Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from the most recent session with Nicola James, Managing Partner of Thomas Brooke International.
One of the biggest concerns for executive job seekers is how to present yourself. Career coaches like Nicola can be a big help here, and NETSHARE maintains a database of the best career coaches in North America, including those with specializations like working with CFOs or CIOs. NETSHARE is always happy to recommend qualified career coaches to its members, and this week, Nicola demonstrated her expertise with insights into how executives can best present themselves through their resume.
One of the most important things to remember about the resume is you need a chronological format. There is no “one size fits all” approach to resumes, but recruiters do seem to universally prefer a chronological approach. The chronological summary allows the reader to quickly review a candidate’s experience, scan job titles and dates, and make sure there are no glaring holes in their career path. However, many candidates feel this pigeonholes them and limits them by tying them too closely to their last job. In these times it’s important to be able to show you can handle new challenges and transition to a new role with your current skill set.
Nicola recommends working with the chronological resume format and using your experience to lead the reader where you want to take them. As an example, Nicola offered Joe, President of Widgets, Inc. If you look at his resume, his most recent position was as president of a family-owned widget company. If you go back in time, you see that Joe has been a senior executive with other widget companies, as well as president of other family-owned firms. By carefully crafting his marketing documents, Joe can make a solid case for candidacy as president of a widget company, or a family-owned company in a different industry. It’s the context that guides the reader to the conclusion you want them to make, which means you need to understand what you want to attain.
Of course, the resume is not the only weapon on your job search arsenal. On April 28, Ross Macpherson will join Experts Connection to review “The Top 5 Critical Marketing Tools for Executives: What Works Today!” Ross recommends augmenting a professionally written resume with other tools, including a solid LinkedIn profile, an executive bio, a brag sheet, and a brand statement. Each of these marketing tools is crafted in a different way, and each is used in a different way. Together they form a strong foundation for any job search campaign.
