5 executive resume writing tips just for you

A lot of our clients have said to us that they don’t know how to frame their professional achievements on their resumes in such a way that hiring managers are impressed. This is a common problem faced by a lot of newbie resume writers. Portraying real-world skills and experiences attractively on a piece of paper to impress someone you’ve never even met can be quite a challenge. However, these five resume tips should make things easier for you:

Let your career summary shine bright

The career summary of your resume is the most important part. Pay extra attention when you create this section. Most hiring managers go straight for the career summary of a resume without even reading a single thing. Your career summary must be maximized with key results. This means you should let go of the job duties in favor of professional achievements. Jazz up your work experience section with appropriate action verbs and adjectives that make your achievements even more stunning.

Create a separate “Achievements” section for your resume

Want to make those accomplishments really pop? Add an Achievements Section for your resume. You can display the achievements section toward the top of your resume, where hiring managers are sure to spot it. When adding achievements and accomplishments to your resume, you need to choose the right wins. Here are some great types of achievements for your resume:

• Any awards, honors, or recognition you’ve received
• Instances where you went beyond your role for the company and scored great results
• Profits you have brought for the employer by changing processes or policies
• Innovative product ideas you have produced, that performed well in the market
• Creative advertising campaigns you’ve led to boost sales of the business

Use the CAR formula to write bullet points

While there are several methods to writing achievements on your resume, the CAR method is one of the most successful formulae. CAR stands for Challenge, Action, and Result. You must start your bullet point with an action verb that describes your involvement in the situation. Then, describe the challenge you had, and the results you produced. This will ensure that your bullet point is a captivating read. Unsure about how to write captivating bullet points? Read this article we shared on writing STAR bullet points for your resume.

Design your resume with the reader in mind

The primary goal of your resume is to get the hiring manager to call you for an interview. In order for them to do that, your resume must be easily scannable. Did you know that some hiring managers spend less than 30 seconds reading a resume? You should design and format your resume with this fact in your mind. Choose a clean and simple resume format. Avoid anything with columns and graphics. Your resume must have plenty of white space and adequate spacing between resume sections. Each resume section must have a clear heading. Use a good balance between short paragraphs and bullet points.

Include the right experience

This might be the hardest part of writing an executive resume. Executives with longer careers have decades worth of amazing experiences. If you have a rich career history, leaving out earlier jobs where you performed excellently can cause quite a heartache. But it is important that you be selective about the experiences that you include on your resume. Older dates on your resume might get you discriminated against for age. In such cases, removing irrelevant work experience will boost your chances of getting hired. The same goes for any unrelated jobs you have. When you are applying for a management role, there is really no need to mention all the temp jobs you have had in the past on your resume.