Gamers Without Jobs: The resume thread

Kazoos,
Overall it looks solid but take advantage of what differentiate you more. I'd suggest considering:
1. Lead with your experience. Many interns will have none. Something like 'after earning a Bachelor of Arts and serving X year in the Army, I chose to add an engineering degree because of my interest in X'
2. How can you contribute immediately 'my experiences have demonstrated an ability to learn quickly in multiple environments and I expect to contribute right from the y start of my internship. I am hoping that you will find me a good fit for your organization and that after seeing my work effort I may be in a good position to reapply when I complete my studies in x date. '

Good luck!

karmajay wrote:

I'm not an expert nor do i do any hiring but it seems to be well written and the cover letter seems good for the job. I think most places say the objective is a section of the pass. Also, glad to see you are interested in controls engineering. That's something I'm trying to do more to learn in my job capacity. When you do start job hunting, look at ABB. Anything that has to do with their 800xA system is controls heavy!

Rahmen wrote:

Kazoos,
Overall it looks solid but take advantage of what differentiate you more. I'd suggest considering:
1. Lead with your experience. Many interns will have none. Something like 'after earning a Bachelor of Arts and serving X year in the Army, I chose to add an engineering degree because of my interest in X'
2. How can you contribute immediately 'my experiences have demonstrated an ability to learn quickly in multiple environments and I expect to contribute right from the y start of my internship. I am hoping that you will find me a good fit for your organization and that after seeing my work effort I may be in a good position to reapply when I complete my studies in x date. '

Good luck!

Thanks, guys! People keep telling me to "lead with experience" or create a skills based resume, and I'm never quite sure how I'm supposed to do that. Putting skills or experience up top doesn't seem to square with the logic of the document, which, to me, should be going from general to specific. Any thoughts on how to implement something like that?

edit: updated to latest version:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5Vz...

The logic behind leading with experience is that the first half page is the page turner, if you haven't grabbed them by then they move onto the next resume. This is why so many people advocate a Skills Summary. Ideally you are aiming for a few key points from the rest of your document that are must see. Think of it like an executive summary.

I would suggest that these points follow the format of:

•What, Why, How (it added to the business)

A lot of resumes use single buzz words in bulleted lists, these tell the person reading the resume nothing other than that you know it's a catchy buzz word.

EG.

•Customer Service

Now using the What, Why, How format;

•Highly developed customer service skills, effectively used to build rapport and create upselling opportunities and generate increased sales through repeat business and positive word of mouth.

Hopefully that explains in a practical way why people would suggest a skills based resume. I know that my example doesn't directly relate to you but it illustrates the point.

I've spent my early afternoon turning my UK/EU-style CV into a US-style resume. Did I do it right? Internet smoochies to anyone willing to give it a once-over.

This is the basic resume I'm currently using. The formatting was a suggestion by a job coach with whom I used to work, and I've tweaked and adjusted things here and there based on other feedback. What do you all think?

Floomi wrote:

I've spent my early afternoon turning my UK/EU-style CV into a US-style resume. Did I do it right? Internet smoochies to anyone willing to give it a once-over.

One thing I'd suggest is turning the narrative (especially in the Overview section) into bullet points. Additionally, with the tech stuff, bullet point those as well, but put them in a separate skills section. Check mine out for an idea of what I'm getting at.

Is there any guideline as to how proficient should one be in something before claiming it as a skill on a resume? For example there are many software packages I likely can't answer random questions about off the top of my head but given a minute or two sitting down with them and/or a search engine I could very likely figure out. However I gather doing that during an interview usually isn't viable.

Floomi wrote:

I've spent my early afternoon turning my UK/EU-style CV into a US-style resume. Did I do it right? Internet smoochies to anyone willing to give it a once-over.

Your overview is a little too informal (although software's always a weird world). I agree with Rubb Ed about trying to turn the narrative into bullet points. Some of that needs to go into a cover letter. MEng (Masters in Engineering I assume) is usually abbreviated as M.Eng. in the US. I spent a few minutes wondering where the Meng School was in London.

Rubb Ed wrote:

This is the basic resume I'm currently using. The formatting was a suggestion by a job coach with whom I used to work, and I've tweaked and adjusted things here and there based on other feedback. What do you all think?

Nit-picking: under professional profile, you're not being consistant with period use. I'd go ahead and use them. The sentences look weird to my eyes without them. One of your sentences is incomplete.

I love the column on the left with all your technical skills, but the content and layout are a little weird. There's too much space between items, and you've got a lot of standard issue items in there, like all the Microsoft Office stuff. Things like Access and Project are relatively skills in the workplace, but in the modern world, telling somebody you can use Word and Excel is a bit like telling them you can make coffee without burning down the building.

kazooka wrote:
Floomi wrote:

I've spent my early afternoon turning my UK/EU-style CV into a US-style resume. Did I do it right? Internet smoochies to anyone willing to give it a once-over.

Your overview is a little too informal (although software's always a weird world). I agree with Rubb Ed about trying to turn the narrative into bullet points. Some of that needs to go into a cover letter.

Exactly. That's where the more free form "here's why I'm awesome" stuff goes.

That said, you could also put some of the overview (test framework, working with non-technical people, etc) into the resume as bullet points under their respective employment history sections.

I can't look at files right now, and I'm no expert, but I've taken out any objective/overview-type fluff bs from my resume and I've cut my resume down to one page. I put that stuff in my cover letter, if I include it at all. I've been out of school for a while, so the page is mostly experience. Education is listed but not the focus.

Rubb Ed wrote:

This is the basic resume I'm currently using. The formatting was a suggestion by a job coach with whom I used to work, and I've tweaked and adjusted things here and there based on other feedback. What do you all think?

There is an inconsistency in the experience section. The bottom three jobs have a line separating the job title and date from the job description, but the top two jobs do not. Instead of adding a line to the top two jobs, I think it would better to remove the line from the bottom three, so that the only hard separations are between different jobs.

Another minor detail is that the space between the bullet points and the text in the profile section seems excessive, especially compared to the bullet lists on the left.

Thanks for the feedback. God, writing for the US market is miserable. Everyone's so self-important! :p

SixteenBlue wrote:

you could also put some of the overview into the resume as bullet points under their respective employment history sections

So I can ditch the test framework entirely - it's already down there. But the soft skills stuff isn't specific to one particular job I've done, it's what I've got from working in games in general. It could be shunted to cover letter but this resume is going to recruiters (=no cover letter when they forward it to companies) and I do want it mentioned - not being a total neckbeard is one of my stronger skills. Not sure how to navigate this one.

Rubb Ed wrote:

with the tech stuff, bullet point those as well, but put them in a separate skills section

I don't know how I can turn a list of languages into bullets without creating a ton of whitespace or reformatting my entire CV; nor do I want to lose the skill information and end up falsely giving the impression that I'm a web programmer.

Also what the hell is with this obsession with bulletpoints, can't people read horizontally this is ridiculous

Floomi wrote:

Thanks for the feedback. God, writing for the US market is miserable. Everyone's so self-important! :p

SixteenBlue wrote:

you could also put some of the overview into the resume as bullet points under their respective employment history sections

So I can ditch the test framework entirely - it's already down there. But the soft skills stuff isn't specific to one particular job I've done, it's what I've got from working in games in general. It could be shunted to cover letter but this resume is going to recruiters (=no cover letter when they forward it to companies) and I do want it mentioned - not being a total neckbeard is one of my stronger skills. Not sure how to navigate this one.

Rubb Ed wrote:

with the tech stuff, bullet point those as well, but put them in a separate skills section

I don't know how I can turn a list of languages into bullets without creating a ton of whitespace or reformatting my entire CV; nor do I want to lose the skill information and end up falsely giving the impression that I'm a web programmer.

Also what the hell is with this obsession with bulletpoints, can't people read horizontally this is ridiculous

American HR departments have difficulty with full sentences.

A less snarky explanation is that often an employer will receive so many resumes that they will have to either spent 2.3 years closely evaluating every single one of them, or just skim them for relevant info. Hence, bullet points.

The best advice I can give you is to put the address of where you will be living and pretend you live in the area already. Most companies will not even bother to read your resume if you don't list the local area on it. No, they really don't care that you will be moving into the area soon.

Just be ready to fly at a moments notice to be at an interview.

Oy gevalt. I didn't realize I had a bunch of errors in my resume. Off to fix. Thanks for the catches, folks.

kazooka wrote:

I love the column on the left with all your technical skills, but the content and layout are a little weird. There's too much space between items, and you've got a lot of standard issue items in there, like all the Microsoft Office stuff. Things like Access and Project are relatively skills in the workplace, but in the modern world, telling somebody you can use Word and Excel is a bit like telling them you can make coffee without burning down the building.

See, I'm going to disagree (and keep) the standard Office stuff. To me, the point of the stupid thing (can you tell I'm already tired of job-hunting?) is to get in front of the humans, and I figure if they want Excel skills I'd better have it show up. I'll take it off if it's an unimportant detail for a particular position, and same with Word, but I don't trust computers NOT to toss it in the trash if the word isn't there.

I will work on the spacing, though. Thanks for the catch!

Is it acceptable to include certificates that you do not have but are sincerely planning to obtain? example

Cert_name vendor Planned Summer 2013

Only if its underway/nearly completed, like a degree. Otherwise it's clutter and makes you look a bit shifty.

krev82 wrote:

Is it acceptable to include certificates that you do not have but are sincerely planning to obtain? example

Cert_name vendor Planned Summer 2013

I don't even look at those when I'm running interviews. I care about what you actually have, not what you want.

I've got a question. Does the resume digital format matter? Do hiring managers care if a digital resume is submitted in a word document vs a .pdf? I've heard some people state that it should always be a .pdf because it's the "grown-up" format and "can't be altered" which makes no sense to me because .pdf's can be altered.

It shouldn't, and hiring managers don't really care as long as they can open it. Personally I prefer to use .pdf because it does indeed feel more grown-up; I give recruiters the original .doc only when they ask (so they can put their horrible ugly logo on it).

Ah okay, thanks.

Be careful with Office. I whipped through the technical parts of my last interview...and then had to get help plotting two series in Excel.

Would any/all of you be willing to look over my resume?

I quit yesterday, rather than be fired today. I knew the writing was on the wall for months but the benefits were so good I decided to wait it out until they fired me...and that day is here!

It feels really yucky not to have a job, but a bit liberating. I was under a microscope all the time and often I would wake up in the night worried that some little thing I had forgotten during the day would give them grounds to fire me. Still I was the insurance for our family and while we can go on my wife's it is more expensive and covers less!

Anyway, I applied for unemployment, and I will begin job searching ASAP so it is time to get this resume looking good. It should be current with all my skills, and accomplishments but I have a hard time judging how it looks, so I hope you can help.

Thanks,

Farley

On a tablet and at work, so I can't say much, but your resume is at least two pages too long. You only have a few seconds to get attention. No recruiter is going to read all that in an initial sweep.

It is a little too long. A good resume should only be 2 pages excluding cover letter (on rare occasions 3 pages is OK, but usually if you have a lot of accomplishments like an Olympic medal or curing cancer). The first page has to be the eye catcher. The further back you go, the less detail you should give.

Recruiters only read the résumé after the keyword search has dumped it in their inbox. Your monster.com/dice.com résumé can be ten pages long for all it matters. The one you send when they invariably ask for the ,most current one, however, should indeed aim for two pages or less unless youhave twenty years of publications and patents to cite. And yes, frontload the awesome. If I get to page two I'm usually hoping for publications or details of military service that pertains in one way. If you didn't make e want o talk to you above the fold on page one, threres not much else page two can grab ,e with.

But jam every mostly truthful keyword you can into your monster. com profile.

farley3k wrote:

Would any/all of you be willing to look over my resume?

I quit yesterday, rather than be fired today. I knew the writing was on the wall for months but the benefits were so good I decided to wait it out until they fired me...and that day is here!

It feels really yucky not to have a job, but a bit liberating. I was under a microscope all the time and often I would wake up in the night worried that some little thing I had forgotten during the day would give them grounds to fire me. Still I was the insurance for our family and while we can go on my wife's it is more expensive and covers less!

Anyway, I applied for unemployment, and I will begin job searching ASAP so it is time to get this resume looking good. It should be current with all my skills, and accomplishments but I have a hard time judging how it looks, so I hope you can help.

Thanks,

Farley

I don't know where you live, but in some states quitting (even if your dismissal is inevitable) automatically disqualifies you from unemployment, but I hope that is not your situation. The reason is it gives companies a very easy reason to contest it (He had a perfectly good job and he quit!)

I'm sure you know better, but lots of folks think that unemployment is somehow tied to their taxes so it is "their" money in essence. This is a simplified version, but as a business-owner I have to explain this to employees that quit all the time. Unemployment is a fund that is managed by the state, but funded by the business. Every dollar the ex-employee withdraws has to be replaced by the business. That is why companies contest it, they don't want to have to replace the funds. If it was taxes, they wouldn't care less. There is a fairly lengthy formula for how much a business has to maintain in this fund, but it is more than they want to you can bet on that.

Anyway, I hope you live in a state where that doesn't disqualify you as I'm sure you had a good reason. Good luck on the job search!

Thanks for the comments about the resume. I have left it that long because a few years ago I paid one of those on-line places to help me create this and their consultant felt it was ok. I try to front load all the buzz work experience in the qualification summary right at the beginning so if they don't get any farther they should have a pretty good idea of my skills.

I believe I am still eligible for unemployment but they were going to fire me which I know would have disqualified me so I didn't really have anything to lose!

I will have to head over to monster.com to see how out of date my profile is! I signed up with that years ago.

Is that how most job searching is done these days? I looked in the paper and it is just empty for IT stuff and I don't believe there are not some places looking - in fact when I go directly to companies web sites I do see stuff so they are not using the paper. Where are they advertising?

{edit] And this is what happens when your browser only sticks you in halfway through the conversation. Sorry! Didn't see all those people basically saying what I did.

Not sure I can really comment on that resume, what with you being in the US and all.... I know expectations are different in every country but in my experience some things are true:

1. Change the font. Seriously, it's a bit grating and feels like it's pixellated or something.
2. More than two pages for a CV? Everywhere I've seen and applied to and whatever has been max 2 pages with maybe a third page as a covering letter. The theory behind this is that you should tailor your CV to the job you're applying for rather than having a catch-all CV like the one you do have. A more specific CV would be shorter and ignore the irrelevant information (or condense it down) for the post you are looking at.

I know it's maybe not helpful - like I said, not in the USA - but that is my experience when job hunting over a few years now.

Good luck!