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Quintessential Answers:
Q&A's with Career & College Experts

 

Questions and Answers with Career Expert Deborah Wile-Dib

 

Please note: On a somewhat infrequent basis, Quintessential Careers asks noted career experts five questions related to their expertise and publishes the interview in the current issue of QuintZine, our career e-newsletter. Those interviews are archived here for your convenience.

 

Deborah Wile-Dib, nationally certified resume writer and career coach, is owner and President of Advantage Resumes of New York.

 

Q:	What trends and changes in resumes have you observed in the last few years?
A:	The evolution of the resume from a historical document to a strategic personal marketing piece. Strictly traditional chronological resumes no longer meet the needs of employers. Employers want problem-solvers who can immediately and profitably react to the almost instantaneous changes in the marketplace. An achievement-oriented resume, one that showcases the applicant's relevant achievements in a CAR (Challenge/Action/Result) format and places them in a position of prominence above the traditional job chronology, should prove the applicant's value to the employer and secure an interview.
Q:	What is the most important piece of advice you feel you could offer today's job-seeker about resumes? What's the biggest mistake job-seekers make that your advice could correct?
A:	Job seekers should always remember that the employer has little or no interest in what the job seeker wants from a job. They want to know what the job seeker can do for them; what bottom-line impact will they have, and how soon can they expect that impact. All personal marketing materials must be written with that vision.   The biggest mistake job seekers make is to focus their resume on themselves by using a boring objective and strictly chronological listing of jobs. A great resume focuses on the job seeker's targeted market and uses a defined strategy to show the applicant's value to the employer.
Q:	What directions do you see online job-hunting taking in the next few years?
A:	Online job hunting will become more and more the norm. Job seekers and employers alike will use the Web for searching for and filling open positions. However, as more people use the Web for employment purposes, it will become increasingly difficult for employers and recruiters to sift through the immense number of replies to open positions, even with the aid of electronic data sorting. Networking will still be the most important way to look for the best jobs and it will be ever more important to get past the electronic gatekeepers.   The best use of the Web from a job seeker's point of view will be to research companies for networking and interview purposes. With the proliferation of company Web sites, it will become increasingly easy to become acquainted with companies' power structures, corporate cultures, directions, and challenges. Interviewees who want to out-compete the competition have only to do their homework and interview armed with suggested strategies to help meet corporate challenges.
Q:	Do you see today's job-seekers (especially at the college grad/entry level) becoming too complacent about job-seeking because of the robust economy? How can job-seekers make the most of the strong economy and be prepared for when the current boom subsides?
A:	There is often complacency amongst job seekers, even in poor economies. Most people think "That will never happen to me. My company will never downsize and even if they do, I'm too valuable to be let go." This head-in-the-sand thinking is rampant and prevents a pro-active stance that prepares for any eventuality.   A job seeker in any economy must brand herself or himself as does any good marketer of a product. Personal career management today and in the future will mean creating a brand awareness, of becoming known in one's industry for certain innate qualities and quantifiable achievements that drive efficiency, innovation, and/or profits. Resumes and other personal marketing documents must be kept up to date, business, industry and/or technical knowledge must always be expanded, and networking must always be happening. Looking out for new opportunities must become second nature.
Q:	What distinguishes your approach to resumes from everyone else's? What make it different or better?
A:	Resumes are advertisements focused to the need of the purchaser. The employer is the buyer; the applicant is the product. Pure and simple. In my resume consulting practice, I work with my clients to identify their target (job, or industry, or even company), determine their skills and accomplishments, and then strategize the achievements that will capture the interest of their targeted employers. We also discuss and develop a profile of their soft skills, those intangibles that make them who they are and drive them to succeed. Then their hard and soft skills, achievements, and job history/education are edited and formatted into a striking and cohesive resume that drives results. In addition, this beautifully formatted paper document is converted into a simply formatted computer scannable version and a plain text (ASCII) version for e-mail. This service provides the job seeker with a resume for every possible situation: networking and interviewing, faxing, answering want-ads, corresponding with employers and recruiters via e-mail, and answering on-line ads.

 

 

Deborah Wile-Dib, nationally certified resume writer and career coach, is owner and President of Advantage Resumes of New York, a premier provider of worldwide executive, professional, and technical career marketing and coaching services. More than 65 examples of Ms. Wile-Dib's work have been nationally published in eight McGraw-Hill and JIST career books. Ms. Wile-Dib is the exclusive weekly career columnist for Long Island's leading tech and new media careers site, IJOBS.com; has been interviewed for three consecutive years in Newsday's Business Section, and frequently speaks on career issues at conferences and colleges. She is a founding member of The National Resume Writers' Association (NRWA) where she currently serves on the NRWA's Certification Commission. She is also an active member of The Professional Association of Resume Writers (PARW), the Association for Job Search Training (AJST), the Career Planning and Adult Development Network (CPADN), and Career Masters Institute (CMI). Ms. Wile-Dib holds four careers industry certifications: Nationally Certified Resume Writer (NCRW), Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW), Internationally Certified Job and Career Transition Coach (IJCTC), and Credentialed Career Master (CCM).

 

 

Check out all our interview with career experts in Quintessential Answers: Q&A's with Career & College Experts.

 

 

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.

 

 

 

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