Need some feedback on CV

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After numerous applications I am not getting any hits....
will appreciate if you guys can highlight any modifications needed

 

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I'd shorten the person profile and put my experience immediately after the profile as that's what employers are after. The CCNA and comptia cert logos can be at the bottom of the page as well.

Lastly, try and tailor your CV for a helpdesk first line customer facing role as once you've built your experience then you're set.

 

I thought you were looking for your first IT job. If you're currently working part-time as a tech, then you are already GETTING experience! Sure, it's part time, but still... it's experience that a lot of people don't have. Thus, that experience you're getting is a huge advantage, especially when applying for entry-level jobs! After all, your competition is made up primarily of folks who don't have ANY experience. You may not even have to settle for an entry-level job, though I would encourage you to continue to apply for them as well.

Do you have business hands-on experience with Cisco routers and switches, or is your hands-on experience limited to your home lab? Working with them in a lab or studying about the theory of how things should work is a lot different than working with them in a real-life business IT situation. Thus, employers generally only consider business IT experience as "experience".

Still, you are sufficiently vague regarding your router/switch/hub experience in your Work Experience section that an employer might assume that your Cisco experience IS real-world work experience. So that shouldn't be what's getting your CV binned.

So... why are employers not pursuing you? :hhhmmm

I don't want to automatically assume that the CCNA is the problem, but my previous advice regarding the CCNA being "too high-powered" for those level jobs might still be valid.

It seems that your "technical skills" don't line up well with what you've been doing part-time as a tech.

Your degrees should be an asset. However, it is possible that employers think that they can't afford someone with a Masters degree, so they don't even try. Silly, huh? But that's how it works sometimes. Seeming overqualified scares off employers who are hiring for entry-level positions.

There are a few minor things I saw, but none of these should get your CV binned, I wouldn't think:

- Your spacing is inconsistent. Some words have one space between them... some have three or four.
- Your Capitalization is Inconsistent. Some words are Capitalized, some are Not. Like This Sentence. See what I Mean?
- You are missing articles (a, an, the), conjunctions (and, but, or), and punctuation (commas, periods) in places where they should be placed. I can point them out to you if you need them.
- Get that A+ done. It's good that you've listed the A+ as a WIP... but employers don't care what you're "gonna do"... they care about what you "have done".
- Your bullets in your Responsibilities sections should all start with verbs. For example, your first bullet starts out Troubleshooting, which is fine... but your second bullet is simply "OS". Doing what to it? Supporting it? Installing it? Troubleshooting it? Using it?
- Catalyst should be capitalized.
- "comprising of" does not use proper grammar. From Gregg: the parts compose (make up) the whole; the whole comprises the parts; the whole is composed of (not "is comprised of") the parts. You could say, "I love to spend time working on my home lab, which consists of (or even "which comprises") Cisco 2600 routers, 2501 routers, and 2900 Catalyst switches.

Although little things cause an employer to make mental "tick marks" of a sort, I don't think any of that would cause an employer to disregard you out-of-hand. Certainly worth cleaning up, however.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the feedback Guys

Boson pointed out quite a few points that I need to brush up on...I have used word wrap and hence the words are not evenly spaced, nope...I dont have any experience on routers and switches execpt my home lab..which I know does not count as "real experiance", for quite a while I did not put my parttime experince on the CV as I just help him out on the weekends...and my days off, but than if I didnt put anything at all,my CV would end up straight in the bin, rather than atleast being glanced at...

I am going to try out all the points and give it a go...and hope for the best.

Thanks

 

No, no, word wrap is fine. In fact, you SHOULD use word wrap instead of hard returns. If you don't, your resume could look like this on someone elses computer:

I am very familiar with routers, as
I
have worked with them in a business
IT
environment for several years.

See what I mean?

What you are probably meaning isn't word wrap - it's "Justify" spacing, like what newspapers use. That can cause your words to look like there are multiple spaces in between words when there are only single spaces. I might be in the minority, but I prefer aligning text along the left margin.

The problem is that there are sometimes actual typed spaces between words. For example, look between the words "to" and "apply" in your profile... there are three typed spaces there. In your qualifications, there are two spaces between "A+" and "due", and between "in" and "April".

If it were me, I'd line those qualification dates up with tabs.

 

If it is just for a first line role I'd be tempted to maybe create a 2nd CV.

The experience in your part-time job imho looks really good for a first line role, but they may be wondering why someone who is so good with Cisco Switches/Routers etc.. is applying for these roles.

I'd personally move the experience up above qualifications and also set your profile to match the jobs you are applying for.

If its callcentre jobs ur applying for then they'll probably want to see that you can troubleshoot, resolve issues etc..

I'd also consider dashing out a covering letter with what u hope to achieve.

as I say just my humble opinion.

 

I was told off a lot of agencies not to put logos on my CV (which I did at the start of my IT career) as the employer can see from reading your CV what you have.

 

Where did you get your MBA and BSc ? What grades did you get ? Employers are going to want to know this from your CV.

 

Putting down both MBA & BSc may frighten off some employers.
You obviously have the brains to study but do you have the techie experience?
Well yes you do in a part time job, sell this point more, more about what you do & what you have done work wise.
Practical experience goes along way!!