Another resume question...

[CrazyDe1]

I've been applying for some jobs that I know I could get and that I'm qualified for. The problem is I was lookin at my resume and realized by looking at my resume, you wouldn't know I had the proper skills. The internship I had last summer was in web design, whereas I want to get a firmware engineering job. The problem is all my relevant experience is in school projects. For example, we designed our own PDA around a MCVZ328 processor, designing and laying out the 4 layer PCB. I don't have this listed on my resume because it's not really job experience.

So I guess, how do you list academic experience and projects? Also, if I added academic experience to my resume, it would be over 1 page long. Is more than 1 page really as bad as everyone says it is?

 

[Entity]

List it in your cover sheet.

Rob

 

[sciencetoy]

You can mention it in the "objective" part of the resume, if that's the kind of job you are looking for.

You can also put it in the list of tech skills most people include at the bottom.

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: CrazyDe1

So I guess, how do you list academic experience and projects? Also, if I added academic experience to my resume, it would be over 1 page long. Is more than 1 page really as bad as everyone says it is?

> than 1 page isn't bad in the IT field as long as you limit the 2nd page to your skill sets. Page 1 should be experience and academics.

Remember, in this job market, you may be qualified, but there are a dozen just like you who also need a particular job. Most people send out 50-100 resumes before being called for an interview. That number, I believe is misleading since I bet it includes people who sent out resumes for positions they weren't qualified for.

 

[CrazyDe1]

Originally posted by: Entity
List it in your cover sheet.

Rob

Which is all fine and great and which is what I've been doing. The problem begins when you have to do straight website submissions with no cover letter submission mechanism. Then it looks like I'm a straight web developer with knowledge of some microcontrollers and some hardware, but not relevant experience...

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: CrazyDe1

Originally posted by: Entity
List it in your cover sheet.

Rob

Which is all fine and great and which is what I've been doing. The problem begins when you have to do straight website submissions with no cover letter submission mechanism. Then it looks like I'm a straight web developer with knowledge of some microcontrollers and some hardware, but not relevant experience...

Yes, web drops suck. But, most of them give some sort of place to paste a cover letter and resume.

 

[CrazyDe1]

Originally posted by: sciencetoy
You can mention it in the "objective" part of the resume, if that's the kind of job you are looking for.

You can also put it in the list of tech skills most people include at the bottom.

I can list real time operating systems and relevant microcontrollers I've coded for, but that doesn't tell them that I've also written device drivers to interface with LCDs and graphics decoders. I was thinking yeah, it's listed under my skills, but an HR person doesn't know any better. Something along the lines of: wrote drivers to interface with a conexant video decoder means more to them than: Assembly language.

It'd be easy if I did this at a job, but this was all done in an academic project environment. So, the way I see it, I have to figure out a way to get all this on my resume...

 

[CrazyDe1]

Originally posted by: BDawg

Originally posted by: CrazyDe1

Originally posted by: Entity
List it in your cover sheet.

Rob

Which is all fine and great and which is what I've been doing. The problem begins when you have to do straight website submissions with no cover letter submission mechanism. Then it looks like I'm a straight web developer with knowledge of some microcontrollers and some hardware, but not relevant experience...

Yes, web drops suck. But, most of them give some sort of place to paste a cover letter and resume.

Yeah...a lot of them do but it seems like the ones I've been lookin at lately, and the ones that are entry level that I am qualified for don't have cover letter boxes.

 

[BDawg]

Originally posted by: CrazyDe1

Originally posted by: BDawg

Originally posted by: CrazyDe1

Originally posted by: Entity
List it in your cover sheet.

Rob

Which is all fine and great and which is what I've been doing. The problem begins when you have to do straight website submissions with no cover letter submission mechanism. Then it looks like I'm a straight web developer with knowledge of some microcontrollers and some hardware, but not relevant experience...

Yes, web drops suck. But, most of them give some sort of place to paste a cover letter and resume.

Yeah...a lot of them do but it seems like the ones I've been lookin at lately, and the ones that are entry level that I am qualified for don't have cover letter boxes.

Also keep in mind that a lot of companies advertise jobs they never intend for you to get. Some never get filled, some are advertised on the web or in the paper to meet with federal or state equal opportunity standards, but were already filled.

 

[Apathetic]

The cover letter should go into those kind of details explaining why you think you are qualified for that particular position.

Dave

 

[SuepaFly]

You know, I had the same problem because I want to go into sales forecasting/market research but its hard to say you have any experience in it outside of projects at school. After sending out a couple hundred resumes for jobs like these and others, I changed my resume around and put it under experience... "School location 1998-2002" that sort of thing and position as Student. And since I've done that I probably get 50% more call backs.

My point is, as long as it gets you in the door and you can back it up that it wasn't just some dinky school project, do what you gotta do. Put it in experience if it works.

 

[CrazyDe1]

Originally posted by: SuepaFly
You know, I had the same problem because I want to go into sales forecasting/market research but its hard to say you have any experience in it outside of projects at school. After sending out a couple hundred resumes for jobs like these and others, I changed my resume around and put it under experience... "School location 1998-2002" that sort of thing and position as Student. And since I've done that I probably get 50% more call backs.

My point is, as long as it gets you in the door and you can back it up that it wasn't just some dinky school project, do what you gotta do. Put it in experience if it works.

Yeah...the reason why I've thought about this a lot lately is because a year ago when I was looking for internships I put down "designed remote control around a Xilinx FPGA." Well, when I went in for the interview 2 of the people that interviewed me mentioned "oh, you're the kid that designed the remote control..which FPGA did you use?" Well...anyways, that really stuck out in their minds and shows that I've done something related to the job.

Also, a few jobs ask for knowledge of real time systems and issues. I took a real time systems class in which we had to design a final project around a real time OS and make sure that all tasks were scheduled correctly. If I had my project on there I bet that'd be enough to get me an interview and I could do the rest. If I don't have it in there, to the HR person it seems as though I have no real time experience and have no idea what it is even though I have the real time operating system I used listed under my skills section.