Resume refresh advice

[Radium_Angel]

Preface: I work for the gov't and this is about the gov't

 

I am applying for a new position with a different part of the gov't, and unlike times past, where a gov't application is required, this position wants a gov't application AND a resume, which IMO is redundant since everything on the gov't app is on my resume, but nevermind.

I suppose it's because the position pays 6 figures and more than a small team will be looking over things, plus the usual top secret background clearance etc etc etc etc, but it got me wondering, I haven't updated my resume in eons (since I made my career choice in gov't, it's become secondary to that all important gov't application) and I should refresh it. SO here is my question:

 

Should I keep jobs on my resume that are no longer relevant to the position I"m applying for? Or should I leave them there to show a wide-range of experience?

 

I'm in IT, the new position is more IT but in a more narrow field (from laboratory IT to financial IT)

 

[Haraikomono]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

Preface: I work for the gov't and this is about the gov't

 

I am applying for a new position with a different part of the gov't, and unlike times past, where a gov't application is required, this position wants a gov't application AND a resume, which IMO is redundant since everything on the gov't app is on my resume, but nevermind.

I suppose it's because the position pays 6 figures and more than a small team will be looking over things, plus the usual top secret background clearance etc etc etc etc, but it got me wondering, I haven't updated my resume in eons (since I made my career choice in gov't, it's become secondary to that all important gov't application) and I should refresh it. SO here is my question:

 

Should I keep jobs on my resume that are no longer relevant to the position I"m applying for? Or should I leave them there to show a wide-range of experience?

 

I'm in IT, the new position is more IT but in a more narrow field (from laboratory IT to financial IT)

 

I literally had the same dilemma last year,

I am also in IT, and I got an Job offer from a very famous company, now I had to choose whether to let the short term "Project only" Jobs inside the resume or not.

I decided to not add the smaller ones, instead I put in only the Major ones where I worked >1 Year, and also only those where I also got a certificate for the Work Ive done.

 

Turns out, it really did pay off, and had a really nice interview and lastly got the Job

[asquirrel]

If you haven't googled already, resume advice is like assholes, everyone has some. Some more than others. Some more functional than others. I don't know what they are looking for in a government sector resume vs civilian sector; my experience is purely civilian. If it were a civilian side resume, this would be my advice:

 

You are writing your resume for a computer to read. Google 'Applicant Tracking System' and learn how it works. Basically, it's a program that reads your resume, looks for keywords that line up with lists of keywords given to the HR dept by the manager (best case) and decides if your resume has enough of those keywords to be a good match. It's 100x more stupid than it sounds, and it will explain to yourself and your friends why 'those darn millennials just can't get a job anymore!'

 

The important part about getting jobs these days is knowing the hiring manager and getting him to send an e-mail to HR so they can fish your resume out of the ATS's 'reject' queue. I wish I was joking, but I'm really not (at least for civilian sector). 90% or more of jobs are filled by this manual fishing process.

 

Gaming that ATS is the place to start with your paper resume. And there isn't one ATS to fool, there's bunches of them, and it's not obvious or easy to figure out which they are using. Your resume WILL be in your future manager's hand during the interview, so don't make something completely unreadable by a human. One good way to test how 'parse-able' your resume is: when you upload it to the website, it should auto-populate the fields. Whatever fields don't autopopulate correctly, work on until they do. If the auto-population doesn't work right, then the ATS won't scan the resume as you intended.

 

In general, this means avoiding a lot of clever design and layout work. Make a second version of your resume that actually looks nice and print that off with you, or, ideally, send it along to the hiring manager. You have the same resume in two formats: one for the ATS, and one for humans. Most people will be much happier to read the same information on a beautiful LaTeX PDF in your interview than reading the plain-text abortion you used on the ATS.

 

Now, in terms of information on that resume, in general what you did 10 years ago isn't important or relevant anymore, tech /processes/etc have moved on. If you're particularly proud of something that happened 10+ years ago or have a past that isn't super obvious you might include it in a section of bullets at the bottom of your resume like:

 

• Saved $20 million on contract by testing vendor solution and proving it did not meet spec.
• Served on P3 Orion managing sonar systems for ASW.
• Served as 11B in US Army after high school.

Stuff like that. For jobs you've had recently, one bullet point per year is the normal rule for your past jobs, and 2-3 bullet points per year for your current position. But this rule is the least useful one. You want to talk about skills you have relevant to the position, and if those all happened 5 years ago, then that section should be the largest on your resume.