Hello, again. I started a thread some time ago but could not find it, hence this thread.

Attached is a sanitized copy of my resume. Trying be discrete about job hunting. I’ve been at my current employer going on 8 years and it’s time to move on.

Right now I am a one man IT shop for about 120 users in a Windows environment. I know enough to fix most things but still have an MSP to back me when I need to call in the big guns. That piece worries me when marketing myself so I tend to label myself as a Jr. sysadmin for fear of getting in over my head.

I like what I do, just not where I do it. Ultimately I would like to grow into a CIO or management type position which I tried to reflect by highlighting some of the not so technical things I’ve done.

What do y’all think? I’m not sure about Technical Skills and Certification sections. A few people suggested I basically make a word cloud so more scrapers pick it up. (Seems to work since I now have even more recruiter spam hitting my mailbox.)

ResumeSanitized.pdf (128 KB)

25 Spice ups

This is just me - so take me with a grain of salt. My reaction is

  1. Skills? I hate resumes with a block of names of things that people calls skills. Backup isn’t a “skill.” SIP isn’t a “skill.” Those things can be knowledge. They can be experience. But not skills. Maybe it’s because I’m a person, not a bot.

  2. Your certifications are so obscure that it makes me want to avoid you. It tells me you don’t know anything except these brands. Unless, of course, the job you’re going for is looking for those specific certifications.

  3. In the IT supervisor section, the words “responsible for” and “maintained” are synonyms for “followed a procedure.” In other words, not innovative.

  4. “Test” plus “potential” plus “future” translates into nothing.

“Maintain a healthy network?” What did you actually do? Did you add new monitoring? Be specific. Did you handle any OS after 2003? Doesn’t sound like it. What I get out of this is that you checked that the backup ran and were in charge of the phones.

So, if I was looking for a phone guy who could run a Windows 2003 system, you’d be my guy.

Honestly, your post makes you sound more interesting than your resume.

5 Spice ups

I hate recruiter spam. I consider it spam if I suspect it’s a fraudulent offer or they give me offers to unrelated positions to IT like sales or car rentals. I’d rather have 1 serious real person reply to my application rather than 30+ spam. It also seems like you might have put too much effort into condensing it down to 1 page for someone with your experience.

I’m getting bored of the same old old-style resumes and I really don’t care about summaries of your job content unless your job title didn’t represent what you did. You see these style CVs in all different layouts but the content is pretty much the same (personal info / skills & experience / list of job titles & responsibilities)

What I want to see from a CV is what kind of jobs (titles is enough) a person has done, get a feel for the experience the person has (maybe list a top 3 of the projects throughout your career that you’ve worked on that you are really proud of and shouldn’t be linked to a specific company), the kind of responsibility the person had and so on. What is your job profile and what are you looking for?

Something that frustrates the hell out of me if a list like:
Sysadmin for Company X - 02/2009 to 11/2017

  • upgraded Win 2003 to Win 2008 server
  • migrated Exchage 2010 to O365
  • implemented, maintained an FreePBX VoIP server for 432 employees
    etc etc
    These all all just things that every sysadmin does and listing out the obvious is a waste of my time. An accountant isn’t going to list up all the sums and subtractions he or she did in a previous job, if you get my drift.

If i’m interested I’ll call the person for more detail and if I’m happy with the first impression, an interview will follow. I’d much rather see what you’re passionate about and what makes you tick than having a list that is so similar to any other Tom, Dick and Harry who’ve done system administration. A resume like this would be classified without even reading it all. It’s boring and I only want to work with passionate, creative and energetic people who will get things done. Your resume has to radiate all that and if it does, you have the job before you’ve even done the interview.

4 Spice ups

Good, good. Tear it apart. I honestly appreciate the no BS feedback. This is what I get for working with non-technical people for resume advice. (And some random dude from Monster.com.)

Not looking to be pigeon-holed into any particular brand. Was more to show what I’ve worked with? Also to garner attention from a non-techy HR person thumbing through resumes. (As in, Oh, look at this list of certs.") But a list of certs should not be the only standout point of my resume. Thinking that I’m aiming for the wrong audience.

What I’m getting so far is talk specifics and not be so general. The pick three projects I’m proud of is a good idea.

1 Spice up

I too prefer a real critical view, especially from actual IT hiring managers and professionals. This hand holding I’ve had from college to local recruiters to job fairs isn’t doing me any favors.

As for Monster, I’d strongly suggest pulling your resume from them, deleting your account, and unsubscribing to all of their emails. From my own experience with them as well as some threads elsewhere on the internet, the only thing they have to offer you is useless spam.

I believe some HR people still have enough knowhow to recognize mainstream certs such as CompTIA and CISSP even if they don’t necessarily know when and where those are useful to know what an obscure certification is.

1 Spice up

One man IT and CIO is the same thing…unless you mean CIO of a 10,000 staff organisation. Then you need yo get out of that rabbit hole and enter to a organisation and not MSP etc.

Try a position like asst mgr etc if you want entry into a management role.

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Maybe have 2 resumes. One for HR and one for technical interviews. Best of both worlds depending on the scenario; or combine them into a CV.

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Expand your CV. Keep it to less than 3 pages in total. Bullet point your major achievements to show that you are a person who is always looking to improve the environment

My first reaction: what do you do, for what role(s) are you applying? Looking at the first few paragraphs, that’s not so obvious, and you have to make it as easy as possible for the recruiter to know for which roles you might be suitable.

Second thought: you need to quantify and qualify as much as possible. There is some information, but not enough. Again, this is the sort of thing that helps to identify if you would fit into an Enterprise organisation, or purely for an SME / SMB. You need more detail on sizes of networks, server landscape etc.

Third item: many recruiters are looking to see what added value you bring. Think “Increase Sales”, “Cut Costs”, “Improve Profit Margins”. How did the migrated network benefit the business, how much did you save on your purchasing, how much end user time was saved by better support?

You indicate that you " Coded a program in C# to divert SSH commands to legacy system " - but what does that mean for the business? You have to look at it from the point of view of the recruiter, they are unlikely to have any technical knowledge to know if that would be of real benefit, or just a hobby project.

Hope that helps. Best of luck.

2 Spice ups

Problem is, Lumabits, that while you would like a list of job titles (e.g. sysadmin is self explanatory, of course you did X and Y), some bosses hiring would see just the title and go "he was sysadmin for 8 years and can’t name ONE thing that he did! Others still will scan for “migrated to O365” because that’s what their business really needs right now and they want someone with experience, and others still just want to see that they did “a lot” they can name without really reading it; they just want to see that there’s a lot of writing there.

At least, that’s my impression. It’s impossible to please everybody and you just don’t know the person hiring. While I see a lot of people nowadays who seem bored of the same old CV structure and would be much more inclined to hire someone who had a CV that was formatted very differently, I’m not convinced the majority don’t want something more classic.Take christ.hone.5688 for example; he thinks a CV needs to be less than 3 pages. That can be quite a lot of writing. I get the impression, Lumabits, that you’d rather have something that was only a single page so you can read it quickly, so long as it contained relevant information.

That’s not meant to be a direct criticism, so sorry if it comes across that way; it’s more to express a counter opinion, so the OP sees that he may just have to accept he cannot please every person hiring, and to make the CV in the way he thinks is most appropriate. Take advice from other people, sure, that’s why you ask in the first place, but know that you may get people dismissing your CV either way based on their personality alone (which you can’t know), so don’t be disheartened by it, and don’t spend every waking moment trying to make a CV that universally pleases people- I just don’t think you can.

Good luck.

Edit: Sorry, just expressing my frustration in how wildly different I’ve seen hiring managers respond to questions like this, saying so flippantly they’d “dismiss any CV that didn’t X”- some throw out any CV shorter than 3 pages, some won’t read that much and throw out CVs that can’t be concise to 2, some want to see a list of things per role no matter what it says, some couldn’t care less…

6 Spice ups

Some observations:

Aesthetically, find some a better layout. Google any resume template and you’ll see a million out there that are cleaner than that one.

Most of which has already been said: nuke those certs, unless you’re looking to be a guy from an older technology company. You’re trying to demonstrate managerial experience/aptitudes, you might want to include something about working with the MSP. When do you have to call them? Are you responsible for maintaining that relationship? So is your current domain still 2003? Do you have any management experience, aside from what you’ve listed here (not much) and titles? How many people? What job roles?

If you are currently doing something, then use the present tense. If you had done it, then put it under another section as being something like a project, unless it was at a previous position.

Advice going forward:

Create a massive resume. Seriously. Add everything you can to every one of those positions (10 years is fine). Now, when you apply to a job, make a copy of that original resume and start deleting stuff that isn’t relevant to that position. Target your resume towards specific jobs.

3 Spice ups

Chances of getting even a call or email back diminish exponentially with the amount of pages.
I know quite a few people who point blank refuse to even read page 2… so be short and leave the details for the interview, don’t shoot yourself in the foot before the show starts.

1 Spice up

One thing about resumes is there are plenty that are written as one-size-fits-all and only answer the question, “What are the candidate’s skills, knowledge, and experience?”

Consider this: Even someone who is a complete screw-up at their job can put down a list of titles, dates, and responsibilities, but how do you give the hiring manager context?

What a resume is really telling the employer is that you not only have the background and responsibilities relevant to their needs, but you executed them well and found ways of improving. You’re trying to explain that you’re not only the right fit for the job, but won’t make them look like an idiot to their staff and fellow managers for hiring you.

You also need to focus the content on the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the specific job you’re applying for by editing out or at least rearranging what they’re not looking for.

Here’s an example - assume the hiring manager is looking for a Windows server administrator for a virtualized datacenter:

CANDIDATE #1:

Setup and maintained Linux and Windows servers. Updated Active Directory, completed backups, and administered Hyper-V.

CANDIDATE #2:

Introduced virtualization and migrated 18 bare metal Windows servers to VMs on two HyperV hosts without degradation of services to organization. Improved reliability of server farm by reducing equipment involved, and added ability to migrate VMs among hosts in support of disaster recovery. Also experienced with setup, configuration, and maintenance of Linux servers including virtualization.

Or how about a C# developer: Which of these two would you hire? The one where what you need is listed third with no explanation, or the candidate who lists the language you need at the top and explains how they applied it and why it was successful.

DEV CANDIDATE #1:

Languages: Python, Java, C#, VB

DEV CANDIDATE #2:

Languages:

C# - Completed 11 major projects and many minor ones in this language: 3 responsive websites using MVC framework (2015-present), 5 Webforms websites (2003-2013), 3 major desktop applications. Responsive MVC website produced 15% improvement in ease of use response on Net Promoter Score survey.

Java - etc,

Python - etc.

6 Spice ups

Get rid of the term “skills” and use “ancillary areas”. Or just simply list the systems you’re familiar with. Personally I haven’t updated this area in quite awhile.

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One thing I’ve found with getting CV/resume advice is…

1, Everyone will have an opinion.

2, They are all right.

3, They are all different.

Good luck

6 Spice ups

I really agree with Robert5205. Not to be offensive, but your resume is boring and does not make you stand-out. There are plenty of better, cleaner formats out there, also. If I were browsing resumes and yours was in the mix, I would probably pass it unless I was looking for that exact set of skills, and was required in my position to fully read and research you as a potential candidate.

1 Spice up

I think you should have a standard resume, listing everything you do, along with all major projects and accomplishments that you’ve completed. BUT this resume should never be distributed or sent out.

You should be scouring the various sites for jobs that look interesting to you. Then customize your resume to highlight the needs/wants that the specific job is looking for. This shows each employer, that you have the skills they are looking for. If there are major accomplishments that they don’t specifically ask for, you can include those as well. This custom resume will get your through the “HR round” and hopefully in contact with the hiring manager.

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Just going to be saying what’s already been said. The ‘skills’ are just knowledge you’ve picked up. The certifications are so specific that they are almost meaningless (unless you’re going into a business that utilizes them). I imagine you’re obfuscating some of the information, but I’d like to see business names, time working there and a school name/GPA.

Oddly enough, my CV has this exact format and is about 3 pages long. When I was searching for work about 2 years ago, I managed to get about a hundred calls per week - not spam emails, but genuine calls with real jobs on the other end. Of course, it does very much depend on where you live, where you’re looking to work, and what the other side is looking for. As always, your mileage will vary.

With that said, I think a list like this is helpful. This isn’t what every sysadmin does, and I can guarantee the sysadmin down the road has a vastly different experience to what I’ve been doing for the past 2 years. There may be some overlaps, but it’s a completely different environment he has to cater for and maintain. They may be using Veeam more than anything, whilst we’re using Hyper-V. They may not use tape backups - we do. This experience list really does highlight the similarities and differences when applying for a new job, and hopefully then the management of the new company will be able to see where the potentially weak and strong points are, and make a decision on that (as well as how well you perform in the interview, etc.).