When An Executive Resume in Not Enough

When An Executive Resume in Not Enough By Abby M. Locke

While an executive resume will always serve as the primary tool in your job search, increasing competition for top, high-paying jobs requires that you engage in new strategies for job search success.

Developing a portfolio that includes innovative, cutting-edge career marketing documents can really power up your job search and give you the boost that you need. The best approach is to create a series of one or two-page documents that provide the reader with an in-depth look at various aspects of your career progression. Like the executive resume, ROI career marketing documents must be targeted, contain relevant keywords and highlight critical career achievements that position you as the right candidate for the job.

Here are four ROI Career Documents to consider:

1. Career Biography: This is a synopsis of your entire career and education written in a narrative format and works well for networking contacts, speaking engagements, board positions and company websites. With a career biography, you only need to focus on top career achievements and milestones for each company; job responsibilities are generally summarized. When written in strong, active language, the career biography can be just as powerful and informative as the executive resume.

Here are the first two paragraphs from a career biography written for a Senior Consultant. Notice how the first paragraph ends with a summary statement that encapsulates a portion of his career and the consistent value he brings to various companies:

Daniel Allen brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the field of global outsourcing services. For the past six years, he has worked with Fortune 500 companies like Nike and ABN AMRO, where he efficiently met unique organizational and technological constraints to produce significant achievements in cost reduction, service delivery and internal process improvement.

Currently, as one of the Senior Consultants for the Global Advisory Services, Daniel is responsible for leading program management and project planning initiatives for growing companies seeking to secure outsourcing contracts in the global marketplace. He interfaces directly with senior management and C-level executives to strategize and devise effective measures including contract negotiation, agreement structuring, and operational level agreements for long-term ROI maximization.

2. Critical Leadership Initiatives: This one to two-page document is very popular with C-level executives as it allows them to showcase their top leadership and business strengths at work. When writing this ROI career document, make sure that you chose achievements from your entire career that demonstrate strategy planning, organizational leadership, staff development and business acumen - just to name a few. Use this document to show potential employers that you have broad-based expertise. Present each achievement in the Challenge-Action-Results (CAR) format as best as possible.

Here is a sample achievement from a critical leadership initiatives document written for a marketing executive:

Leadership Challenge: Revitalize a poor performing marketing department challenged with lackluster results, service underutilization and declining employee morale - VP of Corporate Marketing, ABC Business Corporation

Introduced company to new "market-driven" philosophy; revised existing marketing, branding and communication strategies; and instituted comprehensive public and community relations programs.

Bottom-line impact: Annual revenues surpassed $200 million goal in just two years and internal utilization of marketing department increased 200%.

3. Industry / Functional Profile: This ROI career document demonstrates and verifies your expertise and strengths in a particular industry or functional area. For example, this document can be focused on technology, marketing, M&A or business development. It is generally one page and gives evidence of specific qualifications and expertise; it’s also highly effective as a leave-behind document after an interview.

Again, using the Challenge-Action-Results format helps to "sell" your story. Here is an achievement used in a technology profile:

Technology Challenge: As VP, Information & Technology Services for ABC Enterprises, revitalize business operations constrained by spiraling technology costs, missed project deadlines and inconsistent team performance.

Actions: Conducted in-depth analysis to identify business "pain" points, assembled top performing individuals to serve on planning team, identified highest revenue-generating products and services and prioritized key business objectives.

Solution & Results: Secured management approval and $50 million to implement the company’s first IT strategy and technology roadmap over a three-year period. Subsequently introduced new processes that propelled double-digit cost reduction throughout the company.

4. Networking Resume: As the holidays approach and business activities slow down, your job search does not need to take a break. Armed with an effective, one-page networking resume, you can still catch the attention of recruiters and key decision makers. The networking resume is essentially a slimmed down version of your executive resume and it gives readers your top career achievements from each position/company. Below is the top portion of a networking resume:

SALES MANAGEMENT & MARKETING EXECUTIVE

Self-directed, motivated sales executive with distinctive track record of success in taking startup, turnaround and high growth companies to new levels. Astute business acumen coupled with solid customer relations and operations expertise ideal for securing new business opportunities, expanding customer base and achieving corporate goals.

Strategic Planning / P&L Management / New Product Launch & Positioning
Sales Initiatives / New Business Development / National & Regional Sales
Business Partners & Alliances / Customer Service & Retention / Marketing Plans

JOB TARGETS
Position Level: Executive Vice President / Senior Vice President / Director
Focus Areas: Sales, Marketing and New Business Development
Industries: Financial Services • High Technology • Manufacturing

Overall, you want to remember that the same amount of detail and effort should go into creating your ROI career documents as you would put into creating an executive resume. If your job search is starting to go in circles and/or you’re competing against the best of the best, try adding one of these ROI career documents to get you ahead of the competition.

Abby M. Locke, president of Premier Writing Solutions, is a Certified Executive Resume-Writer and Personal Brand Strategist who helps senior-level professionals and C-level executives achieve personal success with customized, branded executive resumes and career marketing documents. Her resume samples have been published in Nail the Resume! Great Tips for Creating Dynamic Resumes and Same-Day Resumes.