It’s About Time: Why good executives are stuck with bad resumes
As an executive, you are by definition great at business. You own your lane in the road, whether it be operations, technology, innovation, or marketing. But when it comes to telling your story on paper in a powerful way, you come up short.
The No. 1 barrier to resume effectiveness?
Time.
Executing a deep dive into your executive resume seems nearly impossible in between back-to-back meetings and critical projects. By the time you pop your head up for oxygen, the day is spent and you are focused on indulging in some well-deserved family time.
So how can you put time to work for you? How can you sift through the endless distractions of the day to carve out some personal marketing time?
Read on for three reasons good executives find themselves stuck with bad resumes – and for tips on how you can overcome the barrier of time.
1 Time is Not on Your Side
Odds are, you’re a bit like the fabled shoemaker devoting so much energy to taking care of the business at hand – in your case, transitions, innovations, company culture, and personnel issues – and no real time on yourself or your happiness.
Before you know it, your personal marketing materials have been left unattended for years and you’re left badly underprepared for a career pivot that could change your life. Neglecting your executive resume for too long can leave you spinning your wheels on an uphill battle to get back on track. And with the job market clicking like it is now, time is of the essence.
Understanding your time limitations is the first step to overcoming them. Working with a certified resume writer is a great way to delegate the responsibility of refining your personal marketing materials with a minimal time investment.
2 The “Wins” Gap
It’s not that you lack the ingenuity or the ability to create a dynamic resume, it’s just that you struggle in explaining your wins.
When a baseball player hits a game-winning home run, sportswriters want to know about his approach at the plate and the pitch he hit. No one asks about his third-inning single or seventh-inning diving catch. The most important thing for him to cover in postgame interviews is his home run.
Do you struggle with the “wins” gap? Is your resume focused on too many details about unnecessary projects rather than zeroing in on the monumental wins in your career?
Tell recruiters and hiring managers about your home runs. They dig the long ball.
3 Overcoming Paralysis by Analysis
At Resume Footprint, many of our executive clients are fully capable of telling their own story but completely paralyzed on where to start. They find themselves stuck in neutral when it comes to overhauling their personal marketing materials.
Meanwhile, great job announcements are passing them by on a daily basis, being awarded to executive candidates who have invested in having their resumes and LinkedIn profiles professionally written.
Your resume is more than a paper or digital story of your professional life. It’s a personal marketing document that can help open doors in your industry.
When it comes to rebranding yourself and making your personal marketing materials stage-ready, time can be your best friend or biggest enemy. Start working with a professional today.
It’s about time.