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So...I guess my resume sucks. Any tips for a first-timer?

G

gotstang

Member
The university gave us the opportunity to get our resumes edited and sent out to a bunch of companies. To qualify for it, I had to submit something by Friday. So, the resourceful fella that I am, I downloaded a template and whipped something up....ok, that's stretching the truth, I used the first template I found and typed as fast as I could. :rofl

So, this morning I got an email from the lady that does all this and it went something like this "your resume sucks, please re-write it". I'm not the least bit surprised (I just wrote that POS so I'd qualify) but I'm at a loss as to how to make it better. My main complaint with the one I wrote is that it looks like crap...the basic info is there, and seeing as how I've never held a "real job", there's not much to put in writing. I've written countless resumes for friends and family and I can do a half decent job, especially when you have 40+ years experience like my dad, but I don't know what my resume should look like as a first timer.

What puts me in an odd position is that I've got ~13 years experience as a "hobbyist" (cash only, please :rofl ) and I don't know how to make that work for me on my resume??

What do you guys think?
 
IMHO opinion, people who critique resumes dont know WTF they are talking about. Talk to 10 people that read resumes for a living and you'll get 10 different answers as to what they are looking for or how a resume should look. I think everyone takes a little latitude in filling out a resume as far as what they did. I probably have 4 different versions of my resume depending on which are I want to lean towards as far a management type positions, an IT extensive, etc. I tailor the resume I send to the position/company I am looking at. I think a decent cover letter is equally as important.
 
I've found through the years that having connections is probably more important than the format of the resume.

I started working at a small firm out of college and then got on at a larger local firm because I had made a friend or two through the professional society that worked there and they got my resume in front of the right people.

My wife left her old company about a year and a half ago because they were bought and the new management were a bunch of folks with questionable ethics, etc. She went out working various contract assignments and that is how she met the people she works for now. She did some work for a client of theirs, partner saw her workpapers and started asking her if she wanted a job because he was impressed with her work.

Career fairs on campus are also the way to go. I used to have to go and set up the display for my old firm at the career fairs then stand around half the day talking to graduating students and the partner in charge of recruiting would be there also.
 
Kyle, are you going for computer based stuff? If so look for tips from Steve Yegge and Joel On Software (Joel Spolsky). Those guys are the real deal. Google their names + Resume

Steve
 
well if you have had 'any' jobs..part time, summer, make sure you list them. Make a point of any 'special' job you might have had within thos jobs.As for your hobby...talk that up. State maybe club efforts, planning and budgeting of your own time and money, processes you decided on when building...things like that.
 
Thanks guys! I'm glad I'm not the only one who's suspicious of all the "I can do it better" resume editors. Steve Yegge is a freakin hoot, thanks for the link, Steve. It's a little too programmer-ish for me, I'd rather be a sysadmin or something, maybe a DBA, but I'd torture myself with a hot poker before I started writing C for the bigtime. :rofl

Now to make the 13 years as an under the table IT guy fit on my resume....heck, I wonder if I can come up with a better description for "flipped the on/off switch on a microwave transmitter once" and throw it on there? :rofl j/k
 
I hope you realize that it would be highly unethical for you to NOT list the company's you worked for that are no longer in business........
 
Exactly what Rick said. Experience is key. While you don't necessarily list more than what you've done, don't dumb it down. You didn't "flip the on switch", you "provided IT support". Community stuff helps also as a decent "fill in" for an empty resume. You ever play golf? Then you participated in community fundraisers. Oh yeah, you also helped organize them.
 
From being on both ends as writing my own plus hiring off of them, keep it short and to the point. Use above average wording and phrases as you mentioned about flipping the switch. I always hated resumes with more than a page or maybe a page and a half. Make the first things they read catch their attention and hold it to read the entire page. I will say that I have looked past several that had something odd in the first few lines. Go lightly on hobbies as most want to know why someone PAID you to work. Anything you got paid for is a job......just sort out the wording.

When done writing, read it as if the person was in front of you asking for the job......how would it look then?
 
My career was HR. My advice is to analyze the job that you're applying for--what are the skills and competencies required to perform to major duties/functions of the job. You would be surprised at what various backgrounds can be found to be "qualifiying" using this approach (just don't go overboard with ingenuity). Good luck!
 
All my years running millwork shops, the resumes that impressed me the most were the ones that had good sentence structure, correct dates and had good flow. If they were too detailed, I felt like they were just filling page. Give the details, make it easy to read and also tell me what your hobbies are. If you enjoy rebuilding old cars that tells me you might be good at problem solving and actually have some common sense. If you tell me you love playing video games and watching Star Wars (all 6 in a row), I'll know to pass!!

If you get to fill out a job app, do it as completely as possible. Get the names and job descriptions of previous employers and don't use Joe the drunk as a reference. If I would have kept some of the resumes and job apps that I had to wade through over the years, I could have written a comedy book on the subject.

Don't be one of "those guys"
 
As someone just getting out of school, its important to have your schooling as one of the main topics on the resume. Be thorough, with software you can use, classes, maybe 400 or 500 level. Things that pertain to the position your applying for. Good luck.
 
As mentioned, your resume really should be customized on a job to job basis. If experience and keywords are not there for a certain position, you won't even make the first round of interviews. Your main goal should be to get an interview.
 
I just heard from a buddy of mine that used to work at the wife's old company. He and I keep in touch because we used to get bored to tears at the company Christmas parties so we would get in trouble together, LOL! He works in IT at the Men's Warehouse now and said they are looking for someone. Will just cut / paste what he wrote...

"We are hiring a Linux person @ The Men's Wearhouse. Must know Linux and Unix. Please contact me if you need additional infomation."

Being a CPA type that is all greek to me....only catch is it would be in the Houston office.
 
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