2018 Trends for Executive Resumes

John Krautzel
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Business executives need resumes too, despite vast amounts of technology and resources at their fingertips that help them to take their careers to the next level. Executive resumes must have modern updates to keep with the times. Take a look at some 2018 trends to keep your vital document at the forefront of people's minds as you look to lead a company.

Know Your Value

You must be able to convey your value to an employer, and executive resumes offer the avenue to do so. The trick is to make your value proposition as succinct as possible. Yes, you can talk for hours about how you brought Acme Brick to the next level of its corporate goals, but how did you do that? You have to show this on your resume before you get to the interview stage.

Support Your Evidence

Back up your value with hard numbers. Show how you took Acme to higher levels with statistics that support your claims. You can say you have excellent sales and communications skills that led a dedicated team of 30 people as they developed a new marketing strategy. However, you need to show what happened with that marketing strategy.

Instead, illustrate that Acme grew revenues of 10 percent quarter-over-quarter for three years while you were the head of the marketing department. You could also employ hard sales figures to illustrate your point. Make sure your supervisor at your past job can verify these results.

Customize Your Resume

Executive resumes must contain customized content for each role and company to which you apply. Whoever reads your resume wants to know what you bring to the table, and quickly, because that person has a lot of resumes to read through before narrowing the field. A succinct career summary page at the top of your resume bears out your most important attributes as they relate to a particular position.

Show Results First

You make tons of value-added statements in your executive resume. These statements must have a lot of numbers front-loaded into them. Start sentences with statistics and then follow up those numbers with your values. For example, "Increased revenue at Acme Brick by $10 million in 18 months through a targeted marketing campaign, increasing sales tools and hiring top talent." Rather than saying what you did first, you put the hard numbers first to strengthen your position.

Adapt for Applicant Trackers

Even executive resumes face applicant tracking systems. Adapt your document to employ the right keywords and terminology so your document makes it through the screening process. Study the job description and customize your resume accordingly with each position.

The overall key to executive resumes for 2018 trends is to strike the right balance between standing out and looking good. A resume format should not sacrifice content and hard results. Your document should clearly show how you developed your career in terms of the position at hand.


Photo courtesy of Career Coaching at Flickr.com

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