Do you find it difficult to summarize your bid in a two- or three-page resume? In addition to annoying employers, too long a resume can quickly lose its power and dilute your brand’s message – leaving decision makers confused about why they should hire you for a leadership position.
Here are some tips for having a resume full of words that fail to show off your skills:
- Your bullet sentences are longer than 2 or 3 lines, making them almost impossible to scan quickly
- You start a lot of phrases or sentences in the same word, which weakens your message
- Your performance results are buried to the end at the end of each sentence, so they are hard to find, with minimal impact on the brand
- Adding too many degrees and degrees, with every achievement noted as “exceptional,” “exceptional,” and worst of all, “successful.” (Employers definitely hope this is the case!)
If one of these applies to your resume, it is easy to cut excess words with the help of the following three techniques that bring your point home quickly:
1. Skip verbs for increased impact
As a branded marketing document, executives’ resumes can use innovative conventions, such as sentences that remove verbs. Consider this example of a sentence change:
original:
Led to a large-scale reorganization of operations and expansion of the company’s call centers and facilities, which resulted in a 63% increase in profit in just three years and the lowest manpower costs in the area.
New:
A 63% increase in profit in 3 years plus the lowest expenses per employee with reorganization and expansion of activity at the organization level.
Here, the original sentence was summed up by 37% – but it still conveys the same meaning. Now, imagine what cutting more than a third of the load can do to the clarity of your executive resume! To use this technique, under each position you have filled out, make a list of preload result statements like the ones where you quantify your work experience and achievements. You chart employers and keep their attention!
2. Take out the long and convoluted summary paragraph
Bigstock
There is no need to bore the reader with a similar resume summary or profile that indicates the obvious, such as:
A dedicated team player with proven leadership, technology utilization and financial expertise. Proficient in project completion and communication at all organizational levels, with excellent team building skills and inter-functional collaboration.
Do not waste this key realm of resume in real estate with a description that fails to tell a story. Instead, reduce the volume of words while providing a snapshot of the brand value that attracts some achievement metrics. Here is an example taken from a leadership resume for a top candidate The ladder to the role of CTO:
VP of Technology achieves 99% overperformance by exceeding SLA requirements through strategic planning, cost containment and contract negotiation.
Pay attention to the metrics and the specific job title included in the summary – with a message that guarantees value and performance.
Learn to write a branding headline
Bigstock
Trade Secret Among professional resume writers and executives, the title is actually a tag line that allows you to cram more data into a narrow space. The best part? Your resume can use more than one title to convey your strongest points.
Here are some examples of titles that consolidate value and place job hunters for a specific job:
- Senior drug manager behind billions of dollars in accelerated product launches
- VP of Sales Motivating Global Growth for New Media Marketing Company Gaining Global Recognition
- An investment professional who promotes financial health through investment and capital planning
A personal branding statement can quickly give employers the “big picture” of your accomplishments, without taking up valuable space in your resume. To create this statement, combine the job you are looking for with a great achievement from your career, showing the results of your work or the approach you use.
As you continue to tailor your executive resume and tighten up the language, be sure to show it to colleagues and others familiar with your work. You’ll probably find that even if words are removed, it’s still conveying your brand’s message – and faster to boot.
If you want more help finding your job for executives, sign up for the free JT O’Donnell tutorial “A 4-step process for creating an online executive presence. “ In just three hours, you will learn how to write an effective resume and build your managerial presence so you can find the best job opportunities!
From your site articles
Related Articles Around The Web
.