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Technical Hiring Managers - resume advice

Posted on 08/30/2014 10:33:11 AM PDT by chrisser

Hoping to get some advice from FReepers who are hiring managers for tech positions - specifically system/network admins.

I've been in the field for almost 25 years. Been consistently employed with a consistently rising salary. Now mid 40s and currently employed.

But I would like to relocate to another city where we own property. I don't know anyone there other than our neighbors who are either retired, farmers, or both.

The area I'm looking at is Parkersburg WV. Not exactly a mecca of tech positions, but a few pop up occasionally on the job boards. I've been sending out resumes for about 3 years and haven't received a single response. There are two positions currently open - one's been open for almost a year and the other for more than a month. I've sent resumes to both (one to the latter, and resubmitted ever two months on the former's online portal). Not a peep. The latter is a small bank and I actually have banking experience. From their description, I'm a near perfect fit. Still nothing.

I send out a pretty detailed resume because these are technical positions. They run 3-4 pages because I've been at my current employer over a decade and, frankly, I've done a lot in a lot of different areas. Job descriptions these days are pretty vague so I feel I have to throw out as many different skills and areas of expertise as I can in order to catch the HR screeners with the right keywords.

Wondering if maybe I should condense my resume into a single page or maybe two. Or looking for any other advice on writing a resume to get through to an interview. What I'm doing now obviously isn't working.

BTW, after these last two jobs didn't even get me a nibble, I've started using the address of our local property rather than my current local address out of state. Even though I'm ready, willing and able to relocate at my expense, and I've put that on resumes and cover letters, I'm wondering if the non-local address is getting my resumes tossed. Would a potential employer consider that to be dishonest? It is a valid address for property I own and it is where I would live if they gave me the job, but it's not where I'm living now.

Any other advice more than welcome...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: employment; headhunters; resumes; techmanagers
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To: Abigail Adams

Yes there are older people at companies, but they normally aren’t searching for jobs. Young people are easier to train and take less salary to hire. Not many companies want to hire someone who is going to be difficult to train and don’t want to work for a much younger supervisor. That’s the way it is.


61 posted on 08/30/2014 12:12:01 PM PDT by Kirkwood (Zombie Hunter)
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Comment #62 Removed by Moderator

To: Kirkwood

That may be, in some cases. Maybe the types of jobs I’m thinking of don’t really require much “training,” just learning the landscape within which one uses their expertise. BTW, I take umbrage that anyone but 20-somethings are slow to learn! Some of us are highly intelligent. ;-)


63 posted on 08/30/2014 12:25:07 PM PDT by Abigail Adams
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To: KC Burke
Hot damn! Good to hear that.

I was only out of work once in my career for an extended period. It lasted fifteen months and I was one whipped dog by the end of it

Not as long as you. Pretty sure my age (59) had a lot to do with it.

I got bad knees, Afib. diverticulitis, High blood pressure. Otherwise, healthy. You can laugh now.

But I have brain sharper than a razor.

64 posted on 08/30/2014 12:26:43 PM PDT by Focault's Pendulum (I live in NJ....' Nuff said!)
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To: chrisser

Understand, but I’m speaking of totally unsolicited nibbles from my LinkedIn. I say nibbles ‘cause I never pursued them to know if they could have resulted in actual offers.


65 posted on 08/30/2014 12:33:58 PM PDT by rbg81
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To: Focault's Pendulum

So? Tell them I’m ain’t gonna stand, don’t piss me off and (I don’t know what vericulitus is) so give me a job and quit bitchin’. You can do that, right?


66 posted on 08/30/2014 12:37:51 PM PDT by Safetgiver ( Islam makes barbarism look genteel.)
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To: Safetgiver

Well, if you are a senior systems admin wth VM5.5 and either EMC or HP storage experience, you can work for me at 90-100k per year in San Antonio.

If you can get clearance, the Defense Health Agency is hiring systems engineers if they know JAD, Citrix and Desktop.

Or you can work for a VAR. they are dying for qualified admins. Especially if they have server/storage experience.


67 posted on 08/30/2014 12:47:55 PM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Manchuria Called. They want their Candidate Back!)
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To: chrisser

No one wants to read more than a two page resume. Use your local address...but be ready to interview tomorrow if they ask you to.

Change your short introduction to fit the job you are applying for.

Don’t write a cover letter... no one reads them.

Demonstrate that you understand how IT fits into the overall profitability and goals of the company.

Be prepared to take a pay cut in a smaller market.

Research the owners / and or department heads of the companies you want to approach... find them on LinkedIn and approach them directly...ask them to put you in touch with the person that handles your position at the company...when they tell you that they don’t currently have someone in that position, forward them your shortened resume and ask for an interview.

Don’t send your resume to HR... you will only confuse them.

I owned a recruiting company for 10 years and I can tell you that this will work if you keep at it and don’t give up.


68 posted on 08/30/2014 1:02:18 PM PDT by willyd (I for one welcome our NSA overlords)
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To: Safetgiver
So? Tell them I’m ain’t gonna stand, don’t piss me off and (I don’t know what vericulitus is) so give me a job and quit bitchin’. You can do that, right?

I never mentioned my medical history to my prospective employers.

If you read back On some of my previous posts on this thread you will notice that I had sent out over 500 resumes and applications, most without a response.

I hope your reply to me needed a /sarc tag.

And it's diverticutious

69 posted on 08/30/2014 1:05:15 PM PDT by Focault's Pendulum (I live in NJ....' Nuff said!)
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To: Kirkwood
I would target Columbus OH for a job and go for the commute.

Commuting is my next step.

As it is, Parkersburg is a good hour plus drive. The nature of WV is a 30mile trip as the crow flies can take the better part of an hour at 55mph. Just topography.

If I was willing to do a 2 hour commute instead of a 1 hour, then Charleson becomes a possibility. Plenty of jobs there (state capital).

To be honest, I can't see myself driving four hours per day for the rest of my career, so any job I took in Charleston would be just to pay the bills until I could find something in Parkersburg.

I have a 30 minute commute now. I think an hour isn't that big a deal in terms of time and car maintenance over 30 minutes, but when you bump it to two hours, you really need to factor in tires, car maintenance, higher insurance, etc. Columbus would be a 2 1/2+ hour commute, maybe 3hrs - I'm actually only 2 hours on the other side of Columbus (Cleveland) now.

Of course, the alternative is to just wait 20 years or so until I retire before relocating.

A lot of the purpose of this thread is to make a last stab at Parkersburg before I start considering Charleston.
70 posted on 08/30/2014 1:19:41 PM PDT by chrisser (When do we get to tell the Middle East to stop clinging to their guns and religion?)
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Comment #71 Removed by Moderator

To: chrisser

you can still make contact with people on Linkedin without your employer seeing it.


72 posted on 08/30/2014 1:25:14 PM PDT by FReepaholic (Stupidity is not a crime, so you're free to go.)
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To: willyd

I like your plan.

Just out of curiosity, is there some sort of recruiter directory anywhere or industry group? I wouldn’t mind using one if I could find one that covers the territory (Parkersburg may be small, but there are still a fair amount of businesses there, especially when you include Marietta OH). Would certainly make things easier for me.


73 posted on 08/30/2014 1:26:11 PM PDT by chrisser (When do we get to tell the Middle East to stop clinging to their guns and religion?)
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To: FReepaholic
you can still make contact with people on Linkedin without your employer seeing it.

Willyd's post made it all fit together for me. I originally thought of LinkedIn as throwing up my resume for public consumption, setting my status as seeking employment, etc. etc.

Just the first place my brain went, but I see now how I can use that site without compromising my current employment relationship.
74 posted on 08/30/2014 1:28:42 PM PDT by chrisser (When do we get to tell the Middle East to stop clinging to their guns and religion?)
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To: Focault's Pendulum

It was somewhat the same with me. I was 54-55 when I went through it a little over ten years ago.

Getting ready to retire now, but it will be modest compared to what it might have been if I hadn’t lost that time. I am still very blest. I know that if I just keep working I will regret it. I am in construction and that is a young man’s game in the management side.


75 posted on 08/30/2014 1:39:50 PM PDT by KC Burke (Gowdy for Supreme Court)
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Comment #76 Removed by Moderator

To: KC Burke
I am still very blest. >

Blessed or best. I think you probably have both.

77 posted on 08/30/2014 1:50:37 PM PDT by Focault's Pendulum (I live in NJ....' Nuff said!)
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To: chrisser

I am a HS math teacher and had five inquiries in the last month. People are always writing me.

You could probably pass the state math/tech exams and find work soon after on an intern credential, if you like kids and /or are desperate. There is an extreme shortage of math and science and tech teachers. It might be a pay cut but all the other benefits are better.


78 posted on 08/30/2014 1:59:28 PM PDT by sunrise_sunset
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To: Focault's Pendulum
I finally found a terrific sales job on of all places, Craigslist

I found my last two most profitable clients ever through their CraigList postings. Both were company owners who were close to my own age and had previous bad experiences with much younger workers. They simply did not understand them or know how to manage them properly. Not that I was going to criticize them or anything.

Sometimes age discrimination can work in your favor.

My RFP resume cuts off at the ten-year mark with a general summary. I do not list the year of my college graduation.

Responses to companies with an ATS are a complete waste of time. The jobs I have worked on have almost always started from direct contact with a hiring manager.

79 posted on 08/30/2014 2:02:02 PM PDT by flamberge (What next?)
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To: sunrise_sunset

Don’t you need at least some education credentials to teach? To be honest, I’ve never really looked into it. I did well with algebra, geometry, trig and precalc. For some reason, I couldn’t get full-blown engineering-level calculus, but if I had, I’d be a mechanical engineer instead of a sysadmin.

I can take a pretty sizeable pay cut - I expect to just because of the smaller market.


80 posted on 08/30/2014 2:04:57 PM PDT by chrisser (When do we get to tell the Middle East to stop clinging to their guns and religion?)
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