Deb Dib on Resumes
Who Is Debbie Dib,
- a certified personal branding strategist
Length
- your resume has to be easy to read on a Blackberry
- that means two pages tops
- your other info can be shoved onto "collateral documents"
- eg. a case study of your top accomplishment, lists of speaking
engagements, achievements, deals
Focus
- a personal brand is a well-defined image of you
- a clear, memorable image cannot be diversified
- you have to pick one or two strengths and market yourself on these
- your other skills are reduced to secondary status as value-adds
- hiring managers are more interested in an expert
than a jack-of-all trades and master of none
- so she advises us to be brave enough to limit our offerings
Content
- if you list an accomplishment it means nothing in itself
- you have to prove it was important by showing its impact on the firm
How To Start
- lead off with your most important accomplishment with its
proof-of-value so that if someone is scanning they are sure to see it
Impact Statements
- a sales rep can measure her impact on the bottom line by
her relationship to quota and her rank among her peers
- if you build a process, there is no direct feedback in measurable revenue dollars
- however, you are supporting the departments that create the revenue
and you have to highlight your relation to their earnings
- if your process saved x amount of dollars which was re-invested some
initiative, you were a key factor and have to say so
Targets
- you can't make a one size fits all resume
- you have to talk about what is of interest to a specific target audience
- review your strengths and accomplishments then present the most relevant
Formatting
- leave enough white space to make it look visually pleasing
- get rid of grammatical and spelling errors
My Comment
- ironically, when you are up against other experts, your secondary skills
(the value adds) might be the key differentiators
Source: Susie Guarnieri interviews Debbie Dib,
at the Personal Branding Summit (audio here)
Hat Tip: Diana Jennings