29
May

Top Notch Executive Resume Writing Tips

interviewA senior executive’s professional resume has one job, and that is to portray your value and significance that you can bring to the business. At the executive level it is expected that you have all the soft skills required to lead and manage teams, however the key is to focus on highlighting your value added skills and achievements that are directly related to what the organization is looking for. If the company is looking for a CEO with experience in turning around departments, raising equity or international expansion, then your executive resume needs to target these requirements and provide quantitative examples to back up your evidence.

Highlighting Your Resume:

90% of senior executives I have worked with include their past work histories on the majority of the resumes and often go back 20/30/40 years to when they first started out. The resumes are often too long, too wordy and fail to portray the skills that make them unique executives. When I read an executive resume I want to see confidence and a demonstration that this individual has the right skills and experience to fit the job.

Two fantastic ways of highlighting the resume are as follows:

Qualifications Profile / Career Summary:

Don’t waste time on your resume telling the reader what you are looking for. A hiring manager is not interested in this type of information. They want to know what you can do for them. Introducing a qualifications profile or career summary is a great way to sell yourself immediately on the resume. The most effective profile will provide exact answers to the job description. For example, if the role is looking for a person with change management experience, then you need to let the reader know within the first 10 seconds that you are the change management expert.

Achievement Section:

Creating an achievement section within your resume is the perfect way to highlight your past behaviors and to sell your value to the reader. Remember that numbers are more powerful than words, so don’t get too consumed with trying to explain your achievements in too much detail. Your achievement section should focus on your notable accomplishments and further provide answers to exactly what the job description is looking for in the perfect candidate.

Final Point:

Set up your LinkedIn profile. If you are an executive you need to be on LinkedIn. Not only is LinkedIn recognized as the leading networking tool for all executives, but developing an optimized LinkedIn profile will enable you to outrank other executives on executive searches, giving you the inside running for headhunting and career opportunities.

© RedStarResume Publications – http://www.bestresponseresume.com/

Specialising in Executive Resume Writing

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25
Mar

Evil Resume Templates

templates-icon11-500x288I hate resume templates … and here’s why!

Do a simple search in Google for “Resume Templates” and you will soon find that there are literally thousands of templates that you can copy and use. There are even many companies that sell these exact resume templates online.  As a resume writing specialist, and someone who has worked alongside multinational companies in relation to hiring and candidate selection, I can tell you that not only can I spot a resume template from a mile away, but more importantly it is the first impression I make about the job candidate based on their template.

In the current competitive job environment I can tell you that it takes a lot more than using a generic resume template found on Google. If you have found and downloaded the template imagine, how many people before you have used the exact same one?  Anyone who tells you that a “one size fits all” resume will work for you is wrong and is doing you a massive disfavour.

How should I approach my resume writing?

As a job seeker, you need to promote the skills and achievements that make you unique. As each job seeker is different, there is no formula to follow that will be the same for every person. For example, an entry level candidate or recent graduate will structure their resume completely differently to a senior professional or executive. A graduate with limited work experience needs to highlight their education, university associations, memberships and internships. This type of information needs to appear on page 1 of the resume to capture the reader’s attention as soon as they open your resume.  Although you may have worked in retail or hospitality throughout your degree this information while important, is secondary to your educational information.

An executive resume is completely the opposite. Your education is not as important as your work experience. Executive resume writing is highlighting not just your tangible skills but must include your non tangible skills, such as being a good leader and mentor. As past behaviour is the best indicator of how you will perform in the future, the front page of an executive resume needs to emphasise key achievements. When a hiring manager opens up an executive resume you want them to think “look at all the great accomplishments this person has achieved.”

Final thought:

Most people don’t realise that before a hiring manager has opened your resume it has already passed the first stage of the selection process by passing the “Recruiting Software” test.  Due to the volume of resumes hiring managers and recruiters can receive; many organisations now use recruiting software to help eliminate and select first round candidates. The problem with software programs is that they often don’t read fancy resume templates. Graphics, tables, boxes, fancy font and colours can actually end up looking like one big mess to a computer program.

My advice is simple. Stay clear of resume templates. Most templates have been around for years and years and have been seen hundreds of times by hiring managers. If you want to stand out from the pack, you need to be unique and this all starts with your resume.

© RedStarResume Publications – http://www.bestresponseresume.com

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20
Sep

What Are The Key Ingredients To Preparing A Resume That Will Get You Interviews?

I decided this week to bake a double chocolate chip cake. It was so delicious and cooked to perfection that I only managed one piece before my friends had collectively finished off the rest of the cake. Before I baked the cake, I prepared the ingredients and even added in a few “extra” items to make my cake as tasty as possible. When it comes to resume writing the exact same process is required:

Key Ingredients:

Strategic Keywords

Using strategic keywords throughout your resume is imperative for a number of reasons. Recent reports suggest 80% of companies use some kind of software or scanning program to search for candidate resumes.  In today’s society it is no longer good enough to target your job toward the role you are applying for – you also need to target your resume toward software programs that are now performing first rounds of candidate selections.  In this technological world where applying for a job can literally take a couple of clicks of a button, hiring managers are seeing hundreds of resumes (sometimes thousands) for one particular job. As much as we would like a hiring manager or recruiter to read through our entire resume, this rarely happens.  As such, using strategic keywords will help your resume rank higher and ensure that it passes the first test of being read by either a recruiter or hiring manager.

Highlighting Achievements

Resume writing and job seeking has changed a lot over the past couple of years. With new online networking sites such as LinkedIn being available and making it easier for a job seeker to network with a potential boss, highlighting your achievements on your resume and cover letter is more important than ever. When a boss or hiring manger decides to employ a new person to their staff, the first thing they want to know is how this person is going to add value to their organisation. Including basic duties and responsibilities is not enough to make you stand out as the perfect person for the job. You need to prove that you are the best person by highlighting your skills and achievements.

Presentation and Format

Your resume is the first impression a hiring manager will make about you. A well presented and structured resume that is written in a clean font will portray your resume in a professional manner and immediately give your resume application a higher ranking. Alternatively, a resume application that has spelling and grammar errors, different sized fonts, long sentences (as opposed to bullet points) and a lack of headings will not portray a positive image to the reader, and you won’t look like the right person for the job. A lack of professionalism may even lead to your resume being deleted without even being read. No matter how good your skills and experience may be, once your resume is deleted, it will never be read again.

In order to prepare the perfect resume follow these three main ingredients. Take time to prepare your resume and ensure that you give yourself every opportunity to succeed!

© RedStarResume Publicationswww.redstarresume.com

During the last decade, RedStarResume has successfully written hundreds of professional resumes for candidates across the globe. From the student or entry level position to the CEO, our unique, custom-made resumes are written specifically to match the goals and desires of our clients and to help them land jobs

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21
Jul

If your resume is difficult to read, fewer people will read it.

The #1 rule of resume writing

As a job candidate there are many variables that are beyond your control when applying for a job. Employer perceptions, personal preferences and competition are just a few.

Resume writing is an art form. There is no foolproof advice that will guarantee your resume to land an interview, however there are many different aspects that make up a great resume and in order to succeed you need to make sure your professional resume ticks all the right boxes.

There are millions of tips on how to write the best resume but the number rule of professional resume writing is as follows:

If your resume is difficult to read, fewer people will read it.

A well designed resume should aim to allow any person to pick up your resume up and read it. Your resume needs to allow 100% of people who wish to read your resume the ability to do so. I’m not saying everyone will understand what you do on a day to day basis, but they must be able to read through the resume and clearly be able to identify your work history, dates, skills, achievements etc.

So where do job seekers go wrong when preparing their resume writing?

Too much “make-up”

A resume is a marketing document and as such needs to be written in a professional way. Think about all the important documents you have received. The document is professionally laid out, spelling and grammar is correct, and the document is formatted and presented professionally. Your resume has one single purpose and that is to get you a job. It is not a work of art that is going to be hung up in the living room or framed in the study.

Trying to “Deceive the Reader”

The reader of the resume is only interested in the facts! Hiring managers and recruiters read hundreds of resumes on a daily basis and can easily pick up a resume that is exaggerated or sounds
“too good to be true”.

Wasting Time and Space

A good resume will attract the reader’s attention within the first 10-15 seconds. Alternatively, a bad resume will be deleted within 10-15 seconds. Do not waste the limited time and space you have on your resume to impress the reader. Focus on your achievements and the value-added skills you can offer your next employer. Use selected keywords to highlight your skills and promote yourself. Your resume is your selling tool and therefore needs to be able to sell all the key areas that will make you the perfect candidate for the job. Unfortunately once your resume has been deleted it will never be able to be viewed again. You have one chance to impress!

© RedStarResume Publications – www.redstarresume.com


10
Jul

Including Key Achievements in your Resume


If I had a dollar for every resume I saw that did not include “key achievements”, I would be a very wealthy resume writer!

Failing to include key achievements throughout your resume is a recipe for disaster and will cause your resume to be put straight in the deleted folder and never to be seen again.

The job market is competitive, and if you’re going to prove to the hiring manager that you are the best candidate for a job, you need to show off every key achievement and skill that will stand you out against all the other job candidates.  Remember the golden rule of resume writing – your resume is a marketing document and, as such, needs to market all the great things that you can bring to a potential job. Providing achievements that are backed up with quantitative evidence will guarantee that you will stand out from the other job seekers.

The best written resumes adequately sell the person’s achievements, skills and personality. Do this correctly and I guarantee that you will find success.

What Types of Achievements should you include in your resume?

Employers want to know the value you are going to add to the business and therefore want to see examples of your past behaviours to indicate your future behaviours. Types of achievements to include are:

Ways you saved the company money

Examples of how you reduced costs

Examples of new ideas or implementations that resulted in positive outcomes

Special awards or recognitions you received (e.g. voted #1 salesperson for two consecutive years)

Training, hiring, mentoring, leading, managing staff

Resolution of problems or issues that led to a positive outcome

Training courses, seminars, workshops that you successfully completed

2 key Tricks and Tips to turn your resume into a selling tool

Use strategic keywords throughout your resume to catch the reader’s eye. Strategic keywords will ensure that your resume will be picked up by employers using software programs that help eliminate candidate resumes

Go through the job requirements to find out exactly what the employer is looking for in the right candidate and incorporate these directly into your resume. For example, if the job is looking for someone with leadership skills, make sure you provide examples about the leadership you performed either in your past jobs or through community involvement or extra curricular activities

© RedStarResume Publications – www.redstarresume.com

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