Making an appealing resume is a tough job. Speaking about oneself attractively and compellingly may make you feel like bragging, and you may undersell your abilities. You may feel you have not used the right words to describe yourself or feel that you have overrated yourself.
If you’re an executive or want to become one, it is an additional level of complexity. Surely, it is not a small responsibility, but before applying for it, you’ve got to make your resume for the executive class to participate in the big race.
It is not a simple job, but when you’re heading for the C-suite, here are some tips to position yourself efficiently:
1. Draft an executive summary
Basically, your resume goal is dead, chiefly when you’re an executive. Of course, everyone knows you are a detail-oriented, highly ambitious person with a proven successful track record of helping your company grow. So, rather than mentioning your meaningless objective initially, you should choose a hard-hitting, strong executive summary that works as a bullseye for the type of role you want to get.
Make sure you use four to five pointers that showcase your value proposition specific to your targeted job for your executive resume. For example, suppose you want to go for a COO role in a manufacturing firm. In that case, you can mention yourself as a professional in agile methodology, showcasing your accomplishments in revenue and growth. Or, if you know the company you want to apply for is a struggle, present yourself as a specialist to help them turn around.
2. Reveal your financial and business results
Of course, you have a great qualitative result. Still, it is equally important to make your reviewers know the type of person you are- decision-makers looking to hire executives are looking for impactful results. You cannot land an executive job just for being a good person. You have to showcase yourself as a person who can make money, boost growth, manage costs, optimize operations, streamline staff and deliver results.
And the best way to do it is by showing results. Reveal the numbers. Show your accomplishments in a quantitative figure and make sure the information makes you stand out from the crowd.
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3. Have a proficiency section screaming “Executive.”
If you are an executive, you will possibly not spend time applying for jobs blindly. You must be networking and looking for jobs that meet your prestige. Hence, you should showcase your core proficiencies that speak executive-ness.
You can check various executive resume examples to get an idea of how your executive-level resume appears. Make sure you highlight things like P&L, mergers and acquisitions, employee growth, global strategies, change management, etc.
If you have technical skills that you feel are vital for this role, mention them in your Area of Expertise.
When applying for executive-level jobs, you have surely made yourself proud professionally. At this point, you certainly don’t want to make a mistake with your resume. So make sure you don’t overstuff your resume. Check out the executive resume examples of professionals and align them accordingly. Skip off the fluff and highlight only what’s important to give yourself a benefit.