Common Executive Resume Mistakes

When you reach the executive level in your career, there is no room for error. You must exude perfection with everything you do. This is especially true with your resume, which is why the last thing you want to do is submit a resume with glaring errors. So what can you do to make sure yours is not filled with mistakes? Let’s take a look at some common executive resume errors that you want to avoid as you’re creating or updating yours. Forgetting a Clear Job Target It’s never acceptable to submit a resume that looks like a generic template that you downloaded from a free website. At the executive level, there is absolutely no excuse for creating something that doesn’t focus directly on the position you’re interested in. You’ve accomplished too much, and should have too much to say, to not be able to sculpt a masterful resume filled with your accomplishments. By submitting a resume that doesn’t tell your story, or define a clear position objective, you’re telling the hiring manager that you really don’t know who you’re applying with or why you really want the position. Excluding Personal Branding Once you’ve reached the executive level, it is important that you have already begun to differentiate yourself from others by creating your own personal brand. Companies are not looking for carbon copies at this level. They want to know that you can bring your own personal touch to their business in order to take it in a direction they have yet to imagine. As you create your resume, show how innovative you are. Show that you’re able to breathe new life into their organization. You can’t do that if you don’t breathe life into your resume by including your personal brand. Not Keeping Up With the Times As an executive, you probably already know that half of how other executives function is through some type of portable device, be it a PDA or smartphone. It’s a good idea to keep this in mind as you create your resume. Why? Because many hiring managers will be checking resumes through their portable devices and may not feel good about trying to read densely-populated sentences on a tiny screen. That said, when creating your resume, write short, value-driven statements that get to the point but leave enough whitespace to not overwhelm busy managers. Missing the Obvious There is no excuse for having typos, grammatical errors or poor formatting in your resume. Again, you have to exude perfection even if we all know that no one is perfect. Since you know you’re not perfect, it’s important to have someone read through your resume for errors. Then have someone else read through it. Keep going until you feel sure that it’s as perfect as it can be. This way, your fabulous qualities won’t be overlooked because you wrote “objetive” instead of “objective.” Don’t let common resume mistakes ruin your agenda as you’re trying to create a reputation as a quality executive. As you craft your resume, work to carefully create perfection to increase your odds of making the impression you want.