Resume advice from techies

[tmick]

Okay so the short version, I need help with my resume. It’s 4 pages and all these “experts” say it needs to be one to two pages. Keep in mind, these same “experts” told be AD Group policy Objects wasn’t a skill, but Customer service was…wtf?? Needless to say I ignored their advice. So I’m here asking the more technical crowd that has managed to become employed for some advice. I’m inserting my current resume (one complaint about this forum style, you can’t attach files) for your review.
The only way I can think of to parse it down and still get past all the filters is to make the first page a listing of skills and education. With the second page have my last 5 years of employment and job descriptions like “assisted various college students and staff with mobile device issues, sign in issues and site access issue as per college’s policies.”
So here’s my current resume:
Tim McConnell

My City & State

my phone #

my email

LinkedIn Profile

SKILLS & ABILITIES

Client Service	Windows 98 -10	Prioritization
tcp/ip troubleshooting	Debian Linux	nmap
Active Directory	Network Management	Backup & Recovery
Configuring Software	Server Systems	LAN/WAN/Wi-Fi
Help Desk & Ticketing	Analytical Skills	Data Management

EDUCATION & CERTIFICATIONS

Information Security Analyst | ACI Learning | Jacksonville, FL 2021 Graduate

Bachelor’s of Computer Science | Steven Henagar College | Ogden, UT 2009 Graduate

Professional Certifications:

CompTIA Security + In Progress

EC Council Certified Network Defender In Progress

EC Council Certified Ethical Hacker In Progress

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Technical Advisor | Blackboard | Reston, VA October 2021 – December 2021

Answer user inquiries from various colleges regarding computer software or hardware operation to resolve problems.

Troubleshoot issues with mobile devices. PCs and Mac computers. Verify user permissions and groups in AD

Use KBs to follow procedures per college’s requirements, remote sessions with users using Bomgar, PC Anywhere,conduct computer diagnostics to investigate and resolve problems or to provide technical assistance and support.

Maintain records of daily data communication in CRM tools of transactions, problems and remedial actions taken, or installation activities.

Use phone or email to notify customers of investigation results or any planned adjustments.

Sr. System Analyst | Intermountain Heath Care| West Valley City, UT March 2020 – June 2020

Monitor Ensemble and Edifec Data systems and respond to alerts generated through system monitoring.

Verify validity of errors and send requests to have HL7 message corrected and resent.

Maintain and assesment of Linux/ Unix based Operating System.

Assist in implementing system updates to test and production environments from Deleopment team.

Assess possibilties of Feature Enhancement requests and additional interface additions.

Analysis and solution of business problems, such as development of integrated production and inventory control and cost analysis systems.

Consult with management to ensure agreement on system principles.

Develop, document, and revise system design procedures, test procedures, and quality standards.

Confer with clients regarding the nature of the information processing or computation needs a computer program is to address.

Update proceedures and Knowlege Base articles as needed to ensure proper error repairs.

Healthcare Communications Agent Support | Connexion Point | Roy, UT August 2019 – March 2020

Install and perform minor repairs to hardware, software, or peripheral equipment, following design or installation specifications.

Ensure Linux and Microsoft computers ran efficently, assist in resolving Virtual Machine issues and Citrix issues

Maintain records of daily data communication transactions, problems and remedial actions taken, or installation activities.

Enter commands and observe system functioning to verify correct operations and detect errors.

Refer major software problems or defective programs to devolopers for service.

Develop training materials and procedures, or train users in the proper use of hardware or software.

Jr. Salesforce Administrator | Incomm| West Valley, UT January 2018 – December 2018

Assist with migrating the American express Salesforce instance to Incomm.

Created fields, Created records

Created page layouts, buttons, and rules

Verify data using VLOOKUP.

Act as a back-up CSR, assisting callers with transactions and failures

Assist customers prepaid debit cards registration via website and phone

Perform other assigned duties as needed

Technical Support Analyst | 3M HIS | Murray, UT January 2015 – January 2018

Provide support for the 360 e and HDM products.

Troubleshoot issue with HL 7 messages in Ensemble routing, Web Server issues with IIS and Apache Tomcat

Network communication issues using tcp/ip tools (PING, TRACERT,etc) Fiddler, Wireshark, Netmon

Perform basic Database queries in MS SQL environment, troubleshoot API issues, JSON messages

Software updates for 3M software and Windows updates on servers using remote access software.

Tier 2 Support Analyst | Good Technology | West Valley, Utah August 2011 – January 2014

Provide first line support for Good Technology products.

Assist in Good server installation for both Exchange and Domino email server versions.

Assist in Mobile Device issues ranging from unable to open file types to software installation errors on Android, IOS ,and Windows mobile devices.

Assist Premium level customers with problems with configuration issues, Domain permissions in an Active Directory/ LDAP environment. email system maintenance, Mobile Device Management. Assist with problem analysis and resolution.

Create feature requests and knowledge base articles for Knowledge Centered Support (KCS) system.

Asssited in devolping and maintaining KCS system and CRM Platform.

Provide advanced support for cases that was advanced from Tier 1 support and determine if issue was resolvable at the Tier 2 level or if it was a software defect.

Ran log analysis on server and device logs and used tools like Grep to find errors in the log files.

Freelance Computer Consultant | Tim’s Computer Service| Riverdale, Utah February 2008 – August 2011

Perform virus removal

Computer repair of Hardware and Software.

Network connectivity issues

Advise of best software and hardware to meet small business and individual user needs

Provided phone support and on-site services

Technical Support Analyst | Taxworks | Kaysville, Utah September 2008 – February 2009

Supported TaxWorks 2008 – TaxWorks 2006 Software.

Provide phone support for incoming calls.

Answered questions about functionality and use of software.

Assist with software installation problems with Windows PCs.

Analyze possible defects in software and provide escalation as needed.

Operations Technician | Solera Networks| Lindon, Utah March 2008 – June 2008

Supported all aspects of manufacturing and operations activities and served as an interface between Solera Networks’ Operations, Engineering teams and the box manufacturer.

Built and configured a PXE server on Fedora 8.

Created MPI documentation for procedures on installing the Solera Networks Appliance’s Operating System and hardware configuration.

Created BASH shell scripts for automating set up and testing steps.

Worked with Engineering to create kickstart file for PXE installations.

Recreate production problems, identify hardware defects, and interface with development staff to resolve.

Using the VI and TCPDump functionality of Linux ran packet captures for testing where I was able to view the actual file containing specific IP information, proving the network traffic was captured and stored on the appliance. Contribute written documents to knowledge base for internal and external consumption.

Quality Assurance Tester | GE Health Care| Salt Lake City, Utah February 2007 – February 2008

Ensured that surgical products worked reliably and correctly as per design specifications and FDA Good Manufacturing Practice standards.

Verified problems that were present or have been resolved, using specific rigid procedures and methods in compliance with FDA standards and regulations.

Tested the software and user interface of the GE OEC premium digital mobile imaging system (“C” arm X-ray machine),

Verifying reported problems are present or have been resolved, using GE’s RUS (Remote Utility Suite) and RUT (Remote Utility Tool).

Reported issues using Rational’s ClearDDTS program. Ran tests created in the DOORS server program.

Installed the OS for the digital mobile imaging system and re-installed the calibration files for the systems via remote administration techniques.

Operated more than 45,000 system tests that included software and hardware, during a three month system verification process.

Recreate production problems,

Identify software defects, and interface with development staff to resolve.

Document cases, and software defects in appropriate tracking systems.

Technical Support Analyst | Unisys | Salt Lake City, Utah April 2006 – October 2006

Provided the first-line of post-sales telephone technical support of hardware, systems, sub-systems and applications for customers and employees in a highly procedural environment.

Created documentation of issues and steps to support callers.

Answered basic questions about installation, operation, configuration, customization, and usage of assigned products and software.

Applied basic diagnostic techniques and remote desktop to identify problems, investigated causes and recommend solutions to correct common failures, including re-installing software and performing disk maintenance on Windows operating systems.

Supported Active Directory user account access permission requests and new equipment requests or equipment repairs.

Contribute written documents to knowledge base for internal and external consumption.

Juniper SSL-VPN Technical Support Specialist| Convergys | Ogden, Utah October 2004 – February 2006

Phone and e-mail support to Juniper customers with various issues ranging from basic set-up and configuration questions of the IVE; issues with the SSL-VPN Appliance’s re-writer features and VPN clients.

supported customers with configuring the SSL-VPN Appliance to work with Microsoft’s Exchange server, Active Directory authentication, LDAP authentication, RSA and RADIUS authentication. OWA, Outlook mail programs, and Windows compatibility issues.

Configuring of the SSL-VPN Appliance to be compatible with Citrix server and the ICA files, both custom and default.

Troubleshoot Access Control Lists, Group policies, SAMBA and Active Directory shares, Microsoft Distributed File Shares;

Web based applications and other software as a service (SaaS), and other business tool compatibility issues.

Used Juniper’s Secure Meeting to view issues and assist customers with various programs not working correctly while in the VPN session and configuring WSAM, JSAM, and Network Connect VPN client lists.

Supported customers with upgrading the SSL-VPN Appliance software and troubleshooting issues from upgrades. Created documentation of customer issues and resolution methods used.

Recreated customers issues in a test environment, escalate “bugs” in software following defined procedures for documenting and reporting issues.

Supported Return Merchandise Agreement procedures.

Read Packet Sniffs and Proxy server logs to determine port usage, protocols, communication methodologies, and network conflicts.

Recreate production problems, identify software defects, and interface with development staff to resolve.

Document cases, and software defects.

[Mat]

Hi, I’d like to leave a few words before running off. Like you, my resume got pretty long. Experts don’t know you like you know yourself. I got it down to 3 pages. Unlike you, I don’t work in IT, so take my words as ideas.

Add a section up top called Highlighted Skills and Accomplishments. My resume separated skills (a 4 column table of terms like ‘brainstorming’ and ‘C++’) and accomplishments a bulleted list. This brings your best forward and lets you say less below.

Say far less below. I kept each position few lines by condensing boring stuff (company, dates) and only putting what I enjoyed doing in the ‘details’ (bulleted lists. extremely brief achievements with key words) because those are what I want to do in my employment. Be ruthless in your shortening. Use more lines on the position or two you want to stand out. Use 1 or 2 lines for the one you didn’t care for.

Leave off older positions.

Condense education to the bare minimum. No line spacing, one degree per line.

No hobbies or fun stuff. They take too much room.

–mat

[tmick]

So for a “non IT” guy That is probably the best advice I have gotten to date.
So you’re saying (basically) modify the table I have and categorize it, example: Row 1 Windows, Row 2 Linux, Row 3 Soft skills (or whatever the buzz word is now)
Then change the description to be short & sweet; example:
“Blackboard:
Supported various colleges and Universities staff and students with technical issues.”
That works, and fits what I was taught should be in a resume, what you know and where you used it.
Thanks, I’ll keep what I have and make a HR Friendly (and hopefully a filter friendly) resume and repost the differences.

[unixdude]

I have been unemployed for more than a year of my 25-30 years of working life. During one long stint of unemployment, I was told that a resume should be limited to 2 pages. A CV is longer, and I do not have a CV. My first page includes a summary of who I am (“Unix dude with so much industry experience, including experience in blah, blah, and blah.”), and a few key roles directly related to the job I’m applying for, that’s it. Each role includes bullet points tailored specifically to the role being applied for. Basically, I have a long CV style “resume” with lots of information in it, and I pick-and-choose jobs and bullet points for every job application. Yes, it’s tedious, but it gets results.

My second page is a “technical addendum” listing specific skills and my relative skill level in each, and I keep that updated as I add new skills and as I lose old skills. The second page also lists certifications and a few interesting non-work activities; these non-work activities are provided to give an idea of who I am and to give the interviewer an option for an easy icebreaker question: “I see you like to read; what books have you read lately?” or “I see you like international travel; what is your favorite country?”

Remember, the point of the resume is to get the interview, not get the job. The interview gets the job. I want every bullet point in my resume to get the reader to respond with “hey, I want to meet the person who did that!” and when I meet the interviewer, I sell myself. I love interviewing. My resume bullet points are the amazing things I have done, and my resume tells a story. That resume story is interwoven with the story I tell in a cover letter as well as the story I tell during interviews.

I have had great success with this approach: my resume gets interviews, and my interviews get job offers. There’s no bragging here, I just find that a resume that tells a story, and one that tells the same story as a cover letter and an interview, works very well.

[tmick]

So what I posted is my “Master” Tech resume. I’ve been using it for LinkedIn,Dice, Monster, etc. So I can get job lists from them. I’m trying to fine tune that so I get better options from those (automated) searches. I know about customizing the resume for each applied position yada yada yada, I do that. I’m trying to get more relevant results from the job sites. I’m restricted to remote work until I get my eyes fixed (I’ve gone blind in an eye, yes Diabetes is great ) and I’m not getting results for jobs I can do. I’m not a programmer (yes I can screw up “Hello world” ) and nowhere does it list programming experience, but I’m getting alot of those jobs.
Does that make more sense about what I’m asking??
Basically I’m trying to get usable job listings and not having a lot of success.

[Mat]

Strong edit here, I read your comment to quickly tmick. Apologies. I’ll leave my thoughts, as they may help when you find a position that grabs you. I’ve never been a Monster (and similar) fan. They seem to word match, and it’s no surprise when they serve up poor fits. Speaking from experience, I had far better results when applying to jobs with posted requirements.

unixdude phrased a key idea better than I did (emphasis mine):

@unixdude

Each role includes bullet points tailored specifically to the role being applied for. Basically, I have a long CV style “resume” with lots of information in it, and I pick-and-choose jobs and bullet points for every job application. Yes, it’s tedious, but it gets results.

The idea of picking and choosing information is essential, and it isn’t terribly hard to do. Put your relevant info up top and center where it’ll get seen at first glance. If the reader sees something and thinks “good”, then you’re on your way.

Tailoring to the role is key and not too complicated. You have the job requirements, which are often overkill. Pay attention, but don’t feel like you need to cover them all. Instead, try to get background information that gives you a view into the employer’s needs and interests. Blogs, news articles, company web sites, white papers, and patents are easy to access. It’s even better when you have a person’s name. Look for overlaps between your research and the job requirements; this is your guide. People like it when their needs are addressed, or when you mention something near and dear to them. Line up their needs with your skills, and write to emphasize the match ups.

[tmick]

I agree with you and UnixDude about customizing resumes for applying for jobs, however; you have to be able to find them first? I’m not a fan of Job Boards and LinkedIn but I got to find open jobs before I can apply for them. That’s what I’m after.
Even using Google Dorks isn’t that big of a help.

[unixdude]

I have found almost all of my jobs through networking, either with recruiters or through attending networking events. Then, I search LinkedIn for a job, and once I find one I’m interested in, I look at my network and see if I know anyone who works at that company, and I probe for information.

[tmick]

@unixdude

I look at my network and see if I know anyone who works at that company, and I probe for information.

Lucky bastage, I do that and church mice make more noise: anyway, you also state you like job hunting. Me I’d rather get stabbed in my good eye with a dull stick than job hunt, it’s just not a source of fun. And sites like Dice, Monster, LinkedIn etc are way over rated for job hunters, they aim to get companies candidates because they pay for that, candidates looking for jobs are free and you get what you pay for. Unfortunately it’s the way things are now. I’m just trying to get past the filters in those sites and crapware like Workday, etc., to find jobs TO apply for. Somebody’s had tp had success with that.

[unixdude]

Think about it this way: What do you talk about in an interview? You talk about yourself and the things you like to do. Who doesn’t like talking about himself? At least, that’s my experience.

I would encourage you to build a network. I am an introvert, and I do not like groups larger than 2 (that is, me and my interlocutor), but I have forced myself to network. If you learn to do it well, you can have good results with it. I work at one of the largest companies in America today, and in order to find my current role, I networked inside the company. I networked with people from C-suite all the way down to my level (6-8 levels below C-suite), and eventually found a great role.

In my experience, it helps to have some sort of ally inside a company. I have developed allies inside major companies (e.g., NetApp, VMware) who were able to refer me to jobs, and in my experience those referrals are how you get past the first line of HR, and get your resume in front of a manager. If you can get an ally inside an HR department (I did this at both NetApp and another company), you can really see results.

Also, I networked with my interviewers – I have kept in touch (on LinkedIn) with those people who interviewed me. One never knows how the future will go.

[alvanet]

Unixdude is 100% right, networking is the only way to get past those Job Boards and crazy perfect qualifications that scare you away. I wish someone would create a better Job board and post qualifications at the top with compensation. Cut-to-the-Chase.

My Linux application tech support job came by connections not posting a resume. I have only a high school GED and got into large corporations with great pay.
Recruiters don’t read resumes anymore they just spam potential candidates by keywords and send generic emails all day long. Network somehow and you will get a great Job.

[tmick]

In that case I’m effed. Most of my Network is recruiters on LinkedIn and such sites. And yes they are as useful as tits on a boar hog.

[unixdude]

In my area (RTP, NC), there are LinkedIn and other networking events. In the past I did web searches for job seeker groups in the area, and there are at least a half-dozen in this area, maybe a dozen. I started by sorting out the story I have to tell, and I made sure that my elevator speech, my cover letters, my resume, my LinkedIn profile, and my interviews all tell the same story. It took me a few years to get to this point, but I am very confident in it now. After I had a practiced elevator speech, I started networking by attending those events and just seeing who I met. It’s a snowball type thing – I started with everyone I knew from university and past employment, maybe 50-100 people, and now my network is over 500, just by meeting people at events, and seeing who they connect me to.

[tmick]

Well, I currently reside in Larimore, North Dakota which is a problem. I don’t have a Drivers License because I lost vision in my right eye (Thanks diabetes) and can only do Virtual Career fairs. And consequently, only remote -Work From home -virtual jobs which unless your a programmer or like customer service (which I hate) types of jobs you’re forked. Which is another problem.
I understand the "networking thing, I hated it, but I could pull it off. For a guy that couldn’t sell a penny Whorehouse at a nymphomaniac convention, I did pretty well at selling myself.
I know I have a great set of skills and abilities. But the only way to showcase them currently is digitally, not in person. AI is a bad joke on these job hunting sites, I’ve made the mother of all Google Dorks trying to filter out the jobs I can’t do (program, Project management, etc) and still get garbage.
That’s what advice I need, since I’m stuck with Virtual job hunting and Virtual jobs, how do I find them? How do I “beat the bots”?
If I follow the advice in the columns I have read, then I list my skills and give detailed descriptions of what / where I’ve used them. That supposedly give points for how well they match up and they (AI) also looks at and scores the number of years you state you have with the description. How do I make 20 years fit into my last 5 jobs? and not have a 50 page resume.

[tmick]

For anyone that might be interested, I found a LinkedIn/ Resume evaluation site resume and LinkedIn Profile review it gives a decent idea of how to change things on both. It also has sample resumes. The free version is somewhat useful, there’s a “pro” version that you can pay for (of course) that I haven’t tried.