Critique My Resume Please? (application, applications, paralegal, employer)

[fishbrains]

I think that is a bit harsh.

He does note that he lives in Greenpoint. That is enough for a NY employer to determine whether he will have commuting up issues or not.

The resume does need a lot of formatting work. I don't have the time right now to get into it, I need to grab breakfast. Some immediate thoughts....

Delete the street address of former employers. Nobody cares.

Rather that start with dates, headline with the employer name and location.

Sandals Montego Bay, Jamaica
01/13-11/13 job title
-bullet responsibility. Preferably related to something in the job posting you. Are responding to.
-other bullet responsibility
11/13-13/14 other job title

And so forth.

I wouldn't worry too much about achievements. You are an entry level person starting a career, you aren't going to have a lot. Anything you try and put down is going to sound like you are taking credit for somebody else's work or random happenstance.

[bpollen]

Originally Posted by charlieregal495

Hello I have been searching for a receptionist/admin assistant job for 4 months can someone tell me what is wrong with my resume why I don't get any job offers?


Resume


Cover Letter


What am I doing wrong and why won't they hire me?

Red flag: your last two jobs lasted only a month each? I doubt the HR person gets past that to read the rest. If those were temp jobs, you need to make that clear. If you really had such short employments, you need to state right then and there WHY. I would say leave them off your resume entirely, but that would leave a gap. Maybe others have a better idea what to do about that.

Your letter. With the internet, there is likely no reason you can't find the name of the HR Director/Manager, unless the ad specifically tells you to send the letter to "HR Manager." If you can't find out the person's name, make sure the title is "Human Resources Manager" and not something else, like Human Resources Director.

No one says "Salutations!" do they? A simple "Dear Sir or Madam" will suffiice and is more business like, IMO. Make the letter SHORT. The HR person has a lot to read, they won't read anything several paragraphs long.

On my resume (which I've been very successful with), what I have at the top are columns listing the equipment and software I'm experienced in, which is a lot. Because that's my strongpoint, and my field of business is electronic oriented. Like:

* MS Word (proficient)
* MS Outlook (proficient)
* MS Presentation (intermediate)
* WordPerfect (intermediate)
* Summation Database (proficient)
* Access Database (familiarity)
*Quattro Pro (proficient)
* Excel (proficient)
[I do the above in two columns, to take up less space]

Underneath those bullet points at the top, I do my work history. Underneath each employment, I do bullet points of the duties I did there. Like:

>XYZ Corporation - Administrative Assistant (August 2010 - September 2012)
***Prepared and maintained complex spreadsheets in Excel and Quattro Pro
***Drafted and finalized various types of correspondence on a daily basis
***Handled extensive telephone contact with clients on a daily basis
***Maintained docket calendar for deadlines
***Arranged and organized project and group meetings, including preparing the conference rooms, providing agenda packets, setting up presentation devices.
***Assisted with preparation of project manuals and packets
***Assisted with large mail-outs, including stuffing and posting large volumes of envelopes on a deadline basis.


Be specific with your job duties. What did you DO? That tells future employers what tAasks and skills you have experience doing.

If you don't have software experience, don't bullet point it at the top. But you should put somewhere in your resume what software you have experience using. Administrative assistants use computers on a daily basis. You have to make it clear you are comfortable and experienced using computers. Even better, that you have experience using particular popular programs. Many places use Microsoft Outlook as their business email. Do you have experience using that? If so, say so. Don't put gmail, unless you are familiar with it being used in a business environment.

I'd say the above are the things I noticed off the bat. What do you already know how to do, that the new employer won't have to train you for? Or what are you comfortable computer-wise or skillwise, that the new employer won't have to provide a lot of training for? What are you proficient at?

What you might put in the letter:
That your resume is attached
That you think your experience and skills make you suited for the job
That you think the job listing sounds like what you are looking for
That you'd like the opportunity to interview for the job
That your skills and experience seem to be what they are looking for
Say that your particular skills and software experience are outlined on your resume, and then add which of those skills/tasks you particularly excel at or particularly enjoyed

You need to address those two short-term jobs, unless I overlooked that they were temp jobs.

What's the employment market like in your town? Are there many jobs? Those job titles you are applying for probably has a lot of applicants, because of the pay and the skills needed are not that high. So it may be normal where you are not to get responses very often to job queries.

Sending queries off of ads on the internet...you'll get fewer responses than going through an employment agency. There are just a lot of queries from applicants to ads on the internet, whereas an agency queries are paid more attention to, and they've run a background check already, and the like.

Let us know what happens. Give an update!

[fishbrains]

Do people still use Quattro Pro?

[charlieregal495]

Originally Posted by bpollen

Red flag: your last two jobs lasted only a month each? I doubt the HR person gets past that to read the rest. If those were temp jobs, you need to make that clear. If you really had such short employments, you need to state right then and there WHY. I would say leave them off your resume entirely, but that would leave a gap. Maybe others have a better idea what to do about that.

Your letter. With the internet, there is likely no reason you can't find the name of the HR Director/Manager, unless the ad specifically tells you to send the letter to "HR Manager." If you can't find out the person's name, make sure the title is "Human Resources Manager" and not something else, like Human Resources Director.

No one says "Salutations!" do they? A simple "Dear Sir or Madam" will suffiice and is more business like, IMO. Make the letter SHORT. The HR person has a lot to read, they won't read anything several paragraphs long.

On my resume (which I've been very successful with), what I have at the top are columns listing the equipment and software I'm experienced in, which is a lot. Because that's my strongpoint, and my field of business is electronic oriented. Like:

* MS Word (proficient)
* MS Outlook (proficient)
* MS Presentation (intermediate)
* WordPerfect (intermediate)
* Summation Database (proficient)
* Access Database (familiarity)
*Quattro Pro (proficient)
* Excel (proficient)
[I do the above in two columns, to take up less space]

Underneath those bullet points at the top, I do my work history. Underneath each employment, I do bullet points of the duties I did there. Like:

>XYZ Corporation - Administrative Assistant (August 2010 - September 2012)
***Prepared and maintained complex spreadsheets in Excel and Quattro Pro
***Drafted and finalized various types of correspondence on a daily basis
***Handled extensive telephone contact with clients on a daily basis
***Maintained docket calendar for deadlines
***Arranged and organized project and group meetings, including preparing the conference rooms, providing agenda packets, setting up presentation devices.
***Assisted with preparation of project manuals and packets
***Assisted with large mail-outs, including stuffing and posting large volumes of envelopes on a deadline basis.


Be specific with your job duties. What did you DO? That tells future employers what tAasks and skills you have experience doing.

If you don't have software experience, don't bullet point it at the top. But you should put somewhere in your resume what software you have experience using. Administrative assistants use computers on a daily basis. You have to make it clear you are comfortable and experienced using computers. Even better, that you have experience using particular popular programs. Many places use Microsoft Outlook as their business email. Do you have experience using that? If so, say so. Don't put gmail, unless you are familiar with it being used in a business environment.

I'd say the above are the things I noticed off the bat. What do you already know how to do, that the new employer won't have to train you for? Or what are you comfortable computer-wise or skillwise, that the new employer won't have to provide a lot of training for? What are you proficient at?

What you might put in the letter:
That your resume is attached
That you think your experience and skills make you suited for the job
That you think the job listing sounds like what you are looking for
That you'd like the opportunity to interview for the job
That your skills and experience seem to be what they are looking for
Say that your particular skills and software experience are outlined on your resume, and then add which of those skills/tasks you particularly excel at or particularly enjoyed

You need to address those two short-term jobs, unless I overlooked that they were temp jobs.

What's the employment market like in your town? Are there many jobs? Those job titles you are applying for probably has a lot of applicants, because of the pay and the skills needed are not that high. So it may be normal where you are not to get responses very often to job queries.

Sending queries off of ads on the internet...you'll get fewer responses than going through an employment agency. There are just a lot of queries from applicants to ads on the internet, whereas an agency queries are paid more attention to, and they've run a background check already, and the like.

Let us know what happens. Give an update!

Hello thank you for taking the time out to reply to my conundrum. I have been seeking a job for some time now and have been unsuccessful for over 2 months. I appreciate your bluntness as it will help me to improve the way I present myself to employers in the future. I will change my resume and cover letter format and would appreciate your critique on their presentation since it seems as though you know what you are doing. Also, most of the jobs I see advertised on craigslist need 1 - 2 years experience but how am I supposed to get experience if no one will hire me?

[eok]

Employers tend to be prejudiced. A guy applying for a receptionist job doesn't usually get much consideration. You should apply for a network administration or system administration job, or something like that. Or some kind of middle management job. Being underqualified doesn't always hurt much, because the people who judge your qualifications are usually underqualified for such judgment.

[charlieregal495]

Originally Posted by eok

Employers tend to be prejudiced. A guy applying for a receptionist job doesn't usually get much consideration. You should apply for a network administration or system administration job, or something like that. Or some kind of middle management job. Being underqualified doesn't always hurt much, because the people who judge your qualifications are usually underqualified for such judgment.

Really? What HR experience do you have?

[mo8414]

if you have a short work history but no the job well then you might wanna add some extta time to some of them jobs so it looks like u have experience. without seeing the resume that about all.i can offer.

[patches403]

Your resume has been cut so we no longer can see your previous work experience but if all your previous work experience is places like Sandals, is administrative work the most appropriate type of job for you to be applying for? I would assume your work background would be more geared towards hospitality rather than office work? How much on the job computer experience do you actually have in an office environment? Have you ever actually worked with software programs like Word, Excel, Outlook?

Especially as a male with probably a strong accent, in the US you will have a lot better luck applying for entry level jobs at hotels and/or restaurants if your work experience is mainly at a hotel. These types of jobs don't pay that much less to start than entry level admin jobs and with tips you might even make more.

[charlieregal495]

I have made some modifications please give your feed back

[Jessica2099]

Originally Posted by fishbrains

Do people still use Quattro Pro?

It's usable, you can very easily convert between it and excel. It shouldn't be someone's "go-to" program, but I have it on my oldest laptop, and when I use that laptop I have no problem converting. It's still very usable. I would not list it on a resume as something I am proficient in though, because it's not something you are actually going to use while at work anymore.