Modernizing your resume for executive IT leadership
This not only helps create a more cohesive narrative for the resume, but also ensures it will stand out and be “more likely to be read on a quick first review,” says Van Vreede.
This not only helps create a more cohesive narrative for the resume, but also ensures it will stand out and be “more likely to be read on a quick first review,” says Van Vreede. You want to establish your professional brand right from the start, and lead with the most compelling information to hook the reader.
Brevity makes a difference
The candidate, who felt their original resume was “too long and detailed,” wanted an updated resume that better reflected their “current role as an executive leader” in a more succinct manner. Here, Van Vreede says that applying a “strategic content and messaging focus” throughout a resume is the key to streamlining decades of experience into a professional brand.
For instance, on the candidate’s original resume, each job included an extensive list of often repetitive or outdated information. Moreover, the candidate’s career history on the original resume went back to 1997, with multiple bullet points for each position. In the revised version, Van Vreede condensed the oldest work experiences to a list of job titles under the heading “Select Additional Experience.” In this section, he also highlighted a few key accomplishments, removing everything that was outdated. Under the “Professional Experience” section, Van Vreede included the candidate’s four most recent positions, with the most space devoted to highlighting their two most recent positions.
In making these choices, Van Vreede emphasized the candidate’s CIO career path. For example, including the candidate’s two positions as business operations manager in their Professional Experience section outlines how these two positions led to the candidate’s later positions as director of IT operations and technology and CIO, the descriptions of which include far more detail and bullet points because they’re the most relevant to the candidate’s sought-after role.
For the candidate’s experience as a business operations manager, Van Vreede focused on accomplishments such as “championed cloud enablement, elevated organizational culture, and drove revenue and profit attainment surpassing business objectives.” These help demonstrate how the candidate’s path to leadership began, in managerial roles where they began flexing their leadership and strategic skills. It makes it easy to see how the candidate eventually found their way to the C-suite, highlighting their earliest accomplishments in these relevant areas.
The final result
It’s common to struggle with understanding which accomplishments to highlight on your resume, but thanks to the resume makeover process, the candidate says that Van Vreede helped them see how they were underselling themselves.
“I was impressed by the expert’s professionalism, expertise, and feedback. They were very supportive, attentive, and responsive throughout the process. I enjoyed the collaboration and communication with the expert. They listened to my needs, goals, and preferences and incorporated them into my resume,” says the candidate, who also noted that Van Vreede offered valuable tips on how to tailor the resume for different positions and industries.
“I learned a lot from the process, such as how to highlight my achievements, skills, and keywords, format and structure my resume, and tailor it for different opportunities,” the candidate says. “Thanks to the resume rewrite process, I feel more confident and prepared for my job search. I think it gave me a competitive edge and a positive impression.”
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