The Executive Resume: A Slightly Totally different Set of Guidelines

Rosalinda works for a US-based world company. Several years ago, she took over the Canadian division, which had been beforehand underperforming, and turned things around for the better. About six months ago, she seized an opportunity to share some of her strategic ideas and ideas with higher management. They liked what she had to say and lately opened up a new VP position that’s ideally suited to her, particularly since it would contain implementing the initiatives she suggested. She wants to attempt for the promotion, so we worked collectively to overhaul her old resume. We took it from the mid-level manager resume she used when she first received hired to at least one that reflects the executive she’s turn into during her time with the company.

Rosalinda (not her real name, of course) is transitioning her career upward as a “new” executive, so it’s no surprise that she had quite a bit to study learn how to current herself in a new way by her resume. However, I’ve additionally worked with many seasoned executives who do not seem to know that should you’re an executive, you need to comply with a slightly different set of rules when creating your resume.

Below you may find three explicit reasons why the executive resume is so different from a regular resume.

By the way, I am defining “executive” as executive directors, senior directors, vice presidents, c-level officers, board members, and anybody concentrating on a strategic leadership position of their career.

Size

For the individual contributor or the mid-degree manager, we anticipate to see a two-page summarized resume that shows about 10-15 years of work history. Experience prior to 10-15 years ago will be displayed or not – it’s totally optional. Nevertheless, for an executive, we want to see the career progression in full. Except, in fact, for the minor jobs you had early on – there is not any have to show the job you had as a pizza delivery driver whenever you were in school.

There’s also lots more data to be included on the primary page within the first section, which is the profile or abstract section. On a regular resume for a non-executive role, this part may be as brief as one or two sentences, or it might be up to a half-web page long. Then again, for some executive resumes, especially for c-level and vice president candidates, the profile or summary part fills your complete first page.

Because of these factors – more years of experience and more info in the profile – the executive resume is normally three, generally even four, pages in length.

Executive Profile

As I just mentioned, the profile or summary section will, in most cases, take up all the first web page of the resume, and the content material of that page is the second major reason why the executive resume is so totally different from an everyday resume.

No matter what stage your position – whether you are an executive or not – the summary or profile part wants to tell about and show evidence of your value proposition. In case you’re an executive, you additionally should add in something about your leadership model, as well as incorporate more language regarding your strategic business acumen.

The executive’s profile will embrace the same old: a succinct positioning assertion, business-specific key words, and something about your unique worth proposition. However it will even embody key words that mirror strategic-degree thinking and responsibilities – phrases like “P&L,” “investor relations,” and “trade forecasting.”

The most importantity of resumes that I develop for clients embody a career highlights section. On the typical resume, it’s a separate part that is sandwiched between the profile and the expertise sections. Typically it will be included as part of the profile part fairly than be inserted as a stand-alone section. However, with the executive resume, I always embrace it as a part of the profile.

If you have any thoughts regarding the place and how to use executive resume writing services, you can make contact with us at the web page.