How is my CV

Discussion in 'Employment & Jobs' started by griffin84, Aug 2, 2012.

  1. griffin84

    griffin84 New Member

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    Afternoon,

    I am considering not completing my final year and instead looking for a 1st line position with that in mind I would appreciate if you guys could critique my cv and give me some tips thanks in advance.

    Thomas
     

    Attached Files:

    Certifications: Hnd IT Support, Hnc IT support, Mcdst, A+
    WIP: Bsc Networking
  2. Adzmobile

    Adzmobile Nibble Poster

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    Just my opinion.. could be wrong

    1. Remove 1st line support under name.. unnecessary.
    2. You list 3 jobs there but you dont mention anything about what you did.. you should put as much detail as possible and try relate it to IT as much as possible. Even if you dont have the necessary IT skills you should then focus on customer service as that is also a very important part of support.
    3. You put 'Duties' but duties of what? Sorry i didnt get it.. and i'm assuming others won't either.. why is that randomly placed there without any link to a position?
    4. The expertise from your perspective may be good however, what organisation has windows 8 dev? Its not necessary.. instead do you have windows 7 experience? That is probably more relevant and requried in the market. Also what experience with those products do you have? Why not put them down saying you built a domain you created test AD envrionment you know how to administer accounts etc.. for example.
    5. You barely have any key words which is how recruiters find your CV so you need to look at job positions and then look at your own CV, would you pick yourself from looking at the advert?
    6. Also don't go too deep it is unlikely you will be touching SQL and VMware environments as a 1st like support... perhaps VMware with basic admin rights but definately not SQL servers.. focus on troubleshooting issues how would you fix a printer for example.. what is the steps you would take.. checking the printer for errors, network connectivity, is it effecting 1 user or many?

    Hope that helps
     
    Certifications: Commvault Administrator, CCNA, ITILv3, CCA for XenApp 6, CCAA for XenApp 6.5, CCA for XenDesktop 5, CCA for NetScaler 9.2, CCA for XenServer 6,VMware VCP5, VSTP 5, HP SMB Storage, Citrix Certified Enterprise Engineer (CCEE), EMCISA, VCAP-DCA
    WIP: DCUCI
  3. Sparky
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Formatting – change it
    Skill levels? – change it
    Advanced Windows XP? Sorry – you need to have hands on experience in a production environment for that.
    Remove Cisco\VMware\Linux\SQL\Oracle.

    You need to expand what you have done at work and perhaps more on your HND.
     
    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
    WIP: Microsoft Certs
  4. griffin84

    griffin84 New Member

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    Hi just read both of your comments and thanks to both of you's! I suppose I was a bit naive and rushed when doing it and failed to look at keywords, formatting etc as well as giving examples of my work as I have a folder full of them and was planning to take it to interviews (if I got any)

    Should I expand into two or more pages as I was afraid of it not being looked at if their was more than one page?

    The skills level things was actually a recommendation from my lecturer I wouldn't have thought of it myself!

    I'll re-do it on my next day off and spend some time going through example cv's then.

    Cheers again!
     
    Certifications: Hnd IT Support, Hnc IT support, Mcdst, A+
    WIP: Bsc Networking
  5. The Zig

    The Zig Kilobyte Poster

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    Yeah, unless there's something to back up the skill levels I'd ditch that. It looks like you're trying to dress a guess up with numbers to make it look "scientific" - and unless you have some kind of test to back up the numbers, I reckon someone'll call you out on it.

    And yes, the formatting needs a little work. Especially toward the bottom where the headings get out of line, and you've got bullet points and white-space floating around. Looks cluttered. If you need two pages, go for two. It's about standard, I'd say.

    If you talk about your duties for each role, especially customer facing and techie bits, I reckon you'll be good.
     
    Certifications: A+; Network+; Security+, CTT+; MCDST; 4 x MTA (Networking, OS, Security & Server); MCITP - Enterprise Desktop Support; MCITP - Enterprise Desktop Administrator; MCITP - Server Administrator; MCSA - Server 2008; MCT; IOSH; CCENT
    WIP: CCNA; Server 2012; LPIC; JNCIA?
  6. ade1982

    ade1982 Megabyte Poster

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    For a first line role, they probably want to see you can use Word competently. I might even be inclined to format the entire thing as a table (without borders), if you are going to keep it like that, or even just find any one of the 10 million sample CVs on the net and modify it, so that it suits you.

    Also, it's standard for a CV to be two pages (but don't make it two pages for the sake of it), and you really need to get in about how your existing work experience makes you suitable for this role, particularly along the lines of being customer-focused.

    As mentioned, the skill levels are a bit pointless. What is the level referring to? The only levels that really exist are like the QCF, and level 7 on that is Doctoral. You can't be a doctoral student in Windows XP. Also looking at your experience, you won't have touched Windows Server, so you might not know how Group Policy, for example, affects Windows XP.
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2012
  7. griffin84

    griffin84 New Member

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    Right so I spent some time today going through my old CV and tried as best as I could to take everybodies opinions on board though I am struggling with what would be considered good 'keywords'

    So I would appreciate it if you's could again take some time to look at my CV 2.0 and let me know

    Cheers :unsure
     

    Attached Files:

    Certifications: Hnd IT Support, Hnc IT support, Mcdst, A+
    WIP: Bsc Networking
  8. The Zig

    The Zig Kilobyte Poster

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    Much, much better IMO. The formatting is nicer and you better flesh out what each job role means.

    Before it goes live you should fine-comb it for grammar. Unlike a web-forum, a CV is supposed to present our best. It may seem unfair, but people do seem to regard grammar errors as a sign of laziness. And some are really anal. Two things jump out at me:-
    1) As far as I can see, all three commas in your opening paragraphs should be stops, as they're all separate sentences. If a stop seems too 'hard', and you want the sentences to blend together more, consider a dash or semi-colon.
    2) I would advise some consistency in the capitalisation and abbreviation of terms you use. It just looks lazy calling something "Ms office" here and "Microsoft office" there, "outlook" here and "Outlook" there, "Operating systems" here and "OS’s" there. Personally I would kill all the variants and just use: "Microsoft Office" "Outlook" and "Operating Systems"

    Last of all: you have the A+ and MCDST certification! Good work. Now donwload those logos from Microsoft and CompTIA and get them on your CV - that's what they're for! They catch the eye, show what you've got at a glance, and, used well, add a professional touch.
     
    Certifications: A+; Network+; Security+, CTT+; MCDST; 4 x MTA (Networking, OS, Security & Server); MCITP - Enterprise Desktop Support; MCITP - Enterprise Desktop Administrator; MCITP - Server Administrator; MCSA - Server 2008; MCT; IOSH; CCENT
    WIP: CCNA; Server 2012; LPIC; JNCIA?
    griffin84 likes this.
  9. Sparky
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Much better :)
     
    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
    WIP: Microsoft Certs
  10. griffin84

    griffin84 New Member

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    Thanks very much for everyone's input, I do appreciate it!

    The Zig -- My friend is an English teacher so I'll have him look it over as he isn't doing much else at the moment and because I suck at grammar. I will also put my Comptia and Mcdst logos on it!!

    Hopefully I'll get some more interest in my CV now. :biggrin
     
    Certifications: Hnd IT Support, Hnc IT support, Mcdst, A+
    WIP: Bsc Networking
  11. Gav

    Gav Kilobyte Poster

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    CV2 is much better than CV1, but you really need to check your grammar/capitalisation. You'd probably be out in the first round of CV sifting, regardless of your technical ability.

    I'd actually disagree with 'The Zig'. I was looking at CVs for my replacement with my current manager, and we found that the inclusion of logos was excessive and off-putting. A well formatted, text only, CV worked much better. I suppose people's opinions vary, but I'd avoid chucking massive Microsoft logos on your CV. I stopped including certification logos on my e-mail signature for the same reasons.

    - Gav
     
  12. ade1982

    ade1982 Megabyte Poster

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    Also don't write "it", always write it out in full, or if you can find a reason not to do that, at least put "I.T.". Pet peeve of mine is when people write "maths" instead of writing it out in full.

    In the personal statement, at least mention that you have a good range of technical skills, and you are committed to learning, as evidenced by the MCDST and A+. Unless a job requires shift working, take out the ability to work shifts bit. You could just write "I am able to work flexibly", which is more concise, and is adequate. Biggest thing that I noticed how you phrased your opening statement is "as well as learning from previous experiences" ... I read that as "I make a lot of mistakes."

    Working down:

    "In this role I was heavily involved in customer interaction which included tasks such as taking orders through our SAP system, dealing with customer phone calls and requests for stock. I actively demonstrate products in our store and advice customers on best practice on how to use the products effectively. I also create how to guides using Ms office 2003/10."

    Make it a bit more punchy, along the lines of "In a customer-facing role, taking orders through our SAP system and troubleshooting with customers over the telephone. Demonstrating products and services the company offers. In this role I developed many of the user guides, which now serve as operational manuals."

    Never think of it as what you have done, as unless it is very specific, it's not really going to be of interest. Always think of it as "what skills have I demonstrated?"

    Try and do that for each of the roles for your next revision, and I don't think you will go far wrong.

    As far as your education, you almost look like you are hiding it. Formatting would be the key to solving that problem. Bolding text would certainly be useful. You've put Operating systems twice, under a similar guise. If your project was interesting (to anyone else)/useful, and not just theoretical, then that might be something to emphasise, and go into a bit more depth.

    If you are creating and managing accounts in Win Server, you could put that you have a "working knowledge of Active Directory", which just covers a multitude of sins.

    Down the bottom, you have "Creation & alteration of floor plans when planning an office or network install." This would suggest you have had some responsibility in planning a real-world project, so why isn't it higher up your list of attributes?!

    Do another iteration, and then we can refine it again (as with all CVs) I hope this is helpful and sound advice.
     
    griffin84 likes this.

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