It’s my firm belief that one of the biggest mistakes executives make on their resumes is to begin their documentation with a Qualifications Summary or Profile. Call it what you will, it is still so widely used that you would be very surprised to find a résumé without one. Who told you that you had to have one anyway? The CEO (Chief Etiquette Officer) of Your Executive Career? Remember, it’s your career, not someone else’s and just who is in charge of it? For anyone who stakes a claim to being a future-forward thinker, why are you letting a BIG RÉSUMÉ MYTH make you look like an in-the-box follower?
You can click on the links to people who have posted their resumes online, or surf the multitude of so-called executive résumé samples on countless websites, and you will find enough of these summaries and profiles to fill volumes on shelves of major libraries. What irks me the most? They are indistinguishable, riddled with word-clones and useless platitudes that add little or nothing to the right mix of relevant information that would garner attention in a bloated executive job market. You know what I mean: phrases such as “proven track record of” … “strong communication and interpersonal skills” … “dynamic problem solver” … and my all-time personal favorite “results-oriented strategic planner.” Sorry, but what executive role doesn’t require at least some skill and experience in strategic planning? And why should anyone pick up the phone to call you if you aren’t getting results?
How should you begin your executive résumé and portfolio so that it sizzles with your personal brand instead of fizzles with everyone else’s statement of bland?
Would you dare to start with hard data and align it with some very short but interesting stories that resonate with the readers of your résumé? Try it! I will be the first to admit that after a decade of writing résumés and portfolios for executives it took me just until three years ago to throw out these profiles altogether. Several years ago, the Wall Street Journal’s career website CareerJournal.com ran an interesting series on some common but profoundly widespread problems in executive resumes.
Some samples of my work that are now old by three years were published in the book “Executive Job Search for $100,000 to $1 Million+ Jobs,” in 2005, and, while some of my samples still use a profile statement, one resume does not. It’s fictionalized heavily, of course, but nevertheless based on a real client who marketed herself successfully. It has a personal brand, strategy at the core and no summary or profile. My most recent work and stealth strategies are not available in total for viewing online because they represent my intellectual capital and original writing that is for senior executive clients only. If you contact me I will gladly detail more. But I do and will share many concepts in this blog and in my group and executive coaching programs.
Anyone can adapt this approach and make it work in multiple ways. I’m coaching groups of executives on how to write and incorporate better-rendered pieces into a branded executive portfolio. Learn the details.
This site is a great example of a personal brand site, and you can see how my personal brand is embedded into the design and content. Ask me how you can get a blogsite like this that is customized for your brand.
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