What should be on your resume:
- Use a simple descriptive filename (John Smith – Resume)
- Your first and last name
- Contact/location info: a professional email, phone number, and location (city, state)
- Relevant links: LinkedIn, certifications, GitHub if you have relevant projects and are going for a programming-heavy role
- Your Navy experience (rate/rank, command, start/end years, bullets about relevant skills/training/accomplishments). Highlight technical abilities, leadership, attention to detail.
- Objective demonstrations of your positive impact in the Navy (metrics, results. This means NUMBERS! How many people managed? How much maintenance? How many dollars of repair parts did you order and/or install?)
- Clear, plain language descriptions of your Navy roles understandable to civilians (ie. Workcenter Supervisor -> Maintenance Team Lead. See this Sailor-to-Civilian Translation Guide for more examples. You can also email me for a my quick thoughts.)
- Evidence you understand the big picture of how your work supports the mission
- Relevant education (degrees, key coursework, leadership/accomplishments)
- Data center and IT certifications (Schneider Electric, CompTIA, Cisco, Microsoft, ITIL, etc)
- A concise list of your most relevant technical and soft skills
- Interests that make you relatable (but keep it professional)
- Always submit your resume as a PDF
What might belong on your data center resume
- A short summary connecting the dots between your Navy experience and data center work, especially if t’s not obvious. Keep it to 2-3 lines.
- Significant volunteer experiences demonstrating commitment and leadership
- GPA if it was strong (3.5+)
- Impressive tech-related side projects (home lab, coding, etc)
What shouldn’t be on a data center resume:
- Your full address
- References (provide them if asked)
- “References available upon request” (this is assumed)
- Typos, inconsistent formatting, errors
- Inconsistent verb tense (present for current role, past for previous)
- Jargon, cliches, opinions about yourself
- Lies or exaggerations
- Referring to yourself in the 3rd person
- Photo, age, salary info, negative comments about employers
- Inconsistencies with your LinkedIn (your Linkedin should mirror your resume exactly)
- High school info
- Long paragraphs or bullets (3 lines max)
- Passive language
- Political or religious views
- Basic or outdated computer skills