Resume Writer Matthew Greene

Why Executive Resumes Are Not Effective: Your Value Statement

by

Matthew Greene, M.Phil.

Let's critique and evaluate your senior executive resume. Will it work for you in today's job market? If not, what are the usual reasons for this?

The resumes of a Director, Owner, President, V.P., CEO, COO, CFO, CIO, Sales/Marketing Executive, Regional Manager or Senior Engineer are usually fairly well-written and neatly formatted. But will they also be EFFECTIVE? No, not necessarily. In hundreds and hundreds of cases, these resumes won't work as well as they should or could! Why? Because the awful reality is that most executives and senior managers are not very good at marketing themselves on paper. That is not a criticism but a statement of fact! Every resume writing expert will confirm this.

How well are you addressing the specific needs of your target audience? Are you demonstrating your ability to do what they need to be done? Can they readily see the value of having you on board? Probably not. This is why, in my view, most executive resumes need to be critiqued and also revamped to make them work better.

"What value does this executive bring to the table?" Recruiters and employers will usually ask such questions when they first scan any executive resume. After all, why should they be willing to pay a salary of $100,000 to $250,000 or more to hire you?

Sadly, many executive resumes fail to address crucial questions up front such as: "What have you already achieved for others that should persuade us to hire you now?" and "What can and will you do for us?" Related questions are: "Do you have vision?" "Can you think 'outside the box'?" "Can you think strategically and execute tactically?" These are legitimate concerns because employers want to take you on board in a leadership and/or visionary role.

To make any resume more effective, an indepth analysis or critique or evaluation will focus on a critical issue: Is there a well-written and convincing value proposition or statement up front -- in the first few lines? Is the Summary or Profile section as strong as it could be? In most cases it will be lacking and could be much, much better.

Past performance will usually provide the best clues to your present value. What have you accomplished to date? Is it one or more successful turnarounds or launching one or more successful startups or achieving business process improvements or dramatic increases in profitability or efficiency or productivity or cost reductions, or in global sales or market share, or whatever. Such items should be the "meat" of your value statement.

Your main resume writing problem is: How and where should your value proposition, accomplishments, and keywords be presented for maximum effect?

It will take an experienced professional writer many hours to develop a truly effective executive resume or marketing tool for you. By contrast, your own writing efforts may cost you valuable time and money and often result in a futile and frustrating job search.

14 Ways To Make Executive Resumes More Effective

"How would you make my resume more effective?" How would you improve it? I am often asked these questions by executives who have posted their resume on internet job sites without getting even a nibble of interest.

Executive resume writing is a highly specialized field.  It requires a high level of analysis, marketing expertise, and a constellation of skills.  That's why very few executives can write a good value statement.

The awful reality is that most executive resumes contain serious omissions and/or mistakes.  Here are a few:

• The crucial value proposition is either poorly worded or unclear or has been omitted.  Thus, your main selling message or value statement will be unimpressive or confusing or missing.

• The resume is not audience-focused and fails to address the employer's needs.

• The language of the resume is too "literary".

• The template used is elegant but not effective for making a presentation to today's recruiters.

• The length of the resume is either too short or too long.  In fact, an executive or consulting resume can be 2-6 pages long!

• The Job Objective has been omitted or is poorly stated.  Today’s job objectives for executives are marketing oriented.

• The Summary Statement or Profile is poorly worded.  It may also include amateurish statements like "Highly motivated".

• The statement about your track record may not impress.

• Job titles may need to be adjusted to back up or support your Objective.  Such titles may define you in the absence of a well written qualifications statement.

• Strategic keywords or phrases or names or figures or percentages are not highlighted or emphasized in the resume.

• Accomplishments are poorly worded (by omitting crucial "numbers") or lie buried in the text or are not properly bulleted and/or indented or highlighted.

• In many executive resumes there are either no bullets (because some executives are uncomfortable with attention-getters) or too many.  Bullets must be strategic, not decorative.

• The resume is not easily scannable because nothing "jumps out" at the reader.  It is long and gray and boring -- like mashed potatoes!

• Cutting and pasting your resume on-line is not always a good idea.  It results in a very unattractive ASCII or Notepad layout that is all over the place. Your MS Word document first needs to be carefully restructured and made presentable -- before submitting it on-line. (For this detailed conversion, most services will charge $50-75.)

"You Are Your Own Best Investment"

Writing executive level resumes is seldom easy.  Developing your value proposition will require strong analytical and presentation skills.

To hire a highly skilled resume-writing professional has become a necessity today.  He or she will compose an effective value statement to give your resume a competitive edge.

Experienced professional writers will usually charge $300 to $750 or more per resume depending on the length and complexity of the task.

A note of caution:  Many internet job sites require your resume information to be presented in their own form or style.  By complying, much of your "sizzle" will be lost in the process!

And "headhunters" will quickly place an unattractive price tag on your head!

To hire an experienced executive resume-writing professional would be a very smart move. He or she will increase your chances of being hired and also shorten the time your job search takes.  Moreover, the process of interacting with someone who has already assisted many others in similar situations, will usually benefit you in many ways. All in all, it may be one of the best and most profitable decisions you will ever make!

Austin Kiplinger, publisher of the Kiplinger Magazine, agrees about the importance of making an investment in your own career: "Look at your career as your primary investment. Keep your earning power at its highest level. The money you spend doing this will return more to you than all other investments you are likely to make. You are your own best investment!"

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