Every executive should know their resume and LinkedIn profile should be treated differently. If not, it’s one of the first things executive resume services will point out. But what about the summary section of each? Many people make the mistake of using the same summary for both their resume and their LinkedIn profile, thinking a hiring manager won’t think twice about it. The truth is hiring managers look at both and want to see different information to learn as much as they can about you before calling you in for an interview. Here’s how to differentiate your summaries.
Your LinkedIn Summary Should Be Longer
Your resume needs to be condensed as much as possible. If you’re like many people, you tend to be a little too wordy on your resume, so executive resume services can help tighten up your sentences for you. On the other hand, a LinkedIn profile writer will tell you the more detail you can provide, the better off you’ll be. You want to be specific with your strengths, what you bring to the table and offer a brief summary of your career up to this point. Think of your LinkedIn summary as a way to pull back the curtain a bit and give a recruiter or hiring manager a glimpse of who you are outside of just a name on a resume.
Formal vs. Informal Tone
Part of your LinkedIn profile development should be writing in an informal tone and showing a bit of your personality. In other words, when a person reads your LinkedIn summary and then hears you speak, they should be able to easily identify you as the same person. Of course, an informal tone can’t be confused with unprofessional, because you still have to present a professional demeanor on your LinkedIn profile. Just tone it down a bit from the formal language used in your resume summary.
Why It’s Important For These Summaries To Be Different
A hiring manager wants to know as much as they can about you upfront before they even invite you for an interview. So if you simply copy and paste the text from your resume summary to your LinkedIn summary, it either indicates you aren’t taking your job search seriously or you may have something to hide. This is why a good LinkedIn profile writer will create their summary separately from their resume summary, while still pointing out all the important facts about them.
Professional Resume Services knows exactly what hiring managers and recruiters look for in high level candidates. Job candidates may not think their resume or LinkedIn summary is important, but the reality is both are looked at closely. If you’re in need of some help with your LinkedIn profile development or anything to do with your resume, feel free to reach out to us at any time for assistance.
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.
There are two types of job seekers today: those who think cover letters are somewhat fun to write, and those who think they are a complete waste of time. Regardless of where your feelings are, cover letters for your resume are more important today than ever before. Like resumes, you can’t be too general in your cover letter or the reader will see right through you. By doing a little research on the company you’re interested in, you can create a targeted cover letter to get recognized. Here are some of the top do’s and don’ts when crafting yours.
Don’t Rewrite Your Resume
Too many people make the mistake of thinking their executive resume cover letter should simply be a summary of their resume. The hiring manager already has your resume, so it’s a waste of time to simply rewrite it. Instead, take advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the company’s needs and follow it immediately with how you can meet those needs. Your language in your cover letter doesn’t necessarily have to be as formal as the resume, but it shouldn’t be as informal as something like your LinkedIn profile.
Don’t Create A Generic Cover Letter
Hiring managers will be able to easily see if you’ve reused your executive resume cover letter. They are looking for your specific skills as well as how you think they fit into what they need. If you just make general statements about how companies today need what you have to offer, there’s a higher chance of your cover letter and resume getting tossed to the side and never really considered.
Choose A Few Skills To Match The Job Requirements
While you may have an abundance of skills, a hiring manager would rather see just a few of them on your cover letter. In fact, any cover letter writing service will suggest taking just a few of your skills to focus on and clearly show why those skills will help the company. Those should be the most important skills to you and the company, and you can always talk about your other skills during the interview process.
Be Personal
One of the most important aspects of an executive resume cover letter that often gets overlooked is the personalization factor. With the amount of information we have available to us today, you should be able to find a name to address your cover letter to. And if all of your searches come up empty, it usually never hurts to give the company a call and ask the receptionist for the name of their hiring manager.
Professional Resume Services is a cover letter writing service that also focuses extensively on resumes, LinkedIn and many other aspects of job searches today. Cover letters have never been more important, so crafting the perfect one will give your job hunt a nice boost. We understand it’s not always quick and easy to write a cover letter, so feel free to contact us if you need assistance with yours.
Have you ever looked at your executive LinkedIn profile and noticed a section or piece of information wasn’t there? You’re not alone. Like any social media platform, LinkedIn always makes changes to its website to enhance the user experience. Some changes may be minor like switching up the layout, while others may be more significant. When you’re actively searching for a job, it’s critical to keep your account updated as much as possible and ensure all the relevant information is present. You never know when a recruiter will be looking at your profile, so here’s what you should be aware of at all times.
View Your LinkedIn Profile Frequently
Most of the time LinkedIn won’t inform you ahead of time about changes being made, or even what changes will occur. This is why every LinkedIn profile writer suggests viewing your profile frequently and making mental notes about what was present yesterday and making sure it’s still there today. Sometimes the changes may be subtle, but if your SEO-optimized content has been removed or placed somewhere else, then your entire profile could lose some effectiveness.
Check Your Settings And Privacy Features
Any time you work on your LinkedIn profile development, it’s worth taking a peek at your settings and privacy features. It’s especially important to monitor them to make sure a box doesn’t get checked or unchecked when you don’t want it to. These features are always being changed with LinkedIn updates, so it may be beneficial to take screenshots when you have your setting how you want them, just to refer back to it periodically and ensure nothing has changed. You should always control what information people can and can’t see on your profile, and this is the place to do it.
Visit Help Pages or Groups if Needed
There may come a time when something on your executive LinkedIn profile looks different, but you just can’t put your finger on what it is. Some of the LinkedIn help pages may provide you with insight on what recent changes have been made to the platform. If not, then chances are someone has experienced a similar situation, which you can find out about in different groups. Many people learn about LinkedIn profile development changes from these groups, as well as learning how to fix any issues or what to look for.
Professional Resume Services strongly endorses LinkedIn as being a valuable platform to use for your job search. Working with a LinkedIn profile writer can ensure all the information you need is present on your profile, as well as making it complement your actual resume. It’s always important to keep your LinkedIn profile up to date, and feel free to contact us at any time if you need any assistance in doing so.
When you’re hard at work trying to find a new job, you may think the best thing you can do is to send your resume to as many employers as possible. The reality is this could actually be hurting your chances of getting a call back, especially if your resume isn’t in the best possible shape. Simply putting it in the best executive resume format isn’t going to get you any interest from employers, since it has to stand out in other ways as well. So if you’ve sent out multiple resumes with nothing to show for it, here are some things to consider changing on your resume.
Your Resume Isn’t Optimized For ATS
Companies today can receive dozens of resumes each day for any given job posting. This is why many of these companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to help them filter through them all and only present them with the ones that match the most keywords. You may be the best candidate for a particular job, but if your resume isn’t optimized for ATS, you’ll never be discovered. Having a completely ATS-optimized resume isn’t particularly easy, so working with professional resume writing services may be the best option for you.
Your Resume Isn’t Targeted
Sending out generic resumes to dozens of companies never worked in the past, and it especially won’t work in today’s job searching climate. Companies want to know what you bring to the table specifically for them, and want to get the sense you truly want to work for them. The professional resume writing services you work with will suggest researching companies of interest to identify their needs, challenges, culture and how you can enhance or fit into them. You’ll be much more likely to get a response from an employer when they can clearly see you’ve done your homework on them.
You Don’t Differentiate Yourself
The majority of resumes look the same. The best executive resume format is one that’s clean and concise and differentiates your skills. This is where your c-level personal branding enters the picture. Your executive resume needs to list your hard skills, but also demonstrate some of your personality and provide an insight as to who you really are. You’ve worked hard on your c-level personal branding, so use it to your advantage to differentiate yourself from your competition.
Professional Resume Services is widely known as one of the top professional resume writing services for executives. We take great pride and interest in helping our clients maximize their job search, while minimizing the amount of time they have to spend on their actual resume. Many times all it takes is minor adjustments to make a major impact, so contact us today for a review of your resume and to get our expert recommendations to boost your job searching efforts.
Most people don’t need an executive resume service to tell them they should proofread their resume, social media profile and anything else during their job search. However, it’s easy to overlook typographical errors when you’re focusing on many aspects of the job search, as well as trying to balance your personal life. Having correct grammar and spelling on everything tied to your name is of critical importance. Careless mistakes reflect negatively on you and can quickly disqualify you from the position, no matter how innocent the error is. Consider these points when it comes to grammar and spelling during your job searching efforts.
Don’t Rely Solely On Spell Check
The spell check feature is good for identifying obvious typographical errors, but there are plenty of misspelled words that can get through the check. Feel free to start your proofreading by running the spell check, and then give the document a diligent proofread from start to finish yourself. The best professional resume writers will read over a resume multiple times before finalizing it, simply because it’s easy to overlook mistakes when you’ve spent hours on any given document.
Incorrect Grammar And Spelling Can Hurt Your Personal Brand
As you’re writing an effective resume, you always have to keep your personal brand in mind and ensure every word is a reflection of it. A grammar issue or a misspelled word can give off a negative perception of your personal brand, since it may appear to some people that you don’t take the time to proofread your work. And if you can’t catch typographical errors in your own resume, what makes a potential employer think you will catch these types of errors on important work documents? You may think this sentiment is a bit over-the-top, but the reality is this is how some hiring managers will see things.
Always Get An Expert Opinion
You can’t underestimate the importance of having an executive resume service look over your resume, LinkedIn profile, cover letter or any other document you’ll be using during your job search. These experts are trained to identify even the smallest errors and have a knack for enhancing these documents to put you in a better position for finding the job you desire.
Professional Resume Services is a team of the best professional resume writers ready to help you maximize your job searching efforts. Executives have brought us their resume simply to proofread it before they submit anything, and they’ve also come to us to help write their resume from scratch. No matter where you’re at or what your comfort level is with your job search, feel free to contact us if you’re in need of any advice or tips we can help with.
As a job candidate, you have to know what works and what doesn’t work with your job search to ensure you make progress every single day. One of the most effective strategies for any job search is networking. With quality c-level personal branding, networking can lead you to many new connections, as well as the possibility of being referred to a company’s hiring manager. This relationship between networking and referrals is underestimated by many professionals, but the truth is companies would much rather pick from referrals than random job candidates.
Why Companies Prefer Referrals
In most cases, the speed of the hiring process is much faster when working with referrals. From an employer’s standpoint, if one of their employees refers a potential candidate, chances are they will be a high quality candidate, a good fit, have a better chance of hiring them quickly and may even lead to other quality candidates. This is especially true if the employee who made the referral understands the importance of c-level personal branding. A hiring manager is more willing to trust one of their own employees rather than a resume they received from other outlets.
Can Networking Make You A Referral?
So now that you know how important being a referral is to a potential employer, how do you become one? Networking is the easy answer. You can start by working with an executive LinkedIn profile writer to ensure your online brand is represented appropriately. You can then use the LinkedIn platform to re-engage with current connections or make new connections based on your interests. One misconception many people have is that networking is all about asking for a job. The reality is networking is about building relationships and seeing where they lead. It never hurts to let your connections know you’re looking for a job and explain your qualifications, though. While companies tend to hire referrals quicker, from a candidate standpoint, becoming a referral may take a little longer since you have to build a strong relationship with your network.
Remember A Referral Only Gets Your Foot In The Door
When you’ve ultimately been referred to a company for a position of interest, it doesn’t mean you have the job wrapped up. You have to remember there are likely other referrals that are candidates as well. Don’t put off visiting the top resume writing services, since it could be the difference in you getting the job or not. Being a referral definitely gives you a better chance of getting the job, but it’s far from a guarantee.
Professional Resume Services is known as one of the top resume writing services, but we also help professionals in many other ways. Building your network and earning referrals can open the door to many opportunities, whether you’re looking for them or not. To learn more about this relationship and how you can use it to enhance your career, feel free to contact us at any time.
