How to captivate the hiring manager with your executive resume

What stands out on an executive resume?

The goal of your successful executive resume is to captivate the reader. Tell your resume story in such a way that the reader is captivated.

Identify your success in your executive resume

The reader must see that your executive resume shows the expertise and qualities of an excellent employee for the role and career level you are targeting. Be specific.

Ask yourself reporter questions

Who, What, When, Where, and the ever-important How are the key questions that every reporter learns to ask. This is true in job search too.

• Who did it? Was it you alone? Were you in a team? What was your title then?
• What was it? Describe your accomplishment (duties only come into play on resumes when we weave them into something more or use the duties to tell the story.)
• When? At what point was this and is there a timeline that makes it even more important? (First quarter sales, fiscal year 2019)
• Where? Were you in a specific place in the company? In the world?
• How? How did you do it? Name the specific tools you used. (Technology, strategies, equipment are all tools)

Tell the story so the reader understands your success

In the back of every professional executive resume writer’s mind is the CAR or STAR formula.

CAR = Challenge, Action, Result.

STAR = Situation, Task, Action, Result

Clarify your value in your executive resume

Whatever formula you use, you are asking yourself: What was the challenge I faced? What action did I take? and the most important, what was the result? When you look at your professional resume in this view, you start to build the story. Quantify or qualify the results with more questions. Is there a number attached to the result?

• Cost savings of 50%
• Maximized sales by 60%
• Constructed a 94,350 sq ft building on a 31-acre campus
• Increased efficiencies by 80%
• Stimulated sales of $300 million

Help the hiring manager or recruiter visualize your success by introducing the stories and you will captivate their attention and land the interview. Prepare yourself with more effective resume stories for the interview and you will land the job.

Need help?

Hire me, Julie Walraven, Certified Executive Resume Master. As a professional executive resume writer, I can take the pain out of writing your resume and even make it fun with a personalized, interactive process that teaches you strategic job search. To find out how to hire me, Click Here.