CV advice after and review plaese

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Ok, I have now some Cisco Experience, not as an engineer , but it would make more sense that I walked into my previous role because of my CCNA , right ? Or how would you make sense of having me into that job without a previous knowledge or experience?


You are sticking to the name of the certificate (EA ) I’m not saying that I will EA and an experience employer would not think like that any way , but it will demonstrate the fact that I have got the ability and some Admin skills that I could apply to a smaller role than an Admin and be able to pick up thinks quicker . I m going to the do the course as I paid for it 2 months ago. Also how can my cv explain why I did not apply or get any IT job while I m doing my MCITP? If I don’t include it in my CV ?

 

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Read my CV please and you tell me

 

Christ on a bike! Thats bloody cramped as hell.

So lets start at the top (ignoring what other people have already said)...

Consider reworking your Quals section to place items in chronological order - Its not necessarily hard and fast this one as many others would argue that your way might be better. Personally I would like year, institute, then the qualification earned.

Key Technical skills feels too wordy. You want your skills to leap out at the reader. Really, I would personally say that key skills should mainly be technologies - but I'm a developer and that makes more sense to me perhaps. In either case, see if you can make this section less wordy, and more.... well, more.... just more. You know what I mean.

Change Career summary to Employment history

Add Months to your dates. Sure you worked from 2009-2010, but that means sweet F.A. - Was that Dec 2009 - Jan 2010?

Career bullets can be wordy, thats fine, but try to make it punchy (theres the word I was looking for!) if you can.

Remove "Career SUmmary Cont" its superfluous and unneccessary.

Consider placing your Job title and Company on the left hand side. An employer is less interested in when you did it, and more in what you did for whom. Also indent the responsibilities list slightly more to the right (one tab ought to do it). I place it like this:

Lose some of the detail from non-IT related jobs where possible. You can better use that space to expand on IT roles and responsibilities.

Lose Interests and Voluntary Work. They are unneccessary, and take up space you could be better using. What you like doing is of little relevance at CV stage, and they can just ask you at interview. (You could consider bending this if you happen to know that the manager reading your CV shares a hobby). In any case, these will be stripped out by Agencies, so why bother with them.

Lose References - it's expected of everyone that references are available upon request. Why waste the space stating the obvious?

Lastly, Don't get too caught up in the whole "2 Page CV" ethos. If your IT experience (in particular) forces you beyond 2 pages, then let it. It's better to have a well formatted CV that is pleasing to read and get details from, than a cramped CV in 2 pages. That said, dont get carried away and submit a thesis. The point (and I know others on here disagree with me) is to ensure that your CV is as short as possible, by cutting out the dross, not by reducing the font size to 4pt and losing any white space.

 

That was a fantastic advice and much appreciated to most of the points that you mentioned. Problem is, I don’t know how to make brief and less cramped. I just don’t want to lost some points. My first language is NOT English and that6s why I found it bit tricky.

Can you also tell me if I should include my CCNA and my intention of getting the MCITP in my CV or not

Regards

 

You can walk into any role without knowing anything about it if you're good at talking, certification is supposed to mean you're capable of doing the job, can you honestly say hand on heart that you're really a great Cisco engineer? Honestly? by only supporting it over the phone and not actually having gotten your hands dirty in the field?

If so then that sure as hell makes me a gynecologist because I have managed to watch some pretty intrusive porn in my time and I can tell you it was right up close and nasty.

You state you're about to start your MCITP:EA, that means you 'should' be an experienced Enterprise level administrator NOW, the course is there to prove to your employers that actually you are ready. The course isn't there to give you the skills, it's to PROVE the skills.

I interviewed someone today who was supposed to come in and take over my role, his CV looked great, had the right qualifications and 'experience' but when I asked him how to demote a DC from AD he didn't have a clue, needless to say the interview didn't last too much longer after that.

 

I am at work and I dont open attachments at work.

 

Hi Simon,

II have no doubt of your experience, but it seems that you did not read my CV and job role and experience. I did do some Cisco config , it was NOT over the phone . I used to log into the Switches and routers and do the config myself. What about the Cisco FW I mentioned, how do you think I managed to configure them? OVER the Phone????? Nop ! I did not even study that in my CCNA as its not part of it .

I just also wrote in my previous reply and explained that I DON’T CONSIDER MYSELD AN EA ADMIN and took it from there further .
Thanks for the jok though!

 

Fair enough, you do work late mate! I look forward to hearing from you after opening my CV in a more convenient location or time then.

Thanks

 

I work two jobs and anyway someone has to look after this network malarky, back everything up and setup audits to check for suspicious network activity.

 

I can't talk to the CCNA to be honest. But I think you are getting too caught up in that. Improve your CV first, then worry about the CCNA. Having it on your CV is the least of your worries right at this very second.

First off, to make it less cramped, make the formatting changes - leave the words as they are. You're CV will look miles better once correctly formatted. Then you can start looking at changing wording to make it more concise

 

Han,

Initially you did just say that you had CCNA and A+ and struggling to get an IT job. You were not specific about what discipline or level of role you were looking for.

So lets say you are trying to get a general 1st line tech support role. They offer a pretty terrible wage and not much else in the way of perks. You come along with your CCNA and what do you think they will conclude from that? They will think "This guy will use us as stop gap until something better comes along and then be off"

This is why people recommend you remove it - if you are just looking for any old IT job. Should you go for a more lucrative role with good financial reward then your CCNA could well aid you. It will show them that you have good theoretical skills regarding Networking and Cisco devices. Furthermore you have professional exposure to them. I said at the beginning you needed to pad your CV out a bit and make yourself more marketable because A+ won't land you that 2nd line (well it might but it will be more difficult), better paid role. The role where they won't worry as much that you'll run for the hills as soon as something better comes along. Therefore you are stuck in two extremes... maybe not qualified to get a 2nd line role but over qualified for a 1st.

So evaluate each application you make .... if you need work desperately and apply for a 1st line non networking role then remove it. If you apply for a networking role, entry net eng or whatever then add it. If you are applying for a second line role, add it.

You can't really expect people to tell you if you should or not because only you know what you are applying for and have to evaluate it on your own terms. That's my opinion on it anyway

 

That was a really clear and to the point advice Simon . I did not think that employers would think like that ! I dont consider leaving an employer that Im happy with and without hving a real good reason by any chance .

Thats Clear and also funny way of thinking ( Employer thought S) , at least to myself

 

The thing is... to advance in IT, you sometimes have to leave the employer you're with. And employers know this. It's just a fact of life and business; good employees move up. And if there's not a spot in the company with increased responsibilities, you pretty much HAVE to go elsewhere.

Consider a guy who gets a job at Geek Squad. Eventually they can promote him to Senior Agent (or whatever their higher-level position is called)... but after that, then what? There's not likely a server for him to admin or routers for him to configure... so the next step up would be a desktop admin role at a company, preferably one where he can help administer servers.

So... loyalty is great... but you don't want to be the guy who stays in an entry-level job forever. I've met far too many of those techs.

In any case, what E0 said about most entry-level employers not desiring someone with a CCNA is spot-on accurate. Employers don't typically hire entry-level folks to administer routers, so for your run-of-the-mill entry-level job, you might consider leaving the CCNA off. If you're applying for a Cisco router admin position, leave it on. The choice is yours... this is just an opinion from someone on the other side of the interview table.

 

I haven't looked at your CV, sorry. But you know whether you've administered Cisco devices or not... you don't need me to tell you! If you have, then you have.

What other job should you apply for? Whatever you have the experience to do. There are plenty of jobs out there doing IT support of all sorts. Just keep in mind that most employers who are seeking Cisco admins are going to prefer (or require) techs with a couple years of experience. By all means, apply... just be realistic with your expectations, considering the current employment situation out there, with experienced admins seeking work.

 

Many thansk for the general advice . Cant read my CV ? not to worry !

 

There's no need for me to download and read your CV; you've already received plenty of good advice. All you need to do is follow it rather than ask the same questions regarding your CCNA over and over and over again.

 

I do ask people to read it so that it gives more insight to give the right advice , rather than staying a way from the point and give an advice based on a blurb idea or thought .

 

I understand, and agree that it is helpful to get advice. But you've already been given a lot of good advice, have you not?

Consider: at some point, getting more advice can be counterproductive. Case in point, your CCNA. After being given tons of solid advice as to whether you should leave it on, take it off, leave it on, take it off, you were STILL asking whether you should leave it on or not. By this point, it should be clear to you what you should do based on the collective opinions you've received.

Similarly, adding my opinion with regards to your CV might also do nothing more than confuse you: I'm either going to agree with what's been said, or I'm going to disagree with what's been said. If I agree, you're no better off than if you had just followed their advice. If I disagree, it's likely to cause you more confusion. For example, I put logos on my resume; Simon doesn't like them. I am a big advocate of a short CV; Fergal is OK with longer ones. Who is right? Neither - because it's an opinion thing. But none of it brings you any closer to the definitive answers you seek, because there is no black-and-white answer to many of the questions you raise. It's an art, and you're going to have to find out what works for you.

 

In the process of changing some bit and peices in my CV , and will attach it again for whome I received a direct advice for their atention .

Thanks