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5 Pieces of Important Information Missing From Your CV
By Laura Smith-Proulx,
An Expert Resume
http://www.anexpertresume.com/Executive-Resume-Writer.htm
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If
executive resume writing is not your forte, you have lots of company.
After all, writing a strong resume is not an easy task, and it is certainly
compounded by the daunting competition you'll face in today's job market.
However, there ARE shortcuts to creating a strong first impression - starting
with taking a closer look at what you may have missed in writing your
leadership resume.
Here are 5 of the most often-overlooked components, along with ways to
add this data so employers can see the value in hiring you:
1 - Your career progression
A surprising number of people provide a work history that shows just the
last, most important job that they've held at that company. Understandably,
earning that Director or Vice President title can give you an ego boost,
but consider that you've left a major branding detail out of your executive
resume-—namely, your promotability.
Your career advancement shows more than just longevity: being selected
for promotion also proves that your work is of high quality. Being promoted
over your peers also demonstrates an ability to take on new challenges,
which is a sought-after quality among new leaders.
So, be sure to show interim positions on your resume, even if it turns
out that you started at the bottom and worked your way up the career ladder.
2 - Your role in the company's growth
One of my first questions to job hunters is "Did the company grow during
your tenure?" What I often find is that, even if the company was already
poised to double or even triple its revenue, the candidate had a major
hand in supporting or driving this level of growth.
There are several ways you can look back at your work history in light
of corporate expansion. For one, you may have created support systems
that helped the company move from small business to a global concern.
In addition, it's important to note that nearly everything changes when
a company expands: its staff, computer systems, operations procedures,
marketing message, and mission can take on a different tone.
Here is where you can carefully assess your role during changes in the
company's size, looking at your work to see which successes you facilitated,
suggested, or led, and then adding this information to your executive
resume.
3 - Your explanations for job gaps
You may find that, although you are trying to demonstrate consistent work
history, that your resume contains a gap due to caring for a family member,
a move, or (of course) job hunting.
While these situations are common, the way in which job hunters deal with
the gaps themselves is critical.
Should you fail to describe what happened during a gap, employers may
decide that your reasons were frivolous, which is hardly the impression
you'll want to make. It's best to fill in the missing information.
Whether you took a personal sabbatical to care for an aging parent or
joined numerous trade associations to build your job-hunting network,
I recommend presenting a plausible explanation that can help assure employers
of your dedication to their needs.
4 - Your qualifications for a specific job type
Here is where your experience as a jack-of-all-trades will not be helpful.
Why? Most job ads are written around a specific business need, and employers
are (rightfully) trying to fill those particular requirements.
Your resume must spell out qualifications for an ideal executive role;
otherwise, you're essentially asking employers to stretch their imaginations.
For example, if you've created marketing campaigns that generated results
for your employers, be sure to create a marketing-focused resume that
speaks to the effectiveness of your collateral and sales training information
(even if your career contains business development and product management
skills).
If you've held different job types such as Sales Manager and IT Director,
you're best off creating 2 distinctly different resumes. You can also
write an executive resume that shows employers how your skills set you
up for a technical sales leadership role.
Again, this is different from the "general resume" concept adopted by
many hopeful candidates.
5 - Your effect on the bottom line
Yes, companies ARE still hiring during this recession, but there's one
commonality to the leaders they bring on board: the ability to make an
impact to revenue or costs.
For job hunters in sales, summarizing their direct impact to the company's
profitability is fairly simple, as they can state achievements in terms
of revenue or sales increases.
However, if you're in a different occupation, dollar-driven comparisons
can be tougher to make - and this is where you'll need to dig deep to
show profit-related impact.
For IT executives, bottom-line improvement usually comes in the form of
projects that increased efficiency or automated manual tasks. If this
fits your situation, do some research to find out what volume of hours
or steps were saved with systems that you helped to implement.
If operations is your area of expertise, you can also point to time savings
in terms of new processes or procedures - both of which typically have
a cost component associated with reduced hours. Taking it a step further,
you can estimate the value of staff hours saved to arrive at a cost savings
figure.
The more you look at your work in terms of benefit to the company, the
easier it will be to include this vital information on your executive
resume.
In summary, remember that your executive resume as a marketing document
must speak to a specific audience about your value-add. You can influence
an employer's hiring decision with a well-thought-out presentation that
shows how you've met business needs, acted as a change agent, and conducted
your leadership career.
Global resume authority Laura Smith-Proulx, CCMC, CPRW,
CIC of An Expert Resume is
a former recruiter
who partners with CIO, CTO, CEO, COO, and CFO candidates to create compelling,
powerful executive resumes. A national resume columnist and media source,
her work opens doors to prestigious jobs at major corporations, and has
been recognized with top resume writing awards.
Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com
Permalink: http://www.submityourarticle.com/a.php?a=91456
Published - May 2010
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