Resume Fundamentals For Senior Executives

Executives require a bit of a different approach to building an effective resume than other job seekers. It’s lonely at the top because, in comparison to other jobs, there are far fewer C-suite job opportunities in what could be accurately described as a hyper-competitive environment for those positions.

Like every other job, however, when a company, or board of directors, launches a search for a CEO or some other top executive the first thing they ask for is a resume. Even if you plan to hire a professional to write your resume, an understanding of the essential elements will help you communicate your expectations and enable you to properly evaluate the final draft.

Bear in mind – other candidates for the jobs you’re seeking are often just as impressive as you, also career senior executives with laundry lists of achievements. How you communicate your achievements may be the difference in your job search, so the first thing to understand is an effective executive’s resume tells a story about who you are and what you can contribute to a company.

• What is your superpower? There are many types of executives with many types of specialties, but they all set a vision for an organization and move it toward that vision. Are you an expert in launching new companies? Increasing the value of an existing firm? Can you turn around troubled companies around? Or in guiding stable ones into new areas. It’s important to know what kind of executive are you, and where in the lifecycle of a company you deliver the biggest bang for the buck – this is your through line and should run from the header on down.

• Where do you come from? There are many types of organizations. Privately held. Publicly traded. Venture capital. Private equity. Government. Education. Research. Non-profit. Each is a distinctly different environment with its own relevant ownership structure, investor relations, and compliance requirements, and being able to thrive in one setting doesn’t necessarily mean you will be talented at the other. Setting a strategic vision for a tech start-up is different than taking your successful family business public. Who you are is intertwined with the world where you learned your chops.

• What is the essence of your leadership style? There are many types of leaders. Servant-leaders. Thought leaders. Strategic. Transactional. Transformational. Solution-based. Autocratic. Are you giving TED talks or quietly working behind the scenes? According to Robert Smith, your leadership style is, “your approach to leading and interacting with others,” and “is composed of four key elements: theory, attitude, guiding principles, and behavior.” Just like your identity, your leadership style should be embedded in your work history.

• Can you sell and deliver against your vision? Regardless of your specialty, your type of organization, or your leadership style, when you’re in the C-suite you should be engaged in high-level long-term strategic thinking. That’s what a vision is – but anybody can have a vision. The ability to turn a vision into reality is what separates a manager from a senior executive. For example, let’s say you were hired to be the CEO of a small regional business that wants to move into new markets. Your vision is to create a national footprint through a series of mergers and acquisitions. Your resume should focus on how you set this vision, and then worked through your organization to guide it from concept to reality. Details matter, of course, but an effective C-level leader motivates his crew to achieve, without getting too stuck in the weeds.

• Do you have other credentials that can put you over the top? Just like any other resume, you will list your school(s) and related degrees. In addition, include any type of executive or leadership training, certifications, and relevant professional organizations. Yes, leaning on prestigious school names and program rankings helps.

• Be mindful of your tone. It’s the management team YOU put into place and countless employees that YOU are responsible for guiding to a successful outcome. There is a fine line between what you did and what you were able to get your company to do. Take credit for what you were able to get your company to do, but absolutely share that credit as appropriate. 

•  Use power language and metrics. Active verbs (i.e., orchestrate, direct, vision, pioneer, innovate, etc…) in your resume illustrate the difference between a photo of a bivouacked army and one charging into battle. Use language to affirm your level and experience and back it up with hard numbers of top-line and bottom-line business results you were able to deliver, in addition to the culture and “softer” initiatives you’ve effected.

Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.