Career Flux - Executive

Consider These 3 Tips When Writing Your Six-Figure Resume

Jessica Hernandez, expert resume writer, is a nationally-recognized resume authority and former HR Manager who has achieved over a 99% success rate securing interviews with prestigious organizations through exclusive, personal branding strategies.
Author Website: http://www.greatresumesfast.com

Once you reach the executive level and begin writing resumes for a six-figure salary, it becomes crucial that you go that extra mile to show you can provide the results a company is looking for. Your executive resume is beyond important in convincing an employer of this.

The problem many top-level professionals experience when writing resumes is they fail to show the depth of their experience. If you want hiring managers to absolutely believe you’re qualified, then you have to show your worth. Here are some tips to help push you toward your goal:

Know the Company

It’s difficult to determine how a company can benefit from hiring you without knowing what they need. Sure, you can find this out from the job posting. But it’s better to think from the perspective that you are already working for the company. This way, you can begin researching their needs, issues, etc. in depth.

Based upon what you’ve learned about them, what steps would you take to solve a specific problem for them? How would you handle some of their internal or external conflicts? How would you go about ramping up their business in your chosen department? These are questions you should already know the answers to as you cherry-pick the information you want to include about yourself in your resume.

Solidify Your Winning Qualities

In your resume, cover letter, and executive biography, it’s important to not just show a company who you are as an employee, but introduce it to your brand. You might be able to prove that you’ve been a great employee in the past, but showing that you are a staple in your field proves that you identify with it—and it identifies with you.

One way you can introduce your brand is by adding links to your resume, including your LinkedIn page, professional Web site or blog, a couple of publications you’ve been quoted or featured in, videos you’ve given speeches in, etc. Your commitment to your field can equate to a commitment to the company, which is why it’s good for them to get to know you beyond the past jobs you’ve worked.

Show Them Your ROI

Making a great return on investment (ROI) is always crucial for any company. As a prospective employee, you will be one of these investments that companies want to believe will bring in good returns. A great way to show that you’re a great ROI is by quantifying the results of your previous employment.

Count out how many people you’ve managed, how many times your department won awards, how much money your department made under your management, etc. This helps employers visualize the results that you could potentially provide for them.

Also, remember there can be no spelling or grammatical issues on your resume at all. It must be submitted in a perfect state to be taken seriously. If you remember these tips in the writing process, it should flow more smoothly than ever before.

For additional tips and advice on resumes and cover letters, follow us on Twitter @GreatResume or visit our blog.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Filed Under: Guest Experts, Resume and Cover Letter Tagged With: Employer, Executive, Resume

How to Overcome Executive Job Hopping in Your Resume

By Jessica Hernandez Leave a Comment

Author Website: http://www.greatresumesfast.com

Are you so in love with your career that you’ve managed to switch jobs more than the average executive simply to test the waters at multiple employers? Or have you suffered back-to-back layoffs in the uncompromising job market that has left workers of all levels struggling to stay employed?

Unfortunately, as today’s executive job seeker, any type of movement from one employer to another makes you appear to be a chronic job hopper—and job hoppers don’t have great reputations for reliability, especially at the executive level where reliability is crucial. So what can you do to overcome what appears to be executive job hopping in your resume?

List Jobs Relevant to the Current Position

If you have held several positions within a short period of time (e.g., three executive jobs in a two-year period) and one or more were so short that you barely had a chance to impact the company, don’t list them all. Simply note the ones where you stayed longer and/or are most relevant to the position for which you’re applying.

Move Employment Dates to the End of Your Job Descriptions

Instead of listing the dates of employment as the headers for your job descriptions, consider listing them at the end of the descriptions. Also, consider utilizing the years that you were employed with specific companies instead of both months and years.

Call Attention to Mass Layoffs and Mergers

While employers aren’t excited about seeing executives job hop, they can certainly understand when doing so was unavoidable due to mass layoffs or company mergers. If you’ve been the victim of either during your executive career, be sure to say so in your resume.

Highlight Your ROI in Each Position

No matter how long you were working for an employer, as long as you were able to make a difference, you can prove in your resume that you are a great return on investment (ROI). Be sure to highlight your expansive leadership roles, list plenty of quantitative value-driven accomplishments, and showcase several complex yet successful initiatives that prove you can hit the ground running.

Being a job hopper at the executive level is undoubtedly less desirable than professionals further down the corporate ladder, but this doesn’t mean you are incapable of being hired. By creating a resume that highlights your strengths and then backing them up with an impressive cover letter, you are likely to get the interview call you desire.

For additional tips and advice on resumes and cover letters, follow us on Twitter @GreatResume or visit our blog.

Filed Under: Guest Experts, Resume and Cover Letter Tagged With: Career, employers, Executive, Job, Resume

3 Ways Twitter Can Enhance Your Executive Job Search

By Jessica Hernandez Leave a Comment

Author Byline: Global resume authority Jessica Hernandez of http://www.greatresumesfast.com is a former HR Manager who partners with professional- and executive-level candidates to create authentic, branded resumes and cover letters.
Author Website: http://www.greatresumesfast.com

A whole new world of job search is open to candidates through social media and is booming like never before. It’s already been established just how beneficial this medium can be for individuals conducting professional job searches, especially when LinkedIn is a priority.

Twitter has also been deemed a useful tool for job seeking, especially for entry- and mid-level professional job seekers. But should it be utilized at the executive level? The answer is yes! In fact, you might be surprised by just how beneficial it could be for your search. It may be able to …

1. Support Your Executive Brand

There’s no doubt that executives need to work harder than professionals further down the corporate ladder to build and maintain a strong brand. Employers expect you to be highly respected in your field. This can be difficult to prove if your brand doesn’t back you up.

In the online world, the first impression recruiters and head-hunters will receive when entering your name in a search engine depends highly on what your name is connected to—and even how often your name is mentioned in the engine.

By creating a Twitter profile under your name (or your name and executive title), you are making the statement that you and your profession are one—this is how you’re identified. You are creating one more entry in the search engine that ties your expertise in a particular field to your name.

2. Cement Your Reputation as an Expert

What’s great about creating a Twitter account is that you now have the opportunity to build a following by sharing your expertise. As we all know, the Internet is filled with millions of online users looking for free information. And as an expert in your field, you should have plenty to share.

From a recruiting perspective, companies want to know that the executives they headhunt are highly knowledgeable about their fields. Usually, this information has to be acquired via a seeker’s resume, cover letter, and a series of interviews. So just imagine how much more confident they can feel in your ability to deliver when they’re given a front-row seat to your wisdom before they even contact you.

3. More Easily Accessible to Executive Recruiters

As mentioned previously, recruiters and employers are looking for candidates all the time, and Twitter works wonders in making you more visible. But even when you’re not being recruited, you can make yourself known to recruiters by following them. Engage in a conversation, share info, and even send them candidates if you know of any to build great networking relationships that could move beyond Twitter.

Twitter seems like a fun land for kids and young adults—nothing that could benefit executive job seekers. But if utilized correctly, this medium could work wonders in improving your job search.

For additional tips and advice on resumes and cover letters, follow us on Twitter @GreatResume or visit our blog.