Expired certifications on resume?

[DougK62]

My family usually comes to me for resume help and my brother has me a bit stumped. His CCNA certification is almost 2 years expired now. He regularly uses the knowledge to work on Cisco switches where he is now, but hasn't really had the time or money to get back to current on the cert. He wants to look for a new job. So the question:

How can he put the letters "CCNA" on his resume so it'll get picked up by the word filters that some companies use? He obviously doesn't want to lie. Is there any way to professionally do this?

 

[Pantlegz]

it only costs $250 to get the cert and it's like an hour test. Time and money are bullshit excuses. Tell him to go get it, even if he has to study. Then put it on the resume.

 

[Elbryn]

or tell him to be a sneaky bastard and in the header/footer area fill in as many certifications as you can that apply to the job. then change the font to white.

 

[TechBoyJK]

I would put the date it was valid, and state he has plans to renew.

 

[Pepsei]

just put CCNA and the year it expired next to it.

IIRC, microsoft certs doesn't expire anymore? they attached the cert to the OS version.

 

[Matthiasa]

Umm lapsed CCNA ? He is going to have to be created for that one.

 

[Aves]

The only way I can think of doing this that isn't completly dishonest is to list the date when he received the certification or the date range that he was certified. For instance:

Certifications:
Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) - January 2005 - December 2007


Realistically he should just go retake the test. If he really does use the material often then he should be able to cram for a few days with one of the study guides and go pass it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

it only costs $250 to get the cert and it's like an hour test. Time and money are bullshit excuses. Tell him to go get it, even if he has to study. Then put it on the resume.

Did you see the size of those books? That's a LOT of studying. Most of that stuff is all by heart stuff so experience does not do much (but it helps a bit).

 

[Aves]

Did you see the size of those books? That's a LOT of studying. Most of that stuff is all by heart stuff so experience does not do much (but it helps a bit).

I haven't done CCNA in a while but I know the Cisco Press exam certification guides for the professional level certs all have quizes at the beginning of chapters to help you figure out the stuff you know already and what you need to work on; so it's not like he'd have to read every page.

 

[spidey07]

Just put the start and expire dates as mentioned. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[her209]

Did you see the size of those books? That's a LOT of studying. Most of that stuff is all by heart stuff so experience does not do much (but it helps a bit).

Meh, you could get through both ICND1 and ICND2 books in about month by reading one chapter a day.

 

[TwiceOver]

Depending on the type of place he is applying for they may still be using a version from when his cert was valid. Very few businesses are 100% up to date gotta have the newest version type places so often old certs are still very applicable.

I would rather put on an old outdated cert than none at all.

 

[JimmiG]

I would put it under some other heading along with other miscellaneous skills. CCNA isn't *that* hard, especially if he's done it before - if he loses his job some day he'll have plenty of time to catch up on the latest version.

 

[DougK62]

My suggestion was for him to put the start and end dates of certification. I was unsure whether this was a common/accepted practice, and unsure how it may look to potential employers.

 

[seepy83]

My suggestion was for him to put the start and end dates of certification. I was unsure whether this was a common/accepted practice, and unsure how it may look to potential employers.

To potential employers, it should look like he is being thorough and honest. I'd much rather bring someone in for an interview knowing that they had let their certification lapse, then find out during the interview that it had lapsed.