gig) and there are a bunch of people working on say a compressor station. well you have to be able to get along and work with others. maybe i'm old fashioned but i don't see anything wrong with saying your a team player

Both the star quarterback, and the water boy, are team players.
They're just saying don't use it as as a shortcut because it doesn't tell them anything about you're experience, actually explain how you were a team player.

Collaborated etc...I like that...

Stealing it!! :)

I really never thought of the team player bit. I used to think it was assumed I guess.. but maybe it is not..

A recruiter just gave me a couple of tips for my IT consulting resume. I've been finding it a bit tough to find work in Florida. I'd have found a job months ago in Los Angeles.

He told me to change my job title at my last job from IT Director, to Senior Network Administrator because the title scares some people and makes them think you're after their job.


My resume also has all of the software, hardware, operating systems, protocols, etc. that I've worked on over the years in one section so I don't have to repeat it over and over with each job. I did this so I could cut down the number of pages on my resume.

They want me to go back and add each technology I used at each job even if it increases the number of pages on my resume by 2 or more pages. I was always under the impression that an employer is looking at dozens if not hundreds of resumes and doesn't have all day to read a book. They want to know what you know and where you've worked.

I guess times change.