3 Tips to Give Your Executive Resume a Makeover

Change is an inevitable part of our lives. As the world around us evolves, so have employment market expectations, talent acquisition strategies, and executive resume writing trends. Gone are the days when you scanned the classified ads, identified a job you were interested in, and walked into an establishment to hand deliver your professional resume.

For the most part, current resume formats are subjected to computerized scanning systems prior to being reviewed by any humans.  As technological advancements continue to have a major influence on the way we live, work, and play, providing the most effective resume format to a hiring professional will be key to your candidacy selection. Keep reading for three quick and easy tips on how to write a contemporary resume.

Tip #1 — Strengthen the Introduction:

Executive resume headlines are becoming increasingly popular. They create impact and alignment with the position requirements in the mind of the human reviewer. In a previous blog post I wrote an article titled: 3 Tips to an Interview-Generating Executive Resume; in it I provided an example of a headline for a sales and business development executive, which I will repost here.

If you are a business development executive, a successful resume format may include a tagline that could read as follows:

Relationship builder, penetrator, and growth catalyst of sales funnels valued at $30+ million.

Tip #2 — Displaying an Address:

Additionally, it is becoming more commonplace to remove your street address from the contact section of your resume; however, you should provide your city, state, and zip code.  For a more current resume format, your contact information might include the following layout on your executive resume:

John Doe

San Diego, CA 92093 │ C: 999.999.9999 │ anytownusa@gmail.com │ linkedin.com/in/anytown

Tip #3 — Write Well-Crafted Bullets:

Writing a good executive resume that is concise and focused is another biggie in today’s employment market. One way to accomplish this is to describe each role with 3-5 compelling bullets. In doing so, you do not want to sacrifice the omission of important information for brevity.  However, you want to avoid death by bullets as well. So be sure to focus on your storytelling strategy on your most valuable, measurable, and interesting leadership contributions. Note that in some situations, depending on the scope of your role, it may be necessary to provide more than five bullets for a position. Whether you are writing an IT Director resume or cover letter for an executive position, this same rule applies.

For high-impact professional resume preparation, contact our team of Certified Professional Resume Writers today to schedule a consultation with an IT Resume Writer, LinkedIn Profile Writer, Sales and Business Development Resume Writer, Professional / Mid-Career, or Executive Resume Writer: info@resumesbyjoyce.com or  toll free 1-888-607-7793.