In today’s increasingly digitized world, the resume is becoming more important than ever before. Your resume is one of the first ways potential employers get to know you, after all, which means it needs to be as polished as possible in order to make a good impression. However, crafting an excellent resume can be tricky, even if (or perhaps especially if) you have a lot of experience under your belt. If this is the case, let us offer you a few tips on how to achieve the best executive resume format and really “wow” your potential and future employers!
Research the Best Keywords
You’ve likely noticed how rapidly keywords are growing in significance in the business world. It turns out keywords are just as important to personal marketing as it is to commercial marketing. But just what are the best keywords to use?
Specific job titles are a great place to start. Use any and every high ranking position you’ve held in the past on your resume to help catch an employer’s eye. This is one of the easiest and best ways to display your credentials. Additionally, anything you frequently performed or used on the average work day, from PC programs to basic duties, are fair game. You’ll also want to give employers a clear image of what your previous positions entailed and what they can expect from you if you’re hired. The idea is to be very detailed since you don’t know what keywords will prompt a prospective employer to look at your resume.
Have a Point
There are very few instances where people like rambling. Don’t lose sight of the point of your resume as you write. While this may sound obvious, it is very easy to get lost in the slew of details you’ll need to include and forget to get to the heart of the matter. The most important goal of your executive bio is to get hired for the job you want. Showcase who you are and what you can do for the company you want to work for by listing your skills and strengths with relevance to the company’s needs. Before you even start on your resume, we recommend scoping out the industry so you can fine-tune your expectations and objectives.
Be Brief
You want to detail your expertise on a point-by-point basis. Being concise will automatically score you points with an employer because this shows you understand and respect that they have one minute—at the most—to review your resume. This will also help them to understand more about you as a professional in that amount of time.
You can accomplish this by writing out a summarizing paragraph on your resume’s first page. If you need help properly paring down your credentials down to a short paragraph, you can turn to a cover letter writing service for help.
How to Craft an Eye-Catching Executive Resume Brand
If you’ve followed us for a while, or just have ample knowledge of how job searching and the professional world work, then you know the importance of crafting a personal brand. This is how you appeal to other professionals, especially those who may hire you to work for them later on. The main issue for anyone attempting c-level personal branding, however, is figuring out how to go about it efficiently. In this blog, we’ll give you a few tips on how to brand yourself efficiently and catch the eye of recruiters in an instant!
Include Your Accomplishments
While this goes without saying, your accomplishments within your industry will be some of the most important elements of your personal brand and should not be ignored. The key aspect here is how you incorporate them. You don’t want to splay them all out like playing cards strewn on a table. Rather, you can frame them in a way that appeals more readily to employers.
For a few ideas on how to do this, you can always rely on a team of the best executive resume writers in your area or do a bit of independent research. While you should strive to keep your entire resume brief, you can add a bit of color to your stories by describing them in the form of a (very) brief story—three lines maximum, to be precise.
Think About How You’ve Contributed to Your Industry
This part of brand construction may prove a bit challenging, but it is the perfect method of showing any recruiter or hiring agent how you are a valuable employee. By creating your personal brand, you are effectively telling other professionals a story. Make it appealing by getting to the meat of the action! This means displaying your contributions to the past companies you’ve worked for. It may help to follow the C-A-R formula for these contribution stories, ‘C-A-R’ meaning Challenge, Action and Result. Think about what was being asked of you at the time, how you completed the task at hand and what happened afterward.
Research as Much as Possible
Oftentimes catching a glimpse of others’ work and ideas can help inspire you. If you’re stumped as to how to start or flesh out your personal brand, looking at how others have constructed theirs can give you a boost. We don’t mean lifting someone else’s work entirely, however! Writing an effective resume means showcasing your own strengths and individualizing yourself. Copying someone else entirely defeats the purpose.
As you surf through your Google results and check out what other people are doing, be sure to evaluate your own methods and ideas. How can you apply what they’re doing to your own strengths and accomplishments? Think about how you have influenced your previous employers in ways no one else did. This will help you figure out how to brand yourself well.
Additionally, it may help to get in touch with a professional resume writer to learn what you can do to better market yourself. You may come away with a new perspective toward your career and professional potential that you’ve never considered before, one that will wow employers on the spot!
Four Effective Ways Career Changers Can Spruce up Their Resume
Career changes are becoming increasingly common in today’s ever-shifting world, especially as people with multiple skills and access to different, better options are leaving less fulfilling careers to move toward new opportunities. No matter who you are and how secure you are in this decision, switching to a new field can be incredibly daunting. This holds especially true if you’ve spent several years within your old field and are just now gaining the chance and confidence to move onto the new. How can you market yourself and get your foot in the door? Will any of your old experiences and skill sets help you gain the job you want?
Luckily, there are a few things you can do to help boost your chances of successfully breaking into a new industry. 1. Don’t Forget Your “Extracurriculars”
Not every experience included on your resumes and cover letters has to be on the job. As long as it applies in some shape or form to the jobs you’re applying for and the industry you’re trying to get a foothold in, it will appeal to potential employers. You can include such things as internships and organizations, among others. 2. Rewrites Are Likely
After spending so much time building up your resume for your current field, it may feel like a waste to scrap it and start anew for a job change. However, it’s worth it for a variety of reasons. Each job you’ll apply to will have different interests and needs, which you will have to analyze in terms of how well you’ll fit. Tailoring your resume to different jobs makes sense because it gives employers a sharp idea of how well you’ll fit in with the company. If this idea seems daunting to you, you can always turn to a professional resume writing service for ways to rewrite your resume effectively! 3. Keep It Brief
You may feel tempted to pad your resume if you don’t have quite enough experience in your new field. Don’t! You have merely a few seconds to catch a potential employer’s attention, and overloading them with information about your experiences, whether true or embellished, is just the right way to turn them off completely. Make the most of your resume by including only the most important experiences and other bits of professional information. 4. Format Your Resume Properly
Not even the most spectacular resume will make the cut if there are noticeable formatting errors. The good news is you have a bit of wiggle room when it comes to acceptable resume formats. There are letter resumes, which amount stylistically to experience-based cover letters; functional resumes, which focus on any skills you have in relation to your chosen field; and chronological resumes, which organize your experiences from newest to oldest. Feel free to pick whichever format is right for you!
No matter what field you’re trying to enter, you can rely on top rated resume writing services to help you craft an appealing resume! Don’t hesitate to get in touch to learn how you can improve your prospects and earn the job you deserve.
As a senior level professional, you’ve almost certainly heard of personal branding. Implementing it into your professional life, however, is a very different story. The idea of establishing and maintaining a personal brand is very new after all, having arrived on the coat tails of the Internet and the rest of today’s technology. If you’ve spent a considerable amount of time assuming c-level personal branding isn’t worth your time, you may want to reconsider! This is a very important aspect of your professional career, for a few significant reasons.
Personal Branding Sets You Apart
While this line sounds cliché, it is very much the truth. Consider these questions:
How do you stack up against your competitors?
Would your degree(s) be enough to convince companies to hire you instead of someone else?
Thousands of other people hold the exact same academic achievements as you. Plus, the longer you’ve been out of school, the less your academic career matters. It’s the sad reality that many people face.
Rather than focusing on this, look back on the other accomplishments you’ve earned within your field. Think about who you are as a executive and a person. Personal branding for senior level managers involves getting to the meat of these two concepts. It involves presenting your positive qualities and expertise in a way that appeals much more readily to those in charge of hiring you.
You’ll Experience a Quality Jump with Your Job Search
Naturally, focusing on your skills and personal talents boosts your own self image. This means you will become far less likely to settle for just any position that matches your skill set. You will gradually start to approach your job search in a different way as your personal brand gains more and more attention. Once this happens, it will enable you to think about what you really want from a company and what conditions you are not willing to deal with.
As a result, you will start to push forward with your professional life and only accept those who meet your newfound standards. If the idea of constant professional growth appeals to you, then you’ll want to put together your personal brand as soon as possible.
Your Personal Brand Gains You More Benefits and Professional Success
Simply put, a personal brand boosts your chances of being hired. It creates a clear picture of your strengths and what you can offer a company, which will appeal quickly to employers. If you’re currently struggling with your job search, a personal brand may help you finally find the position you’ve been so diligently seeking in ways you could never have anticipated!
You never thought this would happen to you, but it has. You’re 50+ in age and find yourself suddenly out of work, struggling to keep your head above water in a job market you no longer recognize, which bears no resemblance to the Greensheets and wanted ads you pored over during your youth. What should be a time for planning for your retirement is now filled with uncertainty, stress and scrambling to recover from your loss.
We understand what a shock this can be. The job market has indeed changed tremendously and will take some adaptation if you want to find success. If you are 50 or over and trying to find work, we dedicate this article for you. Follow these tips to help the process of getting back on your feet go a little more smoothly.
Research Your Prospects
Unfortunately, not all companies are receptive to older workers and seek out only those of younger generations. You don’t want to accidentally wind up in an office culture that’s unwelcoming to you. Look for companies currently experiencing turnover, as they and you will have similar goals—maintaining a long-term position in your field.
Work on Your Resume
This is especially true if it’s been a very long time since you’ve pounded the pavement, so to speak. If you haven’t already been keeping your resume up-to-date, you’ll want to modernize it as soon as possible to help boost your appeal to employers. You’ve racked up all sorts of great experience over the years, after all. Now it’s time to put it to use and show it off! Of course, you’ll have to adapt your resume to suit what today’s employers are looking for.
Focus on your strengths and tailor your resume to the types of positions you’re seeking out. Nailing your resume can be a tough job, even for those who have been immersed in today’s job market more recently. If you find you need a little extra help, you can always turn to a team of the best professional resume writers!
Improve Yourself
If your industry or former company is particularly stagnant, you may not have had to learn or deal with many of the technological requirements you’ll need to know for today’s jobs. Try enrolling in an adult learning course to brush up on your skills if you find yourself being hit with the same skill you lack over and over. This will look great to your prospective employers, as they will know you’re willing to embrace change and can bring this can-do attitude with you into their office.
Simultaneously, you may want to learn more about LinkedIn profile development and how you can utilize LinkedIn to network efficiently with other people in your field (and your shoes)!
Beware of These Myths About the Job Hunting Process!
The best executive resume writers help you avoid these myths.
As everyone knows, job hunting is a strenuous and arduous process. Everyone has their stories, and most people are good-natured enough to try to help other people in their position by spreading the word on what and what not to do. This has led to a tangled mass of information that continues to spread beyond control. Don’t believe the hype! Let us highlight what information you should disregard.
Be as Distinct as Possible
While you want to distinguish yourself from the competition, there’s a certain way to go about it. Being flashy is not the way to leave a great impression on your potential employers. If you’re considering doing something quirky to capture attention, such as making bold, sweeping statements about yourself and your abilities or changing your resume’s background from the standard white to hot pink, don’t do it! There’s a much better approach. Coach yourself on how to best prepare for meeting people you hope will employ you. Project an optimistic, collected demeanor and learn how to create the best executive resume biographies and you’ll go much farther!
Skills Are the Most Important Element to Getting Hired
This isn’t necessarily true! While employers want people with plenty of experience who know what they’re doing, there are some other traits employers seek out. They want to be sure you match up with the rest of the company in terms of personality, for one thing. You’ll have to fit in well with the company’s pre-existing culture. Skills can always be fleshed out later on during your career, but a highly skilled professional who disrupts the office environment cannot be helped much. You can always learn how to build up the way you market your skills by brushing up on your executive resume writing abilities.
The Salary Discussion Must Unfold In Person and Immediately
In this day and age, no. You have the option of describing how much you would like to earn on your application. However, you don’t want to do this right away. Say your salary is “negotiable” or something similar. This will give you some time to do your research and also shows you’re considerate of the company’s needs by putting them before your desire to get paid for your work. This will leave a favorable impression on hiring agents.
Send Out Applications to Multiple Locations at Once
If you simply apply to every job that’s hiring, you could easily be stuck with a position that doesn’t fit your skill level and/or industry. Instead, you want to look for jobs that cater to your experiences and skills. Once you’ve found jobs that do this, you can then rely on the best executive resume writers to help you create an appealing resume!
Be Careful to Avoid These Common Executive Job Hunting Mistakes!
Writing an executive bio properly can improve your job hunt.
Senior-level job hunting can be an incredibly difficult endeavor. The longer it’s been since you’ve searched for a job, the more out of touch and inexperienced you are with staying afloat in today’s job market. What employers are looking for and how you will interact with them have changed drastically within recent years. If you’re an executive who’s struggling to interact properly with today’s hiring professionals, you aren’t alone. We can offer tips on how to handle this new stage of life by letting you know what and what not to do as you search.
Check Your Ego
We aren’t saying this to be cruel, anything but! The issue is when you approach a potential employer with the attitude you are the end-all, be-all within your respective field, this presents a turnoff. You are far from the only person in your field who is suitable for that particular job. Inevitably, you are just one of many other applicants being considered. Your job is to explain how you stand out from the rest, not in terms of uniqueness, but in terms of what you can bring to the company for their benefit. Many executive resume writing services can help you learn how to market yourself more tactfully to prospective employers.
Consider the Relationship Potential
Rather than approaching the position as a means of income, do so in the same way you’d approach a blind date. By meeting and maintaining contact with an employer, you are fostering a valuable first impression and reputation, even if you don’t land the job! Being dismissive or unpleasant in any capacity will create a harmful ripple effect on the future of your job search, especially if you wind up back in contact with a particular employer you didn’t treat well. Every employer you talk to could serve as an invaluable contact toward helping you land a job so be as considerate as you can!
Think About the Employer’s Needs
This is an incredibly important step throughout the job hunting process, from writing an executive bio onward. Never approach an employer with the attitude of how they can benefit you. Rather, keep in mind what you can offer the company you’re looking to be hired by in terms of your skills and what the position requires. Don’t be too focused on finding out everything you can about the company just yet. That can be reserved for further meetings, where you’ll have more time to get to know more about the company and whether they’re the best match.
Executive LinkedIn profiles can help your job search.
There are a few classic elements of job searching that will always remain: resumes, cover letters and making a good first impression on the people in charge of hiring. It is the approach to many job hunting principles that has changed, all thanks to today’s technology, which has made it far easier to communicate than it was in the past. In order to succeed in today’s job market, you’ll have to know how to navigate it.
You Have to Know How to Type
The common QWERTY keyboard is a staple in today’s world, so much so you will be expected to know how to use it. No longer is the ability to type efficiently highly coveted! Instead, other skills are much more important to today’s jobs. It will be on you to figure out which skills you have that are most relevant to the job you want,and how you can tailor them to appeal to different employers. Consulting with executive resume writing services is one way to learn the ropes.
Google Is Important!
Google is a far more powerful tool now than it was a decade ago, evidenced by its position within the workplace. You will have to stay on top of your online presence and make sure its squeaky clean in order to get ahead. Quite a few employers run searches on individuals they’re considering hiring or even to find the right people to hire in the first place! Since the first page of a Google search is the one people pay the most attention to, focus your efforts on doing some spring cleaning there. This tip is especially relevant to senior-level executives with established brands.
Establish or Edit Your Brand
If you don’t have a brand already, it’s important you set one up for yourself. Your online presence is a major part of your brand because all a brand does is display who you are to employers and to the world. Make sure your brand is stable and easy to interpret. This is easiest to do by simply monitoring how you interact online. Setting up executive LinkedIn profiles is a great way to start customizing your brand for employers.
Be Brief!
Remember: employers don’t have a lot of time to spend on your application! The most they will be able to devote to your resume is about half a minute, or 30 seconds. Your resume should only summarize your employment history and experiences as efficiently as possible. As the old adage goes, less is more! Any number of top rated resume writing services can help you figure out how to pare your resume down into something that will appeal to employers.
You never thought this would happen to you, but it has. You’re 50+ in age and find yourself suddenly out of work, struggling to keep your head above water in a job market you no longer recognize, which bears no resemblance to the Greensheets and wanted ads you pored over during your youth. What should be a time for planning for your retirement is now filled with uncertainty, stress and scrambling to recover from your loss.
