Chapter 10: System Administration: The Occupation: 10.4 Preparing an Administrator's Résumé

While you continue in your current position, keep your résumé current. As you begin to work on new projects, hardware, software, languages, UNIX flavors, take on new roles, complete classes, attend seminars, receive awards, and join new groups and organizations, add it all to your résumé.

There are always things you should put in a résumé and things you should avoid. For the best chances at getting noticed and possibly even an interview, you must be aware of every position you can apply for. There are many companies, corporations, education facilities, organizations, and small businesses to which you could be submitting your résumé. In many instances, you will find yourself submitting résumés to one of two types of companies: a small company (1-200 employee) or a large corporation (1000+ employees). Following are some tips to help you make your résumé look its best:

Résumé size: In college, guidance counselors recommend that you fit everything on one page. They explain that potential employers, when reviewing a résumé, don't want to flip pages. This is a myth and is to be avoided. Employers want to see everything you have done, know, and have experience in. You should be able to fit everything into two pages. Three is a little much for interviewers to be searching through while they interview you. The key is to put the most vital information on the first page. The second page should support the information on the first page with past experiences at various positions.

Format for an administrator: If you are sending your résumé to a UNIX administrator, think about where you would read your mail. The majority of the UNIX administrators read their mail in UNIX. So why send your résumé in Microsoft Word or some other PC or Macintosh format. Would you expect a devoted UNIX professional to send a résumé in a Microsoft format? If the administrator receiving your email didn't have direct access to a PC, would they really want to take the extra time to uudecode the file, find an available PC, transfer the file from their UNIX machine to the PC, and bring it into Microsoft Word? That is a lot of work if they are receiving other emailed résumés that are in ASCII format. Are you willing to take that chance?

Buzzwords: The name of the résumé game in today's job market is buzzwords. A buzzword is a keyword, or keywords, that will be searched for on the résumé to determine whether you are a potential candidate. If a position is open for a Sun system administrator, the buzzwords might be Sun, Solaris, SunOS, and Sparc. The trick is to fill your résumé up with buzzwords. The highest percentage of buzzwords reported by the computer from a search query, will result in the most likely candidates for the position. When you apply for a position, every technical word you have experience with that is mentioned in the advertisement should be included in your résumé. These are often the same words that will be used in the query for the candidate. You need as many buzzwords as possible and still have it make sense to the reader. It is easier than you think. You'll see.

No matter where you send your résumé, you have to fill it up with buzzwords. You have to treat and handle your résumé entirely differently for each type of company for the best results. Because companies will be either small or large, here are some things to be aware of when you are sending your résumé to these types of companies.

10.4.1 For a Small Company

The human resource department in a small company generally consists of one or two people. These people are not always email literate and still do things the old fashioned way when it comes to receiving résumés. They like to see traditional, formal résumés. Here are a few hints that should help you get an interview:

Format: If your are asked to send your résumé electronically through email, ask what format they would like to see the résumé in. These companies generally like fancy résumés. If you are not told what format, Microsoft Word might be best under these circumstances. It will offer a formal looking résumé. They usually will also accept a flat ASCII text file as well. Be sure to clean up any misalignment of tabs and spaces to make it as easy on the eyes as possible. Keep in mind, before you send it, these are PC users receiving your email, not UNIX professionals.

Paper type: If you are asked to send the résumé through the regular snail mail, make sure that you use nice, traditional parchment paper. Résumés are processed manually and a smart looking résumé with a cover letter will score bonus points.

10.4.2 For a Large Corporation

Large corporations can receive in excess in of 100 résumés a day. If there is no job requisition number on the résumé or any kind of reference to an open job at the company, the résumé is thrown into a pile and is more than likely scanned into a computerized résumé database filing system. The large quantities of résumés force corporations to use this method. The only time your résumé is read by the human resources department is when they check the scanned résumé for errors. Many of them throw away the cover letter as soon as it is checked for a possible position you may be applying for. After it is in the database, your résumé will be seen by someone only if your résumé has a high percentage of buzzwords when a query is performed for qualified candidates.

Format: If you see an advertisement in a newspaper, magazine, or on a Web site with an email address and you are told specifically to send an email of your résumé in a specific format, send it in that format. If you don't they will delete the email because you didn't follow directions. Many feel that if you cannot follow simple directions, you don't belong at their company. The truth is, they do not have time to do deal with converting files to the format the database system requires. These are also nontechnical people who may be unfamiliar with possible formats. Most of the databases systems accept an OCR scanned image, which is turned into a flat text file. You should always be safe if you send a flat text file to a large corporation.

Paper type: Use clean white paper with a clear font that an OCR scanner can read easily. If you send the résumé on colored parchment paper and it doesn't scan with a little cleanup, it will be deleted and your résumé will be lost. When a request for your résumé does come to the human resources department, they will fax the résumé over to the department that is requesting the résumés. The department receiving your résumé will never see your original. It is faxed straight from the modem attached to the computer that supports the résumé database.

10.4.3 Creating a Good UNIX Résumé

The only thing a good résumé has to have, is all the information the potential employer wants to see and read. Again, I can't stress enough, buzzwords. Good résumés with the right buzzwords will jump right out at the person reading the résumé.

Contact information: Begin the résumé with your contact information and how to reach you. The position on the page is always at the top and can be left, center, or right justified. Any location across the top is okay. The content of the contact information should provide the best ways to get a hold of you.

If you choose to put a post office box number in for your address, some people may think that you have something to hide. Phone numbers, pager numbers, and email addresses are good resources that let a potential employer contact you to set up an interview in a hurry, if needed. You can set up a personal Web page on the Internet with photos or a portfolio of the places you have worked and the work you have done. This can be a plus and an icebreaker in an interview if the interviewer has looked at your Web site to find out more about you:

OBJECTIVES-- Your objective statement expresses your career goals and what you are looking for in a position. Some interviewers believe this is a meaningless statement and that the candidate's only reason for putting the objective on their résumé is to convey information that the interviewer wants to hear about them:

This is one example of a possible UNIX administrator's objective statement. You can also use this statement as a means of sneaking in a couple of buzzwords into your résumé:

If you are applying for a position that is out of state, you have to convey to the company that you are serious about working in the state in which the position is available. Because some companies pay for all moving expenses, they will be looking to see that you are serious about moving. If you have it in your résumé, they will take you more seriously:

SYSTEMS-- Include a list of any and all systems you have used and administered. The larger the list the better the chances of an interview. After you are in the interview, you can go into detail about your experience with each system:

You can break it up into two sections systems you have administered and systems you have used. Being open and up front about your experience will show that you are not attempting to mislead anyone.

OPERATING SYSTEMS -- You should list all the operating systems that you work in fluently and comfortably. List the version numbers that you have worked on. The version numbers are popular buzzwords when a query is performed in a résumé database. This list should coincide with the list of systems you are providing on your résumé.

SOFTWARE-- This is an important list and the one that will be looked at the most closely. Put anything and everything you have worked on into this list. The list will include a large number of buzzwords that will help in the database query searches. Be sure to break each up into its own category: Security, Backup, Admin Tools, Graphics, Miscellaneous, License Management, Networking, WWW Servers, and Clients.

DEVICES--List any and all peripheral devices that you have worked with. Many of the devices are prevalent in many companies. If they see that you already have experience working with these devices, this will work in your favor. They may ask you about the brands and personal experiences you have had with certain devices that they are about to purchase or already have.

EDUCATION--Many candidates include only their college education. They never include any vendor courses or instructional seminars that they have attended. Include every type of course work you have taken. All this will be taken into consideration when you are evaluated.

VENDORS--Providing a list of vendors that you have worked with gives the interviewer an idea of the products you have worked with in the past. This can lead to a conversation on the support various vendors in the list have provided to you and to them. If you happen to share vendors, there would be no need to establish a new relationship with new vendors. You could walk right into the position already knowing the sales representatives and support engineers for the various vendors.

ORGANIZATIONS-- You should list any organizations to which you belong. They can be technical and nontechnical. The point of listing these groups is to show that actively keep up with the various industries. It is an extra effort that many don't seem to take.

ACHIEVEMENTS--In this section you should list all the awards and special achievements that you have received. Also include any unique accomplishments you may have achieved. This does not have to be work related. Employers like to see that you have a life outside of the work, so provide any community and volunteer recognition awards that you have been presented.

EXPERIENCE--It is here that will provide information on the work experience you have gained at various positions. The information you provide should include supporting information to the hardware, systems, software, devices, vendors, and any other prior information you provided on your résumé. To start off, each employer section includes the beginning and ending dates, the name of the company where you worked, the city it was located in, and any job titles that you held while you were there.

Describe what your primary duties and functions with the company were. This will reveal what was expected of you and what your responsibilities were.

If you have held permanent positions for anywhere from one to 30 or more years, include the various departments you worked for and a brief description of your job and the environment at that department.

At this point, for each company or department you defined within a company, provide a detailed description of your day-to-day responsibilities at that position. The list of descriptions should be about any projects, software, common installations, and programs/scripts you have authored, maintained, and worked on. It is easy to forget a lot of the things you do. If you track problems or maintain daily task lists or things to do for the day, review this list and you should be able to see the things you do. Even if you start a list now and log, track, or write down every phone call, event, and problem that takes place for the next two weeks, you will have more than enough information to put into your résumé. Here are a few examples:

Continue to repeat this section "Experience" until all the different companies and departments within the companies, you have worked at are listed. If during the course of your work, you changed careers with the company with an entirely new title, treat it like another company listing in your résumé.

Here is one possible generic résumé for a UNIX system administrator that utilizes all the techniques that have been mentioned. You can use this style, or build off it. It is a format that has worked for many UNIX administrators in the past. You can always apply spaces between the various sections to fill the page if you are running short on data to fill up your résumé.

John A. Doe
12345 Los Angeles, CA 90028
Phone: (213) 555-2345
Pager: (888) 555-7694
Email: john@ugu.com
WWW: http://www.ugu.com/john

OBJECTIVES:		Use my knowledge, experience, and professionalism to perform all functioning aspects of a UNIX system administrator in a multiplatform environment.
SYSTEMS:		Apple, Auspex, SGI Indy/Indigo/Idigo2/Onyx, Sun Sparc IPC/2/5/10/20/Ultras, HP9000, Motorola, IBM Risc 6000, PC Compatibles, IBM VM3090
LANGUAGES:		Ada, Basic, Bourne Shell, C, Cobol, Csh, Fortran, Korn Shell, Pascal, Perl
OPERATING:		HP 9.x/10.x, Irix 4.0/5.3/6.3, MacOS 7.x, MS-DOS 6.0, SunOS
SYSTEMS:		3.5/4.1.4, Solaris 1.1/2.5, AIX 3.1.5/3.2.2., Linux 2.0.33
SOFTWARE:		Security: COPS. Crack, Gabriel, Kerberos, SATAN, TCP/Wrappers, Tiger, Tripwire
		Backup: Quick-Restore, Legato Networker, Flashback, dump, bru, tar, cpio, qtar
		Admin Tools: Smit, Sam, vmstat, osview, perfmon, powermon, top, traceroute
		Graphics: Alias Studio Paint & Power Animator, Amazon, MultiGen, ModelGen, SoftImage
		Miscellaneous: Netls, Flexlm, xkfs, xkshare, xkspool, caps, resumix, Windows 3.1/95
		Networking: bootp, etherman, ftp, DNS, IDA Sendmail, ifconfig, HTTP, interman, netstat, NFS. NIS/YP, nntp, Telnet, TFTP.
		WWW Servers: Apache, CERN, NCSA, Netscape Commerce
		WWW Clients: arena, Chimera, Emacs, Explorer, lynx, Mosaic, Netscape
DEVICES:		CD-ROM drives, concentrators, 8mm/DAT/DLT tape drives and stackers. Graphics tablets, hublets, magneto optical jukeboxes, modems, raid storage arrays, routers, server switches.
EDUCATION:		California Lutheran University--Thousand Oaks, CA. Bachelor of Science in Computer Science--May 1988
		Vendors: Sun Microsystems: Basic, Advanced, Solaris, and Network System Administration
		Silicon Graphics: Advanced System Administration & Network Administration
		Hewlett Packard: Advanced System Administration
		Seminars: Advanced Topics in System Administration, Sendmail, Internal/Internet Security, Secure HTTP, Electronic Commerce on the Internet, WWW Publishing, Creating markets on the Internet.
VENDORS:		Auspex, Exabyte, HP, SGI, Sun, NovaQuest, Wyse, Network Appliance Kingston, Legato, Western Scientific, Legacy, Legasys, RFX, Verity, Resumix, Netscape, Xinet, Workstations Solution
ORGANIZATIONS:		ACM--Association of Computing Machinery
		NCGA--National Computer Graphics Association
		SAGE--System Administrators Guild
		USENIX--The Advanced Computing Systems Professional and Technical Association
ACHIEVEMENTS:		Awards: 1997 Employee of the Year out of 4000 people Community Leader and Volunteer Recognition Award
		Published Works: S.A. and Networking Articles in Various Magazines.
		Installations: Implement First multiterabyte system,
		Rebuilt 50 UNIX systems in 24 hours.
EXPERIENCE:
Nov. 1993		ACME Entertainment, INC. Glendale, CA.
To		Principal UNIX Analyst / Webmaster /
Present		Internet Specialist

Perform all duties relating to UNIX system administration, Web mastering, hardware and software technical support, in a fast-paced, multiplatform, heterogeneous UNIX environment.

Perform duties in a CAD/CAM multiplatform UNIX environment as system administrator, applications engineer, technical support specialist, and instructor for leading aerospace corporation.

Perform duties as an applications engineer, customer support, instructor for a company that produces and markets CAD/CAM software. Duties included

Creating Multiple Résumés

The goal you are trying to achieve with a résumé is a simple one. Without lying on your résumé, when a potential employer looks at your résumé for the first time, you want him to say, "Wow, this person has all the qualifications we are looking for. Bring him in for an interview." You need to get into the door and get interviewed. Then you just have to sell them on you!

Although one generic résumé is good for displaying all the types of work that you have been exposed to, this may not be enough to get you to an interview. You can take it one step further if you want. Most positions that are advertised or that you submit a résumé for will not require a general all-purpose UNIX administrator. Employers are usually looking for platform-specific UNIX system administrators. After you have your generic résumé as a base to work from, you can manipulate it to emphasize specific flavors and platforms that the classified advertisement indicates the employer is seeking.

"Nov. 1993	ACME ENTERTAINMENT, INC.--Los Angeles, CA.
To Nov. 1998	Senior UNIX Administrator / Webmaster / Internet Specialist."

Nov. 1990	ROCKTELL INTL. / Telecomm Division--San Diego, CA
To	System Administrator / Applications Engineer /
Nov. 1993	Technical Support Specialist

Feb. 1989	WaveCAD CORP.--Malibu, CA
To	CAD/CAM Applications Engineer
Sep. 1990