All jobs are not created equal. In particular, an executive resume requires you to demonstrate a proven track record with greater responsibility than most other positions.
Your executive resume should show that you can represent and lead a company.
Of course, in the matter of a job search at the executive level, it’s also essential to know who your competitors are.
The executive resume you craft also needs to be of the highest calibre.
Getting Started With Your Executive Resume
Your executive resume has to be clear and focuses on the reader. So think about the skills and qualities that they would consider most valuable.
Customise the details for each job so that employers know that you’re a candidate worth considering for an interview, if not the job itself.
Be transparent and professional as you write your executive resume.
Lastly, it’s crucial that your resume is very easy to read. This usually translates to much white space and using a simple font like Times New Roman.
4 Aspects to Consider When Writing Your Executive Resume
Drafting your executive resume requires you to focus on a few critical elements:
1: Come up with an executive profile
The executive profile should be concise but compelling. Think of it as a sort of advertisement that introduces the rest of your resume.
Much like an abstract of a research paper that should encourage the reader to continue reading your resume. Ensure that you include your strongest attributes as well as your most important achievements here.
2: Place your work experience after
The next aspect to consider is placing your work experience. For this, put it right after the executive profile and in reverse chronological order so that the reader can connect with what you’ve done professionally until now.
Most importantly, focus more on your achievements as opposed to your responsibilities and quantify them as much as possible. Apart from this, emphasise both your transferable skills while also providing the reader with a context for your achievements too.
One last thing: don’t be afraid to keep early work experience on your profile primarily if you’ve worked for big companies or have notched up impressive achievements too.
3: Emphasise on your soft skills
Being a successful executive or senior manager isn’t easy, given that there are many qualities that they need to demonstrate. Some of these include time management, multitasking, and a strong understanding of financial processes.
However, people skills are just as relevant too, and this is something that you should emphasise as well.
Make sure you talk about times when you had to think out of the box, led a team to complete a successful project, or even went beyond the call of duty too. This will give you an edge over other candidates that have similar work experience or education to boot.
4: Check your resume twice
If you are applying for an executive position, then just running a spell check isn’t going to be enough. You have to check the document for not only spelling but grammar and punctuation too.
Apart from this, word choice, alignment, and the addition of relevant information about the job are also important. So to be on the safe side, have it checked by someone else as well.
One significant aspect to consider is to eliminate unnecessary words. Every word on your resume should have a purpose.
Most of all, ensure that the words that you do use are direct and action-oriented as well as compelling enough for the reader to spend more time reading your profile too.
In Closing
While these aspects will improve your executive resume to a large extent, it is still good to hire the services of an executive career coach.
They will add more perspective to your resume and can draft it objectively too. It’s something that you want to consider, especially if you are looking to change jobs as soon as possible.
Are there any other vital aspects that one needs to consider when drafting an executive resume? If so, feel free to share them in the comments section below.
