Can you please bash my resume?

[Alex Kravets]

Hi guys,

Can someone please critique my resume. I need it to be smashed and bashed so I can find a better place to work and dump the joint where I am currently at .

thanks!
Alex

[Marc Peabody]

Name and contact info should be listed at top.

Objective -
* Omit the word "To"
* your skills seem to be the focus of your objective, so reword it to address it that way:
"Utilize my skills to their fullest potential as a programmer"
* be more specific than programmer - Java and .Net programmer, programmer of distributed applications
* Consider making a second line to your objective (starting on a new line), possibly stating where you would like to be in your career in the next few years

Experience -
* I didn't read it. I doubt if most employers would either. Too many words. I would assume much of it could be saved for the interview - much less boring if verbal unless you happen to talk in a small Times font . I did skim it and saw many duplicated action words and I would avoid using "Worked" altogether
* Consider swapping the location of dates with the Location, NY

Overall Look -
Too much white space on left side; not enought on right side.
I like seeing a touch of color as it makes your resume stand out.
Break up your sections, as there is too much white space.
For instance, make Computer Skills into Programming Skills and Other Skills.
Break Experience up with the company names or your job titles as the sectional margin headers.

I was as mean as I could be. Good luck!

[Alex Kravets]

thanks!

[Jeffrey Hunter]

..please critique my resume

It looks like everyone else's resume. What's going to get you noticed?

[SJ Adnams]

only put down skills you have used professionally.

maybe rate each skill in a table.

beginner
competent
intermediate
advanced
complete understanding

be prepared for questions on the skills you claim to have.

[Marc Peabody]

it looks like everyone else's resume. What's going to get you noticed?

How about offering a suggestion or two?

[Jeffrey Hunter]

Well, in my point of view, it comes down to this, Alex. We can offer you suggestions all day long, the same old suggestions that I got from the career center at my uni...format it this way, keep to a single page, display your GPA prominently, write this down, write that down. Certainly the advice you get here or elsewhere will assist you in fine-tuning your resume. And the end result will be a perfect summarization of your life, all wrapped up in a single page of black and white text, or not.

In the end, it will be up to you to make yourself stand out. You are selling yourself, and how do you go about selling yourself? Do you have to be better than the next guy? Not necessarily.

You have to make an impression. You have to make the headhunter pause when she reads the words Alex Kravets on a sheet of 8.5x11. Is it just a sheet of paper to you, or is it more than that?

If I outlined some creative techniques for you it would be defeating the purpose. It's about you, and it has to come from you.

I will however, offer some strategies regarding the marketing of Alex Kravets:

get a website going, and start compiling your story into well-defined, aesthetically-pleasing pages

get letters of recommendation from people who LIKE you, and respect your work

have web pages devoted to recommendation letters, so anyone perusing your site may read them

select some particularly flattering quotes from your recommendation letters (hopefully you will have some), and display them prominently on the first page of your site

devote a page to your software portfolio -- screenshots, descriptions, source code(if it's good)

Sure, it's a lot of work, but it's called a marketing campaign, and companies engage in such campaigns so they can squash the competition and make lots of $$$. Why not use the same strategies to market yourself.

The web is the new media, take advantage of it. And of course, keep pdf versions of your resume and other documents online for ease in printing should a visitor wish to make a hardcopy.

Someone asks for your resume? Hand them that 8.5x11 sheet of paper which has nothing on it but one line of text dead center: http://alexkravets.com. It's a bold statement (and risky mind you, but what da'Hell right?).

Good luck.
[ May 21, 2004: Message edited by: Jeffrey Hunter ]

[shay Aluko]

Nice website Jeffrey

[Jeffrey Hunter]

Thanks shay!

[Paul Santa Maria]

Book recommendation. You'll probably have to purchase from Amazon or special-order it, but it's got *very* practical information that will help you stand out:

"Career Guide for the High Tech Professional"
David Perry, Career Press, 2004
ISBN 1-56414-743-6

'Hope that helps

[Marc Peabody]

If I outlined some creative techniques for you it would be defeating the purpose. It's about you, and it has to come from you.

It doesn't at all defeat the purpose. That's like telling a songwriter not to listen to anyone else's music because his music needs to come from inside of him. I'm further confused that you outlined creative techniques, although not resume-specific.

I've consistently had every interview begin with something like: "By the way, you have a very eye-catching resume." and I owe that to asking many, many people for suggestions. What makes the resume "come from me" are the choices of which suggestions I followed.

Everything in life is like this. You see something you like that somebody else created and you make it your own: your house, your car, your computer. But each person chooses their own combination of these items and that's where we can start to understand a bit about who that person is. If we see a minivan on the road with a soccer-ball decal in the back window we can make a quick judgment about the driver [soccer mom] even though the driver did not create the vehicle nor the decal.

Nothing is ever truly original. We either put together things that already existed or in rare instances we discover something by accident (like penicillin).

I like the look of your site by the way, Jeffrey.

Get as many ideas from other people as you can, Alex. And steal the best ones. Also, play around with doing strange things on your resume - with strange colors, fonts, and arrangements of text. You might stumble upon something you like.

[Jeffrey Hunter]

It doesn't at all defeat the purpose.

Come on, I can't give away all my secrets! Anyhow, you are right in saying our creativity is often the product of our environment...things we see everyday. Sometimes late at night, when I need creative inspiration, I pour through old graphic design books, books I've read over and over. But the cool thing about design books is that they are recyclable. You may come across a design, or a technique that does little for you, then a few months later, you'll be looking at the same design and it will inspire your next masterpiece.

A guess the moral is (and this is rapidly diverging from the original topic, sorry), that you need to look around and absorb your environment. See how 99% of job-seekers are writing their resumes...then be part of that 1% that does it differently.
[ May 24, 2004: Message edited by: Jeffrey Hunter ]

[jsmith jsmith]

hi,i think you should visit these sites for preparing a good and professional resume,

http://www.interactiveresumebuilder.com
http://www.eresumemaker.com
http://www.resume-builder.net

Best luck!!

[Sagar Rohankar]

jsmith jsmith wrote:hi,i think you should visit these sites for preparing a good and professional resume,

http://www.interactiveresumebuilder.com
http://www.eresumemaker.com
http://www.resume-builder.net

Best luck!!

Welcome to JR
and please read DontWakeTheZombies.
Also, you need to reconsider your display name as per JR Naming Policy

[arulk pillai]

I am not able to get to your pdf. It keeps reverting back to http://www.webmacaco.com/ . Any idea? I can't even do save traget as...

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

arulk pillai wrote:I am not able to get to your pdf. It keeps reverting back to http://www.webmacaco.com/ . Any idea? I can't even do save traget as...

The original post was from 2004. It probably isn't online anymore.

[Sona Patel]

Hi all...

is it safe to prepare resume using online resume builders? has anyone used it ? how effective are they?

Regards...

[Sagar Rohankar]

Online resume builder gives you start, but not all features listed there or constructed required as per your profile, so my suggestion would be make one online, check it with your own resume and merge new points to make third copy of resume.

But, resume reflects your achievements, skill, personal information, education, etc, so better you construct it with your own thoughts, words.

And lastly, you can, anytime create a new thread about this question, rather hacking a 5 year old thread.

[Ilja Preuss]

As the original topic is old, and the resume no longer online and therefore not bashable, I'm going to close this topic. If you have new questions regarding your own resume, or resumes in general, I advise to start a new topic on it.