3 Reasons Why Your Executive Resume Isn’t Working
Posted by Laura Smith-Proulx, Executive Resume Writer in executive resume writer, executive resume writing, leadership resume writing on February 15, 2012
In the midst of an executive job search – but getting little to no results from your resume?
In today’s job market, the sheer volume of competition means your executive resume faces more hurdles in landing an interview.
An unmistakable brand message that clearly positions you as a leader is a must, especially when distinguishing yourself among other executives!
If you’re frustrated with the lack of action from employers, read on for some common problems that can prevent your executive resume from conveying your true status – along with corrective tips:
1 – You’ve chosen mid-career language to describe yourself.
By the time you’ve reached at least the Director or C-suite level, “highly motivated,” “proven ability,” or “results-oriented” aren’t going to cut it anymore.
Not only are you up against candidates that are portrayed in stronger terms, but this type of language shows that you’re struggling to articulate your personal brand and executive qualifications.
A better strategy? Wrap a signature achievement into each statement or paragraph—allowing you to clearly assert your value proposition.
BEFORE: Here is classic, mid-career phrasing within a CTO resume summary:
“CTO with strong track record in technology software product development and proven ability to build high-performance teams in international locations. Work closely with executives on strategies for entering new markets.”
AFTER: Here is the same information, but with an executive slant:
“CTO and executive team collaborator supplying technical and new-market insight behind 240% growth in 18 months. Foster tight-knit cultures (despite globally dispersed teams), increasing productivity while retaining 100% of technical talent.”
The second example includes just one additional word, but the metrics and strength of the language clearly position the candidate as an executive leader.
Need some ideas and examples of executive-level terminology? Try a Google search on “executive resume samples” to see the word choice, tone, and presentation styles that win interviews.
2 – Your leadership impact on the company is missing.
Reaching an executive or Director-level role is a career game-changer, requiring your focus to shift from your department to the strategic direction of the company.
Yet, many executives write their resumes as if their function is isolated – with little effect on the rest of the firm.
Case in point: This “Before” version of a CFO resume describes taking on the IT functions of a company, spelling out only tactical details:
“Maintained facilities, offsite storage, and software licensing to support company investment in IT and communications systems.”
In reality, these systems played a crucial part in accelerating the company’s growth, and the AFTER (more relevant) statement looks like this:
“Set stage for growth with IT automation solutions; managed first infrastructure, vendor, and solutions used in HR, tax accounting, and regulatory filings.”
BEFORE: Consider this phrase on another example of an IT Director resume:
“Held responsibility for the strategic direction and leadership of the enterprise architecture.”
AFTER: A whole-company perspective changes the tone of the sentence:
“Headed IT enterprise architecture strategy that positioned company for expansion, leading infrastructure improvements and upgrades supplying 34% additional network capacity.”
These changes illustrate ways your executive resume can show strategic impact, rather than merely focusing on the tactical duties required of your position.
3 – You didn’t provide metrics on your achievements or span of authority.
When writing your executive resume, specific and quantifiable figures are critical. A leadership resume that lacks metrics is difficult for recruiters to navigate, as it requires them to make assumptions about the positive effects of your work.
Not sure where to start in adding figures to your resume? Look for phrases used in lieu of a figure, such as “significantly” or “substantially.” These words can often be replaced with a dollar amount, percentage, or range of numbers.
At a minimum, ensure your executive resume contains these figures, which help quantify the scope of your leadership roles:
- Size of teams or budgets managed
- Division or company specifications in terms of volume of employees or revenue
- Market rank for your employer in a particular segment (if prominent)
- Increases in EBITDA or profit margins
- Contract or cost savings
If you’ve made changes to operational efficiency or productivity, for example, you can specify the time savings gained. Roles in major projects, such as data center consolidations or Six Sigma initiatives that cut expenses, can also verify your ability to create impactful change.
If you can’t recall (or don’t wish to disclose) specific dollar figures, consider using percentages to quantify accomplishments. For example, you may have led teams that produced 82% of the overall company revenue, or drove a change in hiring practices that saved 15% per employee.
Your executive resume NEEDS quantifiable achievements and figures! Without them, hiring authorities can’t discern the difference between your experience and that of a lower-level candidate.
Overall, taking a fresh look at your executive resume – and comparing it to documents used by other leadership candidates – can be a valuable exercise.
There are numerous, yet straightforward, ways to strengthen the tone and presentation of your resume, enabling you to project more confidence and expedite the process of landing the right leadership role.
Are You Over-Sharing On LinkedIn?
Posted by Laura Smith-Proulx, Executive Resume Writer in executive recruiters, job search, linkedin, social media on February 6, 2012
LinkedIn—that all-purpose gathering place for professionals, recruiters, and employers—allows you to converse with like
-minded experts in your field, learn about industry-specific topics and events, post resume information, and send private messages to employers in hopes of securing that perfect job.
However, if you’re divulging too-personal details, or letting others have uncomfortably close insight into your job search, it can take longer to find a suitable job - or you can be blacklisted entirely by recruiters.
If you’ve started to confuse LinkedIn connections for your Facebook friends, it’s time to take a step back and consider whether you’re harming your job search.
Here are some signs that you’re wading too deep into personal territory on LinkedIn:
1 – Posting negative comments about your job search in a LinkedIn Group.
While it’s perfectly normal to be frustrated with a job search that’s taking too long, LinkedIn is not the place to blow off steam about prospective employers, HR contacts, or recruiters.
Yet, you can peruse Groups forums and find this type of activity nearly every day, with disgruntled professionals posting information about negative exchanges with employers, and the occasional rant against a particular company or hiring manager.
It may seem as if Group communities are locked down, but the reality is different: Group forums are open to any level of access, as defined by the Group leader.
In other words, nearly everyone on LinkedIn (and that means practically anyone interested in hiring you!), can read what you’ve said… and use it against you in a job search.
Therefore, you’ll benefit from limiting your Group Q&A to either lively feedback on professional concerns facing your industry (a great way to become well-known), or innocuous feedback on most other issues.
2 – Issuing Status Updates that are unrelated to your professional image.
One of the best ways to “promote” your professional standing, LinkedIn Status Updates are a great opportunity to publicize professional achievements.
However, this stream of activity is sometimes mistaken for Twitter, where notices are constantly posted that are of minimal news value to readers (such as weather updates or notes on what restaurant to frequent).
What you may not realize is that a Status Update stays on your Profile in a semi-permanent fashion – making last week’s comment on the Presidential race this week’s advertisement of your political affiliation.
Here’s how it works: Updates are shown in a headline fashion to viewers of your Profile, scrolling through in what looks like a transient manner for about a week, or until another Update has been issued.
They are then relegated to a news feed (but still shown on your Profile) – meaning that you can’t count on an Update disappearing entirely.
So, how should you use Status Updates in a job search? Instead of viewing them as the equivalent of a conversation, think of this feature as a way to make a proclamation related to your professional life.
Your Updates could include comments on a book you’ve read related to your industry, a note on a professional conference you plan to attend, or information on your latest career win (such as a promotion).
The overall idea with a Status Update is to enhance others’ perceptions of what interests you professionally… with the advantage of displaying it on your Profile for visitors to see.
3 – Misusing LinkedIn Answers – revealing confidential data or using the site for non-professional queries.
LinkedIn Answers forums are a great resource for nearly any professional Q&A. Not only can you issue questions on a specific topic, but the Advanced Answers Search function allows you to browse all of the Answers history based on keywords.
What you should know about Answers, however, is that all queries and responses are both 100% public and indexed by Google.
This means your off-the-cuff answer to a pop media quiz (or details about how you hated your last boss) can quickly come to light with a Google search on your name. Of course, an examination of your LinkedIn Profile will turn up the same information, as your Answers activity is recorded there for viewing.
Keep your Answers activity on LinkedIn as clean and professional as possible, avoiding the opportunity to initiate or participate in activity that:
- Divulges a confidential job search
- Reveals issues with your job hunt (such as fearing a reprimand from your boss)
- Brings forth job search concerns with a reference or past employer
- Shows that you’re engaged in using the site during work hours
- Discloses religious, social, or political preferences
In summary, don’t be fooled by the “social” part of LinkedIn as a social media site by letting your guard down or compromising your integrity.
Instead, leverage LinkedIn as a tool to deliver a straightforward, polished, and professional brand image – ready for close examination by hiring managers.
Who’s Viewed Your Profile on LinkedIn – And What Do They Want?
Posted by Laura Smith-Proulx, Executive Resume Writer in executive recruiters, linkedin, linkedin profile writing services, recruiters, social media on January 20, 2012
Scroll down the sidebar of your LinkedIn Home Page, and you’ll eventually notice the blurb that asks “Who’s Viewed Your Profile?”
If you click on it, you’ll see a page entitled Profile Stats, which is designed to show you other users that have looked at your information.
To get a glimpse of who is searching for you, you’ll want to leverage Profile Stats.
Start by changing LinkedIn Profile Settings (hover the mouse near your name at the top of the page to click on Settings).
Click on “Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile” and choose Your Name and Headline (recommended) to allow others to see YOUR information when you review THEIR profiles.
Now, on to the good stuff: there are common categories of users who are surfing your Profile (right now!). Go to Profile Stats to see the types of LinkedIn users who are looking for you – and why: Read the rest of this entry »
3 Tips to Fire Up Your 2012 Job Search
Posted by Laura Smith-Proulx, Executive Resume Writer in job search, leadership resumes, linkedin profile writer on December 31, 2011
Looking forward to your 2012 job hunt – or dreading more of the same old, same old?
If you’ve spent time job searching in 2011, or are facing a pending layoff, the start of a New Year might not seem exciting or even particularly inspiring.
However, there’s good reasons to reconsider what you might have read or experienced in 2011 – plus ways to drive your job search forward and stay focused on your goal for the coming year:
1 – Realize that companies ARE hiring.
As badly as you want to find the perfect fit in your next job, companies want to find YOU.
Don’t believe this? Run a Google search on the phrase “How to find candidates on LinkedIn.” Out of the 14 million or so results, you’ll see thousands of articles on recruiting.
What this tells you is that there are plenty of companies searching for your talent. Therefore, if you haven’t already optimized your LinkedIn Profile for key search terms, it’s time to get going. Read the rest of this entry »
Reconsider Saying No to LinkedIn Invitations
Posted by Laura Smith-Proulx, Executive Resume Writer in job search, linkedin, linkedin profile writer on December 15, 2011
In the midst of job hunting—but still refusing LinkedIn invites from others you don’t know? You could be hurting your job search (or even your career future) by doing so.
Here’s why: LinkedIn is built on the premise that we are each separated by just a connection or two. Nearly every invitation you accept can put you closer to someone you really want to know.
But there’s another twist as well. Outside of sending InMail (LinkedIn’s internal email), recruiters and employers aren’t able to reach out to you unless you belong to the same Group.
Only a limited number of InMails are included with every account type, which means that power users, such as recruiters, are continually trying to find ways of contacting you for free. Don’t you want to make it easy for them?
Besides, what’s worse about limiting your network is that you’ll encounter situations where YOU need THEM. If you’ve tried to run a closed network, but find that you now need an introduction to facilitate your job search, you’ll be forced to hunt through potential contacts to string together a chain of forwarding InMails (not the most efficient use of your time).
Proponents of using LinkedIn for real-world connections often argue that, unless you’re a declared Open Networker (accepting all invitations), it makes better business sense to restrain your volume of connections.
However, refusing to add someone to your LinkedIn network when you’re job searching can be downright foolish… especially if this person has a wide circle of influence themselves.
So, forget about the implications that seem to come with taking on a new connection (it isn’t “friending,” after all).
Unless you have a very good reason to ignore that new invitation, it’s possible that clicking Accept might put you closer to your career goals.
- Dedicated to Mark
Yes, Virginia, you can use color on your resume
Posted by Laura Smith-Proulx, Executive Resume Writer in cio resumes, Engineering resumes, leadership resume writing on December 7, 2011
As long as job hunters have tried to stand out (and feel they need new tricks to do so), there’s been the question of color for a resume.
Way back in the Stone Age when I was a candidate, the big no-no was colored paper. Now, it seems that the concept of color ON a resume is still catching on.
My recent Careerealism post on resume trends brought this to light very quickly.
While I mentioned several up-and-coming techniques that have helped my resume clients immensely, one hot button seemed to be color.
Should you or shouldn’t you? Here’s what I’ve found to be true:
IF you’re in a field that is reasonably cutting-edge (say, technology), IF you’re wanting to spark interest and intrigue among employers, and IF you’re open to trying new things, then resume color is for you.
However, if your idea of novelty is using borders for the first time, then it might be best to hold off on color and rely on shades of gray to spice up your resume. Read the rest of this entry »
Why Just Joining LinkedIn Is Not Enough
Posted by Laura Smith-Proulx, Executive Resume Writer in linkedin, linkedin profile writing services on November 28, 2011
If you’re like many job hunters today, you’ve heard the buzz about LinkedIn as a must-use job hunting tool that can help land your next gig.
Yet, you might have signed up for a Profile at the site, looked around a bit, and then wondered, “What am I missing?”
The truth is, if you’ve only just joined and are standing back at a distance to observe, what’s missing is YOU. Your personality, value in building relationships, and online identity are still not fully formed if all you’ve done is merely join LinkedIn.
So, even if you’re late to the LinkedIn party, here are some steps you can take on the way from novice user to super-connected, job-hunting expert: Read the rest of this entry »
The Magic of An Executive Biography for Your Job Search
Posted by Laura Smith-Proulx, Executive Resume Writer in executive job search on November 15, 2011
If you’re an executive or rising leader looking for your next choice opportunity, you’ve probably shined up your resume in anticipation of calls from recruiters, and taken the time to prepare a targeted cover letter.
But have you considered using a biography as well?
A narrative of your career designed as a short, yet powerful summary of your accomplishments, a career biography can help different members of your target audience (such as CEOs, networking contacts, or Boards of Directors) grasp your value proposition and personal brand.
In fact, you’ll find that some interviewers will react more positively to an executive biography than they will to your resume, favoring the bio because of its brevity and narrative flow.
Here are some reasons to wrap an executive biography – as well as your resume – into your leadership job hunting portfolio: Read the rest of this entry »
The #1 Way to Stand Out on Your Resume
Posted by Laura Smith-Proulx, Executive Resume Writer in resume writing on November 7, 2011
Worried that your resume won’t stand out for that perfect job when compared to hundreds of eager job hunters?
One of the BEST ways to distinguish yourself is to measure and document your performance against that of peers (or previous incumbents).
Competitive intelligence isn’t new. Anyone who sells solutions is constantly positioning their product for a win against similar offerings. And guess what? In a job search, YOU are the product.
Therefore, your resume must explain the reasons you’ll continue to outperform others in your next job.
Here are 3 tips to help gauge your work against others, and then add the results to your resume: Read the rest of this entry »
Does Your Executive Resume Miss Out On the Latest Trends?
Posted by Laura Smith-Proulx, Executive Resume Writer in executive resume writing, executive resumes, leadership resume writing, leadership resumes, resume trends, resume updates on November 2, 2011
Putting together your resume for the first time in years? Believe it or not, resume trends have changed substantially in just a short period of time, due to intense competition in the job market.
You’ll soon find that you’re up against other executives with custom-designed, focused documents. Therefore, you’ll need to ensure that your resume is in line with cutting-edge changes in format and style.
What’s changed? Besides the fact that an objective isn’t workable anymore, many executive resumes now contain a splash of color, a branding headline, or a metrics- and detail-packed summary that replaces tired, overused phrases.
Consider implementing these trends into your executive resume as a way to stand out:
A touch of color.
While color can seem like a huge stretch for a resume, it can also be a valuable tool that makes certain elements stand out. Read the rest of this entry »
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