If you’re a senior-level executive ready to change jobs, your resume will look far different from an entry-level resume or even a resume from someone with just a few years of work experience. Over the years, our resume writing experts have crafted thousands of executive resumes and have compiled a few helpful tips.
1. Give Yourself A Title
As an executive, you might have been known as a manager, vice president, an account executive or some other type of title. When you are creating a resume title or resume headline, you want this title to convey as much specific information as possible without being too verbose.
For example, if you are a marketing executive, rather than simply stating, “Marketing Manager,” which can be too vague, you might state “Marketing Executive with 10+ Years’ Experience, Non-Profit Specialist.” This provides a hiring manager with fast information about your years of experience and your special qualifications. If you are a Sales Executive, you might rework this to read as “Top-Ranked Sales Manager, 12+ Years’ Experience.” In some cases, you also might list a specific certification that you have earned that is required for the job.
In some cases, you also might wish to add a career objective. This will include the aforementioned information along with a statement that explains your most valuable skills and how these skills make you a top candidate for a job. This information should be as brief as possible and grab the attention of a hiring manager.
2. Keep It Short & Sweet
Executive resumes do tend to be a bit longer than entry-level resumes or resumes for those with only a few years of work experience. However, just because you have plenty of experience doesn’t mean that your resume should be overly long. No matter how much experience you have, keep your resume to one or two pages at most. Hiring managers simply don’t have the time to read more than two pages, and you should be able to capture the essence of your work experience and qualifications in two pages or less.
3. Eliminate Non-Essentials
Don’t include a photo, and don’t add information that the hiring manager doesn’t care about. A hiring manager wants to establish (very quickly) that you possess the skills, characteristics and experience necessary to be successful in the position. Don’t list your hobbies or personal interests.
Now that you are an executive, you also can eliminate information about your high school graduation date and any non-essential work experience. While that job at the ice cream shop might have been relevant when you were getting your first job out of college, it’s no longer pertinent, so just list what you’ve done since graduating college. In some cases, it is best to only list comparable professional experience. For instance, perhaps you held a few temporary jobs in the year after college. It might be better to omit these, and stick with your professional experience only.
4. Invest In A Professional Website & Email
Your professional website can include your bio and any other relevant information about you, as well as listing your resume. The professional email is important because you don’t want prospective employers to contact you at your current work email. Your current boss probably wouldn’t appreciate this, and there’s always a chance that someone will find out that you are thinking about switching jobs.
It’s best to use a separate, professional email and check that email only on personal devices and not on your workplace computer. Likewise, list your cellular phone number on your resume and not your home number or your work number. Your home phone can be difficult to reach and there’s always the chance that a child or roommate might answer the phone in a less-than-appropriate manner. Obviously, you don’t want prospective employers contacting you at work, either, so use your cell number. While you don’t want your current boss or team to know that you are looking around for other job possibilities, prospective employers also aren’t likely to be impressed that you are using company equipment and company time to search for a new job.
5. Focus On Your Contributions
When you are a young employee fresh out of college or just a few years past graduation day, the skills you offer are of utmost importance. As an executive, your skills are still important, but what hiring managers want to see is a list of accomplishments and how your contributions to an organization made a positive impact. It’s great that you know how to use Microsoft Excel or that you are a fantastic time manager, but it’s far more important to showcase how your leadership benefitted your previous employers.
Of course, our top tip would be to use a professional resume writing service to create your resume. The team at Resume Writing Group has written resumes for senior executives across the globe, including those employed by Fortune 500 companies and other top firms. We guarantee that if you use our resume and follow our advice, you will be employed in 45 days or less, or we will refund the cost of your resume. No other resume service offers this level of a guarantee, so you truly have nothing to lose when you use our resume writing service.
