How You Can Tweak Your Resume If You're Entering a New Field

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Change careers with the help of top resume writing services.

The top resume writing services can help you change careers.


Change can be a scary thing, especially when the change directly affects your future. This is why so many people hesitate when it comes to shifting industries. Those in this process may be transitioning into a new industry with little to no experience or with only indirect experience from their previous jobs. If you’re in this situation, you may be wondering just how to approach this change. First of all, we would like to congratulate you on this important first step! Second, recreating your resume to match your transition to a new field is not the easiest task, but it is certainly doable. Let us show you how.

Figure Out If There’s Any Way Your Previous and Current Industries Match Up

This will take a bit of thought, but it’s worth it in the long run when it comes to making your resume easier to approach. There may be elements of your previous career that sync with your potential new one and can be described in such a way that will catch the interest of prospective employers in your new field. This tip should prove especially relevant to professional executive resume writers with a long list of strong, eye-catching skills.

Rewrite Your Resume Entirely

Your current resume won’t be one size fits all. Your high involvement in your last field versus your smaller level of involvement in your current one will glare through unless you rework things properly. Take our last suggestion into account as you rewrite your resume to fit your new industry. Your skills likely still matter much more than you may think! Think about what the positions you’re applying for need and consider whether your skills still line up.

Don’t Be Afraid to Name Drop

If you’ve had the privilege of collaborating with high-ranking professionals during your time in your old industry, be sure to highlight this! Showing you are extremely qualified in one field and were able to perform well in another position will bode well in the eyes of recruiters in your new field.

Summarize Yourself

This will take utilization of all of the above tips we’ve mentioned. Make use of the impact you left upon your old industry and the skills you’ve developed within it and weave it into a descriptive paragraph that complements the current position you seek. This is a brilliant way to market yourself in any industry and lets employers know quickly and directly what you can offer to the industry and their company.
We hope this brief list will help professional executive resume writers as they transition into a brand new industry. This isn’t the easiest change to make, but it should prove worthwhile. If you need any more help or advice, feel free to reach out to your local executive resume writer services. There are a large number of top resume writing services that can help you reorient your resume properly.

What Makes a Great Executive Resume?

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Craft a great resume with the help of executive resume writers.

Executive resume writers can help you craft a great resume.


Everyone who has written a resume knows the difficulties involved: listing out all of your adequate experiences and education, figuring out the most efficient way to format and, most importantly, doing all of this in a way that will catch the attention of any prospective employers. This is a challenge for every job seeker and especially so for those on opposite ends of the spectrum. For people with little experience, it’s a matter of not having enough things to list. For those in executive positions, there’s often too much. If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably part of the latter group. In this blog article, we’ve compiled a list of great tips to help executive resume writers craft the best possible resume.

Put Any Academic Information Last

This is only relevant for position candidates who have also recently graduated from school. It is also worth noting if you’re going to list where you went to school, your university is the only relevant information needed. If it’s been a while since you graduated, your work experience takes much larger priority.

Give Recruiters Access to Your LinkedIn or Similar Profile

There’s a high possibility your potential employer will want to see it in the first place. We recommend taking this step to prevent any confusion that could arise if a recruiter tries to search for you on their own.

Don’t Include Footers or Headers

It’s certainly pretty, but it can easily confuse most systems used for tracking applicants. The same goes for charts and other graphic elements people use for aesthetic purposes.

Keep Things Consistent

This is especially useful for those with common full names. You may want to go by a nickname, use your middle name or some similar method to help distinguish yourself. Whatever you decide, make sure you use it across every professional social media account you have to make yourself as easy to find as possible.

Keep Images Out of Your Resume

This goes for any kind of graphic, from graphs to portraits of yourself. Much like using headers, this can be confusing for the company’s tracking system for applicants. Using pictures of yourself presents other, more unfortunate problems as well, such as hiring discrimination. You want to give yourself as fair a chance as possible.

Always Provide an “Elevator Pitch”

This is of vital importance to executive resume writers. When you create an elevator pitch, you’re telling your prospective employer how you can benefit their company, why you’re interested in working with them and about your specific skills and talents. This section should be no longer than five sentences and no shorter than three, about a 30 second-long read.
Additionally, if you need a little extra help making your resume the best it can be, hire only the best executive resume writing service. They can help you revamp your application process in multiple ways, whether through resume advice or a cover letter writing service.

Consider Some of These Important Elements While Writing Your Resume

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Certain elements are required when writing a professional resume.

Writing a professional resume requires certain elements.


There are many common mistakes job seekers make throughout their searching process, especially where resumes are concerned. One of the most common is using the exact same resume for every position you apply for. Despite popular belief, your tactics for a job hunt cannot be one size fits all. Depending on the industry you’re in and the types of positions you’re seeking, you may have to adapt your resume to fit. This may mean having several copies for different purposes. Furthermore, there are many key elements to include while you’re writing a professional resume. Read on to find out just what they are.

Formatting Your Resume

The majority of the time, your resume is the first interaction a recruiter will have with you. You have to make it count. Poor formatting is  one of the quickest ways to make your resume less effective. Unfortunately, it is also one of the easiest elements to forget about when you’re writing a professional resume. We recommend keeping these tips in mind:

  • Keep your resume brief. We recommend no more than three pages maximum for senior level employees. It isn’t necessary to detail all of your experiences throughout your career. Just the most relevant information will do. 
  • Always save your resume as a PDF file. Everyone can view PDF files. There are few formatting differences between PDF reading programs, meaning your resume will stay uniform, no matter what computer has opened it. The same cannot be said for Microsoft Word files, where a number of factors can affect the appearance of your resume.
  • Use the right email address. It’s always best to use your professional email address, but one that is maintained by you and you alone. Listing a company email address can create poor implications.

Additionally, certain pieces of information must be covered with respect to your previous positions. Be sure to include the name of the company or organization you’ve worked for, an explanation of what they do, the name of your position, the dates of when you started and ended working with the company, your specific responsibilities, any achievements and personal contributions you made and your professional reputation among your coworkers, supervisors and others.

Showcasing Your Best Attributes

Presenting what you can bring to a company is just as important to your resume as including prior experiences within your field. It’s an excellent way of introducing yourself in a positive manner. However, there’s also an art to personal branding for senior level managers.
Be sure to research the companies you’re applying to prior to composing your resume. Adapt your industry knowledge and your past contributions in a way that shows you can match what your prospective employer is looking for. You should always try to make your resume as pertinent to the position as possible.
If you need further advice, reach out to one of the many executive resume writing services available. They can make sure you’re including all the information you need and none of what you don’t!

Don't Make These Common Executive Resume Mistakes!

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Avoid serious mistakes by using professional executive resume writers.

Professional executive resume writers can help you avoid serious mistakes.


Just because one step of a larger process is the shortest doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the easiest. Take a job search, for example. The resume is often the briefest part of applying for a job. It’s often one page in length, and recruiters themselves only glance at them for a few seconds. However, the quality of your resume can make or break your ability to get hired. While you only have a few seconds, you should make them count. Figuring out how to market yourself to employers through your resume is the trickiest part. Luckily, our team of professional executive resume writers have helped us put together a list of ways you could be hurting your resume and your chances of landing your next position.

Don’t Include Jobs That Were Unpleasant or Didn’t Last Long

This will look dubious to employers at best because listing your shorter positions will lead to questions of why you weren’t there for long. Similarly, don’t include jobs that were nothing but an unpleasant experience for you. If you end up being asked about them during the interview process, you’ll likely have nothing good to say, which can impact this important first impression.

You Don’t Need to Write Out an Objective

Everyone applies to a job in hopes of scoring the position. Unless you are applying for a job in a completely different industry than what you’ve previously worked in, it’s fine to not summarize your intentions.

Don’t Write Fluff About Yourself

While you want to make yourself sound like the best choice, expounding upon all of your positive qualities is not the best way to go about it. When you make it to your first interview, your potential employer will size up what your assets are and what you can bring to the position and company.

Don’t Include Any Work Experiences That Don’t Pertain to Your Industry

Unless an otherwise irrelevant former position displays talents, skills or duties connected to the industry you’re in now, it would be a good idea to cut it out. It’s up to you to determine just how relevant your older positions are and whether they’re worth keeping.

There’s No Need to Include Your Photo

Most resumes will not ask for this, unless you’re in the modeling industry. If you’re in an executive field, you won’t need a picture at all. In fact, attaching one could, unfortunately, leave you vulnerable to hiring discrimination. We recommend avoiding adding photographs altogether.

Don’t Get Too Personal

You could easily get your potential employer in some hot water because they aren’t supposed to request certain personal details, such as your SSN, religion or personal traits.
Writing an eye-catching resume can be a tricky task. We hope these tips will be just what you need to help you write resumes that get you hired. If you find you need extra help, top rated resume writing services are available to help you improve your resume and land your next great job!

Five Great Ways to Step up Your Resume Game

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Learn how to use the best executive resume format.

The best executive resume format will help you stand out.


Anyone who has endured or is in the middle of a job search knows the struggle of sending out resumes to hundreds of recruiters, only to be met with either no response or a response that comes months after applying with a rejection attached. When this is your situation, it is easy to feel discouraged. The job market is still difficult to navigate, and the number of applicants in today’s world makes it that much more important to stand out among the rest. One of the best places you can individualize yourself is your resume. Below you’ll find a list of handy tips to create the best executive resume format for your job hunt.

Make Sure Your List Is Easy to Understand

When you’re part of a certain industry, it is easy to fall into using the related terminology under the assumption everyone will understand it. While you will generally be applying for another position within the same industry as your previous job and, therefore, those who review your resume know exactly what these terms mean, it is better to be safe than sorry. There’s always a chance you’ll get a recruiter who isn’t familiar with every term. We recommend spelling out any positions you feel could come across as unclear.

Take Advantage of Text Bullets

The resume reviewing process is a fast one. You want your formatting to match, which is why the best resume writing services recommend using bulleted lists to help reviewers consider you more easily.

Downplay Any Relevant Experiences Older Than 10 Years

This is especially important for senior executives and is useful for avoiding the unfavorable truth of age-based discrimination. You should still include all of your relevant experiences on your resume because this is the type of information employers look for. The best way to do this is to still list your experiences, but don’t attach dates to anything that goes back 10 years or longer. This goes for all of your experiences, whether they are professional or academic.

The Resume Ingredients Guidelines Come in Handy

These particular guidelines were constructed by writer Donald Asher and continue to be endorsed by executive resume services across the country. What “resume ingredients” entail is organizing the details upon your resume by the order of how relevant they are to the jobs you seek. The general order is:

  • Job position(s)
  • Your employer’s name(s)
  • Employer’s location(s)
  • Your last employment dates

Keep Your Resume Concise

You should always build a resume with a goal in mind. A resume is, most importantly, a means of selling yourself to your employer. This means it should be written in a way that shows recruiters how you can benefit their company and what you have to offer. We recommend including a brief section summarizing your skills and qualifications.

Do You Have an Elevator Pitch for Your Resume?

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Make sure your elevator pitch is always ready to go.


You never know when you’ll need to spout your elevator pitch. Opportunity never comes calling at the right time. You need to have an elevator pitch for your resume, and you need to be ready to tell someone what you do in an instant.

What Is an Elevator Pitch?

Your executive bio, executive resume biography or your elevator pitch is a brief 30-second bit about what you do, how you do it and who you are. You’re telling any potential employer or contact why you’re the perfect candidate. An elevator pitch concisely explains why you’re the man or woman for the job.

The Hard Part

Talking about our individual abilities and accomplishments for 30-seconds shouldn’t be too tough. Still, most people find condensing years of experience and hard work into 30-seconds of chatter difficult. You’ve done so much, but you have so little time to articulate it.
If you’re back on the job market, you’ll want to create the perfect elevator pitch immediately. You never know when a great contact or opportunity will come up so you must be prepared.
With this in mind, here’s how to develop a perfected pitch:

Decide What You Want

Before you write out any pitch, you must focus on what your desires are. Clarify what you want in a job. Choose what kind of employment you’re interested in. Each industry and profession will require a different type of elevator speech.

Write It Down

Once you’ve clarified what you’re looking for – you can begin to write down your pitch. Grab a piece of paper and start scribbling. Begin by jotting down bullet point ideas about what you’ve accomplished, your abilities, personality and more.
Once you have a long list, you can start going through it, crossing off items of lesser importance. Once you have narrowed it down to the most important bullet points, you can begin to craft these tidbits of information into a concise, 30-second speech.

Cover the Bases

Next, you’ll want to read over your first draft and see if you’ve covered the bases. You must answer the fundamental questions someone looking to hire you is considering:

  • What do you do?
  • Who are you?
  • What do you desire?

If you believe your elevator pitch has covered these basic questions, move on to the next tip.

Tailor Your Words 

Once your first draft is complete and the basics are covered, you’ll want to continue combing and improving. Start by tailoring your words to relate to the individual(s) you’re going to speak to. Add in benefit-focused wording to ensure your audience understands how you can help them.

Use the Mirror

Grab your piece of paper and head to the closest mirror, preferably with a little privacy. Stare yourself in the eyes and start giving your pitch. Let confidence flow through your veins and honestly believe what you’re saying. Monitor what areas of your quick speech sound great and which ones need tweaking.

Tweak It to Perfection

Not everything sounds as good on paper as it does when spoken. Most individuals find they need to reword and tweak things after hearing it out loud. It’s important to keep sentence short, speak in clear vocabulary free of industry jargon and keep things conversational.
Once you’ve tweaked your speech to perfection, you’ll want to continue practicing. Polish your words until you can spring into action and lay down your verbal biography in front of anyone at any time. Practice always makes perfect.

Understand Your Audience

Lastly, you shouldn’t be afraid to create a couple of variations. Most people would slightly change their speech when speaking with an old colleague than in front of an interviewer. The more you practice the pitch, the more comfortable you’ll feel when a slight tweak or change is needed.

It’s Not Easy, But You Can Do It

Anything relating to your executive bio is not going to be easy. You’re going to have to work to create the perfect resume and elevator pitch. If you’re struggling to do so, professional help may be needed.

How Long Should Your Resume Be?

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Is your executive resume too long?


Traditional thinking holds your resume should be no longer than one page, but have times changed? An executive resume service will typically urge you to keep it to no more than two pages. However, some will say three pages is appropriate in certain instances. The bottom line is there are exceptions to every rule, and although your resume should be well edited, the focus should be on content, not length.

Applicant Tracking Systems

One important factor to consider is the use of Applicant Tracking Systems to vet candidates. This system allows employers to read and scan resumes by search terms. The difference between a live person reading your resume and the Applicant Tracking System analyzing it is a human typically looks for accomplishments, while the tracking systems search for keywords. So what does this mean for you the applicant? Since it is a bit tricky to try to please the Applicant Tracking Systems, as well as the employer, the best approach is to focus on quality content.

Applying to a Specialized Field

Let’s say you are in a specialized field, such as medical or legal. You should consider using a professional curriculum vitae writer. They are pros at including all the details your field needs to cover, yet staying concise. They will work with you to highlight not just your education and past jobs, but achievements such as research and teaching experience, publications and grants and fellowships. They are experts at taking an overwhelming task and making it simple and effective.

Shifting Careers 

Another instance in which a two or three page resume would be appropriate is if you are changing careers altogether. The applicant will have to cover their qualifications and skills that would pertain to both their current job and the one they hope to transition to. In this case, it’s absolutely fine to have a length of two to three pages. Again, the focus here is on quality and pertinent content, instead of length.

Trimming the Fat

If you find you still would like to trim off a little more length, consider digging into your oldest employment information. If you have to cut something, this is most likely the least relevant and important to employers. Some things to avoid: shrinking your font to a size too small to read easily, using a photo and not checking for typos. These may seem obvious, but it can be easy to forget the basics when you’re in the throes of writing.
Writing resumes and cover letters is a daunting undertaking. An executive resume service can be an invaluable resource in creating your best resume. Take some of the stress off of yourself and let a professional help you get that call back.

The 6-Second Resume Challenge

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You only have six seconds to impress with your executive profile.

Your executive profile needs to pass the test.


According to a famous study, employers spend an average of six seconds scanning a resume before deciding whether the candidate is worth calling for an interview. To put it mildly, that’s not a lot of time. With that in mind, the clear takeaway is you need to get the employer’s attention and fast. The question is, how? Here are a few tips in executive resume writing that will get you that call.

First Things First

Your cover letter is your chance to showcase your particular talents and set yourself apart. Rest assured, they do get read! Using an executive resume cover letter is the best way to get noticed right out of the gate.

Be Professional

While your friends may call you ‘Buttercup,’ your resume should not. Likewise, your email address should not be goofy or too casual. Avoid using photos as well. This professionalism will set the tone for the rest of your resume. Location matters as well: your employer wants to be sure you’re in the same area as the job. If you need help, take a look at a few executive profiles for direction.

Keep It Tidy

Be sure the structure of your executive resume cover letter is clean and neat. The columns should be aligned, and any bullet points should line up as well. A sloppy resume will indicate you are not taking this job search seriously, and likewise, the employer will not give you the consideration you deserve.

Dates Matter

The hiring manager of a company you apply to is going to make sure your past employment dates line up. In other words, they want to make sure you don’t have large gaps between jobs. That’s a huge red flag to any employer, indicating you might not be reliable.

Be Thorough

While it’s understandable you want to keep your executive profile to the point, you need to give enough details. Thoroughly explain your past positions and what responsibilities you held while in those jobs. Also, be sure to include your past achievements.

Are You Applying for the Right Job?

It’s understandable you may be applying for a position you’re overqualified for. You may be desperate for any job at all or find pickings are slim all around. However, a hiring manager knows you won’t stick around long, and thus, your resume goes to the bottom of the pile.

Attention to Detail

While it may seem obvious, many people forget to proofread. Make sure you don’t have any grammar or spelling mistakes. Even though everyone makes these type of mistakes now and again, this is another immediate disqualifier in the six-second test.
Follow these tips and you’ll have executive resume writing down in no time, ensuring your executive profile and resume pass the six-second test.