By
El Copeland
January 4, 2025
•
20 min read
Professional Development
Fundamental Skills
Tutorials

When is the last time you updated your Resume/CV?
There was a little bit of chatter in the MSPGeek Discord last month about what actually needs to go on a resume. (MSPGeek Website | MSPGeek Discord)
It got me curious: how many of my friends in the MSP space have an up-to-date resume, and one that they’re proud of?
Uh-oh, have you not dusted yours off in a few years?
Let’s talk about why you might want to change that even if you’re happy where you are and some practical advice for updating yours into something you’re proud to showcase.
Let’s start with the basics.
A resume is a generally a concise document highlighting your professional experience, skills, and accomplishments. When I’m coaching others, I use the analogy that a good resume is just a firm handshake. It's what gets your foot in the door for hopefully further conversations. You’ll want your resume to be tailored to your current interests and objectives, whittled down to reflect your story and expertise.
On the other hand, a CV, or curriculum vitae, comes from Latin words curriculum, which came from the original word currere which translates to run, as in a race; and vitae, meaning life. Curriculum has since been adapted as an educational term for what you’d be learning in a class or program, but it originally just meant “what race are you running?”
With that in mind, a CV literally translates to course of life, and as such it’s a beefier document than a resume, reflecting a detailed account of one’s professional journey, path, and achievements, showcasing a full history of your education, research, and work. I coach my people to keep both on hand, considering the CV as the “source of truth” for everything you’ve ever done with complete timelines and full descriptions, and creating multiple child resumes depending on your specific job application or use case.
In general, in the MSP (Managed Service Provider) space and in the employment arena, these words are often used interchangeably but I encourage you to default to providing a simpler resume, and as such we’ll be focusing on that term in this article. However, there are places and times that it makes sense to provide a full CV and we’ll address that as we go.
Having an up-to-date resume is a good practice to keep even if you’re not actively looking for jobs. Some companies that bid for work include team member resumes and CVs as evidence of that company’s competence and fit to win a particular Request for Proposal (RFP).
It’s also helpful because you never know when the random person you meet at a conference, church, or bar, likes the cut of your jib and wants your resume to see if you’re a good fit for their company!
If you’re in Sales or Marketing, knowing what your technical teams’ Resumes and CVs look like can be a wealth of data for building proposals or providing accomplishments to prospective clients. It’s worth seeing if your team has up-to-date resumes so you know the high points of their skills and accomplishments and can brag about them accordingly.
So enough about the why of a good Resume. Let’s talk about the how.
As someone who has applied for many jobs, read a good number of applications for my own businesses, and coached others in cleaning up their own, let’s talk about what makes a resume or CV successful to me and how I applied those ideals in my own resume. As you’ve surely noticed, the word good is in quotation marks – every bit of advice in here is built on years of learning and experience, but is by no means dictatorial or the final word on the resume that will get you the job of your dreams.
My goal is to give you inspiration on revamping and practical advice further editing your own! If you follow these ideas, hopefully, you'll take your resume from "meh" to "good" and as you build your idea of what good looks like, you can make it "great."
Here is my current resume, for reference:
What are your first thoughts? It’s ok if you hate it, it won’t hurt my feelings. The fact that you’re thinking about what could be a resume is the exciting part for me. We’ll use my resume to tear apart some of these rules so you have practical ideas for what to do, or not!
Rules I kept in mind:
For the uninitiated, Doctor Who is a BBC Family Show about a millennia-old time-traveling alien who consistently finds himself saving the human race while meeting historic people and events from the past, present, and future. In the 2024 Christmas special, Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor finds himself trapped in a crappy hotel room by himself, for a year. “The long way ‘round” rings in the viewers’ ears as we are then escorted through the next year of the Doctor, watching his character development as he performs menial labor and often comical tasks. It’s heartwarming and tearjerking, and....
Don’t do that.
Yeah, you heard me. Your resume is not the place for your growth or development. It’s not the place to give the ins and outs of your day-to-day. Your resume needs to be the high points. This is just the book cover, the summary, the short review enticing someone to pick you up and actually flip through the pages.
Ways that you can do that include:
We want to know that you can speak Judoon, have commandeered a TARDIS, and are adept with both psychic paper and a Sonic Screwdriver. We do not need to know that you carjacked said TARDIS, brought someone a cheese toastie and pumpkin latte, or snogged Queen Elizabeth. If the devil is in the details, well, leave the details and the devil out of your resume, dude.
This example is a little silly, but the point remains that YOU are the hero and YOU write your own story. Make sure the readers of your resume know what that is. And regardless of what story you write, your resume should always lead with Action.
What have you done that you have control over? Your resume should show that you’re an asset to the teams that you’re on and that the work you’ve done has shown your strength.
Instead of framing things as being a part of a project or that something was imposed on you, stretch yourself to consider the decisions you made and how they were impactful.
Check your resume in a grammar checker for “passive voice” and eliminate it from your resume as much as possible. Passive voice makes it seem like you are just that: a passive bystander to things that you created. This isn’t the place for modesty, it’s a place for groundedness and intentionality! Don’t be scared to show them what you’ve got! Here are some good rules of thumb for your resume:
Here are some practical examples for how you can update passive voice with active voice.
Of note, it is highly possible that you don’t feel like you have the numbers or the confidence to do this, today. There is a certain amount of intentionality and care that is required to start gathering these types of Key Performance Metrics or goals. It’s possible that your management is tracking some of these things already and you can talk to your manager about their goals for your department and roll those into your own successes.
Know your audience and keep it relevant in all the ways possible, I’d specifically encourage you to consider context of content and context of delivery.
We allude to this in the section on being the Hero, but keep multiple versions of your resume on hand depending on the role and company you are applying for! Review the business’s website and job listing for key words, phrases, or values to show you are a good fit. Remove work experience that isn’t applicable to the role. Don’t keep things in if they dilute what you are actually seeking to present yourself as. Customize your bullet points: Swap in key accomplishments that fit the job description. If the role focuses on leadership, highlight examples of mentoring or leading a team. If it’s technical, detail relevant certifications, tools, and projects.
Use consistent headers, bullet points, and spacing to make your resume easy to scan. Avoid excessive detail that clutters the page. Stick to clean, professional fonts and clear section breaks.
Keep it simple, but don’t be afraid of a little personality: A pop of color, a different font, or slightly unique formatting can be memorable—but don’t overdo it. Use section dividers, subtle lines, or an (one!) accent color to guide the eye. Include icons for contact info if appropriate, but ensure they don’t distract (choose SIMPLE icons with only one color and make sure all icons are from the same family pack).
Keep font choices professional yet modern, such as using sans-serif fonts like Calibri or Lato. In general, I recommend not using more than one typeface, and limit the times you change it. Regular, bold, italic should get you far, and try to keep font sizes to three variations: title (36pt), header (18pt), body (12pt). Keep things consistent like you would be if you were marking up a webpage or application. And please, whatever you do, don’t express yourself through clever or cartoony fonts, this is for business, not your personal art gallery.
How are you submitting your application? In person, by email, through a digital system?
Will the person be reading this on a mobile device or printing it out?
If in person, don’t be afraid to print off a color copy on nice, weighted cardstock for an in-person interview, and bring copies for other people who may be in the room as well, for a peer interview.
For digital submissions Check the format based on delivery method: Ensure your resume reads well in multiple formats—digital (PDFs), ATS-scannable text, and print. Run tests to see how it looks in each form. Do screenreaders or convert to plain text to see (or hear) what a computer-read version of your document turns out to say. Does it make sense? If not, rework it.
As mentioned multiple times in this article, your resume is a tool for opening doors, so don’t let it be a dead end for the reader. Where do you keep your portfolio or where should they go to find more information about you if this resume piqued their interest? Don’t keep them guessing, give them access! Some things you may want to include on a modern resume:
What do you think? If you look at your resume, does it follow my suggestions of making yourself the Hero. leading with action, considering appropriate context, and showing your Work? Where did I deviate from the rules, do you think it works for me, or not?
On the flip side, what rules do you think I am missing?
I hope I’ve inspired you to update your resume and/or CV this month and to encourage your friends and colleagues to do the same! If you need help cleaning up your resume, you can find me on any of the social channels listed on my resume, or through Rising Tide if you want to pay me to just do it for you.

Episode 20 of By the [run]Book dives into HaloPSA v2.214 with a mix of practical improvements and some quirky additions. Connor and Mendy walk through everything from new dollar variables and asset controls to Avalara fixes and portal enhancements—highlighting what actually matters for day-to-day MSP operations. This episode is especially useful for MSPs refining workflows, automation, and reporting accuracy in Halo.
Watch Now: By the [run]Book: Episode 20
For easier tracking, check out haloreleases.remmy.dev to filter and search HaloPSA updates by ID, version, and keyword.
Mendy and Connor noted this was very useful.
Highlighted during the user action demo as a practical workflow improvement.
Called out as a genuinely useful UI improvement.
Allows more flexibility in how incoming emails are matched to tickets.
Enables automation of asset configuration through API usage.
Introduces a new variable to output custom fields in Q&A format.
Improves visibility into asset changes over time.
Returns the email address of the user associated with a purchase order.
Enhances usability and visibility of search results in the portal.
Provides control over configuration synchronization.
Ensures correct popup behavior when multiple rules trigger.
Makes ticket source available for reporting and filtering.
Adds safeguards when configuring email matching tags.
Allows distribution lists to target all email addresses tied to a user.
Improves clarity in Avalara transaction records.
Adds control over visibility of user actions in the portal.
Improves flexibility when using Accounts and Prospects.
Enables dynamic fields based on asset lifecycle status.
Ensures asset tagging consistency during stock processes.
Adds control over Avalara synchronization scope.
Allows a predefined score for surveys.
Improves visibility when prorating billing items.
Automatically generates a ticket alongside sales orders.
Allows column width customization in list views.
Changes ordering of lists in the team view.
Adds asset status as a usable variable in buttons.
Improves flexibility when viewing lists.
Allows visual customization of buttons.
Enables distribution lists based on ticket criteria.
Adds control over forecast data ranges.
Enhances performance of Azure/Entra sync.
Improves visibility of ticket closure information.
Optimizes webhook performance and payload handling.
Refines permissions for asset management.

Episode 19 walks through HaloPSA v2.212 and v2.214, covering a wide range of quality-of-life improvements, admin controls, and workflow enhancements. Connor and Robbie highlight updates around ticket forms, invoicing, templates, and automation, making this especially useful for MSPs looking to tighten processes and improve day-to-day efficiency.
Watch Now: By the [run]Book: Episode 19
For easier tracking, check out haloreleases.remmy.dev to filter and search HaloPSA updates by ID, version, and keyword.
Allows assets to be linked directly to a client instead of only via a site.
Improves tracking of report usage across dashboards.
Adds control over end-user assignment in templates.
Prevents actions on tickets for stopped clients or sites.
Allows updating custom fields directly via actions.
Prevents approval of expired quotes.
Adds variables for original customer addresses.
Ensures hidden fields do not retain values.
Adds advanced relative date filtering.
Adds preview functionality for templates.
Allows editing of existing meter readings.
Improves grouping of invoice items.
Enables merging duplicate assets.
Displays number of related tickets.
Enhances monitoring integration mapping.
Adds more control to purchase order lifecycle.
Enables workflows triggered by agent emails.
Adds mapping and geolocation features.
Introduces guided project setup.
Allows updating ticket fields post-creation in chat.
Prevents deletion of populated top-level structures.
Improves timesheet usability.
Fixes inconsistent quote PDF behavior.
Aligns quote email behavior with configuration.
Adds access to billing profiles from invoice screen.
Allows use of quote data in actions.
Adds new automation trigger.
Adds rich text support for asset fields.
Prevents closure when tasks remain open.
Adds approvals to activity feed.
Removes agent login option from portal.
Adds ordering control to lookup codes.
Adds planning field to releases.
Enables guided onboarding tools.
Adds note field to consignment lines.
Expands team visibility.
Extends accessibility tools to main app.
Displays previous invoice values.
Exposes billing data to API.
Adds search to selection fields.
Aligns call screen logic with ticket settings.
Links credit lines to original sales orders.
Improves invoice ID handling.
Introduces role-based API identity.

In this episode of By the Runbook, the team continues through the HaloPSA 2.212 release notes and spends time unpacking what several of these changes actually mean in practice. The conversation covers workflow design, mail campaigns, ticket views, reporting, and automation behavior, with especially useful commentary for MSPs trying to decide what to enable, what to ignore, and what to be careful with.
Watch Now: By the [run]Book: Episode 18
For easier tracking, check out haloreleases.remmy.dev to filter and search HaloPSA updates by ID, version, and keyword.
Check out MSP Blueprint for info on runbooks: MSPBlueprint
This allows the ticket screen to automatically refresh when a background automation completes.
Expands qualification matching to include custom field criteria.
Adds delayed and retry-based webhook processing options.
This change limits the available “From” addresses on a ticket action to mailboxes the assigned team can actually access.
Adds Email Address as another attribute option for follower behavior on the portal.
Allows changes to Mail Campaigns after they have started.
Restricts pipeline stages based on opportunity type.
Adds webhook processing options including delayed and retry handling.
Adds the ability to hide tickets from the change calendar.
Adds Service Users as a selectable option in distribution and user lists.
Allows campaigns to be sent from sales mailboxes.
Adds a warning when an action email will fail.
Adds asset relationship mapping during SQL imports.
Adds an isRunning field to asset discovery.
Expands qualification matching with custom field rules.
Allows ticket view to auto-refresh after automation runs.
Adds ability to update currency values on quotes.
Requires comments for negative KB feedback.
Adds control for showing nested tickets.
Enhances AI reporting capabilities.
Restricts KB edits to owners only.
Adds translation support in the portal.
Adds secondary MAC address support.
Adds character limits to text fields.
Adds more fields for OLA and rule reporting.
Prevents approvals from email replies.
Extends field copying to deeper ticket levels.
Adds primary asset as a runbook condition.
Adds AgentID variable for lookups.
Adds reporting changes to config tracking.
Adds filter profiles to child ticket views.
Adds more configuration options to other open tickets view.