I need an IT hiring manager or two, that would be willing to take a look at my resume and either tell me honestly what is wrong with it, or how to dumb it down even more. PM me if you are able to help. Thank you in advance. Troy
I’m not an IT manager, but if you want me to tell you how bad you are I can. I hear some good put downs from my wife everyday. 
DT
PM sent.
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I need an IT hiring manager or two, that would be willing to take a look at my resume and either tell me honestly what is wrong with it, or how to dumb it down even more. PM me if you are able to help. Thank you in advance. Troy
You want to “dumb down” your resume?
Troy, I can take a look at your resume if you want. I have been searching for a better job for almost two years now. My resume is top notch and all I can say is if you aren’t getting that job its not a job for you. I have came close a couple times. Take a job for now just to get by. When the right job comes it will happen
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I need an IT hiring manager or two, that would be willing to take a look at my resume and either tell me honestly what is wrong with it, or how to dumb it down even more. PM me if you are able to help. Thank you in advance. Troy
You want to “dumb down” your resume?
Sometimes, resume’s have far too much crammed in them and they become ineffective and lose their pop. Be too specific about your skill set, and the resume hits the “keep on file” pile if it isn’t exactly what we want. If it was a little less specific, you probably get an interview and an opportunity to tell me why I should hire you. When I used to hire, I eliminated a lot of programmers based on their resume. More is not always better. When you get 20+ resumes for a single posting, you can’t interview them all.
pm sent
The last position I hired for a Net Admin/Sys Admin, I had over a 100 resumes to review. Plus loads of placement firms… I’ve not been successful using placement firms. Most seem to be more interested in getting their commission vs. Providing me with the right candidates. I’ve also ran into multiple recruiters pimping the same guy. Actually had one guy sent in by 3 different placement firms on this last one.
In my opinion, you have to tweak your resume to each position. Make sure you are hitting keywords that are in the job posting. Without lieing of course.
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You want to “dumb down” your resume?
It’s also very possible to be more advanced than the hiring Director/Manager. In too many cases, the Hiring Manager has a chip on their shoulder about subordinates knowing more than they do. Too bad for both parties when that happens. Most successful managers surround themselves with the best, and aid in the success of all.
Good luck in your job search 
Hey now Kooty, I was placed by a recruiter for my last job 
But yeah, back when I was looking I would make sure they were not sending my resume out to a position I know another recruiter already sent it to. Easy to do when you have 4 or 5 recruiters bugging, I mean, working for you. And they will send you to anything remotely close to your skills. I had to always tell them, no, that is not a good fit.
Back on topic, I create 1 bloated resume. Then I would trim it down and rearrange things based on the requirements and qualifications. That’s a lot easier than starting from scratch or trying to add info back into the resume. I would always tailor it exactly to what they were asking for and the words the were using.
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In my opinion, you have to tweak your resume to each position. Make sure you are hitting keywords that are in the job posting.
I agree 100% with Kooty. Tailor your resume to the position you are applying for. Once you have a generic resume put together, it shouldn’t take long to tailor each one. I am not a believer that your resume needs to be more than 1 page. Good luck.
I don’t hire IT positions….but for me… if you call me, introduce yourself & ask for a good time to drop off a resume and stick to the appointed time, your half way to an interview with me. The mailed manila envelope goes in the drawer with the rest 
Good luck 
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but for me… if you call me, introduce yourself & ask for a good time
WOW, G are you just trying to get blasted
Never seen you leave such a slow curve ball, chest high, over the outside half of the plate. 
Ron
Only 3 reasons a company hires an employee.
1. Do essential work
2. Reduce costs and/or improve capabilities
3. Increase revenue.
Make sure your resume gives great examples and results matching the position you are applying for.
Good luck.
Been there.
Pete
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I am not a believer that your resume needs to be more than 1 page. Good luck.
More than 1 page is definitely a no no.
Good morning all. Having graduated from the U 5 years ago my professors at carlson threw out the one page resume idea saying it was old school. Why leave off important info? Why cram it all on one page? Some of these guys were head honchos at Target and IBM in their day. I tend to agree with them.
I don’t hire IT positions….but for me… if you call me, introduce yourself & ask for a good time to drop off a resume and stick to the appointed time, your half way to an interview with me. The mailed manila envelope goes in the drawer with the rest Good luck
Back in the day, that was the way to do it, Nowaday’s though, everything is automated, and you have to register on the company’s website and build your own profile, so takes the one on one contact out of the equation all together.
Don’t forget to smile and be positive. There are many people after the jobs that are available. Networking is very important as are references. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve disqualified because they have no references or anyone that speaks highly of them. Don’t take it personal if you don’t get the offer and don’t quit. Do stuff to set you apart. I even send thank you notes to the person that sent the rejection letters.
Not to mention, most ads say no phone calls. Most jobs require you follow directions.
As for more than one page, your resume will be in a stack of a bunch of other resumes. 2 pages might still be ok, but I doubt many will flip over to the second page first go around. And if most people only do 1 page, your resume will stand out…like a sore thumb.
But there is no silver bullet. I’d side on caution. Most people go with one page. To me, 2 pages screams over qualified or can’t hold a job. Mostly the latter.
Can’t help with that… we do it the old fashioned way yet I guess. (which I feel is the better way for my liking)
Ron, must have hurt your head coming up with that one 
(hey, if its a young lady ) 
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Can’t help with that…
Like I said, there is no silver bullet. Kind of frustrating to think that you might miss a perfect opportunity because you had one page, because that was what you were told, but all the other applicants had 2. So yours gets filed in the trash.
Maybe the rule of thumb is if the ad or post is long and detailed, maybe your resume should be too. If it is shorter, then maybe go with one page?
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Good morning all. Having graduated from the U 5 years ago my professors at carlson threw out the one page resume idea saying it was old school. Why leave off important info? Why cram it all on one page? Some of these guys were head honchos at Target and IBM in their day. I tend to agree with them.
I think a few years ago when many people were applying for the same position this may have been the case, but with the downturn of the economy, IT managers receiving hundreds of resumes a 2 pager would get filed in the circular file. After living in the real world, I have discounted any and everything that I was told by my professors
As mentioned tweak your resume to show items mentioned in the posting, follow up any interview with a thank you note, go through as many interviews as you can (even if you don’t think you would enjoy the job) for practice, and work on your networking more than anything. Many jobs are still filled without being posted to the world.
I went through a layoff two years ago and used a job coach to assist me in the process of finding a new job.
Her number one message, network. Do not rely on your resume. You need to have someone in that company or a trusted peer telling that hiring manager that they need to look at you for the job.
If your basing your job search on the resume sending or dropping off, you are wasting your time. You see examples on this site of hiring managers who admit to dropping resumes right into the trash.
My recommendation would be to seek out job networking groups. Here in Mpls, just about every major church sponsors such a program. If you are a college grad, most likely your college offers a networking service.
The job I took, I brought my resume to the 1st interview and the guy used it to ask me questions about my past. But he already had 2-3 people in his company encouraging him to hire me.
If you are in the TC area, pm me and I’ll give you some good networking meeting sites and groups.
Good luck,
Eric
Anything more than one page never made the first cut with me. If you can’t concisely give me your qualifications in one page, you aren’t my first choice. If I want to know your GPA or that you were captain of the beer pong team, I’ll ask when I interview you.
I agree with everyone that has said to tailor your resume to the job you are applying for. I want to know if you have the skills I need for the position I’m hiring. If I’m looking for somebody that knows C++ and JAVA, I want to be able to easily see that right away so I can put your resume in the second look pile.
I’ve been placing IT people in positions (consulting and direct hire) for many, many years in the Twin Cities. I’m more on the sales side of things meeting with C-Level Executives and Hiring Managers while working with our internal Recruiters. I’ve looked at hundreds and hundreds of resumes and I’ve rewritten just as many. There’s some good advice already on what should be in your resume but be careful and don’t make it all about technology. Explain what you did and the IT projects you worked on and the impact that it had within the company. Spend just as much time talking about the problem and the solution as you do about the technology and your role.
I would also box and highlight your specialties at the very top of your resume. Think of it as you have 5 seconds to make the first cut and you want that person reading your resume to know exactly what their getting.
I also agree with Eric above. Too many people spend too much time on their resume and instead should be networking. Think of it as a campaign and you want to market yourself to as many people as you can. Notice I said people instead of companies. There are some great networking sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Ning, MySpace and even Facebook that will help you collect information on the company and their employees. Once you find an opening that interests you, now is the time to network to try and find someone who knows someone in that company. The site jigsaw.com can help you get their contact information. Now you need to build a bridge and see if that person can recommend you to the hiring manager. Most companies reward their employees if they hire their referral.
Good luck in your search!
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