If job-seeking executives only knew exactly what recruiters were looking for in candidates, their efforts would be made much easier. While you may not know a lot of the specific characteristics or qualities recruiters are looking for, you can get a general idea of what you need to include on your LinkedIn profile. A common misconception among executives is they should only write in a professional tone and talk about their achievements. This is only one aspect of what recruiters usually look for, though. Here are some of the other components that are always taken into consideration.
Positivity
Everything you put online either helps or hurts your c-level personal branding. Even if you left a previous employer on bad terms, don’t say anything negative about them on your LinkedIn profile or anywhere else. When you bad mouth them, a recruiter can’t help but think you’ll do the same to them if things don’t go your way, so it may not even be worth the risk of talking to you. Recruiters want to hire positive people to join their team, so always keep this in mind.
Social Proof Backing Up Your Claims
You should expect a recruiter to do a significant amount of research on you. Help them out by giving as much information as you think they will need on your LinkedIn profile. If you claim to be an expert at something, back it up with proof. Provide a link to your blog or website, if applicable, point to an article where you were recognized. Recruiters are always going to look for social proof to back up every claim you make, so be proactive and give it to them upfront.
Understanding Your Personality
An executive resume writer will always suggest inserting some of your personality into your resume or LinkedIn profile. Companies today are placing a higher emphasis on hiring people who fit their culture from a personality perspective. They want to hire people who will be there for the long haul, fit in with other employees, work as a team and provide unique value. You can easily demonstrate your personality without getting too personal, and an executive resume writer can help you if needed.
Professional Resume Services helps job candidates optimize their resumes and LinkedIn profiles so they are in a prime position to be recognized by recruiters. There are a lot of moving parts in a job search, so we are here to help make sure all of your bases are covered. The main thing is to be conscious of what you put online since it will always be taken into consideration by a recruiter. No matter where you’re at in your searching efforts, feel free to reach out to us for assistance every step of the way.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is widely used in many different industries, and it’s only expected to continue to be utilized even more. It has particularly become more useful in making a recruiter’s job more efficient. Artificial intelligence can handle certain tedious tasks automatically when it comes to sorting through resumes, so a recruiter or hiring manager can actually focus on the human element of developing relationships. Combine this with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), which helps recruiters narrow down resumes based on keywords and other criteria, and it’s easy to see what the future may hold for executive job seekers. Here’s what you need to know about these aspects when it comes to writing a professional resume.
Hiring Professionals Are Using AI And ATS More
The combination of AI and ATS can save hiring managers a significant amount of time during the recruitment process and even onboarding candidates. By the time a resume actually gets to a hiring manager’s desk for a final review, it has already gone through many virtual checks to ensure the proper criteria was met. The top resume writing services can help you determine which keywords are most appropriate for passing through these initial automated checks. If you don’t have the right amount of keywords or phrases, you could just be spinning your wheels during your job search.
AI May Even Be Involved In The Interview Room
Once the best executive resume writers help you pass through ATS and lead you to get a job interview, you still may have to go through some AI tests. Some companies even incorporate artificial intelligence during an interview to detect a candidate’s body language, eye movements, facial expressions and more. These are often characteristics that are difficult for humans to detect but are important to do so when determining the honesty and personality of a candidate.
Don’t Spend Too Much Time Optimizing For AI and ATS
While AI and ATS are critical components to consider in your job search, the top resume writing services will still tell you to not let them consume a lot of your time. The best executive resume writers can help you pass these tests on paper, but you still need to focus on the human element of a job search, including networking and developing relationships. Basically, you should keep AI and ATS in the back of your mind, but don’t let those aspects take up a significant portion of your job search.
Professional Resume Services is one of the top resume writing services for many reasons. We help job seekers be more rounded in their efforts to increase their chances of being recognized, landing an interview and ultimately getting into the job they desire. In a world where artificial intelligence and ATS are starting to take over, don’t let them consume you. Be sure to contact us for assistance at any stage of your job search.
Doing your homework prior to going into a job interview can be the difference between being considered a viable candidate or having your resume pushed to the side. Companies want to hire someone who shows they are willing to do their due diligence in order to make a quality decision. Writing resumes that get you hired is great, but those resumes don’t guarantee you are a perfect fit for any given job. Here are important points to research about a company prior to going into a job interview.
Learn About Key Team Members
You can find out the names of key team members of a company by looking at the company’s LinkedIn profile. Take this a step further and learn a few interesting facts about those people as well. Discover what college they attended, how their degree led them to the role they have and anything else you deem to be relevant. When you research professionals at a prospective employer as much as they research you as a job candidate, you’ll be more likely to make a great first impression.
Understand Mission Statements And How To Apply Them
Knowing a company’s mission statement is important in a few ways. For one, you shouldn’t work for a company if you don’t agree with their mission and values. You also should demonstrate to an interviewer how your work ethic, personal ethics and daily actions fit what the company represents. Having this information in your LinkedIn profile is one thing, but it’s also important to be able to give examples during your interview.
Check The Latest Industry or Company News
When you’re able to talk about the latest news within the company or the industry they operate in, you’ll earn some solid points with the interviewers since it shows you’ve come prepared. The best executive resume writing service can help you relate your past experiences to the company you’re interested in on paper. It’s up to you to follow-up on those experiences with action by demonstrating you’re ready to get started working for them right away.
Know The Company Structure
A LinkedIn profile of an interviewer or a company doesn’t give you the total picture of a company’s structure. The title “executive” means different things to different companies, so if you aren’t able to figure out how the company is structured by searching online, then don’t hesitate to ask them in the interview. You need to make sure you fit within the structure so you know exactly what your role is if hired.
Professional Resume Services does much more than simply write resumes that get you hired. There’s no specific action you can take that will magically land you any job you want, and the work doesn’t stop once your resume is created. Doing your due diligence on a company will help you master the interview and put yourself in a great position to get the job. For more tips like these, feel free to contact us at any time and we would be happy to work with you.
When you get invited to interview for an executive position, you have one chance to make a great first impression. The challenging part about this is everyone has their own views on what impresses people most. Some people think using a big vocabulary will demonstrate their intelligence, but sometimes this won’t impress interviewers. Others may think working with a professional resume writing service is enough, and that the interview process is just a formality. The bottom line is you have to be careful with what you think is impressive versus what an employer thinks is. Here are some tips to help you make a great first impression in your executive interview.
Dress For Success
Some job interviews don’t merit wearing a suit and tie, so you don’t necessarily have to default to that look. Instead, dress for the position you’re applying for and make sure the clothes fit you well and you look sharp overall. You should have a professional headshot in your LinkedIn profile picture, so your attire for a job interview should be professional as well. What you wear to an interview shows how much you want the job, so dress for success and it will only help your chances of making a good first impression.
Rehearse Answers To Common Questions While Sounding Natural
Another way to impress your interviewers is to answer their questions fluidly and naturally. You can get some example questions from your executive resume writer and think about how you will formulate your answers. The only thing to beware of is sounding like a robot when answering them in the interview. The interviewers will likely be able to see right through you if you aren’t natural, so the practice questions should be used just to get you thinking about how you’ll respond, whether than preparing canned responses.
Don’t Be Afraid To Show Some Personality
Employers want to hire someone who fits their workplace culture as much as they want a person who meets all of the technical job requirements. While you need to present yourself as a professional, it’s also acceptable to have a sense of humor and show off a little bit of your personality. Your LinkedIn profile should be crafted in a way that hints at your personality type, so interviewers may be looking for it in the interview.
Avoid Desperation And Entitlement
Finally, two things you don’t want to do is show desperation or entitlement. Desperation isn’t attractive to anyone, and entitlement shows you may have some problems fitting in with other employees. So even if you do feel desperate or entitled to getting the job, be humble throughout the interview. Your chances of landing the job will decrease significantly if the interviewers sense either of these attributes.
Professional Resume Services is classified as a professional resume writing service, but we believe we are much more than that. We want to be involved in every aspect of your job search and assist you in any way we can. Making a good first impression in an interview is critical, so contact us at any time for additional tips on how to do it.
Many executives feel similar emotions when they’re searching for a new job. They work so hard on their executive resume biography, improving their personal brand by networking and more just to land an interview. And when the opportunity to interview at a great employer presents itself, you want to do your absolute best. But what does it mean exactly to be your “best” at an interview? Sometimes simply being yourself will put you ahead of the curve, as interviewers can identify a dishonest person quickly. In addition to honesty, here are some of the best ways you can ace your c-level job interview.
Research, Research, Research
Before you even step foot in the interview, you have a lot of research to do. Research the company as much as you possibly can. This can include visiting their website, asking a recruiter what they know about the company, dissecting the job description as thoroughly as possible and you may even consider contacting the employer directly to learn more about the position. And if you’re able to find out the name of the interviewer, take a look at their LinkedIn profile to learn about them, so you have an idea of who you’ll be talking to. You may have already conducted some of this research when writing your executive resume biography, but you can never be too prepared.
Be Natural When Talking To The Interviewer
Rehearsing a list of commonly asked interview questions will help you be prepared to answer them, but you also don’t want to sound like you have canned responses. The key to writing resumes that get you hired isn’t necessarily the same key as interviewing successfully. Your resume should use professional language as much as possible, while your voice should be more natural in an interview. Just don’t confuse natural language with unprofessionalism, though.
Ask Your Own Questions
The best resume writing service will suggest having your own list of questions to ask the interviewer as well. You want to make sure the employer is as good of a fit as it seems like on paper, so ask them why they believe you would fit in. Ask them about short-term and long-term opportunities, potential advancement, travel time and anything else you have concerns about. Most interviewers will be open to answering all of these types of questions, and may even be more impressed with you as a result since it demonstrates your strong interest in the position.
Professional Resume Services prides itself on not only being the best resume writing service, but also a resource for executives who need assistance with interview preparation or anything else. We enjoy working with executives of all backgrounds and understand everyone has their own needs and desires. Heading into an interview is a nervous time for most people, so feel free to reach out to us at any time if there’s anything we can do to help.
It’s only natural to be concerned about your privacy with anything you post online about yourself. In fact, sometimes people will refuse to use social media platforms, including LinkedIn, due to privacy concerns. While everyone has their own views on this subject, it’s also important to know the ramifications of not having an executive LinkedIn profile when conducting a job search. Here are some of the main points you need to know about the consequences of not having a LinkedIn profile.
Hiring Managers Expect To See A Candidate’s LinkedIn Profile
In this day and age, recruiters and hiring managers will look at an executive LinkedIn profile before they even look at a resume, in some cases. If you don’t have a profile set up, it could send a message that you’re behind the times, aren’t technologically savvy and more. While these may not necessarily be fair assumptions, it’s the reality of the times we live in today. If you’re truly concerned about privacy, consider working with LinkedIn profile development services you trust so you can feel more comfortable with the information put online about yourself.
You May Miss Out On Opportunities
Many job opportunities are only posted on LinkedIn or are found by networking through LinkedIn. When you optimize your LinkedIn profile, you give yourself more visibility to be discovered by recruiters and could be presented with more opportunities than you would get without having a profile. A secret many employers won’t tell job candidates is they will check their LinkedIn profile immediately after looking at their resume. If a resume presents a good candidate, but a hiring manager can’t find any other information about the person online, it could get their resume thrown out of the candidate pool.
Carefully Weigh Your Risks
It’s understandable to be concerned about privacy of your executive LinkedIn profile. However, you also have to be conscious of the times we live in and weigh your risks. Networking is such an essential component of developing a career today, and LinkedIn provides a valuable platform for doing so. Not having a LinkedIn profile may not necessarily mean you’ll be unemployed, but the chances are greater of you not finding the job you’ve always desired.
Professional Resume Services not only helps develop the perfect resume, but we also enjoy helping executives strategize their job search. Our LinkedIn profile development services are top notch and we know how to design it strategically to help get you noticed. Privacy concerns are always valid, and we can help answer any questions you may have about them. Feel free to contact us at any time if you have any reservations about using LinkedIn to enhance your career.
Many professionals get caught up in trying to make their hard skills and expertise sound good, and forget to highlight the soft skills they have. When you’re talking about high-level executive positions, every candidate will have similar hard skills on their resumes and cover letters. What can distinguish you more than anything are the soft skills you possess, since those are unique to every individual. Here are some tips for demonstrating these soft skills in an interview, even when you aren’t specifically asked about them.
Important Soft Skills That Translate To Any Job
The most important soft skills an executive resume service suggests highlighting include:
Of course, there are plenty other skills you could have, but these are some of the main ones that translate to any given job. Some of these skills may not fit naturally into your resume, but you can include them in your LinkedIn profile and you definitely need to mention them in your interview.
Demonstrate How Your Soft Skills Have Worked Previously
You’re going to be asked mostly about your knowledge and expertise in an interview. But if you really think about it, you likely used a mix of your soft skills in order to earn the knowledge you have today. Consider a particular aspect of a previous job you were an expert at. You may have become an expert at it because of repetition, but you also likely had to use critical thinking, innovative thinking, problem solving and more to achieve the result. Demonstrating these soft skills allows an interviewer to really see how your mind works, which is extremely beneficial when the outcome of the project you’re describing was successful.
Relate Soft Skills To The Job Description
Every good executive resume service will tell you to tie your soft skills in with the job description when writing a resume. It’s also important to remember the aspects of the job description when talking about your soft skills in the interview as well. You can talk specifically about a project at your previous job, but be clear about how your skills can translate to the job you’re interviewing for. Don’t make the interviewer try to piece this together themselves, since they could miss out on a key point you’re trying to make.
Professional Resume Services does more than simply write resumes and cover letters for executives. From the moment you reach out to us, we will help you throughout your job search, all the way until you land the job you’ve always desired. Whether you need help optimizing your LinkedIn profile, tweaking your resume or knowing how to answer interview questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at any time for guidance.
One of the questions every interviewer will ask their interviewee revolves around their short-term and long-term goals, even if you state this information in your executive resume biography. But even when you know the question is coming, it’s still sometimes difficult to clearly communicate what your goals actually are. Your interviewer is likely looking for some key points in your answer, such as your intentions, commitment and ambition level. Their reason with asking the question is to determine whether you are the right fit for the goals they have planned for you. Here are some tips for answering this common question.
Tell The Interviewer Your Current Situation
You may have heard before that you have to remember where you’ve been to know where you want to go. The top resume writing services always recommend being as genuine as possible in an interview setting, even if you’re not necessarily where you want to be in your career. But instead of making it sound negative, reinforce the fact that you know what you’ve done in the past isn’t satisfactory and you’re looking for more growth as a professional.
Explain How You’re Working To Reach Your Goals
It’s easy to talk about wanting to advance in your career, but it’s another thing to do the work to prove it. Your executive resume biography may indicate some of this, but tell your interviewer what you’re doing right now to help you reach your short-term and long-term goals. This could be getting more education, certifications, working on side projects and more. Having your goals tied to actions will demonstrate how serious you are about reaching them.
Tie Your Answer To The Job Description
You have to also remember to consider the job description when answering the question, like you do when writing a professional resume. Talking about your personal goals is a breeze, but it means nothing unless the interviewer knows how they relate to the job opening. To do this, look through the job description and find some of the important responsibilities required. Then think about the skills you bring to the table to be able to handle those responsibilities now and in the future. If you don’t quite have all of the skills for the highest levels of responsibility right now, you can talk about how those skills are in your long-term plans and how you’re working toward achieving them.
A Little Uncertainty Is Acceptable
Being honest is always the best way to answer an interview question. If you’re uncertain about any aspect of your goals, including what they are or how you’ll get there, don’t just make up an answer that sounds good. You should have at least a general idea of some short-term goals you have, so as long as you can communicate those clearly, the interviewer likely won’t penalize you if they are on track with what they are looking for.
Professional Resume Services is one of the top resume writing services for many reasons. We focus on much more than simply writing resumes. We want to coach and guide you through every aspect of the job search process as much as we can. And because of this, we will take the time to understand your specific goals to better prepare you for interview questions along the way. Feel free to reach out to us at any time for some guidance with your job search.
