How to Write an Executive Resume That Stands Out: Tailor Your Resume
Remember, you only have a few seconds to ''wow'' your reader. You want your executive resume to stand out. But more than that, you want your resume to clearly state to your reader that you mean business — you want the position. How do you accomplish this? By tailoring your resume accordingly. Research the company you’re interested in, its history, its strengths, its goals. Be aware of the type of people they are seeking to fill their positions, and then tailor your resume to fit these descriptions. Don’t lie, but do use what you have. As recruiter Paul Ray Jr. put it in a Forbes.com article, ''I don’t really care what kind of a person you are. I want to know what you can do for me.''
How to Write an Executive Resume That Stands Out: Consider Page Length — One or Two Pages?
No doubt you have a lengthy list of experiences that you can include on your resume. So how long should your executive resume be? One page or two? Here’s a tip from professional resume writing service AttorneyResume: ''Even if someone truly has a long history of relevant experience, it should be whittled down and tailored to the job at hand. No one wants to read a whole novel about your career — no matter how spectacular you think you are.''
List the work-related experience you have that is relevant to the job you are seeking, and if this list exceeds a page, then go ahead and make your executive resume two pages long. However, if you can only fill one page, leave it as is.
How to Write an Executive Resume That Stands Out: Remember the Simple Things
While including relevant information and tailoring your executive resume is important, don’t forget to avoid grammatical errors, consider font size and style, and proofread your resume.
- Avoid grammatical errors of any kind — Don’t assume that your computer will correct sentence syntax problems, verb/noun agreement issues, or even all spelling mistakes. Many spelling mistakes that go unnoticed are homophones:
- ''there'' versus ''their''
- ''too'' versus ''two''
- ''your'' versus ''you’re''
Other spelling mistakes to look for are typos. For example, you might have meant to say ''advised patients,'' but slipped up and typed ''advice patients'' — because ''advice'' is a real word, and spelled correctly, the computer will not catch this slip. The only way to avoid these mistakes is to check, double-check, and even triple-check your work.
- Font Size and Style Should Be Legible — According to resume writing service ResumeApple, you should ''always use the correct fonts. Times New Roman is the classic, but might be overused. For variety, consider Garamond, Book Antiqua, and Palatino Linotype. But stick with one of these four. Never go below 10.5 in size (or above 12). If the employer has to squint or hold your resume afar, your resume will probably not be read at all.''
- Proofread Your Resume — Sometimes, even after reviewing a resume over and over again, our eyes tend to skip past the mistakes. There are several ways to avoid this. One way is by reading the resume from the end to the beginning. This way, your eyes will take in the information like it was new. Another way is by giving your executive resume to someone else. Let a pair of new eyes look over your resume. And finally, if you’re still concerned about missing mistakes, try setting the resume aside for a few days.
