Lil Help Here?

[@gentOrange]

Hey as you know I just moved back to canada, and have a limited time window for free living before my ass is thrown out.

I have no idea wtf to do so can I get some help with my resume and cover letter? Show me a format, or something ANYTHING because if I don't have a job within a week or 2 I'm going to end up homeless again.

edit: I have very little job experience, most of it was under the table type payment which I know I can list, but have to get my employers permission which isn't so easy. I have NO experience in any of the fields I'd be looking at and can't get hired without it (yay catch 22 *cocks gun*).

[BobTheJanitor]

Doesn't monster.com have a resume builder of sorts? If not, I know that most recent versions of ms word have a built in template for making a resume. Just add creatively stretched 'experience' and you're good to go.

[Niteowl]

GO BACK TO SCHOOL YA HIPPIE!!

[lolfighter]

Real helpful Niteowl. Young man is in the same kind of trouble as I am (albeit I'm not getting thrown out right away), and lemme tell you that's no fun. Right now he doesn't need jokes, he needs help. How about pulling some favours with your boss and getting him a job where you work?

[BobTheJanitor]

Ooooooh the pressure's on now. Can niteowl put him money where his hoot is?

[Niteowl]

we're not currently hiring programmers lf.

okok fine, serious question.

iirc, you have experience with pc hardware right? i'd go the A+ Certification route, get some work at some hardware shop fixing making PCs, then work up into your network certifications. work your contacts as much as possible, everyone needs a PC guy at some point to fix this and that and what not.

the best jobs are almost always thorugh contacts, so work those first. is it in tech you want to work?

this is a highly edited version of MY resume. make it clear, succinct, and with a very definite purpose. the employers are constantly flooded with resumes, they need to make sure you really want THEIR job. also, i find phoning them as a followup to your resume dropping works really well.

if you want a very long winded and very thorough answer, read "What Colour is Your Parachute?".



OBJECTIVE    
Obtain an Intermediate Java Developer/Build Manager position in a company where continual development of both the business and technical side of e-business is encouraged, and excellence is expected.

EXPERIENCE

3/2001 - Present :  BLAH BLAH BLAH
Systems Analyst - J2EE Developer & Build Manager
·   Developer using RMI, EJBs, Servlets, XML-RPC, JSPs,  and JDBC. As well as Apache, Weblogic 6.0, Oracle 8i, and Linux.
·   Managed servers and code  using CVS, Linux, Solaris, Weblogic, JBoss, Ant, and bash scripts.


EDUCATION    
5/1998    University of BLAH BLAH
   Bachelor's Degreee in Biology

Name       Skill Level       Last Used    Experience
EJBs      Intermediate      Currently Used    2.5 year
HTML      Intermediate       Currently Used    2.5 years
J2EE      Intermediate       Currently Used    1 year
Java      Intermediate       Currently Used    2.5 years
JSPs      Intermediate       Currently Used    2.5 years
Linux      Intermediate       Currently Used    2 years
Oracle      Intermediate       Currently Used    1 year
Weblogic   Intermediate      Currently Used    2.5 years
Servlets   Intermediate       Currently Used    2.5 years
SQL       Intermediate       Currently Used    2.5 years
UML       Intermediate       Currently Used    2 years
XML      Intermediate      Currently Used    2 years

[rad4Christ]

Getting into retail PC shops where you can be a builder would be a great bet. If you have a little basic knowledge of PC's and hardware, you can easily build new ones and start learning more. That's where I began. If you have a good deal of basic kowledge on the inner workings of a PC (software and hardware), then find a corporation and try to get on as a PC technician. You'll need some sort of certification to replace lack of experience, so get your A+, it's easy. However, I'll be honest, experience will get you everywhere. I've never been certified in ANYTHING, and befor eI come to the church, I was lead PC technician of a software corporation covering over 250 desktop PCs.

[Niteowl]

rad4Christ,Jun 28 2004, 07:29 AM] However, I'll be honest, experience will get you everywhere.

i'd have to totally agree with that

[Doobie Dan]

As Owleh said, contacts are the best way to get your foot in the door - if you have any friends of the family that work in the field you want to go into, definitely give that a shot.  Just google for sample resumes or look on Monster, there's tons of great help on the internet (I've been doing a hell of a lot of that lately, just got a job last week, probably have sent out 20 resumes since I graduated in early May).  If you like I can email you my resume so you can see a complete document format, PM your addy.  If do you manage to get an interview, check the interview guides on Monster, there's a lot of good info there, and make sure to send a thank-you letter after the interview, that will usually seal the deal if they're divided between two equally good candidates.

EDIT: OMG I just looked over and noticed I have a reserved slot, haha thx guys!  <3

[Niteowl]

(I've been doing a hell of a lot of that lately, just got a job last week, probably have sent out 20 resumes since I graduated in early May).

ah, congrats! i know you were looking for work! what are youdoign?

and only 20 resumes?!? man, the economy must be heating up

[Doobie Dan]

ah, congrats! i know you were looking for work! what are youdoign?

and only 20 resumes?!? man, the economy must be heating up

Thanks Nitey  ^_^  I will be working as a Software Engineer over at Lexmark (printer company) on the build/auto-testing team.  I'll be doing a pretty varied mix of software development in multiple languages and platforms (guess I can't escape my Perl background after all).

[That Annoying Kid]

I did resumes in the special ed class ^__________^

if you google for resume builder some give you templates and such

[GrayDuck]

Start small…  what skills do you have?  PC experience?  Personal relationships?  Organizational skills – are your CD’s / DVD’s alphabetized ?!  Do you volunteer anywhere?... NOTE: volunteering is a very general term – any “help” you give a person / business is considered volunteering.  Have you ever hung out with somebody doing a trade long enough to deem it an apprenticeship… that would look good.

If you don’t have a whole lot of work experiences, build up all the little things that you do have.  Establish that you’re more than a punk looking for a job – even if there is no real substance in your resume, the fact that it is well thought out and grammatically correct can go a long way.

Throw modesty out the window.  Build your self up.

I don’t know what type of job you are looking for but any job is a step in the right direction.  Don’t forget that there is long term value in taking a lower paying job where you have room to advance (or really build your resume with something that you are interested in) rather than taking a higher paying job flipping burgers.

Good Luck!

[Niteowl]

yeah duck, good point. any spelling or grammatical errors will USUALLY land yer resume in the circular file cabinet ASAP.

[That Annoying Kid]

yeah duck, good point. any spelling or grammatical errors will USUALLY land yer resume in the circular file cabinet ASAP.

^^


Also remember that most people will just glance at the resume, so presentation is key

[confused!]

please note: ms word comes witha a resumé builder.


in 2003
new file -> templates-> on my computer->other documents -> resume wizard*

its in the other versions too but i cant remember how to do it. (it should be ridiculously similar to the above.)

(its is the resume wizard  not the resumé one as he seems to have wandered off)

[Niteowl]

WTH!?!? not even ONE typo confused?!?

....




THE END IS NIGH!! THE EEND IS NIIGH!! REPENT!! REPENT!!!

[Uranium - 235]

witha

Not exactly typo-free but I think the accent

é

makes up for it.

[confused!]

i am proud to not have the typos. i think the whole dual monitor ting helps me but only if i type on the left one, because the right one is the suck.( i stole it from my younger brother and exported it across town, to its current basement location)