As an executive, if you want to up-level your executive title, make more money, or land a position at a specific, top-tier company such as Apple or Google, then the first thing you need to do is focus your executive resume on what you want vs. where you have been.
- First things first … make sure your target industry/company is stable, growing, and in general, has a good long-term economic outlook.
- Next, find two to four relative job descriptions that match and resonate with the title and industry you are focused on. Then, highlight the keywords and phrases in each position that you resonate with. Pay attention to running themes and patterns in each of the position requirements.
- Now frame out your executive resume with these positions as your touchstone and start to build out your keywords and taglines based on what your aligned position descriptions are calling for, and your core leadership strengths and attributes.
- Your summary statement should only be four to six lines deep and mirror the top strengths being asked for in your ideal job description. For example, if your ideal job lists “a strategic leader” who “has led turnarounds” and “has heavy expertise in fast growth organizations and M&A’s” as the top three qualifications, THAT is what you need to center your summary statement around (providing you have all of those skills, of course). As a top executive, you have a lot of skills and strengths; the challenge is mirroring what your next role is asking for.
These are the four most critical initial steps to solving the majority of executive resume issues, especially when it comes to “knowing what to put in and what to leave out.” Essentially, begin at the end and work backwards.
Now for the less-talked-about psychology behind these actions: If you are indeed interested in a company such as Apple or Google (the examples I used above), go to their websites as part of this executive exercise; look at the CXO players, their website colors, the keywords they use over and over again—and let the feel of the culture and the website really sink in. Mirror that back to them in the form of your communication, both written and verbal.
This is simply leadership and marketing 101 applied to your executive job transition. It is not something often spoken about from executive resume writers—but it should be! It’s truly the X factor in your ability to take a leadership approach in your 100K+ job search. Just like the other executive leadership initiatives and positions you have held in your career, when you manage your executive job search you are bringing everything you are into it—your mental outlook, your emotions, and of course, your focus of alignment and marketing collateral. You want everything to vibrate at the highest level possible and peg initial impressions as favorably as you possibly can. Where it gets set in motion tends to continue in that direction at the higher level.
That is how my executive clients are able to propel themselves to greater heights at an accelerated rate. They make it look effortless, though in-depth planning and preparation goes on behind the scenes!
