Anyone care to comment on my CV?

[AndrewTait]

Well, having been put on notice of potentially being made redundant, anyone care to comment on the CV I've just updated:

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Qualifications

BSc. Computer Science and Information Technology (2:2 with Honours) 1996
HND Software Engineering 1995
A-Level Computer Science Grade D 1993
7 GCSE’s including Maths and English at Grade C or above 1990

Employment History

August 2005 – Present
{company name removed}, IT Systems Technician

Employed as part of a team of 7. Working shifts to cover the 24 hour 365 day operation of a newspaper printing facility.

The team is responsible for all aspects of IT systems installation, support, and maintenance. This covers systems as diverse as Desktop PC’s, Apple Macs, and their OS’s and applications, through to computer-to-plate technologies for producing printing image plates for newspaper presses.

Applications include: Microsoft Office, Lotus Notes Client and Domino Server, SQL Server, Windows desktop and server operating systems and CA Arcserve Backup solutions. Additionally, bespoke printing industry applications and in house developed applications are also part of our remit.

Hardware support based around general HP PC and Apple Mac hardware, and bespoke hardware relevant to Press control systems.

I have also been involved in the support of 60 servers on site, LAN and WAN provision, including provision to production areas. The support of an Ericsson MD110 PBX has also been part of my role.

I have been heavily involved in the installation of computer and IT systems for use with new printing technologies, modification to old equipment to run using the latest planning and press setting technology, post production newspaper handling, and pre-production paper handling. This included implementation and support of PLC systems, Automatic Guided Vehicles, and Ferag product handling lines.

I have also been heavily involved in the commissioning of computer systems relating to Wifag presses, including Windows based control press control desks, and Seimens RMOS3 realtime OS based systems for press control.

This position gave me the opportunity to deal with staff from within the company from Director level, through to production staff, and ancillary staff. I have also dealt with external contractors, external suppliers, and staff from other parts of the company.

June 2001 – August 2005
{Company name removed}, Senior Systems Engineer / Server Side & Project Specialist

Employed to look after approximately 250 users, of which half are field based, predominantly for the {division name removed} division.

The bulk of the work in this role involved:

· The support and development of systems within the businesses area of control.
· The provision of an out-of-hours helpdesk, covering the hours between 6am and 11pm seven days per week, on a one week in four rota.
· The maintenance of software license and hardware inventories, by regular auditing of PC’s and software.
· Development and maintenance of procedures, policies and processes for all IS related activities, in line with British Standards Institute (BSi) and company auditors.
· Ensuring continued levels of systems availability whilst minimising the cost overheads to the business.
· Ensuring all documentation relating to the computer policies and systems is kept up to date
· Ensuring NT server and Sun server Backups are carried out in accordance with policy, and rectifying any errors using Veritas (now Symantec) Backup Exec, and Veritas Net Backup
· Upgrades to PC and server hardware and applications as necessary, using change control and testing procedures in order to maintain a high level of system availability.

Notable tasks during my time with {company name removed} include:

· Review, development and testing of Disaster Recovery Plans and Business Continuity plans, covering Network/Microsoft Windows / Sun Solaris environments. Some elements of these plans have been implemented in a live business continuity situation.
· Replacement of legacy Windows NT 3.51/Citrix 1.7 servers with Windows 2003, Active Directory and Terminal Services on new hardware, whilst maintaining system availability.
· Management of costs related to laptop support, by implementing and managing an in-house repair and upgrade program.
· Management of field and customer site engineer IT requirements including the issue, maintenance and development of laptops and desktops as necessary. Implementation of various initiatives for patching and upgrading of machines including Anti-Virus software, operating systems patches, and Microsoft Office applications.
· Attending meetings with suppliers and customers to discuss projects and requirements to ensure that the IS team is represented and a suitable, workable and supportable solution is put into place.
· Managing and supporting the move of servers from head office to regional office, including the provision of a new computer room, sourcing of suitable contractors to move the kit, decommissioning, and recommisioning of equipment, whilst giving the maximum amount of systems availability.
· Developing new backup and recovery strategies including the roll out of Veritas/Symantec Backup Exec, and the upgrade to Veritas/Symantec Net Backup software in use on site, and the use of backup to disk technologies.

My role was expanded to cover the support of a remote office based in West Yorkshire. This involved the tasks:

· Bringing of systems up to corporate standards in terms of software use and procedures.
· Implementation of connection to the corporate network. Including liaising with suppliers of hardware, communications lines, and programming of Cisco routers.
· Project management including team management and budgetary control.
· Auditing of the IS systems within the location, for both security and business risks.

{company name removed} completed the roll out Active Directory based on Windows 2003 server, on a world wide basis during 2004 and 2005. As a result of attending a global {company name removed} planning conference on Active Directory, and the work done on the Active Directory environment previously implemented at {location removed}, I was involved in this roll out. I was instrumental in the roll out at {location removed}, which included the migration of all users off the existing Windows NT4 domain structure, migration of servers and workstations, and testing of all systems to maintain a consistent level of service to the end users. This project also included the collapsing of the pre-existing Active Directory domain, in order to incorporate the servers, workstations and users into the world wide corporate Active Directory domain. As a result of this move to a global Active Directory structure, a number of servers have needed upgrades and re-installation of legacy applications in order to move onto Windows 2003.

I also assisted in the migration of another manufacturing site within the {company name removed} group, carrying out a similar kind of operation as at {location removed}. Approximately 600 users and workstations were migrated during this project, just at the two sites I assisted with, and a total of 4000 world wide.

Towards the end of my time at {company name removed}, my role moved more towards that of a server side specialist within the UK for {company name removed} Group rather than specifically for the {Location removed} site. This gave me additional responsibilities, such as working with a team of specialists on particular fields, additional exposure to project management, and the more in depth areas of server support. As a result of this, I completed the Microsoft Maintaining and Managing Windows 2003 training. This development of my role also gave me the chance to look at aspects of the {company name removed} infrastructure which have previously been closed to me such as the implementation of Web servers, firewalls, VPN connectivity, and the role of MS Exchange 2003 within the business.

November 1996 – June 2001
{company name removed}, PC and Network Support Engineer

Support for a sales and service co-ordination site of 160 users, both office based and mobile. This not only included the support of standard desktop operating systems and applications, but also the support of {company name removed} servicing tools. Additionally some limited support of HP-UX and Oracle applications was also involved.

In addition to general PC and Network support tasks, I was involved in:

· Implementing Windows NT 4.0, Lotus Notes (Client Side) and Office 97 on desktop and laptop PC’s as part of a corporate initiative.
· Hardware and software inventory for the Manchester office, prior to this being centralised at head office.
· Replacement of Novell network operating system with Windows NT on new hardware, in a multi-domain environment.
· Removal of Token Ring network with Ethernet based network.
· Implementation of DHCP IP Addressing on site.
· Migration of DNS from Unix to Windows NT
· Assistance with re-cabling of site for Data and Telecommunications
· Assistance with Meridian Telephone Switchboard installation

I also supported the Full Service area of the business, and PSDI’s Maximo service management software. The support of these systems was instrumental in maintaining the operation of a number of high availability production lines within the engineering and printing industries, and implementing systems in a production line/engineering environment, using the following technologies:

· Oracle database (on Intel platform) installation and maintenance.
· LAN and WAN specification, implementation and support.
· Interfacing into {company name removed} business systems for transfer of data from site offices.
· Project management from design through to support stages, including installation and development.

My involvement in this area of the business has lead me to be able to have a degree of control over how the systems are implemented, controlled and developed. I have had to work on my own initiative, and on customer sites. I have on occasions met with customers, when they have been in pre-contract discussions, to discuss and plan the implementation of the {company name removed} system along side any existing systems or procedures which the customer may already have, and to give a technical overview of how the system works.

In addition to the tasks listed above, I helped support other {company name removed} group companies where needed, including support activities, project work, and IT audits at other {company name removed} sites within the UK.

I was also involved in the support of a contract, which lead me to visit a customers site over a number of weeks in a PC/Network consultancy role. This covered some 20 weeks, and enabled me to lead a team as the senior on-site engineer. I was also involved in top level management meetings with the customer, to explain proposed recommendations, and future development requirements within the business. I was also instrumental in the implementation of these recommendations, and on going support of the site’s infrastructure for a short while after implementation.

{company name removed}, Network Support and Software Development
Apr 1995 - Oct 1995 & Jun 1996 - Nov 1996

Work involved major networks upgrade and network administration within an engineering environment. I was involved with the replacement of a server with new hardware and network operating system, whilst maintaining a constant service to users at a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week site.

Initially this job was a three month placement as part of HND Software Engineering course, but continued for a further three months during the summer vacation. I then returned on a monthly contract basis after completing my BSc. Course.

Personal Profile

I have held a full clean driving license since 1991.

I consider myself to be reasonably fit and I am a non-smoker.

I am a member of a local church. I have undertaken a number of spare time volunteer jobs in connection with the church, at both local and regional levels, including the organisation of youth events, and management of a youth opportunities scheme.

I also have interests in cars, aircraft, music and reading.

I consider myself an enthusiastic, willing and quick learner.

I feel that I can work well in a team, as well as on my own initiative, and I consider myself to be flexible to the needs of the users, whilst maintaining a need to help the business succeed.

I believe that some travelling is required for any IT/IS job, so as to experience a wide range of situations, challenges, solutions and opportunities. This also allows the sharing of ideas and knowledge with similar minded professionals.

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I know that CV's are meant to cover 2 sides of A4, and this is 3 sides, but all the stuff is relevent. Any constructive criticism, both good and bad is gatefully received.

Thanks,

Andrew

Edited by AndrewTait on Tuesday 9th June 08:01

Edited by AndrewTait on Tuesday 9th June 08:02

[spikeyhead]

It's very very waffly.

It repeatedly uses phrases like "I was heavily involved in..." but doesn't cover what was actually achieved.

Try something like "in2003 I was responsible for xxxx project which was implemented smoothly and ahead of plan."

The skillset you have isn't clearly highlighted, drag this out into your personal statement which should be on the first page and merely say something like..

"IT support professional with xx years experience of aaaa, bbbbb, cccc etc."

[The Walrus]

Too much information and all you have told us is about what you have been involved in but not what you have done in these roles as an individual to get to the end result try and use the format below and use maybe 4 or 5 per role to keep it short and sweet but impactful, you have to think of it from HR's point of view that they want to get an idea about you as an individual quickly and not get bogged down in the detail, that is what the interview is for.


Use PARS

Performance
Action
Result
Summary

Explain what you did or asked to do and what skill this showed, what you did to achieve it, the outcome and then summarise either the benefit / cost saving

Read the job description and see if you can apply one of the PARS of say between 10-20 that you have already compiled to that role, this way you can easily adjust your CV to the role and adapt as necessary.

Edited by The Walrus on Tuesday 9th June 09:46

[OatSy]

I found it boring, people who read CV's only want to see key words, you elaborate at the interview stage. cut it down, it shouldn't read like a story.

[dcb]

I suggest

1. Try to understand why using ' to indicate plurals is wrong.

Eg. I own five Ferraris, they are the dog's undercarriage.

Note no ' on the Ferraris, because it's a plural.

3. Spell check your CV. I stopped reading when I got to
three spelling mistakes.

4. The CV is too wide. Suggest reformat to 70 columns or so.

5. You need a summary at the top

Primary Skill 1 - number of years of experience
Primary Skill 2 - number of years of experience

...

6. Too much waffle and not enough buzz words. Your
CV needs to shout in about ten seconds that you can do
the advertised job. Folks sifting through hundreds of
CVs don't want to read War & Peace.

[Scottish Exile]

CV's should be in the third person, so cut out the I did this, I did that. Bullet points work best to summarise the highlights.

[AndrewTait]

Thanks for all the input guys. I shall take the points on board, and see where it leads me to.

[escargot]

Scottish Exile said:

CV's should be in the third person, so cut out the I did this, I did that. Bullet points work best to summarise the highlights.

I disagree. You're the person writing the CV, therefore 'I did this, I did that' is absolutely fine.

[h0b0]

I admit I live in the US so cultures are different butI am employing in a highly skilled area at the moment. I was put off straight away reading this. Listing your D grade at A Level is unnecessary and hardly anything to boast about. Also, I am looking for key point, such as experience on specific instruments or environments.

I am not looking to read a 3 page essay and search for the information that is important to me. And, if you don't know what I'm looking for you are not the person for the job.

[E31Shrew]

Too long for my tastes but then perhaps your experience would be relevant in that field. Personally I would drop the 'church' bit...

[Scooby72]

• Imagine you are the employer, he has 30 or 40 other CV's to read, I think he would give up half way through, like I did.

• I was always told to use a maximum of 3 A4 sheets.

• Keep it brief & to the point.

• Don't write like a biography, use bullet points.

• NO SPELLING MISTAKES !! CHECK IT, THEN CHECK IT AGAIN.

[Flibble]

Scooby72 said:

• I was always told to use a maximum of 3 A4 sheets.

I was told 2 - I consider 1 to be better if you can manage it. If not, make sure the first page has the meat of the CV.

Bullet points are also a really good idea.

I think giving up half way is generous - I read CVs at work, and I'd have skimmed this in about 20 seconds and discarded it immediately as being too hard to find anything useful from.

I'd also drop the personal profile. It adds little to nothing of value and is extra noise. If any of it is particularly relevant you can bring it up in the interview.

[bogie]

echo all of the above comments

..also dont go into depth on qualifications too much - im not interested that someone has a CSE II in French from 1986 etc (like me!)

I would just quote the highest qualification you have, and any valid industry certs ie. relevant to the job

at one point I had 22 different certs starting from PC engineer, through MCSE, CCNA to NP, HP, Citrix etc ...but I wouldnt just put down a page full of qualifications on a CV, I would select which ones may be pertinent to the role I was applying for

Im a manager of a technical team in "IT" hardware sales and see loads of CVs, the layout and style can say a lot about a person before youve got to the experience bits

Lose a lot of the personal profile too - just the basics will do, *some* outside interests are good, but too many and I will wonder how dedicated you will be to work .....e.g. in my team 60-70 hour weeks with extensive travel is required quite often, you couldnt fit that in if you have 7 hobbies, are running 3 clubs and your a reservist soldier etc


so basically, cut it down, summarise stuff, focus on key achievements in your career

if you want some examples there are loads on-line if you search around somewhere like LinkedIn is a good business networking tool and you should be able to see examples of how people in your industry sell themselves.......

[gremlin123]

bogie said:

echo all of the above comments

..also dont go into depth on qualifications too much - im not interested that someone has a CSE II in French from 1986 etc (like me!)

I would just quote the highest qualification you have, and any valid industry certs ie. relevant to the job

at one point I had 22 different certs starting from PC engineer, through MCSE, CCNA to NP, HP, Citrix etc ...but I wouldnt just put down a page full of qualifications on a CV, I would select which ones may be pertinent to the role I was applying for

Im a manager of a technical team in "IT" hardware sales and see loads of CVs, the layout and style can say a lot about a person before youve got to the experience bits

Lose a lot of the personal profile too - just the basics will do, *some* outside interests are good, but too many and I will wonder how dedicated you will be to work .....e.g. in my team 60-70 hour weeks with extensive travel is required quite often, you couldnt fit that in if you have 7 hobbies, are running 3 clubs and your a reservist soldier etc


so basically, cut it down, summarise stuff, focus on key achievements in your career

if you want some examples there are loads on-line if you search around somewhere like LinkedIn is a good business networking tool and you should be able to see examples of how people in your industry sell themselves.......

Well said. For a technical CV you could add a skills section to the top of the CV so that your skills are all togeather then you don't need to list them with every job -

This is from my CV, I have broken the technical skills into three areas showing that UNIX and Oracle are my key skills -

Technical Skills
Oracle • Extracting information from an Oracle database using SQL
• Creating, truncating and dropping tables
• Inserting and updating data in an Oracle database

UNIX • Shell scripting and data manipulation using ‘sed’, ‘awk’, ‘ex’ and ‘vi’
• Using ‘cron’ to schedule jobs
• Directory navigation
• Deletion or compression of unnecessary log files
• Searching for specific files using the ‘find’ command

Other • Callidus True Comp Manager
• Actuate (Report software)
• IBM Websphere (Application Server)

Your CV is unlikely to be read word for word especially if lots of CVs are being checked. Make sure that the most important information is easy to find. White space on a CV is very important. Every statement should have a point.

You can always turn the job down if you don't want to work 70 hours a week.

[dcb]

gremlin123 said:

UNIX • Shell scripting and data manipulation using ‘sed’, ‘awk’, ‘ex’ and ‘vi’
• Using ‘cron’ to schedule jobs
• Directory navigation
• Deletion or compression of unnecessary log files
• Searching for specific files using the ‘find’ command

Listing commands that you know won't get you far with
Unix - there are thousands.

No one uses 'ex' anymore - it's a dead skill. No one
has done stuff like .,.+10s;qwe\.$;rty\#;p since 1990 at least.

Very few folks use sed or awk anymore - much of that
is done in Perl these days.

Directory navigation isn't much of a skill - my Mum can
type in 'cd somewhere'.

Would it be better to summarise the section as

• basic grasp of the Unix command set

[gremlin123]

dcb said:

gremlin123 said:

UNIX • Shell scripting and data manipulation using ‘sed’, ‘awk’, ‘ex’ and ‘vi’
• Using ‘cron’ to schedule jobs
• Directory navigation
• Deletion or compression of unnecessary log files
• Searching for specific files using the ‘find’ command

Listing commands that you know won't get you far with
Unix - there are thousands.

No one uses 'ex' anymore - it's a dead skill. No one
has done stuff like .,.+10s;qwe\.$;rty\#;p since 1990 at least.

Very few folks use sed or awk anymore - much of that
is done in Perl these days.

Directory navigation isn't much of a skill - my Mum can
type in 'cd somewhere'.

Would it be better to summarise the section as

• basic grasp of the Unix command set

Thanks, point taken. I have removed the commands from my CV replacing them with discriptions of the operations.

[AndrewTait]

Once again, thanks for the comments. I am part way through rewriting it, so will post up the "New and Improved, now washes whiter" CV when completed.

Cheers,

Andy

[AndrewTait]

Well, I really need to get this sorted now - found out today, that as of Friday, I am redundant. :-(