10 Tips to Keep Your Resume Out of the Circular File

I looked at a senior executive’s resume
today – something I never do, but he is such a nice guy and his
Role-Based Assessment was so good, I figured I’d do it, just for
research.  He’s a consultant now, but he’s been in senior management the
latter part of his career.  With the economy improving, he’s on the
prowl and some lucky company is going to get him.  After he fixes his
resume…

So I’m going to offer my advice here, in hopes that if you are
looking for a new C level job (or any job for that matter) that it will
help you too.

1.  Put your address on it so it doesn’t look like you are living
in your car. I know you have a lot of experience and you want to cram in
into two pages because somewhere there is a ‘two page rule’, but
really, this is not the place to skimp.

2. Think about a better title or tag line.  No one will read
everything you wrote because resumes are inherently boring, especially
compared to some of the funnier jokes your friends sent you today or you
read on your intern’s monitor.

3.  Put your industry right up there in the title.  I know you want to
appear flexible but executive recruiters care about industry.  A lot. 
That’s how they make money, specializing in an industry.  So get it on
there.

4. Use the title you expect or want.  Like Lord High Executioner or Ruler of the Queen’s Navee.

So your title will be something like Chief Financial Officer,
Aerospace Industry, or Senior Organizational Development Leader, 18
years in Banking.  Don’t use a number if you think it isn’t a good one. 
(I don’t know what a good number is.  This is something you need to be
comfortable with.)

5.  Rework your opening summary paragraph so it doesn’t sound like
Dogbert wrote it.  (I like Dogbert but you have to make this very
concrete because it isn’t being read by people like us.) Short
sentences.  Really.  People don’t read…  Okay, make that most people. 
And they are screening your resume.  Make.  Them.  Happy.

6. Make the bullet points pop.  Make each one count and make them
very different.  No Dogbert.  No hackneyed words.  If you don’t know
what words not to use, read Dilbert.

7.  Be more specific on Core Competencies, if you have a section with
them.  Make it reflect you and no one else.  If we were talking sales we
would be talking differentiation.

8.  Now you’re ready to prune your list of past employment.  Be brutal. 
Only keep what will keep the reader reading.  That’s a summary
statement, what you did, how it made the company happy.  That’s it.  And
leave off your first jobs if they don’t contribute anything.  Same with
non-degree training and such.

9.  Now you have room to GIVE ME MARGINS!!!  People who actually might
want to talk to you want a place to make notes.  Or doodle.  Whatever,
it will look better.

10.  And remember, especially if you are a senior executive, that the
hiring manager reading your resume is likely to have ‘significant
experience’.  That’s HR-speak for ‘old enough to need reading glasses’. 
So pump up that font.  Please.

And good luck!

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