Pursuing a career as an executive often requires creating an effective resume that showcases your capabilities in leading companies toward achieving financial and operational success. When reading each job description, it can be essential to match your skills and responsibilities to the needs of each company so company executives can determine whether you're a good fit for an available role. Reviewing resume samples can also help ensure you include the right content sections and format your resume effectively.In this article, we share how to write an executive resume and provide tips and samples you can review when creating your own. When you're ready to apply for executive roles, you can upload a resume file or build an Indeed Resume.To upload the template into Google Docs, go to File > Open > and select the correct downloaded file.
How to write an executive resume
An executive resume can vary depending on the industry in which you're pursuing a role and the responsibilities listed in the job description. Regardless, there are common steps you can take to write an effective resume. Here are several steps you can take to write an executive resume:
1. Choose the right format
An effectively formatted executive resume can display your key qualifications, skills and achievements clearly so hiring managers can quickly learn about you. Consider using a reverse chronological format to show your most recent responsibilities and impacts first before listing previous roles. You can also verify that you use consistent margins on both sides and have consistently formatted headers for each section.Related:How To Create an Executive Resume Template (With Examples)
2. Include a header
A header provides other company executives a quick way to see who you are and how they might reach you. You might include your name in a larger or bold font along with your email address, phone number and location. If you have a link to a professional profile that contains more information than you mention on your resume, you can include this here.Related:How To Write Contact Information That Gets Your Resume Noticed
3. Write an effective professional summary
A short professional summary is your opportunity to highlight your key skills and achievements. You might describe your most relevant qualities and one or two of your most effective achievements. You can write this section in short fragments. In your summary, consider mentioning how many years of experience you have as an executive.Related:How To Write a Resume Summary Plus 5 Strong Examples [Video + Transcript]
4. Add your education
Your education section can contain the school where you graduated and the degree you earned. As most executive positions require at least a bachelor's or a master's degree, this shows you meet the minimum requirements. Executive degrees might be in business administration, finance or a subject related to your industry. If you have multiple degrees, you can list these in reverse chronological order.
5. List your skills
Listing your skills can show hiring executives what qualities you use to achieve your results. You can include both the soft and technical skills you've developed throughout your career. Highlighting areas like leadership and revenue growth can be effective for executive-level positions. You might also mention your expertise in planning, strategy and industry-specific knowledge that can show why you're the right fit for a role.Related:10 Best Skills To Include on a Resume (With Examples)
6. Highlight your professional experience
Your professional experience section is often the longest section where you describe your previous roles. You can list the jobs you've held, the companies for which you worked and the dates when you worked at each. Under these sections, you can list your key responsibilities and the impact of each. For example, you might mention that you devised a new investment strategy that produced a 10% increase in revenue. Active verbs and metrics can show hiring executives exactly what you've accomplished and what impact you had in previous roles.Related:How To Include Years of Experience on Your Resume
Tips for writing an executive resume
Here are some tips you can use when writing an executive resume:
Market yourself
Marketing yourself means making yourself seem like the most appealing executive candidate to a hiring company. To do this, consider the specific needs listed in the job description and cater your key qualifications to their needs. This means updating your resume for each position, noting the keywords in the job description, like skills and tasks, and matching them to your resume. This can help your resume get through any automated scans and highlight how exactly you could help them.Related:Tips for Making an Executive's Resume
Simplify the layout
A clean resume layout can help hiring executives navigate your qualifications easily. This can mean ensuring you have spacing between sections and consistent formatting and margins. Consider using plain text and the same fonts rather than a lot of design elements so executives can focus on the content of the resume. You can print out your resume to see if there is enough white space that keeps the content organized and easy to review.
Proofread your resume
As executives want to see your attention to detail and ability to create professional documents, proofreading can help show this. Consider reviewing it for spelling and grammar mistakes along with syntax to check that sentences are clear. You can use automatic grammar tools or perform your own edit when reviewing it for accuracy.
