r/sysadminresumes

Hey guys, I've been an "IT manager" for a small agency for a couple years now and cannot find a better position to get out. It's more of a solo IT person job now, where I report to the CIO alongside another manager who handles infrastructure. I used to manage junior contractors but with cuts it’s just me. Aside from that, every 3-6 months we have a scare we are going to be shut down and lose our jobs.

I've tried using AI to help rewrite my resume to try and find a better opportunity but doesn't seem to have helped in getting more interviews. The interviews I feel I do well in, I don't hear back. The ones I feel I did badly, I get low balled so even though I want to take the position I cannot due to financial responsibilities. The positions I've been applying to are IT Manager, IT Lead, and some cybersecurity positions but no luck.

I know the market is bad for IT in general but wanted to see if anyone has had any luck with another strategy. The longer I stay here the less technical I feel I become. I am trying to do some home labs to learn just because at work we don't have access to a lot of tools. I don’t have my bachelor’s degree yet, was hoping to go back for it next year but have heard that might not help get a better job but is good to have completed. I know it’s worse for others, thankfully I am still employed for now. Any help or guidance is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Update: Hey all thank you for the advice. Got lots of useful info I will try to implement and get it updated this week. If I can post an updated resume after I will with the results. Appreciate you kind folks.

This is my master resume, where I've listed all my duties and accomplishments at each company I've worked for. As for skills, I've included anything I've been exposed to and understand well enough to grasp the concepts behind it. Not gonna lie, I do have experience in system administration, but I haven't had much exposure to server backups other than creating AD accounts, permissions, etc. or to writing scripts and automation, other than Power Automate (if that counts, lol). Please be brutally honest and let me know what I can do to make my resume more appealing to employers.