Resume makeover: How to present an executive-level career on paper
Alexis has been a client for several years. She first came to me when she wanted to transition into the field of event planning.
Since then, her career has skyrocketed, with her developing from a support-staff team member to an executive-level leader. Alexis now works with major event-planning organizations to coordinate every facet of national conferences. She recently contacted me to make sure her current resume reflects the level of involvement she now holds in the industry.
WHY SHE NEEDED HELP
Because it had been a few years since Alexis and I had updated her resume, she created her own version of an updated resume, one filled with bullet point after bullet point of her responsibilities and contributions. The result was a four-page document with very little prioritization of information, no aesthetic appeal and — perhaps most importantly — a document that did little to position Alexis to move on to the next level in her industry.
WHAT WE DID
I took Alexis’ four-page updated resume and transformed it into a three-page executive-level overview of the past 12 years of her career. Page 3 is devoted to listing her education, affiliations and presentations, so the new resume is essentially two pages of content that reflects the contributions she has made during her related professional engagements.
To open Alexis’ updated resume, I started with a graphical representation of her credentials and industry involvement — quite an impressive at-a-glance strategy that is sure to differentiate her resume from those of her competitors. By sourcing logos online (ensuring they were presented to “float” on the page) this element adds interest and serves as a reader-engagement tool.
Next, in the qualifications summary, I positioned Alexis the way she wants to be seen, as a senior-level event manager. In addition to this professional title, I presented her key qualifiers based on her proven track record in the field. Beneath this summary heading are three statements that further introduce her candidacy and validate her claims through examples taken from her experience. Last, I listed related core skills, serving as an at-a-glance reminder of how Alexis is qualified for the jobs for which she will be applying.
I turned Alexis’ most recent work experience, described by her in 470 words and 17 bullet points, into a much more succinct 260-word presentation of responsibilities and accomplishments. Differentiating content based on priority, Alexis’ “job” was presented in a paragraph format to provide the necessary context for her contributions. Accomplishments are the most important component of any candidate’s professional-experience section, so I focused on presenting well-rounded contributions in bullet-point form, narrowing down Alexis’ 17 bullet points to five well-constructed points. In this section, I not only presented the results of Alexis’ efforts, but also some of the key actions she took to achieve the results. This ensures that prospective employers have appropriate validation of her abilities.
HER REACTION
I received such nice comments from Alexis once she reviewed her updated resume: “WOW! I love my new resume. My resume is a work of art, and one that will open many doors in my field of conference/ trade-show management. Thank you!”
View Alexis’ new resume at www.nolanbranding.com/blog.
CREATE YOUR OWN MAKEOVER
When presenting your candidacy on paper, make sure you do the following:
➤ Target your content to sell yourself the way you want to be seen.
➤ Ensure aesthetic appeal and reader engagement.
➤ Prioritize content to facilitate ease of readability.
➤ Differentiate responsibilities from accomplishments.
➤ Make sure focus is placed on the latter. If you follow these steps, you will emerge with a stronger presentation of your candidacy and the ability to conduct a more effective job search.
— Samantha Nolan is an advanced personal branding strategist and career expert and is the founder and CEO of Nolan Branding. Do you have a resume, career or job-search question for Dear Sam? Reach Samantha at dearsam@nolanbranding.com. For more information about Nolan Branding’s services, visit www.nolanbranding.com, or call 888-9-MY-BRAND or 614-570-3442.