5 Proven Resume Tips for Leaders

Your resume is the first impression you make on a potential employer. When you are applying for a leadership role, your resume is one of the most important tools that you have. So it needs to be engaging and well-written, with the right content and format. Here are some tips to ensure that your resume makes the best possible impression:

Keep it concise: Aim for a length of one to two pages. As a standard rule - use one page for experience less than 10 years and two pages for experience over 10 years. Use bullet points to highlight your accomplishments and responsibilities, and avoid using dense blocks of text. 

Use a professional, easy-to-read format: Focus on readability and style. Your format should enhance the content and not take away from it. Create a resume design format that is clean and professional and demonstrates that you took the extra time to put together a polished presentation. 

Focus on your accomplishments: Instead of simply listing your job duties, highlight specific achievements and results you achieved in each role. Extract key metrics from your bullets and put them in a list to highlight your accomplishments separate from your responsibilities. Use action verbs to describe your responsibilities and accomplishments. 

Communicate your differentiators: Tell the reader how you achieved results. Articulate your approach to achieving success in your role so the reader can understand not only what you do but how you do it. 

Use keywords: Research the keywords that are relevant to the job you are applying for and include them in your resume. This will help your resume get noticed by applicant tracking systems (ATS) and hiring managers.