Overview/What You Will Learn

Now that you have less time than ever before to “wow” your target employer with your story, you’ll want to know what sells and what doesn’t.  Deb Dib, resume expert, offers a must-use strategy and critical tips for creating an effective resume that lands you your first interview.  

Key Points

Your Next Steps / Tips for Success

• Our hyperactive and easily distracted world means you must grab attention immediately – within 30 seconds, and no more.


• How you structure your resume doesn’t matter as long as it stands out. And as long as it includes lots of white space.


• You must state – in 15-20 seconds – why your employer should hire you. This is your 15-second value pitch. It’s the foundation of your resume and it must appear right on top.  It proves that you (not someone else) will solve one of the following:
  
  • a bleeding need of the company,
  
  
  • ongoing problems; or
  
  
  • deliver on a company goal.  


• To create your pitch, you must know 1) who you are, and 2) what the market needs right now.


• Your resume must show up on a smart phone in a readable, intelligently powerful way.  This is how executives get their information and it’s your only chance to be “heard.”


• What to include?
  
  • Your value pitch – Your Why Buy? (ROI)
  
  
  • You also want to include a hint of how you do what you do – i.e., your values or how you approach problems or tasks. Chemistry and fit are critical so communicate this at the top as well.
  
  
  • A hint of your job history, noting a couple of mega accomplishments
    
    • Use “Stat Shapshots” not words (especially not “responsible for…”)
    
    
    • Include “Job Jolt” – what you did at each job (1 thing!) that had the most impact. Consider this from the employer’s perspective and what he/she would find relevant.
  
  
  • Accomplishments come last
  
  
  • Then Education
  
  
  • Then everything else (unique hobbies, charities, military service)

Be a gutsy editor and make it sound like you.  Include only what’s essential and relevant and omit everything else. You can always discuss those things later.