Executive Resume Templates– Are They Worth The Ease?
It appears you are searching for an executive resume template to help you quickly build a new CV for that opportunity.
Here is the issue, I don’t believe a resume template will be enough to win you that top executive interview. However, I will help you by providing you with a resume framework to build a strong foundation (see the end of this post). Sure, you can call it an executive resume template if you wish.
Why Executive Resume Templates Don’t Work At Your Career Level
First, allow me to explain why I don’t recommend that you, as an executive, use a resume template to tell your career story.
Let’s take a look at the resume template below. What do you see? It looks fantastic. I agree. Now, imagine yourself inserting your career history, accomplishments, and value offer into this resume template.
How would you go about it?
Would this template help you convey your journey, or would you be merely providing information? In other words, would it allow you to move freely, connect the dots, and persuasively tell your executive career story?
You see, when you use a resume template, you are allowing the design to dictate your strategy, restrict content, and thus confine your message.
The point of writing a branded executive resume is to break away from traditionally passive writing tactics.
Brand yourself an authority or specialist in your field and engage your new employer with an executive resume that conveys value. You must create an unmatched leadership image, and you must market a solution. To do this, you have to connect the dots and position information as needed to make a persuasive marketing presentation.
Unleash Your Executive Resume’s Potential
As a professional executive resume writer, I never start with a resume template because I seek to first understand what my client is trying to achieve: What is the job target, market, and industry? Why are they making this career move? What’s the challenge in achieving this goal? Perhaps they have too many job titles, many transitions, first-time roles that don’t reflect actual accountabilities or an unfocused career track, etc.
At the executive level, there is always a challenge — even if you have done everything right and taken all the strategic steps to shape an amazing career. You are competing for a job at the top after all.
Not All Is Lost. What You Can Leverage From Executive Resume Templates
So, let’s say you sourced a great-looking template. But, you are an executive, and you need to help your new employer understand that as a Chief Financial Officer (for example), you’ve been a critical member of the strategy team; you have gone beyond just crunching the numbers.
In this case, you don’t want to confine your writing because you need to highlight specific projects, and you may need to do so in a paragraph format, a call out, or perhaps a chart that shows strategy and financial impact side by side.
You see, you never know. You must strategize, plot the design, and write based on the challenge you need to overcome and your ‘next-level goal.’
Back to this template that you love; use it as inspiration to create your own design. Perhaps you can use the header and certain elements, but be sure that when you use the design elements, it highlights the experience or competencies that you wish to underscore. The design should not be arbitrary.
If you are looking for an executive resume template just to give your resume a bit of glam, MS Word has produced great letterheads you can use, which don’t restrict you as the resume templates do. Click here to see great executive headers you can download for free.
The Executive Resume Framework
At the end of the day, what is it that you need to include on your executive resume to win that job opportunity?
Well, as I mentioned earlier, it depends. But, here is a framework that can help you get started.
As a top executive resume writer, I always start writing the basics and then augment, revamp, position (rinse and repeat) based on the brand strategy that will best position my clients in the executive job search market.
What you need to include in your executive resume. In this order:
- Contact information
- Target title
- Value proposition
- Executive summary
- Keywords/competencies
- Highlight section
- Career history (employer, dates, titles)
- Accomplishments
- Education
- Professional Affiliations
The above bullets provide you with a quick view of what a basic resume should include. How far you steer from that resume framework, again, depends on your personal brand, your job target, and the challenges you need to overcome. Some of those resume strategies you can implement include:
- Adding a chart to showcase impact.
- A quote or endorsement to add credibility to your bragging rights.
- Layout in columns so that you give equal weight to some accomplishments.
The million-dollar question is, How?
Look through some of our executive resume samples for ideas.
Good luck!
Rosa Elizabeth Vargas
Top executive resume writer
