It may surprise you to know that many of the Chief Marketing Officers I speak with tell me that, although they’re masters at marketing their companies’ products, they need help marketing themselves in their resumes.
They’re often quite embarrassed by this.
They send me the latest draft of their home-grown resume that they’ve been tweaking to death.
But it’s falling flat. It’s not getting them interviews.
They tell me they know the value they have to offer, but aren’t very good at communicating it in their resume, to get the attention they deserve.
To be fair, all of this is very new to them.
Most have never needed a resume, as they progressed through their careers. They were in demand by recruiters, or their networks helped them easily slide from one job to the next.
Or, it’s been more than 5 years since they’ve had to look for a job, so they have no experience with the new world of executive job search.
I reassure them that many, many other job seekers like them have trouble writing their own resumes.
Most people find it difficult to distance themselves enough to objectively assess and strategically position themselves.
And, because most also don’t understand today’s resume strategy, they don’t know how it should look, what to include, what to exclude and what to highlight.
I discuss with them how job search has changed in just the past few years, and that, although resumes are still very important, these days their resume may not be their first introduction to the people they need to attract.
Most recruiters and hiring decision-makers source and assess candidates by what they find in online searches of candidates’ names and relevant keywords that lead them to job seekers.
These hiring professionals probably know about them well before a resume is exchanged, unless the candidate has little or no online presence and is basically invisible.
I also stress that, since these people search LinkedIn first, before using other search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) when they’re sourcing and vetting candidates, they’d better be there too, with online profiles that provide supporting evidence.
I tell them that they’ll still need a resume as they’re networking, and at some point in the hiring process.
As they pull together information for their resume, they should keep in mind that they’ll need to spread this information out across their other career marketing communications – executive biography, case studies, other documents, LinkedIn profile and other online career materials.
Here are some of the reasons these CMOs’ resumes aren’t working:
1. They fail to position themselves as the best hiring choice for their target employers.
They’re trying to appeal to various types of employers and industries, so their resume is too generic, and doesn’t hit home with anyone.
2. They don’t understand how personal branding will differentiate them and generate chemistry for them as a good-fit candidate.
There’s no personality evident. The summary at the top of the resume could fit just about any CMO. Sameness doesn’t sell a candidate these days. Differentiation does.
3. They fail to capture attention above the fold.
The top quarter or third of their resume doesn’t stand on its own as their calling card. If they don’t get the readers’ attention within 10 to 15 seconds, they’ve probably sabotaged their chance.
4. They’ve loaded their resume with anemic, brand-diluting phrases.
5. (Even worse than the above) They copy content from resume samples published online.
I’ve actually been sent resumes by CMOs that contained large chunks of information copied from resume samples on my own websites.
6. They try to cram every bit of their career history into a 2 page resume.
They’ve heard that they can’t go over 2 pages, but visual appeal is important. Too much information on the page, in a tiny font size, and without enough white space, sacrifices readability and can dissuade readers from paying any attention to the content.
7. Their resume contains grammatical errors and typos.
An obvious one, but surprisingly prevalent. They’ll sometimes bounce back and forth from first person to third person voice. Typos are unacceptable and reflect badly on candidates. I often see misspellings of the person’s job title. “Manger” for “Manager” shows up often.
8. They try to impress with dizzying formatting.
The look is not clean, doesn’t entice the reader, and may even give them a headache. Avoid using more than 2 different fonts – one for headings, another for the content. Don’t use underlining, unless you’re including a hyperlink. Avoid too much bolding, italicizing and capitalizing.
Related posts:
How to Write An Irresistible C-level Executive Resume in 10 Steps
What NOT To Put in Your C-level Executive Resume
Top 10 Executive Resume Branding Tips
photo by marc falardeau
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