The One Difference Crucial For Your Executive Resume
To dynamically present your greatest potential to employers, your executive resume needs to extend beyond key words, accomplishments and achievements. The element that will truly put you over the top is YOU.
Showcase the genuine, authentic you. That is critically important in presenting to an employer what you and you alone bring to the table. This approach will undoubtedly elevate you above the competition, decrease the time involved in your job search, and land you an executive role in which you are personally and financially fulfilled.
To express the real you on your resume, ask yourself the following questions:
1) If a colleague were talking about me, they could say,”You know, Jim is the guy who can really come in and do X.” What would “X” be?
Arrive at the answer to this question by identifying trends throughout the arc of your career. Have you directed successful company turnarounds time and time again? Perhaps you’re expert in strategic acquisitions. Do you have a record of saving companies significant amounts of money? You may have built a reputation for driving corporate culture change. Pinpoint what you are known for.
2) What is the overriding value I can offer to my next employer?
The answer actually has little to do with key words, because key words can apply to a lot of executive candidates in your field. Rather, do you have a particular approach or philosophy that you’ve applied throughout your career? That style is individually, authentically, you. Think about how you formulate strategy, or why your leadership technique is something that works. No one else can offer this exact same element to the potential employer.
3) Are there key issues my industry is facing today, or will be facing in the next five years, that I have the experience to solve?
You, as an executive, are expert in your field. By answering this question, you demonstrate your ability to look forward, identify trends, and proactively strategize to keep the potential employer’s organization viable and competitive.
Now that you’ve asked and answered these questions, incorporate the answers into your resume. The prime location to express these thoughts is in the top section of the resume, your “profile,” “synopsis,” “summary” or “qualifications” section. This is your first opportunity to showcase what you know how to do, why your approach works, and how it will benefit the potential employer. The remainder of the resume reinforces this top section by providing specific, results-oriented examples of your performance.
Here’s the bottom line: the most dynamic, differentiating factor between your resume and everyone else’s, is YOU. Facts, figures, numbers, achievements and key words are all important. But those are parts, and you, as an executive, need to be more than the sum of those parts. What will make employers see you as their top candidate are your passion, personality and human feeling.
Jewel Bracy DeMaio, MRW, CPRW, CEIP, specializes in executive resume development, strategic interview coaching, and tactical salary negotiations for $100K+ candidates. Her work has been published in many resume books over the last 13 years. If you are an executive with solid history and strong achievements, Ms. DeMaio can write your authentic story. Get your resume evaluation and quote today: http://www.APerfectResume.com
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