Is Your Executive Resume Too Wordy?
Are you discovering it troublesome to sum up your worth proposition in a two or three-page government resume? In addition to annoying employers, a too-long resume can rapidly lose its efficiency and dilute your model message—leaving decision-makers confused about why they need to rent you for a management function.
Here are some tip-offs you will have a too-wordy resume that fails to tell apart your abilities:
- Your bullet-point sentences are longer than 2 or 3 traces, making them practically unimaginable to scan rapidly
- You’ve began many phrases or sentences with the identical phrase, which weakens your message
- Your efficiency outcomes are buried all the way in which on the finish of every sentence, and are due to this fact exhausting to seek out, with minimal model affect
- You’ve added too many adjectives and adverbs, with each achievement famous as “outstanding,” “exceptional,” and worst of all, “successful.” (Employers actually hope that is the case!)
If any of those apply to your government resume, it’s simple to trim extra phrases with these three strategies that drive your level residence rapidly:
1. Skip Verbs For Increased Impact
As a branded advertising doc, an government resume can use modern conventions, reminiscent of sentence fragments that take away the verbs. Consider this instance of a sentence transformation:
Original:
Led large-scale operations restructuring and growth of name facilities and firm amenities, leading to a 63% revenue improve in simply three years and the area’s lowest personnel prices.
New:
63% revenue improve in 3 years plus lowest per-employee bills with enterprise-level operations restructuring and growth.
Here, the unique sentence was condensed by 37%—nevertheless it nonetheless conveys the identical that means. Now, think about what slicing greater than a 3rd of the litter might do for the readability of your government resume! To use this system, underneath every job you’ve got held, make a listing of front-loaded outcomes sentences like these the place you quantify your work expertise and accomplishments. You’ll impress employers and preserve their consideration!
2. Take Out That Long, Winding Summary Paragraph
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There’s no must bore your reader with a look-alike resume abstract or profile that states the plain, reminiscent of:
Dedicated group participant with confirmed management, expertise utilization, and monetary experience. Skilled in finishing initiatives and speaking in any respect company ranges, with glorious team-building and cross-functional collaboration abilities.
Don’t waste this key space of resume actual property with an outline that fails to inform a narrative. Instead, lower down the quantity of phrases whereas giving a snapshot of brand name worth that pulls in some achievement metrics. Here’s an instance culled from a management resume for a candidate shifting up the ladder to a CTO function:
VP of expertise attaining 99% over-goal efficiency by exceeding SLA necessities by means of strategic planning, price containment, and contract negotiations.
Note the metrics and particular job title blended into the abstract—with a message that guarantees worth and efficiency.
3. Learn To Write A Branding Headline
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A commerce secret amongst skilled and government resume writers, the headline is definitely a tagline that permits you to condense extra knowledge into a decent house. The better part? Your resume can use multiple headline to convey your strongest factors.
Here are some examples of headlines that encapsulate worth and place job hunters for a selected function:
- Senior pharmaceutical government behind accelerated, multibillion-dollar product launches
- VP of gross sales driving world development for new-media advertising firm reaching worldwide recognition
- Investment skilled selling monetary well being by means of funding & capital planning
A private branding assertion can rapidly give employers the “big picture” of your achievements, with out taking over treasured house in your government resume. To create this assertion, mix the place you search with a serious achievement out of your profession, exhibiting the outcomes of your work or the method that you just use.
As you proceed to regulate your government resume and tighten the language, make sure to present it to colleagues and others accustomed to your work. You’ll most likely discover, even with extra phrases eliminated, it nonetheless conveys your model message—and quicker besides.
If you would like extra assist along with your government job search, join J.T. O’Donnell’s FREE coaching “4-Step Process For Creating Your Executive Presence Online.” In simply three hours, you’ll learn to write an efficient resume and construct your government presence so yow will discover one of the best job alternatives!
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