How to Write an Executive Resume
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How to Write an Executive Resume That is a Branding Document
Your executive resume or bio is the first impression your personal brand makes on a potential employer or client.
And we all know how lasting first impressions are.
Most of the resumes I come across as a branding executive and personal branding coach are not branding documents. They are not marketing pieces.
How to Develop a Great Executive Resume
In looking at your resume as an “advertisement,” begin with a personal brand profile, which is like the headline and strong lead paragraph in an ad.
Personal Brand Profile
Your self brand profile at the top of your resume is like hte headline in an ad.
The profile should identify who you are, what sets you apart from others, and the value add you bring to a job.
A profile should not only differentiate you, it should sell with a compelling reason to choose you and not the other people you are competing against.
A resume profile can cover the following areas:
- Key leadership and business accomplishments (tangible and intangible)
- Industry or functional experience
- Current title or level
- Quantifiable achievements: revenue generated, budgets, new business
- Sense of personality and leadership philosophy
- Years of experience (never list over 20)
- Companies or clients
Other Resume Enhancers That Can Make a Big Difference
1. Take a page from advertising and use a Celebrity Endorsement
“Celebrity” in this case is the CEO or President or senior officer of a company that you worked at who has agreed to provide a third party endorsement.
Place the Senior executive endorsement statement right after the personal brand profile.
Here’s an example.
CEO’s Comments: John is exceptional at team building and sales leadership, guiding team members and executives in reaching or exceeding goals. His charisma and ability to motivate a wide range of sales professionals helped the company achieve and often exceed budget goals.
2. Use action words and specifics to tell a “story” about your job accomplishments.
Here are some examples:
- Instrumental in start-up’s rise to become the biotech leader in X. To create market demand, convinced company’s management team to create a variation of an existing product which we sold to companies wishing to gain X experience.
- Repositioned non-competitive product line and developed $20 million + revenue stream by focusing on a new niche market.
- Directly responsible for increasing business revenue 50% year on year by leveraging client contacts to gain access to new decision-making areas.
- Challenged to fuel growth despite fading product set, poor internal morale and declining revenue. Refocused business areas resonated with clients, the media, consultants and employees, and led to exceeding $50 million budget goal.
3. Include a compelling Achievements Page
An Achievements page as an addendum is a relatively new device used by senior executives to set their accomplishments apart and serve as the “clincher” in the sale.
A resume can do a lot in selling you, but an Achievement Addendum is the something more than often makes the difference is choosing you, and not the other guy.
Putting together an Achievement Addendum demands some intense work on your part, in identifying career defining achievements, things you have done that meant a lot to you, help define your brand, and are compelling to your target audience.
How do I put together an Achievement Addendum?
- Headline the top of the page with something like : “Resume Addendum - Critical Leadership Initiatives” or other title that best suits your situation, such as “Key Campaigns” or “Major Engagements” or “Important Design Projects”
- The Achievement Addendum should be an interesting read and tell the story of your brand. Because it doesn’t have all the usual resume trappings, it is a great networking and discussion piece.
- The key goal is using this section to tell a story of how you as an executive or a professional solved problems and saved the day (made money or saved money, etc.)
- Formats that work well are a small story set up, followed by a “Results” paragraph and a “Strengths” paragraph, or a “Challenge”, followed by “Action” and “Results.”
Catherine Kaputa is President of SelfBrand LLC and a personal branding coach and strategist.
Catherine works with executives and entrepreneurs who are good at what they do, but not good at branding themselves effectively.
For more information, visit www.selfbrand.com
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from Resume Edge...
