Resume critique / Career Advice

[vital]

Just graduated any I'm having trouble landing a job with the lack of related experience in the IT field. Most job postings on monster and dice are for mid-senior level administrators. I really wanna follow a career track to be either a Systems Admin or a DBA. Any tips on what kinda entry level position I should apply for?

Here is my resume, any comments are appreciated, thanks.
Text

 

[Descartes]

IMO, the largest problem is that it looks like you have no direction. What do you want to do? If you want to be a DBA model your resume after that career path. Highlight any experience you might have in that area and state your desires in your objective. Your objective says "I don't know what I want to do" to me.

Other than that your resume looks fine, but it's just missing substance. Your best bet at this point is going to be likely applying for helpdesk positions and then working your way up, in my opinion. It's hard to get into systems administration or DBA positions, even at an entry level, without more relevant experience.

Good luck!

 

[vital]

Originally posted by: Descartes
IMO, the largest problem is that it looks like you have no direction. What do you want to do? If you want to be a DBA model your resume after that career path. Highlight any experience you might have in that area and state your desires in your objective. Your objective says "I don't know what I want to do" to me.

Other than that your resume looks fine, but it's just missing substance. Your best bet at this point is going to be likely applying for helpdesk positions and then working your way up, in my opinion. It's hard to get into systems administration or DBA positions, even at an entry level, without more relevant experience.

Good luck!

Thanks, I sorta assumed I'd have to start at helpdesk. Would it make a difference if it's tech support through phone or helpdesk for a lab/office environment?

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: vital

Originally posted by: Descartes
IMO, the largest problem is that it looks like you have no direction. What do you want to do? If you want to be a DBA model your resume after that career path. Highlight any experience you might have in that area and state your desires in your objective. Your objective says "I don't know what I want to do" to me.

Other than that your resume looks fine, but it's just missing substance. Your best bet at this point is going to be likely applying for helpdesk positions and then working your way up, in my opinion. It's hard to get into systems administration or DBA positions, even at an entry level, without more relevant experience.

Good luck!

Thanks, I sorta assumed I'd have to start at helpdesk. Would it make a difference if it's tech support through phone or helpdesk for a lab/office environment?

100000% difference. With helpdesk over the phone you're limited in your interaction with the customer, and generally your responsibilities are very limited. Office environments expose you a lot more for a lot of reasons:

- You often interact with the customer (other employees) directly, and this type of social development is very important later in your career. You'll see why.
- Your options are not as limited. You have more than a simple phone call to truly show your abilities. You'll likely be exposed to other areas that you wouldn't be otherwise, and this is a nice step into administration if that's what you wish to do.
- Talking on the phone all day is miserable.

The more people you know in this business the faster you'll move up. Concentrate on building relationships and diverisfying your knowledge as much as possible.

 

[tm37]

I don't think the info at the top is acurate.

How are potential employers supposed to get ahold of you?

 

[puffff]

Your resume looks okay. Unfortunately, with your experience, it won't stand out in a stack of other resumes. There's not a whole lot you can do about that.

But instead of looking on Monster and Dice, try directing your efforts elsewhere. Ask friends and family for job leads. If they don't know any openings, see if they'll give you the name and direct email of someone in HR. An email that goes right to an HR employee's inbox is more likely to be read that one that goes to jobs@company.com.

Try contacting recruiters too. Your mileage may vary, but I've had quite a bit of success working with technical recruiters. They often have direct contacts within companies and can also get you noticed.

 

[poopaskoopa]

I think the resume looks ok. You just need to get started somewhere. I don't know anything about the DBA path, but if you want to be a sys admin you probably would start at either help desk(phone support) or desktop support. Many of the sys admins I know got started as PC techs(desktop support). Personally, I like working as a sys admin for small companies, but there're some things you should know(especially when you don't work for a large corp):

You don't get promoted. - Your boss is the IS manager/IT director/VP of IT. They won't promote you into their jobs. That's not to say that you won't get pay raises(and you probably will), but unless you just like reading event logs in the morning and watching nightly backups, you should know that this is what you'll be doing until the end of time(or until you get promoted into your boss's job).

Now if you work for a large company.

More politics - Although this certainly isn't exclusive to the world of IT.

More stress - Maybe it was just me, but there were more servers around. And when things turned to sh!t I had to explain myself more and had to try appear blameless more than I did when I worked for a small company.

More career opportunities - There're multiple levels(and pay grades) and you can move up. Again, this isn't anything exclusive to IT.

If you're brought in as a contractor, you can almost bet that you'll not get anywhere anytime soon.

Certs are not completely useless. Some people like them. They may not improve your skills, but they're a tiebreaker between you and all the admins just like you who don't have them. At this stage in your life, I don't know if that's what you need to jump start your career, but recruiters and some managers love that stuff. Like a degree, it's a tiebreaker.