name,addy,phone - work history - education - special skills and other qualifications
make it neat and easy to follow.
keep it short, a single page maximum.
put your references on a second sheet and give it to them if the interview goes well, they will likely ask for them.
yes a cover letter will make you stand out, some places bin cv's without proper introductions. "to whom it may concern, yadda yadda yadda i look forward to hearing from you"

CONFIDENCE
CONFIDENCE
CONFIDENCE

When you write the cover letter, don't say "if". You WILL get the fucking job. Treat yourself as though you are the ONLY candidate for the job who meets their requirements.

Drop your resume and cover letter off in person, and BE SURE TO DRESS THE PART. You may get interviewed on the spot. Be extra courteous to everybody. Stand up straight, give a firm handshake. Be clean cut. No shaggy hair, no scruffy beard.

If it says "No telephone calls", DO NOT CALL.

And yes, you ALWAYS want a cover letter. That is your main personal link between them and you. Your resume gives very little idea of who you are. Let your cover letter do your talking. Don't be afraid to use words with more than 3 syllables, but don't try too hard.

Remember, you have no shortcomings.

What is MY weakness?

"I prefer to be a lone wolf. I've been stuck in team situations before where other workers cannot pick up the slack and keep up with my output."

Remember.

You are the only candidate for the job. You will get the job. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Anyway in particular to make sure your cover letter stands out? I'm never sure how to write one well, and when I overthink it it sounds really manufactured.

I've heard doing research on the job itself and tailoring the resume to fit is a great idea, but it seems awkward in practice.

Going in to turn in resumes was something I hadn't really considered. Seemed a lot easier to do on the computer and get out to multiple jobs. But I guess quality is better than quantity in things like this.

Thanks a billion guys.
Any other tips?

Currently pursuing CS degree and trying to get in somewhere as a System Admin, or Linux Admin.. Anyone here experienced in those that could give some tips, much appreciated guys.

bumping

>>100709
what kind of job you are looking for?

>>100795
I'm a service tech. Last job was with a company that built lasers. been around for awhile. Never finished school, but I've held jobs working with major car companies, been a route salseman for Hostess. I've got the experience. I'm trying to get that to shine through and land me a decent paying job to support my family.

Okay, well to be totally honest, it's my dad that lost his job and has been kinda clueless. I'm getting ready to go off to college next semester and I want to do everything I can to help him find a job and not leave my whole family screwed over.

>>100754
If my boss handed me a prospect's resume to review that said "ascended nethack" I might recommend him...

Learn everything unixy and network and disk related.

As an admin, these things will happen and fuck you over, so figure out how to deal with them:
Accidental denial of service because you may have forgotten how to manage loads from certain expensive client connects.
Running out of disk space because of a buggy script.
Having your clients phone you to tell you something is broken: that is bad, you should know before they do.
Replacing a hard drive that died. (You should have been notified of this when it happened.)
Can you handle one of your servers dying or being unplugged? Got automated failover? Know how to recover from degenerate configuration?
Making sure that when you replaced a hard drive, the system will boot after. What do you do if the main drive dies?

Here's stuff I use day to day: vi (vim actually), cron, tcpdump, logrotate, bash scripts, perl, icinga, tar, rar, strace, iptables, mdadm, /proc/mdstat, ps, top, and shitton others.

You should have automated backups and service tests to make sure everything's running right. Understand regression tests so you can determine at a glance if any software change or upgrade broke anything.

Think about all those rambling notes and questions, and be able to answer that stuff.

>>100754
I don't know what your curriculum is like, but computer science in the strict sense will tell you very little about IT, so get to know system administration extracurricular-like.

>>100801
I couldnt have asked for a better response to my question.

Thank you

>>100807
Glad to help.
In your travels along the way, never stop reading forums, wiki, tech sites, and books if necessary. Always got to stay informed on good practices.

>>100807
Oh and also learn how to use git. Version control / change tracking software. I've used CVS and SVN but haven't looked back since I started using git.

Using it to track code changes and look "in the past" and synchronize/merge code trees with other people has saved us tons of time.

>>100812
btw how long ago did you start getting into SA?
currently iv only been in the field for about a year now but have been very actively studying/trying everything I can.
have a small site i made (only hosted locally for now until i set up dynamic dns because im too poor to afford a static ip) working on a mailserver and use linux as desktop so i am very familar with it and feel at home in a terminal.

>>100818
Been running linux since '95.
Helped do system administration now and then for friends, but actually became steadily employed as one about 8 or 9 years ago.

>>100821
very cool, great talking to you, wish i had someone like you to talk to when i get really stuck sometimes

Alright, DIY. I have a conundrum for you.

I'm 23, and have been looking for work since I was 19.

I haven't worked in a couple years, save for three months on a short term contract at a recycling plant, though at that plant they said I was the hardest worker they've had in years.
Now, every place I put a resume into in person tells me the same thing: "We like you and you seem really earnest, so give us a call in a week or so and we'll see what we can do for you." I call them within two weeks and never even get an interview.
When I apply online and follow up, I never even get a reply.

What the fuck do I do?

bump.

>>100882
Sell shit online.

>>100900
I don't have shit to sell, and even if i did that would be a temporary fix. I want a job.

>>100920
I know that feel. I was unemployed for 9 months after getting my bachelor's degree. It drove me fucking nuts. I kept trying to get a job that used my degree but I eventually settled for a job at a call center. I'm overqualified, but many of my colleagues only have highschool diplomas and they do the job as well or better than me. Its a decent job: I get about 15/hr and 3 weeks of paid vacation and really good benefits. I always thought I'd get 25 to 30/hr out of college, but it turns out the economy is a dump so those ambitions are on hold for now.
It turns out almost every Fortune 500 company has a call center, and lots have many different kinds (with focuses on customer service, sales, etc). They are usually spread over America so you don't necessarily need to go to the company's HQ to work at their call center.

>>100882
You considered the military? And before anyone does the BABYKILLEREVILSATAN thing; yeah, a fuckton of jobs where you don't go near weapons of any type after basic/yearly qualification.

Oh, I'd also look to Air Force/Navy first because you've got more opportunity to take college classes *while* you are in (100% FREE and doesn't affect your GI Bill)--if you've already got a degree, you can pursue advanced degrees.

Especially for the Air Force, once you get out of training, the vast majority of jobs are straight up like regular jobs. If you do this though, make sure you get a job that has a civilian equivalency --not much civilian demand for someone who knows how to mount missiles on an F-22, but someone who knows how to lay/repair/splice fiber optic cable? Run satellite based communication networks? HVAC? You see my point.

>>101009
I'm canadian, and yes, i tried to get into the military recently, though it was for a rather competitive position. They wouldn't even give me a chance because of the fact that I haven't done much over the last year. I'm intending to call my file manager tomorrow and see if there's a way to just get me into basic training in january. I really just want a job and though this will be a lower pay grade than I was hoping for and not the same career field, it would still mean income.

Sup guys, out of work 5 months now and feeling the strain...

"What would you say is your greatest weakness"
I fucking HATE this question...

I did read >>100736 's response to it, but that seems kind of scripted and unbelievable. Any suggestions?

>>101017
If that doesn't work out, think about the US military (yes, you can join, not sure what the process is and I know you'd have to become a citizen for security clearances, but you can stick to nonclearance jobs if that bothers you)...actually come to think of it, I'm pretty sure you can join the UK's military.

It sounds like you might not be doing well on interviews. Get in touch with your local employment agency, they should have workshops on things like interviewing, putting together a resume, and the like.

Also, are you telling prospective employers you're considering going to the military? If so...yeah that might be keeping you from getting anything.

>>101031
have been talking about US military with my girlfriend. She's an American and a US Air Force vet. She has to go back to the states for a few months or so anyways...she's been living with myself at my mother's place since july, and my family hates her(though the only legitimate reason i can find for that is her lack of social graces, which doesn't bother me at all since i pretty much hate everyone). Unfortunately this means she'll be reliant entirely on the VA and is pretty much going to be homeless and living in women's shelters until they can get her a job and help her get her head on straight...it's a long story that involves her having severe anxiety.

But no, haven't been telling employers jack shit about my trying to join the military. truth be told I'm not even GETTING interviews. Only one I've had in two years was for a security systems installation position that turned out to be a door-to-door sales position...paid on comission...and only if you got into the house to make a presentation or a sale.
So after a work of that and nothing to show for it but sore feet and a significantly lessened sense of self worth, I said fuck it and quit. ESPECIALLY when the boss wanted us to do face to face recruiting to people at businesses, which is fairly illegal. I'll be fucked if I'm going to work under those bullshit conditions and not even have a living wage.

>>101030
Not at all. It's the truth. Combined with courage-wolf levels of confidence, they'll believe you.

For the weakness question I told them I am told I often rush because others can't keep up with me so I have to remember to consider others in the team. That, mixed wirth a crushing handshake and a confident way of sitting straight on the chair and not breaking eye contact made me a shoe-in for the job I've had for the last 3 years.

Any advice for a certified technician (comptia a+, n+ and some MS certs) who has no previous experience but i dare say natural talent who is a jack of all trades (master of fuck all) looking to do possibly some junior sys admin work?
My main problem is i can score an interview and absolutely coc­kslap any technical tests but i keep being passed over for people i've trained with who, to put it simply, barely passed the tests and should not be allowed near a computer.
Confidence isn't the problem and im aware of my social flaws which ive applied great effort to fix/mask but nobody will toss me a bone. ive had a go at near enough everything and i excel at fixing and maintaining shit.

DL the "Dummies" for cover letters and resumes. Don't overlook these. Even as an OG there was alot of new information that I found helpful. Lie about stuff you can do but can't be followed up on. rememeber that your previous company can only provide dates of hire and title

Here's a short little video with some words of wisdom from Steve jobs himself. it may help some from tying that noose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkTf0LmDqKI&feature=related

>>101180
Stop blaming others for your downfall. You're probably a whiny asshole in person; that's why you don't get hired. 4chan is full of egotistical finger pointers.