Executive Resumes: Focusing On More than Accomplishments

When writing your resume, you are probably accustomed to spending a great majority of your energy focusing on your accomplishments. There is certainly nothing wrong with this because it helps employers understand just what they can look forward to in you as an employee. However, at the executive level, there is more to consider than your accomplishments. You also need to explore your vision, personal integrity, and even your level of self control. There are ways to add these elements to your resume effectively. Here are some ideas you might consider. Sell the Idea that You’re a Visionary When writing your executive-level resume, you want to make sure to show employers that you’re able to create and follow through on a vision that matches the goals of the company. You want to show that you’re an “idea person” that challenges ways of conducting business. Companies love the thought of shifting their business in new and innovative directions. So if you can illustrate in your resume that your accomplishments include moments of strategy, motivation to your direct reports, and the ability to act tactically when having come up with new concepts and values, employers will better understand how you could do the same for them. Let Employers Know You Trust Yourself and Have Self Control At the executive level, you are relied upon to make some pretty heavy decisions, many of which offer no blueprint for guidance. This means, you have to rely on your gut instincts to determine which path to take when you’ve reached that fork in the road. Illustrating this idea in your resume, as well as the ability to contain your self control when you’ve reached a seemingly unbeatable challenge is ideal. One way to get this done is by listing one or more instances where you were faced with a major challenge and overcame it. Whether you had to locate additional resources (money, workers) where there seemed to be none, or had to corral other execs to sit down and do some grunt work to accomplish a goal, if you succeeded in the end, you should definitely make mention of it in your resume. It’s still considered an accomplishment, you’re just explaining what you had to go through for that accomplishment. Showcase Personal Integrity When employers are looking for new prospects at the executive level, they want to make sure that the choice candidate is a person of personal integrity. In other words, you need to be honest, accountable, and trustworthy in the business environment. They don’t want to worry about whether you will make side deals to stuff your own pockets, or work out business deals that benefit you more than the company. Often times, personal integrity can be showcased in a resume by the number of awards you’ve won or the quality of recommendations you’ve garnered from high-level execs who can attest to who you are as a person. Executive resumes can be a bit tricky to write at times because you have to showcase so much more than with a standard entry-level or mid-career resume. The good news is that you undoubtedly have plenty of stories to tell, so as long as you focus on more than your accomplishments, you’ll be able to create a great executive resume.