New trends have taken center stage in executive resumes over the past few years.
- If you haven’t taken a look at the design and strategy behind these essential career marketing documents, you may be surprised.
- No longer the staid documents used in the past, executive-level resumes (and LinkedIn profiles) for 6 and 7-figure careers benefit from sharper design and concentrated branding.
Here are the latest trends in executive resume writing – with tips on incorporating them for a successful job search:
Resume headlines and symbols can help convey your industry and ROI.
With just a few seconds to impress, it’s important to make your brand, leadership level, accomplishments, and value proposition pop!
Compelling headlines such as Scientific & Medical Strategies Poised for Significant Revenue Results, as well as an industry symbol help convey career level and fit in this example of a Vice President, Medical and Clinical Affairs resume.
Additional headlines describe this executive’s areas of skill, with plenty of white space for clear, fast reading.
Resume Headlines That Can Get You Hired describes how a strategically placed tagline is one of the best ways to quickly convey relevant facts about your background – without taking up precious resume space.
In the same manner, rethink your section titles! Create your own executive resume headings by using phrases that encapsulate your skills or describe your career, such as Expedited Career Progression in Financial Leadership Roles, instead of Professional History.
A caveat: when submitting your resume to an online job portal, swap the section title for the plain one to ensure ATS applications properly categorize your career experience.
Resume length should be tuned for your target audience.
Resume length is a hotly debated topic, with most trends indicating that shorter is better – but the length of your resume often depends on WHO will be reading it.
For example, it’s common to shorten your resume considerably when applying to a Board seat. A Board resume typically contains a snapshot of leadership experience, education, executive accomplishments, Board and leadership advisory skills, growth contributions, and prestigious affiliations.
For a career position, many recruiters and employers like to see 2-3 pages detailing your experience in growth strategy, M&A, international expansion, profit results, team size, and influence. Use a storytelling approach to describe how you’ve overcome business challenges or led turnarounds, complete with hard-hitting metrics.
No one has time to read 4+ pages of your accomplishments! If you struggle to condense your resume, rework your career history into “sound bites” that capture the actions you took and the end results, similar to these examples:
Delivered 42% annual profits – focusing manufacturing on top 8 product lines and rationalizing underperforming products.
Cut $3M in excess work with digital transformation, bringing in automation and AI solutions reducing processing time 43%.
Drove system-wide initiatives expected to deliver up to 28% improvement in key healthcare metrics as Chief Medical Officer.
As you’ll see below, it’s also a good idea to keep your resume summary short and focused on your leadership style.
A short, power-packed executive resume summary works best.
In the past, executive resume summaries were long paragraphs offering vague statements about leadership qualities and dedication (admirable qualities – but they could apply to anyone!).
Today, your resume qualifications profile should be short and stick to facts, such as a list of international regions managed or a reputation for leading turnarounds.
This resume profile summary for a VP of Sales shows how to narrow the focus:
Executive rainmaker noted for quick assessment and turnaround of underperforming teams (Americas & APAC)—leveraging technology and marketing insight to correct sales methods for up to 70% improvement. High-energy, hard-charging leader who thrives on the “thrill of the sale” and structures teams for productivity.
Note that metrics and accomplishments can be included in your summary; there’s no “rule” that this paragraph should be generic or lack hard skills.
Color is an important resume element for emphasizing key points.
Yes, you CAN use color. Black-and-white documents heavy with detail are easier to skim if you’ve added a bit of color.
Your executive resume needn’t employ flashing lights and neon green, however, in order to make your point.
Step into the use of color by altering your resume headlines with a subtle blue or shading a few areas for emphasis.
As shown in this example of an IT executive resume (produced for CIO.com’s IT Resume Makeover series), color can be lightly applied to help make resume headlines, keywords, and job titles stand out.
While blue is a popular choice for many executive job seekers, there’s no reason you can’t incorporate a few other shades. A deep wine-red or solid green can help set off an array of keywords or technical skills, for example.
The idea is to break up your resume into short, relevant facts that are easily spotted by a human reader.
Accolades can help reinforce your message of value.
You’ve probably received commendations over the years for projects, sales awards, new products, or customer retention. Instead of forgetting about these testimonials, you can strategically incorporate them into your C-suite resume for stronger impact.
Be sure to include kudos that reinforce your ROI. For example, a note from the CEO on the success of a new acquisition can back up your experience in M&A strategy.
If you’ve excelled in mentoring junior executives, you could also pull in a quote from a direct report stating how much they’ve learned from you.
When using one of these recommendations in your resume, shrink it down to relevant facts and include the job title of the person issuing it (such as VP of Business Development at XYZ Company).
This award-winning CEO and Board Advisor resume shows short, powerful commendations in the first part of the document – illustrating his value to Wall Street and parent company executives.
With just a few changes, your outdated executive resume can attract MORE than a passing glance for choice 6 and 7-figure roles.
Try some of these resume trends for better readability and results!
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