Are you looking for executive resume writing tips to land an interview? Perfect, read, and implement these modern strategies for designing a top-performing executive marketing document.
If you are considering a career change or a move up in your company, preparing an epic executive resume is the first step!
Most people start the new year off with goals or resolutions. Why not focus on your career as an executive?
If you are unhappy, not meeting your full potential, looking to switch organizations, or eyeing a promotion, developing and maintaining a powerful executive resume is the first step. Let me help make your 2024 shine by showing you how to design and write a compelling, interview-landing leadership resume!
Now, you may wonder what type of position falls under “executive.” Here are just a few examples: Sales Executive, Marketing Executive, President, Vice President of Sales, Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operations Officer (COO), Director of Operations, Construction Superintendent, Transportation Manager, and the list goes on.
Regardless of industry, the key theme that permeates any high-level position is senior leadership.
Below are seven tips to help you write a hard-hitting executive resume highlighting your leadership skills and executive-level accomplishments.
Executive Resume Writing Tips to Capture Interviews
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Demonstrate your leadership skills and supervisory duties as much as possible.
Leadership, organizational oversight, policy development, staff training, and employee accountability are essential areas to focus on within your resume – if they apply to you. The reader will seek experience leading an organization, collaborating with employees, and liaising with internal and external stakeholders. You can highlight these duties within the section of your resume devoted to Professional Experience. Under each position, describe the job responsibilities that pertain to leadership.
Now, take a look at your leadership-based achievements. What have you done that goes above and beyond your regular daily duties? Use these examples to demonstrate your management skills concretely. These will also be included in the Professional Experience section and listed as bullet points under each correlating position, thus helping the achievements stand out and grab the reader’s attention.
If you have trouble coming up with relevant accomplishments to include in your executive resume, use the CAR acronym to help you: Challenge, Action, and Result. What was the Challenge? What Action was taken? What was the Result? Try to demonstrate a skill within each achievement as well. For instance:
- Initiated brainstorming sessions with the management team to develop new methods for penetrating global markets.
- Collaborated with the Information Technology department to create a program that could easily track and minimize internal fraud.
- Launched a new company-wide sales initiative to re-energize the sales team, land new clients, raise staff morale, and boost profits.
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Dig deep to uncover facts and figures.
Regarding job-related accomplishments, try to use numbers as much as possible when developing your executive leadership achievements. These figures measure results and are seen as quantifiable achievements in your resume. This is another excellent way to prove to a Board of Directors that you will be an asset to the company.
If you are uncertain of the exact numbers, they can sometimes be found in performance evaluations or reviews, letters of appreciation from department heads, etc.
Examples of fact-based accomplishments include:
- Launched the successful acquisition of a multimillion-dollar investment company in 2017. Company shares saw a 25% boost upon acquisition.
- Renegotiated client contracts to generate $1.5M in additional revenue over three years.
- Collaborated with vendors to employ more effective and reliable products, resulting in a 45% decrease in inventory.
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Review and incorporate executive-level keywords in your resume.
No matter which industry you aim to join, you must include appropriate keywords or buzzwords in your resume and cover letter. Review current job postings and descriptions to see if there are new keywords hiring managers and recruiters are looking for. This is particularly helpful if you are transitioning fields or have been a while since you last updated your job application documents. Aside from keywords, hiring managers or recruiters are looking for other critical criteria in a resume.
Incorporating buzzwords not only grabs the reader’s attention and gets your resume past the applicant tracking systems but also demonstrates that you know what you are talking about, have remained current on industry trends, and have strong working knowledge.
Depending on the executive position you are applying for, the following catchphrases could be some keywords to consider integrating: training budgets, performance evaluations or performance feedback, presentations, turnaround management, solutions management, continued education training, orientations sessions, training programs, or training materials, career development, and employee training.
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Update your executive resume regularly.
Right now, you may be saying to yourself, “Candace, I love my job. Why would I need to keep my resume up-to-date? I’m not applying for anything else shortly.”
But wait!
What if the right opportunity presents itself, and you don’t have a tailored resume ready to submit to the executive position?
You’ve been dying to apply to X company. I just discovered a spot is available, but you found out at the last moment, and the closing deadline is tomorrow… Now what?
What if an executive recruiter contacts you about a fabulous C-level career opportunity and requests your current resume? Don’t procrastinate on this vital marketing document.
If you update your resume regularly, you will be ready when the opportunity presents itself! By being proactive and prepared to submit your resume at a moment’s notice, you will stay one step ahead of your competition in 2024.
Contact me if you need help writing your executive resume and cover letter. You can review our executive C-level writing packages and determine what suits you best.
Other reasons to keep an updated executive resume include:
- Performance evaluations and reviews.
- Career development planning.
- Setting professional goals.
- Tracking the progress of long-term projects.
- Communicating your value to the company.
- Networking for a new position.
- Applying for recognition awards.
- Applying to be a Subject Matter Expert.
- Remind yourself of your value and see how far you have come throughout your career.
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Eliminate old or outdated information.
Consider whether old information should be discarded when reviewing your current executive resume. Is it time to exclude irrelevant jobs or courses? Start at the end of your resume and work backward.
Most recruiters or hiring managers won’t look back for over 15 years. Since it is a good idea to keep your resume to two pages if possible, axing outdated information is an excellent way to shorten the document. Another way to condense your document is to write concisely, leave out flowery words, and eliminate unnecessary redundancy.
Reflect on the past year’s accomplishments. What happened? What did you achieve? Are there any new certifications, courses, or skills to add? Has your role changed over the past year? Did you finalize any new projects? Did you overcome any challenging obstacles? Did you have an annual review?
If you receive an annual review, see if there are supervisor comments you can include as a testimonial within your resume or cover letter. These quotes are another fantastic way to showcase your proven track record and skill set.
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Focus on your executive resume appropriately.
Target your resume and cover letter toward the position you are seeking. For example, if you are seeking a sales position, you will write your resume differently from that of the banking industry.
The best way to ensure you are tailoring your document correctly is to read and re-read the job posting. It will lay out explicitly what is required of the job seeker and what assets you should possess.
When developing your executive resume, touch on as many assets as possible. If you lack simple things (i.e., specific skills could be more vital or certification is needed), do what you can to improve your skills or take particular courses, ensuring you check off additional boxes in the reader’s mind. If you have a course or certification underway, or you plan on taking one soon, you can still include it on your resume with a disclaimer of “pending” or “in progress.”
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Include Your LinkedIn Profile URL.
Did you recently get set up on LinkedIn? If so, incorporate the URL in your header, where the rest of your contact information is listed. Make sure your profile is a professional Executive LinkedIn Profile. This is an excellent online platform to convey your skills, education, and experience while networking and making yourself visible to corporate headhunters.
Suppose you haven’t created a professional LinkedIn Profile yet. In that case, you may want to consider our LinkedIn profile development service – the greater the positive exposure, the greater your chances of landing your dream job easier and quicker!