When is the last time you took a look at you CV? Do you still think it’s as well written as it could be? Your CV could be the reason you land your next job. Here are five important things to remember is you are on the market for a job at the executive level.
Introduce Yourself as an Executive
One of the major pitfalls job seekers form a habit of doing is editing the same CV they wrote years ago. Instead of revamping the format, they continue to add sections of new experience. This method can be replaced by placing the term Executive at the top of the page, and following it up with a career summary that serves to explain to your audience how you have fulfilled that role. Since career advancements of the past follow this paragraph, relevant work history will now be viewed as qualifications for an executive role.
Make your Strengths Clear
There are two important points a candidate should highlight on their CV. The first is highlighting the ability to build and deploy strategies, and the second is how those skills are used to motivate teams, employees, and other individuals in the company. An employer will not know you have these qualities unless you state them clearly; thus, it is paramount that the best skill are highlighted.
Be Impactful
Another common mistake make on an Executive CV is the listing of prior job responsibilities, rather than an explanation of how those responsibilities affected the candidate’s current practices. For instance, telling readers that you conducted a presentation is not the same as telling them how your actions and leadership skills affected the company. The affects you list do not have to be quantitative, however. They can be stated in terms of how the decisions motivated others, or how certain actions helped the company come to an effective decision sooner.
Tech Skills do not make you an Executive
While most positions ask for a set of stellar skills on a single sheet of paper, an executive position must push a step further. You are not trying to prove you can do a job; you are trying to convince someone that you can help an entire team achieve larger goals over time. Highlight instead the management qualities that scream to an employer that you can handle management.
Use Formatting to Highlight the Important Stuff
The longer you have been in the workforce, the longer your CV may get. Employers, however, often have a minute or less to look over you CV, so you need to grab their attention and explain your strength succinctly.
The best strategy is to create subsections for each role that you have played in your career, and when you’d like to elaborate, use bullet points to be concise and clean in the explanations. Also, make use of bolding and italicizing words; however, be sure to keep all formatting consistent.
Principal Connections has a streamlined process for locating and identifying individuals who are exceptional in their field. We excel in our ability to adapt our process to our clients’ needs and deliver those individuals who have the experience and competence to perform at the highest level. It’s what we do, and it is why we are successful.
F. Aldea is definitely an Online Marketing communications consultant and blog author who loves to explore the hottest trends in business, technological know-how and marketing techniques and creates about a variety of stories.
