The job market is and will always be competitive, even in the wake of the Great Resignation where companies are in need of top-tier talent to fill positions. As a candidate positioning yourself for an executive-level role you might have even less of a window to make a strong first impression. Companies invest time and money into the process, and if your professional portfolio is not properly prepared, it could be the difference between an invitation to interview and an auto-generated rejection email. So how can you ensure that your resume shines as a modern, competitive, and streamlined application? Here are five stand-out elements of an executive resume utilized by our in-house team of Certified Professional Resume Writers:
1. Quantifiable Metrics
Preparing your executive resume with strong quantifiable metrics serves two purposes. It validates your credentials and displays your accomplishments, but it also draws the attention of a hiring manager. As they sift through the initial document, seeing information like driving multimillion-dollar revenue growth can have an excellent impact. They’ll want to know more about your accomplishment and how you achieved that metric. This is also a great talking point within an interview to extrapolate and draw a real-world example about how, if selected for the executive role, you will replicate and improve those results for the new company as well.
2. Executive Summary
A highly sought-after position could have hundreds of qualified potential applicants. Studies show that a hiring manager spends anywhere from six to eight seconds at initial glance, so opening with a strong, attention-grabbing lead is one strategy to ensure you secure a second look. An executive summary is also your chance to infuse your professional voice into the resume. While majority of the document will be comprised of business jargon, buzzwords, and specific metrics, the summary is where you build your brand in a way that feels organic and unique to you as the executive. This also serves as a great way to improve your applicant tracking system (ATS) score with additional keywords tied into your executive brand.
3. Stakeholder, Board, & C-Suite Engagement
As an executive yourself it not only important to possess a high-level communication toolkit, but to also showcase that within your resume. Whether you’ll be expected to liaise directly with the Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), or just participate in these high-level meetings as another key contributor, you’ll want examples within your resume. This can be as simple as a bullet explaining a weekly meeting with the Global Director of Human Resources (HR), or something more comprehensive like engaging directly with counterparts and stakeholders at other companies through a major merger and acquisition (M&A).
4. Projects, Programs, & Process Improvements
Leading, owning, or overseeing a particular project can make a great highlight within your executive resume. Be sure to use strong action words like “spearheaded”, “championed,” or “piloted” to showcase your role within the initiative. It’s also important to include the scope. As an example, was the project international? Did you have to collaborated with internal and external personnel? Was there a particular timeline, budget, or any other key performance indicators (KPIs) that you drove the execution of? Building your resume with these strong examples of your coordination and ability to strategize at a high level will also draw direct examples to many of the traits a company is looking for when hiring an executive for their own needs. If possible, include as close of a reference as you can to explain how you would provide similar leadership and execution for them.
5. Dollars Earned & Saved
When it comes down to the bottom line, a company wants to not only know how you’ll earn or save them revenue, but how much. As you build your executive resume it is important to capture those metrics. It ties back into our first point, but goes a step further. At the end of the day businesses need revenue to survive, so whether you can point to profit margins, managing a massive P&L, or having key decision making responsibility for revenue generating pipelines, be sure to build your resume with that type of executive language.