Give some thought to the look of your resume. Use orderly subheads. The first level of subheads might be all capital letters; the second level might be capital letters and lowercase letters underlined. Be sure to use the same subhead level for parallel chunks of copy. For example, if you use capital letters to announce "Employment History," then also use capitals to head "Education". Don't, however, use a lot of fancy or different Fonts. An executive resume should not be typed in italic or any kind of script copy, nor should there be very many capital letters of boldface heads. They're distracting to the eye and messy looking. Less is more, when writing an executive resume.
Make sure all the type on the resume is identical. Don't use our letterhead stationery for your resume. Type out your name and address and telephone numbers using whatever machine you will use to type the rest of your resume. Don't mix several kinds of type.
Leave a one-inch border all around the resume. White space creates an aura of neatness and logic.
Whether discussing your employment or your education, always begin with your most recent experience and work your way backward.
Keep the format consistent throughout the resume. If you use paragraph format in one section, use it throughout. Use indentations consistently. Make lists consistent, especially in their grammatical forms. For example, in one list (or in all the lists on any one resume), don't write, "Ran company division" and Supervision of staff of 80." Instead, write: "Ran company division" and "Supervised staff of 80."
The Length of Your Resume
Let it end naturally. An executive resume can easily run more than one page (although one-pagers are favored these days), assuming that your accomplishments warrant the extra page. Never pad your experience and accomplishments simply to stretch a resume to two pages, though, and never let a resume go on to a third page. The latter is far too professorial for the business world. If only one or two lines of a resume run over to a second page, cut a line or two and fit it all on one page.
Resume-Speak
Just as every business has its own jargon, so, too, do resumes have their own language. Resumes are often written without the use of the personal pronoun "I". If you decide to drop it, then do this consistently throughout the resume. Resumes should be written in a kind of literate shorthand, which you can quickly pick up from reading a few good samples. Use buzz words to describe your achievements.
Even more important than using buzz words, though, is to be sure to describe your responsibilities in dollars, if at all possible. Talk about annual sales, the dollar volume of projects you've worked on, the dollar value of acquisitions you participated in. Money talks-and never more than when you're trying to talk someone into hiring you for a managerial and administrative job.
The Contents of an Executive Resume
- Most executive resumes contain the following categories of information: Heading-name, address and telephone. Use your home address and give your office telephone number in addition to your home number, if you wish. Be sure to label each telephone number "home" and "office."
- A job objective or title (highly optional, as previous discussion made clear).
- Employment history, also called "Experience" and "Work History."
- Education going back no earlier than college and including any graduate work, seminars, and special training that is career related.
- Publications. Unless you're looking for a job as a college teacher, don't go on at great length even if you've published extensively. When the publications list threatens to take over your resume, simply state, "Numerous articles published in ABC magazines and XYZ journals," and list no more than five to six of the more prestigious publications.
- Languages. List any languages you read or write. Never exaggerate your level of fluency.
- Military experience. Never skip this; it's too good a topic of small talk in the first few minutes of an interview.
- Professional affiliations. Personal information, such as your private club memberships, religion, and marital status are not included on resumes today, nor are they legal subjects of discussion during the interview. Professional affiliations, particularly if they may help build rapport, should be included.
- Statement regarding references. The names of references should never be listed on a resume, but never omit the statement that references are available upon request.
Resume Killers
Here's a list of things that consign your resume to the revolving file.
- any creative gestures or gimmicks
- any misspellings
- serious grammatical errors
- photographs
- handwritten addenda
- colored paper or fancy type
- poor copy of the resume
- onion skin paper or paper that is easily smeared
- vagueness
- puffery or obvious exaggeration of your experience
- unrealistic salary expectations (Never list your salary requirements on a resume, even if an ad you are answering requests this information.)
See the following articles for more information:
- How to Start on the Right Foot in Your New Job
- What Are the Sources to Find the Information You Need
- The Background of Application Process
- How to Network and Take an Information Interview
