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.

Do You Have an Elevator Pitch for Your Resume?

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executive resume writing

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 to Use Your Resume to Change Careers

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Change careers successfully with the best executive resume format.

The best executive resume format can help you change careers.


Writing a resume can be a daunting and tedious task. Between trying to figure out where to start an knowing what to include, creating a resume for a career change is even more difficult. Since a cover letter is crucial to your chances of getting noticed, opting to use a cover letter writing service is a great option. If that part of the process can be handled by a pro, writing the resume itself won’t seem quite so intimidating.

Are You Using a Functional Resume? Don’t!

First, let’s get familiar with the term functional resume. A functional resume is one that highlights certain skills, instead of the traditional chronological format. Those looking to change careers should use this technique to draw attention away from their former job titles and play up skills that may be relevant in their new desired field. This sounds like a great idea, except there’s only one problem: recruiters and hiring managers are all too aware of this method. They know you’re trying to hide something. They’ve seen it a million times, and it’s sure to get your resume in the trashcan.

A Better Approach

So what can you do instead? After you’ve used the best executive resume format, try to see things from the employer’s point of view. Don’t treat every potential employer the same; they all have different needs and desires. Some may put more emphasis on past experience, while others have requirements about personality, ethics, work style or drive. Second, do your research. You should know everything there is to know about the company you are after. Figure out what skills they value the most, and use that knowledge to your advantage. This will get you noticed by HR.
Third, don’t forget about any freelance or unpaid work you’ve done. This can be valuable when trying to change careers. Everyone has an executive bio, but this is one chance to stand out from the crowd. If it’s relevant work, it doesn’t matter if you were paid or not! If you don’t have any of this type of experience, now’s the time to consider it. If you’re truly passionate about a career change, you have to use every possible angle to your advantage.

Convince Employers You’re Committed

Now for the most important part. Since you can’t rely solely on your executive bio, you must communicate your passion for this position through your resume as well. Since you may be lacking the typical work history, this is where you can make up for that. It’s vital to emphasize you have thought this change through and are committed to it. The employer needs to feel confident you won’t quickly grow tired of the work and leave after they took a chance on you.
Now you know the basics: start with the best executive resume format, don’t use a functional resume and play up your passion. By using these tips, you will get in the door of your dream job in to time!  If you need more guidance during the process, consider enlisting the help of a cover letter writing service. There you will find all the tools necessary to create the best resume possible.

How to Create a Great Executive Sales Resume

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Talk to an executive resume writer about your sales resume.

An executive resume writer can help you create an effective sales resume.


If you’re involved in the sales industry, you already know the importance of a great pitch. The ideal pitch should take only a few seconds to hook a consumer and can be the ticket to making a worthwhile sale or gaining a regular client. The same factors apply to your resume and executive resume bio. These serve as a self-pitch, meant to illustrate your experiences, skills and other related attributes to hiring managers. Keep in mind recruiters have only a small amount of time to view your resume. If you go into too much detail and don’t stick to relevant information, you risk being skipped over entirely. Let us offer you some advice on how to make your resume stand out from the rest.

Include the Awards You’ve Earned 

Awards serve as excellent proof of good work and help illustrate you’re excellent at your job. When you include this in your executive resume bio, make sure to clarify what the award was for, as well as the amount of competition you were up against. The larger volume of people you had to compete with, the more your skill level will be apparent to recruiters.

Summarize Who You Are

The first component of a winning resume should be a summary about you—the exceptional qualities you have to offer to the company’s position, your professional history and a little about yourself and your experiences.

Go Into Detail Where You Need To

We recommend you focus specifically on illustrating your duties at your old positions. Talk about the quotas and accounts you had to manage, as well as the size of them. Create a clear depiction of your responsibilities and how you tackled them head-on on a regular and outstanding basis.

Don’t Forget the Numbers

When you’re detailing the significant aspects of your job experience, you should remember to include the numbers involved. They’re a frequent part of executive sales careers, after all. Talk about your standings among other employees at your old companies, as well as in your particular branch in said companies. Explain the percentage by which you improved profit margins and the number of sales you landed throughout your time at your previous job.

Pitch Yourself

Combining the elements we’ve explained above and considering how you want to present yourself will help you to become an excellent executive resume writer. Be wholly truthful about your accomplishments, but spin them in a way that explains why you’re the best at what you do. In other words, picture yourself exactly as a product you’re trying to put on the market and clarify why you’re a cut above all the rest.
Resumes are tough to master, but anyone can grow into a great executive resume writer with a little help and effort. All it takes is knowing how to pitch yourself properly and thus appeal to job recruiters who are searching for someone with your talents. If you need a little extra help getting started, consider contacting a cover letter writing service. There you’ll find all the tools you’ll need to write the best resume possible.

What Is an Executive Briefing and Should You Use It?

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Learn how to use an executive resume cover letter properly.

An executive resume cover letter can be a valuable tool.


When you’re not looking for a job, but an opportunity that is too good to pass up crosses your desk, you may find yourself rushing to update your resume so you can meet the deadline and apply. In some situations, you may not have the time needed to tailor your resume to the specific employer, so what can you do when time is of the essence? A cover letter writing service can help you use an executive briefing, which is a form of executive resume cover letter.

What Is an Executive Briefing?

In short, executive briefings are cover letters for resumes that shine a spotlight on the skills you have that match what the employer is looking for. Because most employers will read through a cover letter before they move on to the resume, this is the area where it’s most important to make a good first impression. This can make it an excellent tool to help you land a job you weren’t expecting to apply for so you can take advantage of advancement opportunities as they arise.

What Are the Requirements?

In order to create an executive briefing, it’s important to make sure you understand the specific qualifications of the job. This is because you will tailor everything to the particular job to which you are applying. Once you know what the employer expects from you, use this summary to let them know why you are the perfect fit for the job. As long as your resume backs up your claims in some form, you will have just as good a chance of landing the job as if you had reworked your entire resume. While it’s always best to customize your resume, in a tight spot, this type of executive resume cover letter can be a lifesaver.

Keep It Simple

The most important factor to remember when creating these cover letters for resumes is to keep it simple. Your resume should still do most of the talking for you. All you really need to do is list the job’s requirements along the left side of the paper and match it with your skills point by point. Be sure to include your email address and the job title and any identifiers assigned to it. This format should capture the attention of the hiring manager and increase the chances you will be contacted for an interview.
A cover letter writing service should encourage you to customize your resume to meet the requirements of any job you are applying for, but you don’t always have time for this task. If you are interested in applying for a job you found unexpectedly, you may need to consider an executive briefing. This type of executive resume cover letter can help showcase your skills in relation to a job’s requirements and help increase the chances of landing the job, even if you don’t have the time to update your resume.

Here's the Best Cover Letter Advice

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Learn how to write a great cover letter and resume.

Your cover letter and resume must stand out.


Cover letters for resumes may be a necessity, but they are often seen as a stumbling block. Many people mistakenly think a cover letter is simply a summary of what is contained within the resume to help employers determine if they want to read further. While this is partially true, there is much more to creating a great cover letter that makes a difference. Hiring a cover letter writing service can help, but this advice will allow you to get a start on your own.

Give Them a Reason to Talk to You

Your cover letter and resume create a first impression you can’t often overcome. It’s what employers use to determine whether they want to call an individual in for an interview. Within your cover letter, it’s important to give them a couple of reasons why they should consider you a valuable candidate. Do your research to find the main points of the company so you can address them in your cover letter.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask

It may seem improper to ask straight out for an interview, but this can be one of the most effective tricks to use in cover letters for resumes. Unfortunately, many people feel asking this direct question will be viewed negatively by hiring managers. However, it typically has the opposite effect. It can show you are enthusiastic about the job and is often valued by employers as a positive sign.

Leave Them Wanting More

Have you ever paid close attention to the way direct mail advertisements are written? Many of them include a P.S. written at the bottom to make you want to learn more about the products or services advertised. People are known for their curiosity. If you include this type of message near the bottom of the letter, it will help capture the attention of the hiring manager and make them feel like they need to know more about you.

Don’t Be Generic

Starting your cover letter can be one of the most difficult parts of the process. It’s tempting to begin with a statement of your eagerness to work with the company. However, a majority of the cover letters and resumes they receive will contain just such a statement. To ensure you stand out from all of the others, get creative with your introduction. Consider the industry you want to enter and think outside the box to create an opening line that captures attention.
A cover letter writing service can provide the assistance you need to make you seem like an ideal candidate for an interview. Researching prospective employers can help you find ways to show them why you are the best choice for the job. In combination with these tips, you will find your cover letter and resume get you more interviews so you can get the job you want.

Why Are Cover Letters So Important for Your Resume?

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Find out why cover letters for resumes are so important.

Cover letters for resumes are extremely important.


While most job seekers focus on crafting the perfect resume that includes a long list of accolades, achievements, degrees and awards, many HR professionals agree a resume is not the most important aspect of a potential candidate’s application package.

The Importance of a Grand Entrance

Outstanding cover letters can turn a middle-of-the-road candidate into a top contender. Why? By its very nature, a resume is usually dry and fact based.
By contrast, cover letters for resumes show hiring managers an applicant is vested in the job they have available. Anyone can hit “reply” and attach a one-size-fits-all resume in response to a job posting. A cover letter written to specifically address a particular position shows an applicant has taken the time and effort to make a good impression. It also shows hiring managers a different side of an applicant than his or her resume does. Word choice and attention to detail in cover letters for resumes matter. These nuances can move a “reject” resume into the “must interview” pile.

Consider What to Include in a Cover Letter

Yes, the cover letter is your opportunity to show your personality. To an appropriate degree, that is. Hiring managers looking for candidates for high-level executive positions must cull through hundreds or even thousands of resumes and cover letters. A short, succinct cover letter can be refreshing. One that is too long, too detailed or too informal is a waste of time.
Crafting a winning cover letter that allows your personality to shine through, without being too wordy or including unhelpful details, can be challenging. Unless you are a writer by profession (and a really good one), consider hiring a reputable cover letter writing service to help you. At the very least, a cover letter writing service can help you craft a good “base” letter you can customize for each job you apply for. If you are in the hunt for a high-salary executive position, you’ve probably already hired an executive resume service to perfect your resume. Your cover letter needs at least the same degree of professional attention.

Do Your Research Before You Write

HR professionals, especially those hiring for high-dollar, premium executive positions, have seen it all. They have a knack for knowing which cover letters are form letters sent out to many potential employers and which have been carefully crafted with their company’s job opening in mind. Before you sit down in front of your laptop to create a cover letter, make sure you’ve done the following:

  • Conduct at least a bit of research into the company so you can tailor your letter to fit in with the company’s corporate culture.
  • Use active rather than passive words and naturally incorporate keywords into the letter that were noted as “must-possess” skills or attributes in the job listing you are responding to.
  • Include specific, not-commonly-known facts about the company to show you did your homework.

If you’re launching a new executive-level job search or want to revive a floundering search, crafting a winning cover letter is key.