Resume Update
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Working on the next draft right now. Something I'm currently considering are listing expired certs.
On one hand an expired cert is still an earned cert, and the skills learned may still be useful for whatever position you seek. On the other hand if the expired cert doesn't have any direct relevance to the position you seek (example, I have my CCNA and Network+ on the resume, but I'm targeting positions within systems administration), ought it take space on a resume.
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@EddieJennings said in Resume Update:
Something I'm currently considering are listing expired certs.
If you are listing any certs, list them. Don't consider if something is or isn't expired AT ALL. It's a ridiculous concept that means nothing to an employer.
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@EddieJennings said in Resume Update:
On one hand an expired cert is still an earned cert
That's really the only hand here.
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@EddieJennings said in Resume Update:
On the other hand if the expired cert doesn't have any direct relevance to the position you seek (example, I have my CCNA and Network+ on the resume, but I'm targeting positions within systems administration), ought it take space on a resume.
That's not really a good way to look at it. While those aren't system admin roles, they are full of general IT knowledge that system admins need to know. You list three college degrees that don't even begin to show the range of relevance as the Network+. Why show the degrees, but not the Net+? If you showed the Net+ but not the degrees, that would make way more sense.
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Update:
@EddieJennings said in Resume Update:
On the other hand if the expired cert doesn't have any direct relevance to the position you seek (example, I have my CCNA and Network+ on the resume, but I'm targeting positions within systems administration), ought it take space on a resume.
That's not really a good way to look at it. While those aren't system admin roles, they are full of general IT knowledge that system admins need to know. You list three college degrees that don't even begin to show the range of relevance as the Network+. Why show the degrees, but not the Net+? If you showed the Net+ but not the degrees, that would make way more sense.
True. Upon further thinking the other hand really isn't a valid hand.
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If you are worried about expiration of a cert, don't. No one presents their certs as current, and no one cares if they are.
You earned a Net+, put the date that you earned it. Really, it's keeping it current that's the less impressive. Yours expired because you moved on, you aren't a newbie anymore. Someone who keeps updating an old, low level cert implies that they've not moved on. In IT, you want those certs to expire because you should be on to the next level or next topic. Onward and upward, not treading water.
With over 150 certs, imagine the time and cost I'd put in to purely recertifying things I already know and have proven over and over again, just to keep up the ones that I already earned rather than learning new things or, you know, just working!
The expiring cert concept makes no sense and effectively just flags a certification authority as seeing themselves as irrelevant.
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Not much has changed for draft 3.
I've considered adding a summary statement, but declined for this draft.
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@EddieJennings said in Resume Update:
I've considered adding a summary statement, but declined for this draft.
I generally don't. If you do, keep it super short "Systems Focused IT Practitioner Seeking Career Growth, Systems-focused Role" or something that just says who you are and what you want. Nothing more. But it can backfire, if you describe yourself in a way that they don't like, or you describe a role that they don't realize matches (or doesn't match) what you say, you can lose something you otherwise would have had.
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@EddieJennings said in Resume Update:
Not much has changed for draft 3.
I've considered adding a summary statement, but declined for this draft.
I think a summary is important for a few reasons:
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You get a change to provide the narrative and tell the reader how you want your resume read. @scottalanmiller sees this is a negative, but I see this as a positive. If their position doesn't align with your summary, do you even want the position anyway? I also believe this area is even more important if you are changing roles. Because you will get the chance her to show your new direction
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People reviewing resumes will appreciate it, because it is a 10 second spiel where you give a quick overview of yourself. It is a time saver for them.
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Do the simple math for your interviewer. Add up your experience in years and certifications in numbers. I would say something like
10+ years in system administration, consulting, and engineering. If I see a statement like that right off the bat, you have 10 years experience and that pops right into my head.
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@IRJ said in Resume Update:
- People reviewing resumes will appreciate it, because it is a 10 second spiel where you give a quick overview of yourself. It is a time saver for them.
This is the greatest potential benefit I see from having the summary statement. Though many of these I've seen on the resumes that have come by me read as thoughtless filler.
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@IRJ said in Resume Update:
@scottalanmiller sees this is a negative, but I see this as a positive.
Not always a negative, but it's a risk. For example, you see a position that you are perfect for and you say so. They don't know what to call the position and perceive the same job as a different title and rule you out because you knew too much.
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@scottalanmiller said in Resume Update:
@IRJ said in Resume Update:
@scottalanmiller sees this is a negative, but I see this as a positive.
Not always a negative, but it's a risk. For example, you see a position that you are perfect for and you say so. They don't know what to call the position and perceive the same job as a different title and rule you out because you knew too much.
I don't put my position. I put my experience. Everything is pretty general and would not disqualify me for any position.
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@IRJ said in Resume Update:
I don't put my position. I put my experience. Everything is pretty general and would not disqualify me for any position.
After work, I'll do some drafting of either bullets like that or a single sentence and see which seems better.
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With Draft 4, which I think is close to the final draft, I chose a one sentence statement to replace the horizontal row.
Any more text (unless I kill some of the white space, which I hesitate to do for readability), and this spills into a second page. While second pages aren't the end of the world, I don't yet have enough substance to make good use of it.
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@EddieJennings said in Resume Update:
With Draft 4, which I think is close to the final draft, I chose a one sentence statement to replace the horizontal row.
Any more text (unless I kill some of the white space, which I hesitate to do for readability), and this spills into a second page. While second pages aren't the end of the world, I don't yet have enough substance to make good use of it.
I really like it. The only thing I'd say is your summary statement looks out of place. I think it needs a heading or something. Other than that it looks really clean
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@IRJ said in Resume Update:
@EddieJennings said in Resume Update:
With Draft 4, which I think is close to the final draft, I chose a one sentence statement to replace the horizontal row.
Any more text (unless I kill some of the white space, which I hesitate to do for readability), and this spills into a second page. While second pages aren't the end of the world, I don't yet have enough substance to make good use of it.
I really like it. The only thing I'd say is your summary statement looks out of place. I think it needs a heading or something. Other than that it looks really clean
Thanks. That's something I'm considering. To give it a heading, I'd need to remove some bullets from the experience section. If I did, these three are currently on the chopping block.
Managed integration between Active Directory and HR data sources
Configured load balancing and TLS offloading for line of business application servers
Served as escalation point for L1 / L2 technicians. -
@EddieJennings said in Resume Update:
@IRJ said in Resume Update:
@EddieJennings said in Resume Update:
With Draft 4, which I think is close to the final draft, I chose a one sentence statement to replace the horizontal row.
Any more text (unless I kill some of the white space, which I hesitate to do for readability), and this spills into a second page. While second pages aren't the end of the world, I don't yet have enough substance to make good use of it.
I really like it. The only thing I'd say is your summary statement looks out of place. I think it needs a heading or something. Other than that it looks really clean
Thanks. That's something I'm considering. To give it a heading, I'd need to remove some bullets from the experience section. If I did, these three are currently on the chopping block.
Managed integration between Active Directory and HR data sources
Configured load balancing and TLS offloading for line of business application servers
Served as escalation point for L1 / L2 technicians.It's an easy choice for me. Get rid of the training team members bullet point
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Also you don't have any Linux test systems or anything in your current role? If you did you might move those to front of skills and windows in the back. Keep the other skills in between.
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@IRJ said in Resume Update:
Also you don't have any Linux test systems or anything in your current role? If you did you might move those to front of skills and windows in the back. Keep the other skills in between.
Unfortunately no. Current role is truly 99% Windows with about 1% of appliances.
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@IRJ said in Resume Update:
@EddieJennings said in Resume Update:
@IRJ said in Resume Update:
@EddieJennings said in Resume Update:
With Draft 4, which I think is close to the final draft, I chose a one sentence statement to replace the horizontal row.
Any more text (unless I kill some of the white space, which I hesitate to do for readability), and this spills into a second page. While second pages aren't the end of the world, I don't yet have enough substance to make good use of it.
I really like it. The only thing I'd say is your summary statement looks out of place. I think it needs a heading or something. Other than that it looks really clean
Thanks. That's something I'm considering. To give it a heading, I'd need to remove some bullets from the experience section. If I did, these three are currently on the chopping block.
Managed integration between Active Directory and HR data sources
Configured load balancing and TLS offloading for line of business application servers
Served as escalation point for L1 / L2 technicians.It's an easy choice for me. Get rid of the training team members bullet point
Tough for me to let go of that particular bullet point. I think my teaching skills can bring value to whatever team I'm in.
