Are you looking for the next wave of CEO challenge or keen to step into your first CEO role? Is it time to give your resume a makeover to make it a CEO ready document? Your executive resume acts as a blueprint for your audience’s first perception of you. Once the first perception are set, it is hard to change. This is the reason why your executive resume is your best bet to create a positive & lasting impression on your audience.
However, this is not as simple as it appears. All CEO/CXO level resumes are not the same. It is much more than a historical narrative of your career. So if you write & include all your job responsibilities in your resume assuming that the reader will read & find a perfectly aligned role for you( in case of recruiter/headhunter) or may shortlist you for first round of interaction(board/hiring executive), you are actually placing power in the hand of reader. Your resume should speak the value you carry along. Ideally, you should adopt a result oriented & value driven approach when it comes to writing an executive resume. Your resume should speak about who you are & what you carry along that can positively impact the interest of the reader as compared to the earlier approach of presenting a blueprint of your job responsibilities.
Your executive resume should be able to communicate following three messages:
- Resume should depict a clear definition of what you are exploring in terms of title, company size, industry &/or some other parameters such as VC/PE funded( in case of start-up) or a fortune 500 company( incase of big corporations). This is simple & helpful for readers to see basic information at a glance that they need to know before they dive into more specific details about your achievements, skills & competencies.
- Second important aspect of a CEO resume that makes it effective is the ability to focus on metrics. Your audience cares about what you delivert after you have been assigned a responsibility to solve a bigger problem, overcome a challenge/bottleneck or leverage a potential opportunity. Therefore you should begin the conversation with metric driven results first & then explain HWW- how, when & why. Bullet points that bring with results & summary statements that showcase your accomplishments in a professional manner indicates you have understood that focus has to be first to develop trust with your audience. Recruiters love resume that focus on metrics driven results & impact you have created
- As your audience goes through your resume document in detail, what you have put in bold or specific color captures first look, therefore use there differentiators wisely so that essential ( first to be seen information ) such as where, when, geography, company size, P&L, team /SBU/organisation size & core achievements) are glanced through first. Graphs/Charts used appeal to board/senior executives( reader/audience) & keep them on the page longer. Visually appealing document leaves a more positive impression on the audience
Are you looking for some career advice & guidance about how to write an executive resume or have a rebranded Linkedin profile? As the founder & executive resume coach at Sushant Kumar Ventures, offering executive resume writing & LinkedIn profile writing services for modern day job seekers, I would be happy to chat to help you meet your career goals; Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/fbPEMJ3
