Did you know recruiters and hiring managers spend 6.25 seconds on average reviewing a candidate’s resume!
The cursory glance includes:
- Name, current title, and company; previous title and company; start and end dates for current and past positions, and education (5 seconds).
- Scanning of keywords that matched the open position (1.5 seconds).
The 6 key executive resume writing tips that will ensure your resume rises to the top are:
- Generic Resume
- Have one generic resume and then tailor it for the position you are applying for.
- Less is More
- Recruiters and hiring managers want to know who you are and what you can do today.
- Rarely do they go back more than 15 years in a career history, unless those older positions are extremely relevant to the job they are currently hiring for.
- Ensure your resume focuses on your most current experience and achievements and excludes positions that are irrelevant to your current job search.
- Replace long paragraphs with four or five bullet points for duties, and four or five relevant accomplishments.
- Keep total resume to two pages.
- Remove education graduation dates
- Lead with Your Metrics.
- Begin your bullets with the end in mind, the result you achieved. Then you can share a little bit about how you did that. This is the second most important component of your resume. Leaders have to detail what happens when they successfully perform those tasks.
- When a bullet begins with: “Generated an additional $90M in top-line revenue in just 12 monthsby doing …,” you will instantly capture your reader’s interest.
- These metrics help employers determine if a person is capable of leading a team, managing clients, or growing the business.
- Anchor Keywords
- Posted job openings and job descriptions contain significant keywords that recruiters and hiring managers search for.
- Identify which keywords are most important for your industry and position and include them on your resume. For example, a sales resume keywords would include sales pipeline development, revenues/sales growth, per-account sales volumes, and sales contract extensions. Keywords for a marketing resume would include product development, multimedia marketing, market research, and direct mail marketing.
- Framework Your Resume
- Provide a quick snapshot of your preferred title, size, company structure, industry and/or specialty, for example:
CEO, Turnaround Executive | Private Equity-Backed Mid-Cap Companies | Technology Services | SAAS
- No matter the name and size of the company, include general information, for example:
A Fortune 50, $45B global technology company specializing in computer hardware, with 5,000 employees and more than 35 global locations in 16 countries.
- Update your Contact Information
- Current professional personal email address
- Cell phone number with set-up voicemail box and professional greeting
- Include LinkedIn URL