Executives in the job market today face many challenges related to
their résumés. They want and need to include the most relevant
information they can as they strive to make a positive first impression
with a potential employer. However, they sometimes struggle as they
try to match the content of their résumé with the criteria hiring
organizations have in place for new leaders.
Because they fear the perception of being viewed as overqualified,
seasoned executives frequently wonder if their entire work experience
should be included. At the same time, executives are unsure if they
should even send a résumé for a position requiring experience they
don’t possess — such as an advanced degree.
Overall, the main goal is to be able to effectively communicate
an individual’s value proposition — regardless of age or experience.
Identify Jobs, Companies and Goals
The first step executives need to take when facing résumé challenges is to
gain a solid understanding of what they are looking for in a position,
what the end goal of their job search should look like. More specifically,
executives should be able to identify the exact type of company and role they seek. “By starting with the end in
mind, executives can craft the résumé
that will position them appropriately for
the jobs they are targeting,” says Louise
Kursmark, president of Best Impression
Career Services Inc.
“Executives must be very focused
on not only the target company and
type of role or position they wish to
pursue, but also their own quite specific
areas of value they are pitching,” adds
Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, owner of
Missouri Career Trend.
“Then, they must further whittle down
their value proposition statements to fit
squarely upon the pain points of target
companies. Many executives have such
depth and breadth of value that they
cannot see the forest for the trees,
and therefore overwhelm the reader
with information, much of which is
not relevant.”
How Much Experience
Should You Feature?
Opinions of résumé writers are mixed as
to whether an executive with more than
25 years experience should include all
of that experience on his or her résumé.
Jan Melnik, president of career
management and résumé writing firm
Absolute Advantage, argues that all work
experience shows how an executive has
developed his career into its current
state. “Typically, these individuals present
a progression of advancement and
contribution that frequently began with
the foundation of their first professional
work experience,” says Melnik. She
suggests including that early experience
in a “very concise, collapsed fashion”
by combining it into a four- or five-line
paragraph within a “Professional
Experience & Achievements” section
in the résumé.
“Your résumé is a marketing piece —
an advertisement — it is not an autobiography,”
says ExecuNet résumé writer
Michelle Dumas, owner of Distinctive
Documents. “You don’t need to, and
shouldn’t try to, include everything.”
Meg Guiseppi, a C-level branding
strategist at Executive Résumé Branding,
agrees: “A résumé is not a comprehensive
career history. It’s a career marketing document
that needs to showcase just enough
about you to generate interest and compel
decision-makers to contact you.”
It’s important to ensure that the most
crucial information is closer to the top of
the page, where readers won’t miss it.
“Your personal brand should be immediately
evident above the fold, or within
the top third or half of the first page,”
says Guiseppi. “Because hiring decision-makers
may allow your résumé only
10 to 15 seconds to capture their attention,
and the top of the first page is what
they’ll see first. Craft this section to
stand on its own as your calling card.”
Executives must be careful not to
be deceptive as they attempt to diminish
references to their age within their
résumés. “Executives run into serious
problems when they try to dumb down
their résumés to make themselves look
younger,” notes Rachelle Canter, PhD,
president of San Francisco-based executive
development firm RJC Associates.
“The minute they walk into an interview
and are not 30, the interviewer feels
conned. Instead, I recommend that
executives focus on quantifying accomplishments,
including showcasing big
things they’ve been able to do fast
(generally a way to show how experience
can save time and money) so prospective
employers can see that they can potentially
get more from a seasoned employee.”
Explaining a Gap
Another challenge executives face is determining
what they should do if their job
history includes several short-term positions.
They want to display their vast
experience without recruiters or hiring
managers questioning their commitment. The best way to do that is to highlight
the longer-term positions, while not
diminishing the value short-term positions
also bring to an individual’s career.
Paula Weiner, president of New York-based
executive search firm Weiner &
Associates Inc., says that when she
examines a résumé that includes many
short-term positions, she first looks
for stability at some point during a
candidate’s career. “Then I look at reasons
for the short stints,” such as a company
being sold or a candidate was working
on a consulting assignment that was meant
to be short-term.”
She notes that some short-term
assignments might represent new
employers but not new bosses, as some
candidates follow bosses from one company
to another. “So you might not have
consistency of company, but who you
worked with,” adds Weiner.
It’s equally important for executives
to communicate how short-term positions
were valuable components in their
overall careers. “In those circumstances
[of short-term employment], you want to
see that somebody learned something,
applied it and did better next time,”
Weiner says.
The amount of space reserved on a
résumé should be in line with how long
an executive held each featured role, suggests
Weiner. Short-term positions should
be included in a small section on a
résumé, while longer-term roles should
command a more prominent position on
the page. If a candidate has a history of
many short-term roles within the same
industry, Melnik combines them into
an “Interim Management Experience”
section within the résumé. She says they
can be connected through language, such
as: “Selected for series of high-profile
interim management positions with
such firms as XXX wherein key objectives
were exceeded, new distribution channels
were identified.”
“If your résumé is well designed, the
emphasis should always be on the value
and results you produced while in that
position,” says Dumas. “If you present
these in a strong enough way, the length
of time you held a position will make
little to no difference.”
If Your Résumé is Missing a
“Required” Qualification
Oftentimes, executives will uncover a job
posting that fits their expertise with the
exception of one or two requirements; one
of the most common is the employer’s
desire for a candidate to possess an MBA.
Most résumé experts agree that while
some recruiters and hiring managers
will only consider candidates who match
a job description perfectly, otherwise
qualified executives without an MBA
should still apply for positions requesting
an MBA. “Whether it is a graduate degree
or undergraduate degree that is sought,
if the individual has a proven track record
of experience and accomplishment
spanning several decades or more, this
usually trumps formal education when
presented properly,” says Melnik.
How exactly can a résumé help an
executive communicate that, despite the
lack of advanced degree or other desired
criteria, he or she is still qualified for a
particular position?
“Consider what it is about that
advanced degree that stands out as
important to the decision-maker and
then map your experiences to those
traits,” says Barrett-Poindexter. “An
executive may wish to position his most
riveting abilities as a leader to stand
shoulder to shoulder with other candidates
who hold an MBA.”
Communicating Your Message
Canter says that one strategy which all
job seekers should use during their job
search is using their network to uncover
inside information on target companies
and to gain personal introductions and
recommendations. “It is always wise to
have at least a 70 percent fit with the job
qualifications, but if you are missing a
crucial one, a personal introduction can
outweigh any missing qualifications,”
says Canter. “Many mature candidates
that I have worked with recently have
gotten good jobs in a relatively short
time, but always with a strong accomplishment-
oriented résumé and the
use of contacts.”
Melnik agrees that executives, particularly
over age 50, need to network and
become visible thought leaders in their
field. And, they should be active participants
in the social media world, including
links to LinkedIn and/or Twitter profiles
in their résumés, and have the profiles
“updated and contemporary sounding/
looking. Embrace current trends,”
Barrett-Poindexter encourages.
If you’re the best candidate for the
job, age shouldn’t be a factor, some
experts say. Dumas notes that employers
seek “the candidate who can deliver
results — the candidate who has clear
and demonstrated ability to make them
money, save them money, increase efficiency,
and/or solve some challenging
problem. In today’s job market, a top-notch,
impeccably professional résumé
that clearly communicates the value you
have to offer in the workplace — value
that you will deliver to your employer in
a more profitable way than your competition
(other job seekers) — is essential.
“If your résumé accomplishes this,
the actual number of years of your
experience will play little to no role in
the hiring decision,” Dumas adds. “If you
are under 30, but persuasively make your
case that you will deliver a higher return
on the employer’s investment in hiring
you than the next candidate, your age
simply won’t matter. Likewise, the same is
true for the over-50 candidate. It is really
all about the bottom line.”
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