By Rosa E. Vargas

“You Were Right; Your Executive Resume Could Be Great!”

Let’s make your resume amazing for a successful 2020 job search. 

If you have landed here, it’s because you are not confident your current resume is marketing you well.

You’ve been busy. I know. Now it is time to revamp your executive resume, especially since you are considering launching a job search campaign in 2020.

But you are hesitating.

You ask yourself if it’s truly your resume that needs a revamp, or is there something else you should be considering. 

True. There are so many variables that affect a successful job search. However, a critical component of that job hunt is a strong executive resume.

Use the following list of top executive resume writing tips and level up for 2020

Executive Resume Must-Haves

#1. Technology: Is your executive resume 4.0? 

Go over your executive resume and ensure you highlight any projects or strategic decision making that involved the integration of digital technology, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and big data.

Any opportunity to use one of these hot buzzwords while highlighting value will help you spin your executive resume into the new era. 

 

#2. Change Management: Forecast needs, ebbs, and flows.

 

 

 

 

More than ever before, the business landscape is uncertain, and lots of changes on the horizon.

Highlight accomplishments that demonstrate you have weathered storms and helped organizations emerge stronger. That you are ready to wield change into opportunity. 

 

#3. Visual Appeal: Is your resume worthy of a “wow?”

Attracting the right attention and exuding professionalism with a distinctively attractive resume is imperative. Your resume must impress as soon as a recruiter or hiring manager sees it.

Is your resume a sea of mundane bullets, or is it appealing, modern, inviting, and sophisticated? Have you used enough white space? Would it stand out in a pile of resumes?

 

#4. Compelling Summary: You’ve got the stage. Now, break a leg. 

Begin with a powerful brand. A high-impact summary is critical. You will have seconds to convince the hiring authority that reading the rest of your resume is a good idea. 

Have you begun your executive resume with a value offer or a powerful personal brand statement?

Instead of getting right into summarizing what your employment history will disclose, use this prime area to make a guarantee.

 

#5. Executive-Level Moxie: Are you still a senior engineer while you are operating as a CIO? I don’t think so. 

Your executive resume must exude your leadership caliber.

I often review executive resumes that still read as if the job seeker is an intern.

Why? Because the job seeker has piled on responsibilities over the years with no value translation and used the same resume template they have been using since college. 

Side note: Resume design will also play a role in exuding that boardroom image.

Many executives are still sticking with traditional formats. Sometimes these templates are very confining. 

In the last decade, we have seen new roles emerge, cross-functional accountability stretched to the limits, a series of surprising M&As, etc.

Your executive resume must highlight those lateral and upward moves strategically.

 

#6. Prioritize: Strategize and position the most impressive accomplishments first. 

Prioritizing career milestones based on relevancy to where you are heading next instead of trying to share career stops in linear formation will yield better results.

Recruiters and hiring managers will give your executive resume 30 seconds or less on the first review. Have you placed your best front and center?

 

#7. Sales & Marketing Orientation: Are you reporting or influencing?

A resume is a marketing tool. I know you’ve heard this before, but are you following that advice?

If your resume is reporting data and not persuasively sharing value, then you are not leveraging your executive resume as a marketing maneuver.

 

#8. Brevity: A resume is a marketing tool. You must say enough to lure an interview, and that is all.

A five-page resume is not attractive, especially in the era of mobile phones. Yes, technology has caught up where you can read a PDF or an MS Word doc on your mobile. However, hiring managers have so many resumes to read; you must position your best qualifications and ensure you have not overstated.

Oversharing can also ruin your interview opportunities. If it is all there, and they are not impressed, why call you?

If you ignite curiosity and leave them wanting to know more, they will call. 

 

#9. Metrics: Show them the returns. 

I am sure you have created presentations to illustrate financial performance, so why are numbers hidden within your resume’s content? 

When you create a graph to show relationships between numbers, comparisons, etc., you will simplify data, and your reader will process quicker. It is also a great way to stand out. 

 

#10.  Links. Link building isn’t only for webmasters.

When you write your executive resume, you should be plotting how it will market you in conjunction with your online presence (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and personal website). 

Once you have decided how you are going to unfold and stream synchronistic information across all these online channels, your resume will serve as a centerpiece linking all of this information to create one cohesive brand. 

So, don’t forget to add those links (URLs) on your resume. 

Good luck!