how to write an executive level resume

• • Developed and executed strategic communication plans for 10+ major tech clients, resulting in a 30% increase in brand visibility.
• • Managed a team of 15+ account executives, fostering a collaborative environment that boosted team productivity by 40%.
• • Secured media coverage in top-tier technology and business outlets, increasing client exposure by 50%.
• • Managed 8+ key tech accounts, leading to a 25% increase in client retention.
• • Coordinated with cross-functional teams to execute strategic plans, resulting in a 35% increase in project success rate.
• • Secured speaking opportunities for clients at major industry events, boosting brand recognition by 30%.
• • Handled 5+ major tech accounts, leading to a 20% increase in client satisfaction.
• • Worked closely with teams to execute strategic plans, boosting project success rate by 30%.
• • Secured media coverage for clients in top-tier outlets, increasing brand visibility by 40%.

17 Executive Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

Your executive resume must showcase your leadership experience. Highlight the results you’ve driven at previous organizations. Demonstrate your strategic planning abilities. Clarify how your decisions have led to long-term success.

All resume examples in this guide

Alliance Manager

Chief Executive Officer

Chief Financial Officer

Chief of Staff

Department Head

Department Manager

Executive Director

Executive Manager

Fractional CEO

Functional Manager

Vice President

Board of Directors

Resume guide.

How to Write an Executive Resume

Resume Header Tips

Resume Summary

Resume Experiece Section

C-Level Skill Section

Resume Education Section

Resume Certificates

How to Write a Senior Level Resume

Do You Need a Resume Writer?

Additional Sections

Key takeaways

So you want an Executive resume that sets you apart.

But things changed in a big way. All the talk now is about these robo-scanning systems that won't even register resumes that don't fit their obscure guidelines.

And once you submit your executive resume, it will be reviewed by an army of recruiters who are relentlessly looking for the right combination of skill, achievement, and experience.

The next person it gets forwarded to is a member of a search committee who won’t bother reviewing it twice.

Somehow your Executive resume has to work on all three levels.

Bad news is that it's tough. Good news is that it’s possible.

This guide will show you:

• Executive resume example that gets high-profile interviews 9 out of 10 times.
• What specific things recruiters want to see in your Executive resume and how to use that to your advantage
• How to convey your excellent leadership and visionary skills on a piece of paper (i.e. how to make your resume speak)
• How to make sure your Executive resume stands out while passing automated resume scanning systems in 2024

Looking for a specific C-Level resume?

• Marissa Mayer Resume
• VP of Sales Resume
• VP of Business Development Resume
• VP of Marketing Resume

How to write an executive resume to land more interviews

Writing an executive resume doesn’t follow your typical resume writing process.

Your Executive resume should not be about simply listing previous jobs and skills — companies are looking beyond that in their future executives.

You are their next leader, and your Executive resume should achieve at least three key objectives:

Demonstrate tangible impact.

Bragging with years of experience as a C-level manager won’t impress anyone. Your resume should demonstrate the real impact of your work, as recruiters won’t be looking for someone who simply adjusts to their environment. They’re looking for someone who can lead and change things for the better. Bad example: Managed a team of 30 engineers. Good example: Coordinated the work of more than 30 engineers in the development, testing, and production phases of a $10M project in the aero composite niche. More examples and tips in the Experience section. Hint: use resume action verbs to captivate recruiters and form the best first impression.

Convey a strong personal brand with unique differentiators.

Your resume is not just a marketing tool — it's a storytelling device. If you want to increase the chances of landing a job tenfold, align your personal story with the company's brand. Executives are too often a part of their company’s brand.

Are you tech-savvy genius with exceptional instincts for trends? A roll-up-the-sleeves guy on the frontline? Make sure your personal brand aligns well with the company brand.

Here’s how to establish a career-winning personal brand in your Executive resume:

• Identify key accomplishments and skill scenarios in the top-third of your resume
• Include industry-unique resume keywords to build relevance and authority
• Differentiate yourself from other candidates by showing off your unique differentiators.

More details on how to do that in later sections.

Provide consistent excellence throughout the entire recruitment process.

The process of hiring someone for an executive role involves multiple interviews and stages.At every stage your executive resume will be read by several people for the first time. That means your resume should not be a one-time wonder — it has to consistently WIN on every level: during automated ATS resume scans , manual checks by a hiring manager, and elaborate analysis by C-suite stakeholders.

Here’s how to turn your Executive resume into a golden ticket on every stage:

• Format, format, format. With a clever use of white space, layout, color , font , bold text, and headers, you can make your resume extremely attractive for both humans and robots.
• Use snippets of your resume to enhance your social profiles. Create consistency across various recruitment channels (LinkedIn, personal website, professional profile) to become memorable and project a consistent message.
• Don’t fall for a one-page resume myth . Entry-level candidates should have a one-page resume. Tech professionals can have a one-page resume. But executives with 15+ and 20+ years of excellence, industry awards, authority publications, and hard-won leadership skills? It's possible , but not applicable in every case. Even though we are strong advocates of the “more with less” approach, you won’t benefit from cutting out your best resume bits simply because you heard that one-page resume is good for someone.

The executive resume guide helps you write one that gets approved by both robotic ATS systems and human recruiters . We'll examine key areas of your resume to make sure it stands out and aligns with the company you're applying for.

Here are the sections that your Executive resume will include:

The 6 most important sections of your resume

• A properly formatted header
• A concise and impactful summary
• An experience section tailored to the specific job
• Custom sections based on your experience
• Education & certificates sections

What recruiters want to see in your resume

• Are you a good leader with all the necessary skills for the job?
• Is your position consistent and strong throughout your whole resume?
• Are you a good fit not only in the short-term perspective, but also for the years to come?
• Do you have a solid personal brand and how well does it align with the company’s?
• Can you make an impact, and is there any evidence that you're capable of leading for success?

Your executive resume starts with a header. Let’s make sure it’s properly formatted and doesn't turn recruiters away.

Resume header: make sure recruiters keep reading

We’ll start with the obvious: there are many executive roles in a company.

You have CEO (chief executive officer), COO (chief operating officers), CTO (chief technical officer), CIO, CISO, CSO, and the list goes on.

And yes, there’s a lot of overlapping responsibilities between these jobs. A CIO in one company sometimes can transition to COO/CTO in another.

Despite that, it’s extremely important to use the same title in Header that the job you’re applying for uses, because COO and CIO in the same company do absolutely different things.

You must avoid using more than one title, even if you were working under both titles at one point in your career. This sends mixed signals to recruiters.

It goes without saying that your Header should include your contact details, but many applicants only give their phone number and email address.

Today almost every recruiter checks your LinkedIn profile along with your resume. Include the link to your profile in a header to control the narrative. A well-crafted LinkedIn profile with many connections makes you appear more credible and trustworthy. Check your executive resume and LinkedIn profile to make sure the work history is cohesive. Also, enhance your LinkedIn profile with some bits from your resume to ensure consistency.

If you don't have a developed LinkedIn profile, don’t link to an empty one. It’s better to link to your personal portfolio website or active membership profile in an authoritative, industry-specific network.

Point is, the link should work for you, not against you. But we strongly recommend to start working on your LinkedIn profile ASAP.

Here’s an example of a header that doesn’t work well:

2 executive resume header examples

Here we’ll include link to a Linkedin social profile, as well as use only one title that the job description mentions:

Check out our guide on perfecting your resume header with industry-leading examples !

Now let's engage recruiters even further with an impactful Summary section.

Resume summary: Instantly stand out at every stage

The Summary section can have an incredibly powerful effect on your resume, but it works both ways.

If your Summary section is short, engaging, and relevant to the position, it will engage recruiters and create a lasting positive effect on how they perceive the rest of your resume. Think of the Halo effect.

If your Summary section is long, tedious, and full of fluff, recruiters might not even bother reading further. A major benefit of the Summary section is that you can easily adjust it to every position that you’re applying for once you get the basics of writing it.

Here are some tips to make your Executive Summary section stand out and create a good momentum with recruiters:

• Keep it short. Two or three sentences should be enough to grab someone’s attention. If you’re going beyond that, either rephrase or use other sections to provide more details, e.g. Achievements or Experience sections.
• Keep it relevant . This is going to be recurring advice, but learn as much as possible about the company you’re applying for before writing a resume. What are their values? Are they growing? Are they in crisis?Summary is the first section where your research pays off. If you think the company needs a crisis manager, mention how you were able to transform a struggling business.If the company is a promising startup or a rapidly expanding network, make sure to mention your experience of scaling businesses and navigating a fluid business environment. Mention industry-specific experience relevant to the job to get some bonus points.
• Keep it impactful. Don’t simply brag about your qualities. Provide results and achievements. Instead of writing how you spent 10 years in marketing or corporate leadership, share what the company was able to achieve with your guidance.

Here’s an example of a tedious, self-centered Summary section that makes employers and hiring managers roll their eyes:

2 executive resume summary examples

And here is an example of an engaging summary section to persuade readers to read further:

If you’re applying for another executive position, for example Chief Marketing Officer, follow the aforementioned advice but adjust it to the exact responsibilities of your future role.

Below is an example:

Want to learn more about crafting unique and engaging Summary sections? Check out our Perfect Summary guide with 30+ industry-specific examples .

We’ll now move forward to the bread-and-butter of your Executive resume, the Experience section.

Resume experience section: maximum efficiency word for word

The Experience section is the most elaborate and extensive section of your Executive resume, and recruiters will be returning to it several times throughout the whole recruitment process.

At first they’ll skim through it to understand whether you have a relevant experience, and leadership skills. This is where the most candidates will be filtered out.

During the next phase they will check whether your resume contains specific results and workflows that led you to achieving those results. They’ll be asking themselves: is this someone we need right now?

During the final round of checks, they’ll be comparing it with other candidates and see if you’re a good fit not only in the short perspective, but for years to come.

It doesn’t help that the Experience section is one of the hardest to write because executives have to squeeze in decades of experience in just one page, and make sure there’s still a place left for other impactful sections.

Let’s talk about what you need to include in your Experience section to get more calls, and what better should be left out of it.

Everything you mention in your Executive resume experience section falls into three main categories:

• Buzzwords (resume keywords)

Results are the most impactful component of your experience section. Your achievements should be quantified, otherwise it’s just a string of words. Use numbers for more impact.  Bad example: increased company’s presence on the education CRM market

Good example: over 3 years grew revenue in educational and mortgage segments by 300%

It’s important what kind of results you prioritise. Carefully study job requirements to understand what are the current company goals. Is it cost-efficiency? Workplace innovation? Or a new product launch? Prioritise results that are more relevant.

Workflows are what you did to achieve the results, or circumstances. Those are a perfect opportunity to hint at your core qualifications.

Workflows will reveal your subject matter experience, leadership and strategic qualities, and core competence in driving financial and operational results. You should describe workflows as challenges that you overcome. Use these questions to help to uncover some gems:

How did you contribute to the success of a company in a way that others didn't or wouldn't? What did you do that made the company better, more profitable, more efficient, and more competitive? How did your work benefit your coworkers and clients? What ideas of yours changed the course of events? Again, carefully study job requirements to understand which workflows will play a bigger role. No two companies are the same, so executives’ responsibilities will vary based on the company's size, industry, structure, and culture.

Buzzwords, or resume keywords, are largely defined by trends in every industry, and you can use them to quickly bring your resume up to date and target companies that are looking for very specific competencies.

Examples of buzzwords per industry: distance learning in education, crisis management in travel industry, managing distributed teams in real estate, machine learning and agile practices in IT, and so on.

Don’t overuse trendy words though, and especially don’t insert them blindly just to impress executive recruiters. Use only those skills that you have hands-on experience with.

Again, study job requirements to understand what kind of buzzwords may play into your hands.

For the best results, combine results, workflows, and buzzwords. Study job description and put more relevant workflows on top.

Here’s an example of vague experience section which is more focused on circumstances of work rather than results:

Executive resume experience examples

• • Established and built relationships with top leaders in the market
• • Directed and oversaw financial and budgetary activities
• • Direct the company in keeping with the vision outlined for the company by the Board of Directors

Here’s an experience section optimized for impact with relevant results and comprehensive workflows:

• • Established and built relationships with top leaders in the market, including those representing the highest levels in business, government and non-profit sectors, growing export revenue by 300%
• • Ensured coordination and alignment of all company activities to strategic direction in the areas of resource development and staff alignment, reducing department costs by 25% two years consecutively
• • Planned, organized, directed, and evaluated labor and administrative policies and operations that brought company from state leaders to country leaders.

Here’s an example of how the Experience section might look if you’re applying for a CTO position.

Notice that it contains more buzzwords and technical terms that were revealed after studying the company background and its key products:

• • Established, communicated, and developed a clear action plan for the new vision of Technology Department, reducing $4M annually on operating expenses
• • Facilitated in planning and release of 4 strategic company products that led to 23% increased ML-based CRM solutions market share
• • Increased client satisfaction on a company-wide level by 400% after implementing a set of advanced real-time reporting system for monitoring support staff performance

Beware of “death by bullets”, or using more than five bullet points in a row when describing your experience, otherwise your resume becomes unreadable. If you have too many bullet points, consider rewriting the section or adding short paragraphs of text in between.

C-Level skill section: What recruiters really like to see here

Every executive role involves a wide range of skills. Add to that 15 years of experience on average and every executive can easily fill up a blank page simply listing all the skills they possess.

Don’t fall into this trap. No one will be reading that much. And the impact behind every skill will be diminished by the sheer amount of them.

The best thing you every candidate for an executive role can do is to prioritise skills that are needed the most for a given job, and then group those skills into broader categories.

Bad example: high performance under stress, predictive planning, negotiation, monitoring, critical thinking, etc.

Replace with: Crisis Management: Preserved company’s market share and net profit during the outbreak while the average competitor lost 10-20% of their income.

After you narrow down the most important skill categories, make sure to put those into context, because this is the most convincing way to demonstrate that you really have them.

For most executive roles, apart from Chief Technology officer, soft skills are a priority, so list them first.

Here’s an example how to list soft skills on your Executive resume:

How to describe soft skills on your resume

Below are some skills that you can group in your Skill section:

Soft skills list for C-suite resumes

• Communication
• Strategic management
• Strategic partnerships
• Resource development
• Analytical approach
• Financial management
• Presentation skills
• Revenue Growth
• Coordination
• Active listening
• Time management
• Problem solving
• Strategic planning
• Innovative thinking
• Quality control
• Lean/Growth mindset
• Collaboration
• Risk management
• Process organization
• Policy development

What you need to know about hard skills

The amount of technical skills you need to mention in your resume will largely depend on the specific role.

Chief innovation officer, chief technical officer and chief information officer are expected to be more tech savvy than other executive positions, so listing some key technical skills would be of help.

Same goes for any executive role in IT-related companies vs other industries.

But mostly try to focus on your management skills and achievements associated with them.

Resume education section: do you need it?

Although experience is deemed far more important than education history for any executive position, you’ll rarely find a job that doesn’t require at least a bachelor's degree.

Education requirements vary from job to job. Some companies require a Master's degree in business or related field.

If you don’t have a relevant degree it might be substituted with an advanced business training, such as MBA. Make sure to put it before other information on education in your resume.

Resume certificates: which ones are the best

Certificates aren’t a decisive factor for an Executive resume, but they can strengthen your overall profile.

Note that chief technology officer and chief operations officer will have a different portfolio of certificates, although there are general leadership certificates that any executive resume can benefit from.

Below are some examples:

Top 5 executive certificates for your resume

• Harvard Kennedy School Executive Certificates
• Harvard Business School Certificate of Management Excellence
• MIT Executive Certificate
• Cornell University Executive Leadership
• Michigan State University’s Business Leadership and Management

How to write a senior executive resume?

• Target your resume to the position. It’s imperative that you tailor your executive resume to the position and the company that hires you. Don’t just demonstrate that you have the needed skills. Use the Experience and Summary section to demonstrate that you overcame challenges similar to what they experience right now. Often companies switch leadership in time of crisis and uncertainty. Learn more about the target company’s recent challenges and use this information to build authority and relevance.
• Make the most impact with the top-third of your resume . Your senior executive resume is going to be long, but to make sure people will read all of it you need to give them a motivation. Use the top third section to present your key achievements and skills.
• Maximise the impact of your third page. There’s no need to describe all the jobs you had over the span of a 20 or 30+ year career. This will certainly eat all the pages on your senior executive resume. Instead, use the last page of your resume to showcase your unique identifiers and set yourself apart: list awards, publications you were featured in, research projects, and lifetime accomplishments.

Having problems packing all your years of experience in a resume? Check out our guide on resume length .

Additional sections to boost your resume special sauce

Your executive resume provides impact and demonstrates that you have all the necessary skills to be successful in your work.

It’s time to stand out of your competition and leave a lasting impression with custom sections.

Here are some custom sections that you can use to highlights your leadership skills and build your personal brand even further:

Achievements / Highlights

Every executive with many years of experience undoubtedly had career highlights that deserve attention.

It’s important to keep this section focused on specific achievements and not just brag about yourself.

Those achievements may include: prestigious business awards, work achievements, and even published books relevant to the job.

Our selected resume template above is from one of our successful clients, William H. Saito , who used custom sections to build a strong personal brand and hint at holistic development of his leadership skills.

Day of My Life

If you feel creative and confident in the rest of your resume, you can provide a personal touch with a “Day of My Life” section. This section is extremely powerful as it can help you demonstrate your human side and integrity.

Coupled with your achievements and work results from other sections, this is a great way to show your ability at following work and life balance, balance priorities, and sustain integrity.

A great example of this section in use is our Marissa Mayer’s resume which not only went viral and got a great number of positive responses, but also attracted attention from leaders of a business world, such as Mark Cuban.

• Approach resume writing process not only for marketing, but also for building your personal brand and forming unique selling proposition;
• Make sure the brand you build aligns well with the company that you want to work with;
• Strive to demonstrate impact with every section of your executive resume using results, achievements, and confident language;
• Stand out from the crowd of other candidates with custom sections that drive your personal brand even further and demonstrate you as all-round person;
• Make sure to study the job requirements and the company’s history before applying as it will help you make your resume much more aligned with their vision of who will lead their company.

Executive resume examples

Explore additional executive resume samples and guides and see what works for your level of experience or role.

Looking to build your own Executive resume?

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Executive Resume Example for 2024 [Free Templates]

Being in charge of entire departments comes with a whole set of advantages - high impact, lots of responsibilities, interesting work, high pay, and so on.

Being an executive, though, does not mean you get to skip out on the job search process. You still need to create an executive resume and cover letter and apply for jobs.

And creating an executive resume comes with its own special types of hurdles. 

Most conventional resume-writing advice does not apply here, leaving you with a ton of questions:

• With so much work experience under your belt, how can you make your executive resume as impactful as possible?
• Do you limit yourself to one page (which is the industry standard), or can you go over it?
• How detailed does your work experience have to be, and do you include positions from a decade back?

In this article, we’re going to answer all these questions and more!

To help you write the executive resume, we’ll cover: 

• How Is an Executive Resume Different?

How to Write a Compelling Executive Resume in 9 Steps

• 17 Relevant Skills for Executives

Executive Resume Example

Before we dig into the steps you need to take to create a convincing executive resume, let’s cover an example, so you know what it looks like:

The executive resume example above does everything right, including: 

• Reverse-chronological resume format. The executive resume example above uses the reverse-chronological resume format to highlight this executive’s impressive work experience.
• Attention-grabbing resume summary. This executive resume example contains an impressive resume summary that emphasizes the candidate’s passions, strengths, and industry-related achievements. 
• Focus on work achievements. The executive resume example above highlights the candidate’s most noteworthy achievements , which helps them stand out from other candidates only listing their responsibilities. 
• Concise education section. This executive resume example doesn’t go into too much detail in the executive’s education section and instead simply lists the candidate’s most recent and relevant degrees. 
• Good use of bullet points. This executive resume example uses bullet points to structure and present information, making the resume well-structured and easy to read. 
• Well-structured skills section. Instead of listing all skills in one column, this executive resume example only includes the most relevant skills for the executive position and divides them into soft and hard skills.
• Certifications. The executive resume example above lists all of the candidate’s industry-related certifications. 
• Additional sections. This executive resume example includes the candidate’s proficiency in foreign languages and their memberships to help them stand out from other candidates with similar work experience and education. 

How Is an Executive Resume Different? 

Executive positions are nothing like normal jobs, so it only makes sense for an executive resume to be different from a normal resume too. 

But what exactly are those differences? Here are the most important ones you should know about: 

• Resume length . As an executive, you probably have much more work experience than your average candidate. As such, you don’t have to fit it all on one page; as a rule of thumb, the executive resume can be two pages, with a maximum of three.
• Data-focused achievements. The last thing recruiters want to see in an executive resume is a list of your responsibilities. If you want to stand out from your competitors, you have to show exactly how you improved the company, optimally by providing data and evidence. 
• Conventional format. If you’re applying for an executive position, it’s your resume content that should impress recruiters, not its format. Meaning, that although your executive resume should be well-organized, with ample white space, and with impeccable grammar and spelling, a simple, conventional, black-and-white design should be more than enough. As an executive, there’s no need to go overboard with fancy fonts and creative designs . 
• Tailored to the position. Most executives - and especially the senior ones - have a rich work history that could probably fill out more than three pages. That, however, would be counterproductive (both for you and the hiring manager). So, the key here is to tailor your work experience to the target position. Yes, you might have had amazingly valuable work experiences as a team lead from twenty years back, but unless they’re super relevant for the position you’re applying for, you might as well leave them out of your resume. As a rule of thumb, don’t go further back than your last 15 years of employment on your executive resume (some exceptions may apply). 
• Selected achievements. Yes, you’re an executive. But you’re also competing against other executives with plenty of achievements. To make your achievements stand out, add a Selected Achievements section right below your resume summary and list 3-4 accomplishments you’re especially proud of (and don’t forget to back them up with hard data). 

Now let’s go over each section of a successful executive resume, step by step: 

#1. Format Your Executive Resume Right

How your executive resume looks is just as important as what it contains. After all, before you impress recruiters with your achievements, you have to get them to read them. 

A messy, cluttered resume, however, might just have the opposite effect. 

This is where formatting comes in! 

The first thing to know is that the reverse chronological format is the most suitable for executives among the three most popular resume formats (the other two being the functional and combination formats) . 

That’s because it is both the most popular among recruiters and the most suitable for candidates with a lot of work experience. 

Here’s an example of the reverse-chronological resume format: 

Additionally, make sure that you follow these layout tips:

• Use clear headings to identify the sections in your resume (e.g. H2 or H3). Alternatively, use a bigger font size for your headers and bold them. 
• Choose the right font style and size to ensure your executive resume looks professional. For example, Overpass is a formal and classic font perfect for executives in conservative industries.
• Don’t forget to save your resume as a PDF file (unless specifically requested to deliver it in another format). PDFs remain the same no matter the device or Operating System used to view your resume and look much more professional than, say, MS Word files. 

Use an Executive Resume Template (& Save Time on Formatting)

Creating a compelling executive resume from scratch can take you hours, especially if you’re using outdated tools like Microsoft Word.

And as a busy executive, time is something you don’t have.

Want to create a well-designed, eye-catching resume within less than 5 minutes?

Use one of our resume templates ! 

You can choose among 8 free resume templates - executive resume template included and 8 Premium templates. 

With Nóvóresume’s free resume builder , you get to skip out on all the resume formatting hassle and focus on what matters - the resume contents.

#2. Add Your Contact Information

The contact information section on a resume is as straightforward as it gets, so you might as well get it out of the way first. 

That said, this section is as essential as it is straightforward, so make sure to double and triple-check that it contains no typos. 

After all, you don’t want a recruiter not to be able to contact you just because of a typo on your phone number.

Here’s what this section must include: 

• First and last name.
• Professional title.
• Updated phone number. 

Additionally, you can also include your LinkedIn profile ’s URL and a link to your personal portfolio or website, if you have one. 

The same goes for your personal website or portfolio, which can effectively give recruiters a more in-depth look at who you are and what your strengths are.

87% of recruiters check candidates’ LinkedIn profiles during the hiring process. So, we’d recommend optimizing your LinkedIn profile to reflect your executive profile and achievements! 

Here’s an example of an executive resume’s contact information section: 

Michelle Larkins Chief Financial Officer [email protected] 123-123-2233 Silicon Valley, California

#3. Write an Attention-Grabbing Resume Summary

The resume summary is among the first things recruiters notice and it serves as a short intro to your professional profile and, specifically, the highlights of your career. 

Typically, here’s what this 2 or 3-sentence long paragraph includes: 

• Your experience
• Your skills
• Your professional background
• Your accomplishments

Nailing your resume summary is a must if you want recruiters to dig deeper into your executive resume. Just remember to keep it short and sweet with some of your most noteworthy achievements and notable skills. 

Here’s an example of a great executive resume summary: 

• CMO with 7+ years of experience in developing and overseeing promotional marketing campaigns. Coming from a long career in public affairs and digital marketing strategies, I am now Executive Vice President at NewEast Inc. Winner of the 2021 Global Best of the Best Effie Award. 

#4. Add a Selected Achievements Section 

If you were to choose, you’d probably want recruiters to notice your career highlights right off the bat, instead of having to look for them. 

Well, as an executive, you can do just that by adding a Selected Achievements Section. 

Positioned between your resume summary and your work experience, a Selected Achievements section can give recruiters a quick preview of your most noteworthy achievements and get them to look deeper into your executive resume. 

As such, think about the highlights of your career - between two and five achievements you’re particularly proud of - and list them in bullets on your executive resume. 

Here is an example of an executive’s Selected Achievements section:

• Was the youngest person to be promoted to CFO in the company in 40 years. 
• Led company-wide initiatives that won me the Strategy Execution Award and the Young CFO of the Year Award.

#5. Focus Your Work Experience Section on Your Achievements

The work experience section is going to be the highlight of your executive resume.

This particular section is exactly where you show off years worth of experience and achievements. 

Here’s how you should do it: 

• Start with your current or most recent position and go backward from there. 
• For every work entry, list your professional title, company name, the dates you worked there, and 4-6 of your achievements in bullet points. 
• The further back you go in your work history, the fewer achievements you need to list. For jobs going 5+ years back, you can save resume space and just list 1-2 of your most notable accomplishments. 
• When listing your achievements, make sure to make them as quantifiable as possible. For example, instead of writing “improved company stock,” you can write “increased company stock by 15% within a one-year period.” 
• Give your work experience section an active voice by using action verbs such as “achieved,” “managed,” “increased,” “led,” “emphasized,” etc. 
• Tailor your work experience section to as many jobs as you’re applying for. So, if you’re applying for more than one position, use your diverse work experience to customize your resume based on the job you’re applying for, as opposed to submitting a one-fits-all executive resume. 

It’s actually pretty simple, right? Here’s a concrete example of an executive’s work experience section:

Chief Human Resources Officer XYZ Inc. 02/2018 - 06/2022

• Successfully led teams of +200 employees in 4 locations. 
• Updated the company’s talent acquisition strategy, leading to a 20% increase in the number of people hired in 2021.
• Improved company inclusion policies, which resulted in winning a Forbes diversity award. 
• Changed up the company’s hiring process, paying particular attention to positive discrimination policies, resulting in hitting company diversity quotas for the year.

Human Resources Manager

02/2013 - 12/2017 

• Improved company hiring rates by 47% by establishing a more inclusive hiring process. 
• Applied new interview questions to the hiring process, making the hiring process more effective by hiring employees that are more suitable to the company culture.

#6. Briefly Mention Your Education

Your education should come right after your work experience section. This section is just as important as your work experience, though it doesn’t require that you go into too much detail. 

After all, if you already hold an executive position, you probably already have a lot to show through your professional achievements. 

Here’s what you should include in your education section to make it stand out from the crowd:

• Begin with your most recent degree and include the institution’s name and location, as well as the years attended. 
• If you hold more than one Master’s or advanced degree, also include those in your education section.
• Leave your high school education out of your executive resume. 

Here’s what this looks like on an executive resume: 

Ph.D. in Marketing 

Haas School of Business - University of California, Berkeley

2012 - 2014

MSc in Innovation & Marketing Management

Strathclyde Business School - University of Strathclyde, Glasgow 

2011 - 2012

#7. Include Your Executive Skills

It probably comes as no surprise that executive positions are highly competitive. 

This means that you need to make sure that, in addition to your work experience and education sections, other sections also need to stand out, including your skills, certifications, interests, and awards. 

In light of this, here’s the best way to list your skills on your executive resume: 

• List your soft skills and hard skills. Include both CEO skills (e.g. leadership) and management skills, as well as industry-related skills here (e.g. if you’re into finance, that would include all your finance-related skills). 
• Pay close attention to the job description of the position you’re applying for. Do any of the keywords indicate what skills are required for the position?
• Make sure to include the skills mentioned in the job description on the skills listed on your executive resume (as long as you actually have them). 

17 Relevant Skills for Executives 

Here’s a list of relevant skills for executives that you can use on your executive resume:

• Senior Leadership Skills
• C-Suite Communication & Presentation Skills
• Change Management
• Emotional Intelligence
• Strategic Thinking
• Decision Making
• Employee Development
• Adversity Management
• Collaboration
• Active Listening
• Communication Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Conflict Management
• Negotiation
• Project Management

#8. Add Optional Resume Sections

The difference between great and perfect lies in the details - such as taking advantage of some optional sections that can take your executive resume to the next level. 

Specifically, the following sections can help you stand out from other executives applying for the same position by highlighting your individuality and the diversity a truly great executive needs:

• Awards , especially anything job-related. 
• Memberships , for example, Member of the Chicago CEO Club.
• Foreign languages , particularly those you’re fluent in.
• Certifications , such as Project Management Professional (PMP) or Accredited Business Communicator (ABC). 
• Personal achievements , including successful personal initiatives and noteworthy recognitions outside your industry. 
• Hobbies and interests , anything from fitness to reading books. 

#9. Don’t Underestimate the Power of the Cover Letter

Attaching a cover letter to your application is just as essential as creating a powerful executive resume. 

Specifically, a cover letter is important because:

• Recruiters expect a serious job application also to include a cover letter, even if they skip reading it. 
• It lets you go into more detail about your skills and qualifications. 

Here’s how to write a cover letter that is on par with your executive resume: 

• Start your cover letter with an impactful introduction. 
• Use the body of your cover letter to offer a more in-depth explanation of your executive skills and managerial experience. 
• To enhance your executive resume, include skills and achievements that support what you’ve stated there. 
• End your cover letter with a call to action. 

To give you a more concrete picture of what we mean, here’s what the structure of a cover letter should look like: 

Want to learn more about cover letter writing? Then check out our guides on cover letter tips and common cover letter mistakes !

Key Takeaways 

And that’s a wrap! 

By now, you should be ready to nail your executive resume! Before you go, here are the most important points we covered in this article: 

• Your executive resume must include your contact details, a resume summary, a work experience section with your most notable achievements, your education background, and a skills section. 
• Additionally, your executive resume can contain some extra sections, such as certifications, awards, memberships, etc.  
• Choose the chronological resume format to build your executive resume. 
• List relevant quantifiable achievements under each entry in your work experience section. 
• Use a ready-made template to save time and effort when you’re writing your executive resume!  

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Essential Skills for Executive Resumes

Here's how to write your skills section on your resume as a senior-level or executive hire. We'll cover the skills hiring managers want to see, with real examples.

2 years ago   •   4 min read

This is part 4 of our how to write an executive and senior-level resume guide. Navigate through different parts of the guide:

•  Part 1: Overview, templates and key tips •  Part 2: Executive resume summary •  Part 3: Work experience and bullet points on executive resumes •  Part 4: Skills section on executive resumes [ you are here! ] •   Education, optional sections, and additional executive resume tips

On a senior level resume, your skills section should focus on high-level management and leadership skills . This might mean leaving out older or less-relevant skills — a short list of highly relevant skills is more likely to impress recruiters than a longer but less focused selection.

An easy way to find out if your executive skills section shows the right high-level management skills is to upload your resume to the tool below — it’ll do a quick scan and tell you if your resume shows enough of these high-level management skills as well as other soft skills such as leadership, problem solving, conflict resolution and communication skills.

A dedicated skills section serves two purposes:

• Firstly, it allows recruiters to quickly skim your resume for essential skills. Think of your resume summary and skills section as the bookends of your resume — you want to begin and end by emphasizing your key skills and reinforcing to a recruiter that you have what it takes to succeed in the role.
• Secondly — and arguably more importantly — it helps you bypass Applicant Tracking systems (ATS) . ATS are automated resume scanners used by most companies, including nearly all Fortune 500 companies. ATS are programmed to scan for specific keywords, including the job title and key skills. If your resume doesn’t include those exact keywords, it will be automatically rejected, so getting your skills section right is crucial.

Before we dive in, let's check out an example:

What to title your skills section

• Core Competencies
• Areas of Expertise

You can learn what to title your resume's sections here.

What skills to include

Your skills section should highlight transferable leadership and management skills as well as industry-specific competencies. You should have a good idea of the most important skills for your particular industry, but if in doubt, check the job description for any you may have missed. For your best chance at bypassing ATS, list skills and job titles exactly as they appear in the description.

Here are some of the top skills for director level resumes:

Leadership and management

• Strategic Planning
• Business Process Improvement
• Change Management
• Operational Excellence

Managing employees

• Team Building
• Contract Negotiation
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Management Information Systems
• Performance Test Management
• Business Intelligence (BI)

If you want to find specific skills by job title, use our skills search tool below — you can search for specific job titles, e.g. Chief Financial Officer, and you'll get specific skills to include in your skills section.

What not to include

Soft skills.

Never list soft skills in the skills section of your resume. If you want to highlight transferable skills — for executives, this might include leadership, communication, problem solving, and conflict resolution — these need to go in your bullet points instead. Choose accomplishments that illustrate how you’ve used these skills in the workplace, but never list “leadership” as a stand-alone skill.

Low-level and outdated skills

Skills like inventory management and cash handling may have been essential as you worked your way up the ranks as a sales associate, but that doesn’t mean you should still be listing those skills when applying for jobs as a senior sales executive. The same goes for any skill you aren’t actively using in a senior role — to keep your skills section concise and impactful, focus on your most relevant skills and leave low-level or outdated skills off your resume entirely.

Examples of skills sections

Let's go through some examples of resume skills sections.

Example 1: Categories

SKILLS - Leadership and Management : Strategic Planning, Business Process Improvement, Change Management, Operational Excellence, Diversity & Inclusion, Cultural Leadership - Finance : Mergers & Acquisitions, Budgeting, Management Information Systems, E-commerce, Stakeholder Relations, Contract Negotiation

Example 2: Areas of Expertise

A simpler section, called Areas of Expertise, included at the top of your resume.

Example 3: Skills section for a mid-to-senior level resume

And here's a third example — which highlights specific technical tools you might have experience with.

Entire resume example of an executive or senior level resume

If you're unsure how a skills section would fit on an executive resume, let's look at a real example (click to expand the image):

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How to Write a Compelling Executive Resume [with Examples]

Expert Tips for Executive Resume Content and Formatting

If you're making over six figures as an executive or senior manager, you're playing in the big leagues when it comes to recruitment.

For senior executives, the stakes are high. 

Because your resume is often a recruiter's first impression, you need to make sure that it nothing short of perfect.

The risk of missing out on a potential opportunity because you failed to clearly articulate your accomplishments or fully convey the value you bring to an organization simply isn’t worth it.

Our executive resume writers have crafted effective documents for CEOs, Managing Directors, and Senior Directors in industries including real estate, finance, pharmaceuticals, and technology.

In this post, we share our insights on:

• How our writers approach resumes for senior leaders
• How long an executive resume should be
• How to write and format your resume for maximum impact
• How to optimize your resume for ATS

How Our Executive Resume Writers Approach Resumes for Senior Leaders

Executive resume content differs slightly from that of more junior resumes.

When working a senior candidate, our writers ensure that the resume’s focus is primarily on high-level accomplishments and contributions you made to an organization - not simply daily responsibilities.

While the bullet points on junior candidate's resume will likely describe day-to-day tasks and the types of analyses the candidate conducted, we make sure to convey the bigger picture.

A well-written executive resume should highlight tangible factors such as the following:

• Scope of work (number of locations managed, project value, P&L value)
• Relevant financial metrics (budgets managed, costs and/or time saved, revenue increased)
• Strategic goals accomplished
• Initiatives led or implemented
• Team leadership ability and size of team
• Partnerships created
• Sales achieved or deals closed

How Long an Executive Resume Should Be

Our general guidance when it comes to resume length is that less is more .

In our opinion, even the President of the United States should be able to put together a strong one-page document.

If you are in a senior leadership position, however, you may realistically need two pages to effectively convey your accomplishments.

Your overarching goal should be to create a resume that is as concise as possible, neatly formatted, and easy to read. 

Think of your resume as a movie preview.

It should be a 30-second clip of what the reader can expect to learn more about when they meet you during the hour-long interview. 

Each bullet point needs to add value, and you should not have any "fluff" that inflates or excessively boasts about your accomplishments. 

Let your experience speak for itself. 

If you hold a senior position, your career growth already demonstrates that you are a "strong team leader" and "ambitious, driven professional."

You don’t need to put such generic, empty phrases down on paper.

In addition to serving as a personal marketing tool, your resume provides a sample of your business writing and communication skills.

As an executive, you need to demonstrate that you are a clear, concise, and effective communicator - not simply a big talker.

How to Write and Format Your Resume for Maximum Impact

In this section, we explain how our writers approach each resume component.

We also included screenshots from executive resume samples to demonstrate the best practices discussed so you can implement them in your document.

Your heading should include your name, any professional designations, and contact information.

You can also include the link to your LinkedIn profile.

Professional Summary

We don’t recommend a career highlights or professional summary section for junior candidates.

For executives, we sometimes use a career highlights section to provide concrete evidence of achievements and career progression. 

Professional summaries that consist of generic buzzwords don’t sound believable without any evidence to back up their statements, so make sure that yours incorporates concrete facts and examples.

We typically try to stick to a maximum of 4-6 bullet points, as they're easier to skim than longer paragraphs.  

We wrote the following career highlights section for a candidate working in the financial services sector:

The summary above is effective because it accomplishes the following goals:

• Demonstrates career progression
• Describes major accomplishments
• Articulates niche or sector expertise
• Quantifies the value contributed and scope of responsibility
• Provides evidence of leadership ability (internal and external)

Professional Experience

When describing each role in the professional experience section, we make sure to focus on achievement-based elements such as:

• Strategic goals and their implementation
• Financial results
• Partnerships forged
• Revenue generation
• Leadership ability

You can also consider including more general responsibilities in paragraph format before jumping into bullet points that convey your key achievements and contributions.

Take a look at the following example from a resume for a Vice President in the online learning sector.

By separating day-to-day tasks from achievements, we are able to:

• Draw attention to the highlights: We make sure that recruiters can easily pick out major accomplishments. You don’t want to bury yours among less impressive - albeit important - information.
• Organize the resume: Separating your responsibilities from your achievements is a clear, logical way to structure your document, demonstrating that you have effective business communication skills.

Early Career

The bulk of your resume’s content should focus on your most recent positions.

Because it is still important to provide an overview of your career progression and background, we usually include positions that candidates held over 10 years ago in an early career section.

For brevity's sake, we only include company names, position titles, and dates for these roles.

By including an outline of your early career history, you are able to:

• Demonstrate the breadth and depth of your experience if you worked in different industries and positions
• Increase your credibility
• Refrain from overwhelming recruiters with too much information (if they’re curious about an earlier role, they’ll ask)

In this section, include all of the degrees you earned from post-secondary institutions.

Unless you recently completed your program, you don’t need to include elements such as:

• Relevant courses
• Extracurricular involvement

Certifications and Professional Development

If you completed any certificate programs or professional development courses, list them separately from your education.

You should always include:

• Granting organization
• Certification name
• Date earned
• Expiration date (if applicable)

Board Involvement

List board or committee service that are relevant to your target positions under a "Board Membership" or "Board Involvement" heading.

The section below, taken from a commercial real estate resume sample, demonstrates the candidate’s involvement in helping a smaller firm and non-profit organization expand:

This section can enhance your document by demonstrating your skills or industry knowledge that go beyond your sector of expertise.

It's also a reflection of your leadership ability and shows that you are respected in your industry or community.

For each position, include:

• Name of the organization
• Dates of service
• Position title (Chairman of the Board, President, Board Member)
• Description of the capacity in which you are involved (if significant and you have room)

If you hold multiple board memberships, you may wish to only highlight or only elaborate upon the most relevant ones - especially if your document is on the longer end.

How to Optimize Your Resume for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

Because so much of executive-level recruiting takes place through recruiters or industry connections, ATS optimization isn't as much of a concern as it would be for more junior candidates.

However, it is still best practice to optimize your resume for ATS.

Even when working on executive resumes, we make sure to thoroughly read through the job description and naturally incorporate relevant keywords throughout our clients' documents.

By doing so, we are able to accomplish two goals:

• Optimize the resume for ATS
• Ensure that we are touching upon the qualities and skills recruiters will be looking for

In executive recruiting, connections and industry expertise are essential to landing new roles.

However, the way you present yourself on paper reflects on your personal brand, attention to detail, and overall professionalism.

Put your best foot forward by implementing the steps above and avoid gimmicks that can damage your credibility , and you’ll be one step closer to your next big career move.

About Resume Pilots

Resume Pilots is an award-winning executive resume writing firm and a proud member of the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches. Our previous clients include CEOs and senior executives at the world's leading companies.

As a professional services firm, we take your reputation seriously. We are committed to delivering writing excellence and superior service while operating with integrity and discretion. Recruitment firms we partner with also trust us to consistently deliver quality documents for their clients.

Our writers have studied in the Ivy League and other top-tier universities and have strong writing backgrounds coupled with industry experience.

Here's how we can help you:

Resume, Cover Letter, and LinkedIn Writing Services : If you are looking for end-to-end support, hire one of our professional resume writers to rewrite your documents from the ground up.

Executive Resume Template Downloads : If you plan to prepare your own resume, consider using one of our classic, ATS-friendly resume templates for Microsoft Word.

To learn more about our services, book an introductory call with our founder here or email [email protected] .

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About the Author Matt Glodz

Matt Glodz is the Founder and Managing Partner of Resume Pilots and a Certified Professional Resume Writer. After studying business communication at Cornell University, Matt worked within Fortune 500 companies, where he noted that qualified candidates were frequently denied interview opportunities due to poorly written documents. At Resume Pilots, Matt combines his business and writing background - which includes prior work for a Chicago Tribune publication - to craft resumes that give his clients the best chance of landing interviews. He works with clients ranging from CEOs to recent graduates and has been writing resumes for over 10 years. He has been quoted on numerous business and career-related topics in outlets including Business Insider, CNBC, Fortune, Glassdoor, The Ladders, and Thrive Global.

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• 10 Impactful Updates for Your...

10 Impactful Updates for Your Executive-Level Resume

10 min read · Updated on April 17, 2024

Here's the perfect executive resume example for C-suite candidates.

No matter what position you're gunning for — whether it's your first job out of college or you're a seasoned professional with your sights on the C-suite — condensing your accomplishments and merits into one single document can be daunting. But if you're ready for a job change, a polished and updated resume is the one thing you can't skip.

You might even argue that an executive-level professional has it tougher than the former. You've likely held several jobs throughout your career, working your way up and maybe even getting your feet wet in completely different industries or departments. For a lucky few, you may not have even had to interview at all, landing positions and promotions through your network alone.

The point is, at your level, the people you'll be competing with for this position will come from many different paths. Your resume and your cover letter will need to impress.

Our biggest tip? Get another pair of eyes on your resume. 

You know your work history inside and out, but how does it come across on paper? With our free resume review , you'll get a confidential critique from a TopResume expert experienced with executive resume writing — including personalized recommendations and objective feedback. Often, it's a few small changes that can make the biggest impact!

To see what we mean, check out our sample resume for executive- and senior-level professionals below. Then, continue reading to learn what questions your executive resume should answer followed, by 10 of the most powerful changes you can make for your resume to grab the attention of employers.

What questions should your executive resume answer?

Unfortunately, many executive-level resumes fall short of answering the top questions recruiters and hiring managers want to know. Here are the types of questions virtually all employers have and hope to answer when reviewing your executive-level application:

Does your background and experience align with the job requirements?

What is the tangible impact you can bring to the table?

What makes you unique and different from other candidates?

Are you a good leader?

How can you add value to the company if hired?

What does your career progression look like?

Will you be a good cultural fit?

Go back and review these questions to confirm you've answered them after completing the first draft of your resume. 

10 impactful updates for your executive resume

Now, let's take a look at some of the most powerful updates you can make to your executive resume to ensure it packs a punch while also answering the above questions.

1. Showcase your credentials at the top of your resume

This is a quick and effective change for anyone, regardless of how many years you've been in the field: Move your credentials, especially the ones - like certifications and degree type or level - that match your target position, to the very top of your executive resume. This is typically the first place recruiters will look, so having them front and center ensures they won't get skipped.

2. Include a link to your online profile

Did you know that nearly 98 percent of employers do background research online when considering candidates, and  90 percent of employers search for candidates' social media profiles online before setting up an interview? Make it easy on them by providing links to your social accounts or professional websites near your other contact information. In our executive resume sample above, Jake includes a custom link to his LinkedIn profile .

It's also vital that your social media profiles contain content that's on the up and up, since 79 percent of employers report rejecting a candidate based on their social media profiles. Avoid including explicit or what could be perceived as negative content and content that speaks poorly about current or past employers.

If you'd rather keep your online profiles hidden from recruiters, make sure to adjust your security settings or change your account name so they're harder to find. However, employers might be surprised or think something is off if they can't find you online, particularly on LinkedIn. 

3. List your core skills near the top, in an easy-to-read format

Noticing a theme here? Even for C-level positions, such as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Commercial Officer, hiring managers will typically do a quick scan of your resume before getting into the details. For your executive resume to stand out immediately, make sure your core skills — also referred to as “core competencies” or “areas of expertise” — are listed in an easy-to-read format.

A strong resume incorporates a combination of hard and soft skills relevant to the job throughout the various sections of your resume. Hard skills, or technical skills, are the measurable skills you've acquired through training, certifications, and education. Soft skills, or personal skills, are intangible skills that are often improved upon over time, like time management, communication, leadership, problem-solving, and critical thinking. 

In many instances, you'll incorporate your key hard skills in the competencies list near the top of the resume, as shown in the example. You'll notice virtually all of the competencies listed in the sample are hard skills. Soft skills, on the other hand, are typically shown through your achievements and accomplishments. Let's take a look at Jake's achievement highlighted in tip #6 of the executive resume example:

Oversaw the merger of three existing benefits plans into one corporate flexible benefit plan, resulting in $822,000 annual savings while enhancing benefits to all employees.

This achievement showcases the candidate's leadership, critical thinking, communication, and organizational soft skills, to name a few, since these skills would be necessary to support this type of achievement. There are also the types of soft skills that would be expected on an executive resume. 

Finally, make sure you're choosing skills that directly correlate with the position you're applying for. Take a look at the job description, if you have it, and customize your resume accordingly. If done right, this should complement your executive summary, or career summary , which Jake includes near the top of this example resume, as well.

Need help with writing your executive summary? Our resume experts can help with that, too!

4. Include a Selected Achievements section at the top of your executive resume

If you're a senior-level professional, you likely have a list of accomplishments to choose from. But this doesn't mean you should list everything you've ever done! In Jake's executive resume, for example, he chose accolades and achievements that highlight the specific results and impact he made. His “Selected Achievements” section, sometimes called “Career Highlights,” allows for quick skimming to understand his performance highlights. While a section like this isn't mandatory, it's a great way to show recruiters or hiring managers what you're most proud of.

5. Focus on your most recent work experience

Most resumes will benefit from a chronological format, as it shows your career progression throughout the years. Notice how Jake's executive resume sample places the most focus on his current position as Vice President of Human Resources. 

Spend the most time here, with your current or most recent job, including details that will show the recruiter what your role entails and what type of company it is (big? small? non-profit?). This rule applies even if you haven't been at your current job for very long — the only exception is if your current job is unrelated to your career goals or executive summary.

6. Quantify your achievements

Actions speak louder than words … but on an executive resume, numbers can speak volumes. This is especially important as a senior-level professional, as you're probably handling things like budgets, department goals, or teams of people. Instead of leading with a vague statement, be specific, like Jake does in the resume sample above. Notice how he talks about the annual savings to the company driven by his leadership, as well as how many offices and staff members he's responsible for.  

7. Use a two-page resume length

If you're surprised by this tip, you're not alone. It's a common myth that resumes should be restricted to one page! Just don't get too lengthy. Two pages is a great rule-of-thumb for resume length that will allow you the space to showcase your work history and, more importantly, your accomplishments (quantified, of course).

Bump your earlier and entry-level jobs to the second page and include only the most important details. Furthermore, make sure the positions you're including are relevant. If you're applying for an executive-level healthcare position, like Jake is, recruiters won't care that your first job out of college was scooping ice cream at the mall.

Having trouble deciding what to keep? A two-page limitation will force you to decide which details are the most important and which details can be left out. Put yourself in the recruiter's shoes, and go line-by-line through your executive resume. Is everything relevant and compelling? Great! Still having trouble? This leads us to our next tip.

8. Include only your past 10-15 years of experience

At this point in your career, you've built up quite a history of companies, positions, and responsibilities. How will you fit it all in? Fortunately, you don't have to. Instead, restrict your resume to experience garnered in the last 10-15 years, give or take.  

If there are positions outside of this time frame that you feel are relevant, you can include those in a “Prior Experience” section — just forgo the lengthy details. Still running out of room? Feel free to indicate a “Career Note” toward the end and list out noteworthy titles or company names in a more condensed format.

9. Move your education to the end of the resume

As a recent college graduate, your degree is often one of your biggest selling points. A few years into your career , it may have been your relevant work experience. But now that you've worked your way up the ranks, it's time to shift the focus of your resume. 

You still want to include an education section on your resume, as most executive-level jobs at least require a bachelor's degree. However, at this stage in your career, move your education details to the end of the resume, with the exception of any advanced degrees that you might want to make note of early on in you resume due to their high-level of relevance to the job you're applying to (see tip #1).

10. Remove dates outside of the 15-year timeframe

For degrees, certifications, or other prior (but relevant) experience that fall outside of the 15-year timeframe, go ahead and remove the dates associated with them. The reason for this? They simply don't matter. If you feel like including relevant early work, like if it showcases the way your career has progressed, that's great! Flaunt that — not your age.

When in doubt, seek support

These tips and the executive resume example provided give you the tools necessary to craft your resume to land interviews. That said, as mentioned previously, getting a second set of eyes to review your resume can be beneficial, especially if you hold any doubt at all as to its quality. Getting expert input can also save you valuable time and frustration and prevent you from being one of the three out of the four resumes submitted that never get seen!  

So, are you ready to upgrade to that corner office? Ensure that your resume, cover letter, and LinkedIn profile are polished and professional with our Executive Priority resume review package .

This blog was originally written by Amanda Augustine and has been updated by Ronda Suder.

Recommended reading:

5 Signs You Need a Professional Resume Critique

The Fastest-Growing Industries for Executive Jobs

How to Check if My Resume Is ATS-Friendly for Free

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7 Signs Your Resume is Making You Look Old

How We Helped This Professional Who Was Stuck In His Toxic Job

Perfect Resume Guide for Recent College Graduates

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Executive Resume Examples: How-To Guides For C-Level & Executive Resumes

To write an effective resume for a C-level executive position, you’ll need to tell your story masterfully in just a page or two.

This involves self-reflection on your holistic career trajectory and where it has brought you — your education and lifetime achievements — to determine the strategy for your personal narrative.

Adopting the mindset of a marketing executive, you’ll be marketing yourself to each recruiter through your customized executive resume and cover letter.

At Arielle, we provide expertise in self-marketing, working with you one-on-one to shape the ideal executive resume.

As a start, a career expert here at Arielle has compiled this article containing executive resume templates and examples.

We also provide general advice on how to write your executive resume and cover letters so you can land an executive role.

With our executive resume samples and expert career advice at hand, you’ll be able to create a functional and effective marketing document for recruiters.

Learn By Looking At Executive Resume Templates And Executive Resume Samples.

Good executive resumes are unique enough to make you stand out while still presenting your vital information in a way that both humans and applicant tracking systems can easily read it.

Here are some of the best examples of executive resumes. Follow my guidelines to ensure you get noticed by business decision-makers.

How To Write A CEO Resume

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How To Write A CIO Resume

How To Write A CMO Resume

How To Write A CFO Resume

How To Write A Sales Director Resume

What Makes An Executive Resume Stand Out?

You’ll notice that all of these examples have the following principles in common:

• Resume formats can vary, but you should focus on placing the most important information front and centre.
• Use clear headings to separate the sections of your resume, with no fancy fonts that are hard for people or computers to read.
• Use bullet points to highlight professional achievements and skills, and remember that most executives prioritise hard data over soft skills. Try to strike a balance between these elements.
• For a C-level job, you’ll want to customise the writing of each version of your resume and cover letter to the recruiters for a particular company that you’ve shaped around its job description.
• The selected achievements you list in your work experience section should be very different for a C-level job at a tiny start-up firm versus one at a well-established global powerhouse.
• Remember that you should not only list your career responsibilities and skills but also measurable achievements.

When you write your executive resume, your professional skills will tell the story.

Your job is to create a resume that highlights the skills, education, and achievements making you best suited for the company.

(Related: If you’d like the best executive resume possible, consider hiring one of our professional executive writers ).

The Key To Your Executive Resume Format Is Using An Executive Resume Template.

The best executive resume format will tell the story of your career to hiring managers and highlight the strengths that make you the best candidate for the position.

Form follows function: Use your executive resume’s format to help potential employers understand what you bring to the table and what other candidates don’t.

The best format for an executive resume is one that lets your achievements and skills tell the story. A reverse chronological format is ideal for this purpose, as you can easily customise key skills for multiple applications.

A combination resume can also be useful for executive positions since it places equal emphasis on your skills and your history.

You can easily use one to show off career highlights or a highly relevant previous job title. The education section, meanwhile, should focus on your distinct and specialised training.

For C-suite jobs, your executive resume’s header should link to your LinkedIn profile and your portfolio. Likewise, make sure that the header contains a personal email and updated phone number.

Use one-inch margins at most, but don’t place important information where a misaligned printer can eat it.

Judicious use of colour and creative formats can help show off your personal brand, but as a job seeker, you should never assume that recruiters and hiring managers will take the time to print your executive resume out in colour. It should look sharp in black and white.

The best executive resume template will balance the skills section with your work history to bring out the best of what you have to offer. Your resume content should work holistically to highlight these qualities.

Finally, unless the job description or application instructions specify otherwise, save your resume as a PDF file.

This simple step guarantees that a change in operating systems or word processor settings won’t reformat your resume and ruin your chances of getting that all-important first interview.

4 Executive Resume Mistakes To Avoid.

Your resume should bring attention to your executive experience and relevant skills, but you shouldn’t make it stand out in a negative way:

• As tempting as it is to list every single achievement at previous jobs, recruiters won’t look at an overly long executive resume. Keep it between one and two pages long, no matter how much professional experience you have.
• Also, avoid using an email address that doesn’t reflect your nature as a business professional. A professional email address is generally based on your name.
• Combinations of your first and last name or initials are commonplace. Avoid including any reference to your age, race, religion, or sexual orientation in your email.
• Finally, while bullet points are your friend in an executive resume, avoid overusing them. Try to use five or six bullet points at most for each job title that you list.

Don’t Neglect Your Resume Summary Or Profile.

While your resume summary is the first thing that a manager will read, it should be the very last thing you write for an executive resume. Even if you customise nothing else on your resume for a specific position, tailor this separate section for each application.

Your summary should be between two and three sentences long and as relevant to the position and company as you can manage.

Focus on results and achievements that can help the company fill its needs, and avoid using jargon and fluff. Use your cover letter to expand on the main points in your summary.

Here’s an example of a less-than-ideal resume summary section for a senior executive:

Experienced executive who has over 10 years of career history making a small business scale up. Served as Chief Information Officer of a highly ranked technology firm for eight years, focusing on cybersecurity, team management skills, and helping the company succeed long-term. Helped to save the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in tech costs.

It isn’t a bad summary of the applicant’s professional skills, but it also wouldn’t stand out to a recruiter at a business. Its claims are imprecise at best, and it doesn’t draw readers in to look at the work experience section.

Here’s an example of a summary for the same candidate, rewritten for a more successful executive resume:

Executive with 11 years of career experience. As Chief Information Officer of Illusion Technology, implemented and standardised security practices to scale a 20-employee business to 400 employees over eight years. Through unified endpoint management and infrastructure upgrades, reduced company costs by 18%.

Have A Second And Third Set Of Eyes Ready.

Whether you want to be a marketing executive director, a vice president, or a chief information officer, you owe it to yourself to have a career expert look at your resume before you begin submitting executive job applications.

A resume writing professional, such as a member of Arielle’s certified professional resume writer team, can be worth their weight in gold here.

At the very least, you should have someone who knows the industry and the position read over your executive resume example before you press “Send.” Reread the job description: Is there a key takeaway from it that you should add to your resume or cover letter?

Lastly, check over your entire executive resume for typos and factual errors. In the C-suite, one misspelled word can make the difference between getting interviews and having your application placed in the discard pile without a second look.

Spell check and grammar check are useful first tools, but they shouldn’t be the only ones you use.

What Do Senior Executive Resume Examples Look Like?

Often, the best way to learn is by looking at an executive resume sample.

While our hypothetical candidate’s key areas of strength are in information technology and her work experience section only lists one previous job title for the sake of brevity, you can use this executive resume example to kickstart your own listing.

Our Arielle team also has many executive resume templates for you to peruse.

Pay close attention to the way this sample executive resume uses specific active verbs. Instead of “helped,” say “collaborated with.” Instead of “watched,” use “evaluated.”

Likewise, this example resume highlights the applicant’s experience in cybersecurity and working under a growth mindset, making it a good resume for applying to a small start-up company.

Headline and Contact Information

CIO | 11 Years of Team and Technology Management | Expert in Growing Business Infrastructure at Scale Harper KingSydney, NSW0491 570 110 [email protected] LinkedIn URL Portfolio URL

Chief Information Officer with more than 10 years of experience in the fields of cybersecurity and IT team management. Implemented and standardised security practises to scale Illusion Technology up by 1900% over an eight-year period. Cut company costs by 18% utilising unified endpoint management and upgrading key infrastructure.

Key Skills and Training

• Cybersecurity specialist.
• Regulatory and technological compliance.
• Leadership and development.
• Budget optimization and management.
• Risk analysis.
• Quality assurance.

Employment History

Chief Information Officer | Illusion Technology | 2015-2023

Collaborated with the executive vice president to lead a team of IT staff, scaling the team up from two people to thirty. Trained other executives in data management and information security to enforce cross-collaboration between teams.

Responsibilities included implementing strategies that allowed the company to create a home base for international business operations and transition the company to remote-first operations in 2020.

• Transitioned Illusion Technology from a locally based operation to AWS cloud services, resulting in a 34% improvement in server response time.
• Created a robust cybersecurity infrastructure for remote work that combined VPNs, multi-factor authentication, and unified endpoint management to reduce costs.
• Managed fast company growth, scaling the business from 20 employees to more than 400 employees.
• Streamlined Illusion’s operations using cloud sync while maintaining strong regulatory compliance, ensuring user and employee privacy throughout.
• Utilised a top-down approach to change management, ensuring that every employee had needed resources.

Education and Leadership

• Master of Business Administration (MBA) | Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong (Sydney Campus) | Sydney, NSW | 2008
• Bachelor of Computer Science (BCS) | Western Sydney University | Sydney, NSW | 2004
• Active Member | Infosec Industry Executives of Australia (IIEA) | 2016

More Tips, Tricks, And Key Takeaways To Make Your Resume Stand Out.

Remember that resume creation is more of an art than it is a science. The most effective executive resume sample is the one that reveals the person behind the paper.

Every industry and position is unique, so executive resume writers should look at executive resume samples for the type of position they want and then build their templates based on those.

The perfect executive resume won’t get you anywhere if it doesn’t reach the eyes of the hiring manager or vice president.

We advise running your resume and cover letter through an applicant tracking system simulator to find out what the computers that read it first will see. No matter how stellar your qualifications may be, the first step is getting through this stage.

Rely On Our Professionals At Arielle.

If you’re having trouble getting your foot in the door for an interview, reach out to a certified professional resume writer here at Arielle. Our executive resume writers are skilled at helping applicants get their resumes noticed and providing career advice.

Remember that your resume should evolve as your career does. Don’t simply add listings as you gain work experience. Instead, constantly revise and edit your executive resume to show off the best elements you have to offer any position.

Making these edits is well worth the time you spend looking at other model executive resume samples

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Executive Career Brand™

Executive Job Search - Personal Branding, Executive Resumes, LinkedIn Profiles, Biographies, etc.

October 9, 2023 By Meg Guiseppi

How to Write An Irresistible Executive Resume in 10 Steps

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When was the last time you used your executive resume?

When was the last time you even thought about it or looked at it?

If you’re like many executive job seekers, you’ve either never needed a resume to get noticed and land a job . . . or it’s been many years since you’ve needed one . . . or you’re not happy with your resume.

You may be unaware of how much executive resumes have changed in just the past few years.

Your executive resume may be dangerously old-fashioned.

Before dusting off your old resume (if you have one), merely updating it with your latest contributions and career history, and expecting that, when you put it out there they will come, you need to get a handle on today’s modern resume and what part it plays in the new world of executive job search.

And guess what? A great resume alone probably won’t get you into your next great gig.

Your paper/digital resume will probably NOT be your first introduction to recruiters and hiring decision makers. Many surveys show that the vast majority of them social recruit. That is, they source and assess candidates through Google search, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.

If you don’t have a strong online footprint providing them with plenty of on-brand information supporting your value proposition, you’re likely facing a prolonged job search.

All things being equal – skill sets, qualifications, relevant experience, education, etc. – job seekers with stronger online presence are the ones who are noticed and chosen over those who have little or no presence online.

So why bother with an executive resume at all?

Why not go straight to your online personal and career marketing? Three good reasons:

1. You need to get your brand and value proposition together before moving them online, so that you send a clear consistent message across all channels. Slapping up a LinkedIn profile, other social media profiles, a website, or web portfolio before doing the initial branding, targeting and research work is a mistake.

2. You’ll still need a paper/digital resume at some point in the hiring process – it’s still recognized job search currency. So make sure it’s a knockout.

3. The work you do defining your personal brand and developing content for your resume (and bio and other career documents) forms the foundation for all your personal marketing materials, online and offline, and offers many benefits:

• Helps you develop messaging designed to resonate with your target audience.
• Energizes you with what differentiates your unique promise of value from your competitors.
• Prepares you to speak confidently and knowledgeably about the value you offer.
• Provides a wealth of on-brand information to repurpose for each of your online profiles and any web pages you create.
• Prepares you to network and interview well.

Understand that before you can write a great resume , you need to lay the groundwork with these critical first-steps – targeting, research and personal branding.

Also understand that you should ALWAYS include a cover letter when you send out your resume. Some people won’t care, but you never know who will care, and who will toss you out of the running if you don’t include one. So play it safe.

Write an Executive Resume That’s a Knockout

My 10 steps below provide the basic guidelines to write your executive resume . But to do an even better job, use my Executive Job Search Worksheets Package .

This includes an in depth Career History Worksheet, along with the other 3 comprehensive worksheets I actually use with my clients . . . to write knockout LinkedIn profiles, executive resumes , biographies, cover letters, etc.

The 4 worksheets combined will take you beyond writing your executive resume to help you position yourself to land a great-fit new gig!™

10 Steps To Write an Irresistible Executive Resume

Remember, I’m using the word “resume” but, along with creating a paper/digital resume, what we’re doing here is developing your personal marketing messaging for all your brand communications, offline and online:

Information-mining and development

1. targeting and research.

Identify the employers you want to work for and research each one to discover their pain points. What current pressing needs do they have that you can help them with?

If you don’t write to a specific target audience, your resume won’t speak to the recruiters and hiring decision makers reading it, or help them connect you to the job they’re trying to fill.

They don’t have the time or inclination to sift through irrelevant information to see if you warrant interviewing.

Everything in your resume has to align with what they’ll be looking for in candidates.

2. Personal Branding and Value Proposition

Branding is not optional anymore. In a nutshell, branding links your passions, key personal attributes, and driving strengths with your value proposition, in a crystal clear message that differentiates you from your competition and resonates with your target audience.

The things that differentiate your unique promise of value from your job seeking competitors is what will sell you.

Companies are looking for vitality, good fit, and personal chemistry in executive candidates. Branding generates chemistry and makes you come alive on the paper, digital, and web page.

3. Career Success Stories

Storytelling helps you explain how you make things happen – how you were able to capture profitable advances for your past employers.

It helps your target audience zero in on what you’ll do for their organization. They begin to picture you doing the same things for them.

Follow a “Challenge – Actions – Results” (C-A-R) framework to illuminate your critical contributions to employers.

Concise C-A-Rs stories are especially helpful in preparing for interviewing. See my post, How C-A-R Storytelling Gives Executive Resume Branding Zing .

Use your C-A-Rs stories to help you develop value proposition messaging that is monetized and linked to your personal brand. SHOW THEM THE NUMBERS! And show them how you accomplished those advances with specific examples.

Write your executive resume

4. resume headline.

Don’t lead your resume with the job you have now. Use the job you’re seeking with that particular employer, that your whole resume has been customized for.

Back that up with a few of your top areas of expertise, for a headline such as:

Vice President | SVP Technical Operations | CTO – Airline Maintenance Operations Predictive Maintenance Expert Process & Performance Improvement and Transformation with available resources

Or, maybe even better, with a brand statement, for a headline such as:

CERTIFIED CHIEF INFORMATION SECURITY OFFICER A clear, transparent communicator and trust-building business leader, I can talk about cybersecurity without using one technical word

5. Real Estate and Strategic Positioning

Busy executive recruiters and hiring decision makers typically allow only 10 seconds or so for a resume to draw them in. They may read no further than the top part of the first page when screening your resume.

You need to capture and hold their attention right there, and compel them to want to read the entire document.

Solution: Brand yourself above the fold.

As much as possible, make that section stand on its own as your calling card. Some suggestions for above the fold branding:

• Generate chemistry by balancing your personality with your hard skills, or relevant keywords.
• Add a powerful quote from a recent performance review or someone you work with.
• Include 3 or 4 value-driven bulleted statements with metrics.
• Instead of just including keywords here, provide an example of how you benefitted the company by using that area of expertise of yours.

And, while we’re looking at the above-the-fold area: Show that you’re social media savvy.

Include a link to your LinkedIn profile, unless you don’t have one or it’s lacking much content. Also include other professional social media accounts (if you’re active there), along with your online publications and/or other supporting online info.

6. Readability

Many hiring decision makers review resumes on their phones, meaning tiny screens.

When they open a document or web page, it’s more likely to capture and hold their attention with concise statements surrounded by plenty of white space.

Avoid densely packed, hard-to-read information. Shorter chunks of information are easier to read and will draw the reader’s eye to continue down the page.

The same readability issues apply to people reading your resume on a large screen. Make it appealing looking and easy to read.

7. Typos and Grammar

Doesn’t it go without saying that typos and errors in grammar are the kiss of death? They may also convey misinformation. Proofread several times and have someone else do it, too.

Don’t rely on spellcheck. Make sure your contact information at the top of each page of your resume is correct.

8. Formatting

Keep the formatting attractive, consistent, and clean. Don’t use more than 2 different fonts (one for headings, another for content), and don’t choose frilly, unprofessional fonts. Use graphic lines sparingly, and avoid underlining text.

Debate continues over whether an executive resume should be no more than 2 pages , or even only one page.

Typically a one-page resume should be avoided because it likely won’t provide enough information.

But don’t sweat the resume length too much. If you stick to 2 or 3 pages, you’ll be fine.

Let the content drive the length of your resume. What’s important is positioning yourself as a good fit for the employers you’re targeting, based on which current needs of theirs you can help them with. And nothing you include should be arbitrary.

If you’ve had more than a handful of different roles over your career, you’re going to need some space to describe your contributions and the value you offered, using storytelling. That can easily take 3 pages, especially because you don’t want to cram in the content just to fit it to 2 pages.

A 3-page c-suite executive resume is perfectly acceptable. In fact, almost all the resumes I create are 3 pages, because they needed to be.

A tip: If your resume spills over to 3 pages, make sure the third page content fills up at least a third of the page. If you only have, say, 5-10 lines on the third page, you can surely edit and tighten things up so that your resume is only 2 pages.

And, with a 3-page resume, don’t hide anything important and relevant on that last page. Bring those things forward into the summary at the top of the first page.

9. Blah Resume-speak

Write your resume from your own voice. You’re not like everyone else. Find the precise words that describe what makes you unique and valuable.

Keep the content interesting and don’t fall back on dull phrases that don’t differentiate you, such as results-oriented, visionary leader, excellent communication skills, proven track record of success, etc.

10. Passive Verbs and Repetitive Job Descriptions

Avoid the over-used, boring phrase “responsible for”. Show your vitality with robust action verbs and explain your niche expertise with relevant keywords. Use strong words like pioneered, envisioned, accelerated, benchmarked, incentivized, leveraged, etc.

Don’t waste precious space in the “Professional Experience” section reiterating obvious responsibilities. Readers will already know the basic duties for your jobs.

Yes, your resume needs to have plenty of relevant keywords in it, but for the highly-formatted version, you can lighten up on them. Instead, jam-pack your ATS-friendly (or text) resume with relevant keywords. This is the resume version that will go into Applicant Tracking Systems (or databases) when you apply through executive recruiters, HR and online job postings. (More about this below)

More Executive Resume Tips

Executive job search strategist Adrienne Tom offers this additional advice:

• Customize content for every job – general resumes don’t work
• Make your value known
• No need to list all career history. 15 years of recent employment detail is typically sufficient
• Highlight top career achievements and provide the proof
• Focus on achievements, not tasks in your resume. Yes, everyone has results to share
• Lead with results and front-load points throughout for greater impact
• Let the resume be storytelling in nature
• Weave the right keywords throughout the file that relate to the target role and audience
• Use an active voice with lots of action words
• Employ a bit of strategic design to emphasize key content and make your resume look unique
• Include appropriate white space; make it easy to read
• Content is king, but presentation matters too
• Use strategic content to de-emphasize any employment gaps
• Remove any possible resume red flags to help improve application success
• Increase emphasis on soft skills — but be sure to be specific with examples
• Add pandemic career wins to your resume. Employers want to see how you adapted and succeeded these past few years
• Stay abreast of current resume trends . Keep up with modern strategies as the resume continues to evolve!

And Some Resume FAQs That May Apply To You

In what format(s) should i create my resume.

You’ll need 3 resume versions, for various purposes:

• A nicely formatted, visually appealing MSWord version.
• A PDF version so that formatting of the above will set up exactly as you meant it to.
• A stripped down, barely formatted text or ATS-friendly version to make it through Applicant Tracking Systems . This can be created as a Word document.

Some career professionals advise creating just one MS Word resume version that covers both bases – formatted for visual appeal but will also get the resume through ATS.

But there are more than 200 kinds of ATS out there. Some accept various enhancements and some don’t. You won’t know which version the company is using and how much formatting enhancement will be okay. It’s safer to have a designated ATS resume version as I described above for the times you know your resume is going into an ATS. And reserve the nicely formatted Word version for human eyeballs only.

More in my post, What’s the Best Executive Resume Format and Length?

How do I deal with employment gaps?

First, don’t panic.

If your gap is only a few months long, you may be able to somewhat cover it up by only using years on your resume, instead of months and years.

If you did any volunteer work , that can easily stand in for a job . . . whether or not you were paid.

If your gap is longer and you weren’t involved with any volunteer experience or relevant non-work activities, it may be best just to embrace the gap. Treat it as a “career break”.

But explain what you were doing in that gap, in terms that will resonate with your target employers and further support your good-fit qualities.

For more tips see my post, How to Deal With Employment Gaps in Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile

Do I really need to include a cover letter?

Studies have shown that even if hiring managers DON’T read them, they want to see a cover letter with a resume. And they often eliminate those candidates who didn’t include a cover letter.

Best practice is to include a customized cover letter that provides further info about you, beyond your resume.

You’ll never go wrong including a cover letter, but you can easily go wrong if you DON’T include one.

More in my post, Do I Really Need a Cover Letter for My Executive Resume?

Do I even need a resume if I have a good LinkedIn profile?

First of all, lose the mindset that LinkedIn is an online resume. If it ever was, it’s not any more. There’s a lot more going on at LinkedIn – social branding, networking, curating content, etc. – than the ability to publish your career history online.

For another thing, you can only have one LinkedIn profile, but you can (and should) have several resumes, customized for each of the employers you’re targeting, based on what makes you a good fit for them.

A LinkedIn profile needs to be somewhat more generic so it will appeal to a wider audience than just one employer. Obviously, you can’t customize your LinkedIn profile for each target company, but you can indicate your job-type and industry preference.

Your resume shines when you’re actively networking your way into the companies you’re targeting. To hit home with people, you’ll customize your resume (as much as possible) for each target company, and send it to select people at, or associated with, each company.

Unless you post your resume on job boards, which isn’t a great idea, only the people you send it to will see your resume. Not so with your LinkedIn profile. It’s there for the whole world to see.

More in my post, Does LinkedIn Make the Executive Resume Obsolete?

More FAQs on Writing an Irresistible Executive Resume

It’s advisable to update your executive resume regularly, even if you’re not actively job hunting, to ensure it’s always ready when needed.

Executive resumes should evolve to reflect changes in job market trends, technology, and employer expectations to remain effective.

A robust online presence is essential as recruiters and hiring managers often use social media to evaluate candidates. Having a strong online footprint can expedite your job search.

An executive resume is crucial because it serves as a foundational document for your personal brand and provides a comprehensive overview of your qualifications.

The critical first steps include identifying your target employers, conducting research, and developing a personal brand to craft a compelling resume.

Along with relevant career history, an executive resume should include sections like a resume headline, career success stories, personal branding, and value proposition.

Capture attention in the top part of the first page by including a powerful quote, value-driven bulleted statements with metrics, and links to your professional social media profiles.

Readability is crucial, especially since many people read resumes on mobile devices. Use concise statements and ample white space to enhance readability.

Typos and grammar errors can harm your credibility. Proofread your resume thoroughly and have someone else review it as well.

While there is some debate, a 2-3 page executive resume is generally acceptable. The content should drive the length, and it should be concise and relevant.

Use your unique voice and specific language to describe your qualifications and achievements, avoiding clichés like “results-oriented” and “proven track record.”

Bottom Line When You Write an Executive Resume

Always keep in mind that real people with particular sets of criteria are reading your resume. Put yourself in their shoes and give them the information they’re looking for in a document that’s easy to read and digest.

Make it easy for them to assess your “fit” for the position and corporate culture. Make it easy for them to hire you.

More Help to Write an Executive Resume

7 Things I Learned About Resume Writing That Changed Everything

20 Things NOT To Put in Your Executive Resume

Worried About Age Discrimination? 9 Things on Your Executive Resume That Show Your Age

5 Reasons Why Your Executive Resume Is Not Working

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Reader Interactions

December 30, 2020 at 7:07 am

Great article Meg. I especially liked step 2 about personal branding. You’re absolutely right in saying that branding is now a necessity. It connects what you can do with what you stand for and provides a way for you to be different and memorable.

Employers aren’t hiring people just based on skills mentioned in resume but also on their authenticity and other traits which show their human side. Branding helps you have control over how you are perceived and what kind of emotions you trigger in your target audience.

December 30, 2020 at 8:43 am

Just like you said, Hitesh. Personal branding is the way you help employers (and others) understand what kind of person you are, and how you operate. Thank you for commenting!

April 23, 2020 at 12:05 pm

To whom it may concern.

Please show me the latest sample resume format with the ideas you have listed. Thanks and regards

April 24, 2020 at 7:35 am

Thanks for commenting, Erick. You can see samples here — https://executivecareerbrand.com/get-started-get-unstuck-executive-job-search-strategy-session/executive-resume-and-career-biography-samples/

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Resumes are still the most important document in your job search . Generating a professional and interesting resume isn’t easy, but there is a standard set of guidelines that you can follow. As hiring managers usually only spend a short time looking over each resume, you want to make sure that yours has a reason for them to keep reading.

If you’re looking to write a resume, rewrite a resume you already have, or are just curious about resume format, then you’ve come to the right place. This article will go through the steps to writing an excellent resume, as well as offering examples for what sections of the resume should look like.

Key Takeaways:

A resume is a short document that details your professional history in a way that tailors your experience and skill set for the particular job you’re applying for.

Resumes follow a few standard formatting practices, which hiring managers and recruiters expect to see.

Highlighting your work experience, skills, and educational background with relevant keywords can help you get past applicant tracking systems and into more interviews.

How to write a resume

Writing a resume involves using the proper formatting, writing an introduction, and adding your work experience and education. Stuffing your entire professional life into a single page resume can feel overwhelming, but remember that you’re distilling the relevant parts of your professional experience in order to catch the eye of the recruiter .

Formatting your resume. To start, use a word processor such as Microsoft Word or Google docs. Standard resume formatting calls for:

1 inch margins

10-12 point font

A professional, commonly-used font

Additionally, there are three resume formats that are commonly used. Most people should stick with a chronological resume format , but the combination resume format and functional resume format can be effective for more advanced workers or those who have significant gaps in their resume.

Write a resume header . It doesn’t matter if you have the best resume in the world if the hiring manager can’t contact you. Every single resume should include the following contact information:

Your full name. First and last.

Your phone number. Use a personal phone number, and make sure your voicemail is set up properly.

Your email address. Nothing inappropriate — [email protected] is a safe choice.

Location. City, State, Zip Code is fine, but you can include your full mailing address if you think it’s appropriate.

Your social media (optional). LinkedIn is the obvious one you’d want to include, but make sure your profile looks good. If you have an online portfolio , either on a personal blog/website or on a site like Journo Portfolio , feel free to include that here as well.

Your job title. Also optional, but can be useful for applicant tracking systems.

Resume introduction. You have four options for your resume introduction: a resume objective, summary statement, resume profile, or qualifications summary. For most job-seekers, a resume summary statement is the best choice. Regardless of which resume introduction you choose, avoid first-person pronouns (I/me/my).

Resume objective. A resume objective is the goal of your resume. Since the objective of every resume is to land a job, this is not the most original or impressive opener you can have.

On the other hand, it’s a good choice for an entry-level applicant or someone who is changing career paths . This should be a 1-3 sentence summary of why you’re motivated to get the position you’re applying for.

Who should use a resume objective: Entry-level applicants, career-changers, and recent college graduates.

Resume summary. This is the best opener for most job-seekers. As the name suggests, a resume summary highlights the most salient aspects of your resume.

It should include your current position, how many years of experience you have, some of your biggest achievements, and possibly your career goals. This should be a 1-3 sentence spiel and should include some quantifiable experiences.

Who should use a resume summary: Most job seekers; anyone with quantifiable accomplishments to emphasize and a broad range of skills.

Qualifications summary. A bullet point list (4-6 points is the sweet spot) of your qualifications for the position. It’s best used by applicants going for jobs that require a fixed skill set. It’s not a great choice for entry-level applicants who lack quantifiable achievements.

You’ll notice that a qualifications summary takes up more space than a resume objective or summary, but it can actually save the hiring manager time if you provide a bunch of valuable information right off the top.

Who should use a qualifications summary: Those applying to a job with requirements for certain skills and job-seekers who have a lot of experience in their industry and/or field.

Resume profile. A resume profile is similar to a resume summary, but goes into more detail about your accomplishments at your current or former job, while also telling the reader about your career goals. Think of a resume profile as a section that pulls all the best parts of your work experience section into one place.

Who should use a resume profile: Anyone with significant accomplishments under their belt, expertise in a niche field, or applying to a job in the same industry that they have lots of experience in.

Resume headline. Resume headlines aren’t necessary, but you can include one alongside any of the four types of resume introduction listed above. A resume headline comes between your contact information and the resume introduction of your choice.

Headlines can be used by entry-level applicants and experienced job-seekers alike. The important point is that your headline should be short and to the point. Additionally, you should use title case when writing your resume headline (capitalize words as you would for a book title).

Who should use a resume headline: Any job-seeker who wants to showcase their experience or unique value right off the bat.

Work experience. Your work experience section is the place to let hiring managers know that you have relevant experience that would allow you to handle the job you’re applying for.

If you’re using the chronological resume format, your work experience section would come after your resume summary/objective. In a funcitonal reumse, it would follow your skills section. Either way, work experience should be listed in reverse-chronological order (most recent experience at the top).

When listing your work experience, you should include all of the following information:

Job title. Start by stating the position you held at the company. These are easy cue for the hiring manager to look at and determine whether your past positions would help you succeed at their company.

Company Info. Include the name of the employer, the location where you worked, and perhaps a brief description of the company, if it isn’t a well-known name.

Dates Employed: Use the mm/yyyy format if you want to be sure that most applicant tracking systems (ATS) will pick it up. Whatever format you use for dates, be consistent, or your resume will look sloppy.

Job Description. Don’t just list your job’s responsibilities; hiring managers and recruiters already have an idea of your duties based on the job title. Instead, list your most important and impressive responsibilities/achievements at the job with bullet points. Determine which of these are most relevant for your new role based on the job description.

Ideally, each bullet should be no longer than a single line. However, two lines is acceptable, if used sparingly.

Always start with a strong action verb, followed by a quantifiable achievement and a specific duty. For example: “Developed ad campaigns for clients, increasing sales by an average of 27%.” Each job title should include 3-5 bullet points.

The order that you include this information can be changed around, as long as you are consistent throughout your resume. However, the bullet points detailing your job’s achievements should always be the last item for each entry.

It’s important that you tailor your resume’s work experience section to the job you’re applying for. We recommend reading the job description carefully and highlighting the action verbs in one color and the skills, adjectives, and job-specific nouns in a different color.

Educational background. In almost all cases, your education section should come after your professional history. If you’re a recent college graduate with limited work experience, you may choose to put your educational achievements first.

Like the section on your professional history, educational experiences should come in reverse-chronological order, with your highest level of education at the top. If you have a college degree, you don’t need to add any information about your high school experience. If you didn’t finish college, it’s okay to give a list of what credits you did complete.

Each educational experience can be listed in the following format:

Degree/Program Name College/University Name Dates attended

You don’t need to add anything else, especially if your resume is already impressive enough. But if you’re struggling to fill up the page, or you feel that aspects of your educational experience will help make you a standout, you may consider also including:

Minor. If you think it rounds out your not-exactly-relevant-to-the-job major nicely.

GPA. Only if it was 3.5 or higher. Otherwise, it’s not going to do you any favors to include this.

Honors. Dean’s List, Cum Laude, etc.

Achievements. If you wrote a killer thesis/dissertation that showcases intimate knowledge relevant to the job to which you’re applying, you can include its title and a very brief description.

Extracurricular activities. Only include if they’re relevant. For example, if you’re applying for a management position and you were president of your student government.

Certifications/Licenses. If the job you’re applying for requires/likes to see certain certifications or licenses that you have, you may include them in this section as well.

Skills section. Your impressive skills should be scattered logistically throughout your professional history section, but you should also include a section solely dedicated to highlighting your skill set . Skills can be broken down into two categories:

Hard skills are skills you learn through training and indicate expertise with a technical ability or job-specific responsibility.

Soft skills are your personality traits, interpersonal abilities, and intangible qualities that make you more effective at your job.

Your resume should have a healthy mix of hard and soft skills, as both are essential to job performance. However, since soft skills are harder to prove in the context of a resume, we recommend leaning more toward hard skills. Additionally, whenever you list a soft skill, make sure that it has a correlating item in your work experience section.

For example, if you say you are skilled in collaboration, you should mention a time when a team project was a major success somewhere in your work experience section.

Optional sections. If you still have space left or there’s more you want to show off that doesn’t quite fit in any of the above sections, you may consider adding an additional section covering one or more of the below categories:

Language . Being bilingual is always impressive, and can be included on a resume for any company. Highlight this more if your position involves liaising with international distributors and/or clients. Don’t lie about your proficiency level.

It may be best to not mention it if you’re not particularly proficient speaker . Such as if you took courses in school, or haven’t really managed to gain fluency. It can end up looking like an attempt to inflate your credentials, which you want to avoid.

Volunteer experience . Always a good thing to include. It shows you’re a team player who behaves in a way that promotes the greater good, without thought of personal gain. Especially good for entry-level candidates and those applying for jobs at a non-profit. If you have gaps in your work history, you can also consider including volunteer experiences in your work history section instead.

Personal projects. A personal blog, published works, or a portfolio of your past projects are all good things to include. They show you take initiative, enjoy and take pride in your work, and that you can handle the responsibilities of the job, if relevant.

Certifications/licenses. If you didn’t include these in your education section, this is another good place to list relevant certifications or licenses that you have.

Interests . This is largely just a space filler if your resume is light in other areas. However, if your hobbies are directly related to the job that you’re applying for, it’s not a bad idea to include them. And it might draw a recruiter’s attention if you end up sharing some of the same interests as they do.

If you have several seemingly random items that are valuable, but don’t warrant creating a whole separate section for, you can also make a section called “Additional Experience.” Here you can include all of the above categories in one place. Just make sure that each item is clear and easy for readers to understand.

Resume samples

Now that we have a good idea of how to write a resume, let’s take a look at some example resumes:

Jack Pilgrim Washington , DC 14015 – (555) 444-3333 – [email protected] – www.linkedin.com/jpilgrim Resume Summary Graphic designer with 3+ years of experience creating and implementing promotional materials and social media graphics. Worked with sales and marketing teams to increase inbound calls by 23% YoY through compelling digital media. Adept at planning, managing, and prioritizing multiple deadlines at once, and thrives in fast-paced work environment. Work Experience Creative Designs | Washington, DC Lead Graphic Designer | June 2018-Present Worked with sales and marketing teams to create landing pages, sales proposals, and supporting media elements to drive sales by over $250,000 per quarter Trained, managed, and mentored team of 4 junior designers to fulfill 40+ project orders on a weekly basis Conducted UX research through surveys, usability testing, and data analysis to plan content marketing strategy, driving organic search traffic by 12% Presented proposals, results, and status updates to set of 4-7 clients, ensuring customer satisfaction at or above 95% for 3 years straight Happy Place | Alexandria, VA Junior Graphic Designer | July 2016-May 2018 Translated client needs and branding strategies into design and content strategy, increasing client retention by 22% Reduced project turnaround time by 8% by Utilizing web-based ticket system for completing and archiving finalized pieces Posted digital artwork to network IPTV using web interface to produce high-end info-graphics and other materials Happy Place | Alexandria, VA Marketing Intern | September 2015-July 2016 Assisted marketing team with data collection, analysis, and presentation using Google Analytics Drew up storyboards for new marketing campaigns alongside sales team, increasing brand awareness through social media Wrote 500-1000 word articles to pair with graphical elements on page, leading to a 40% boost in engagement on company website Education Savannah College of Art and Design | Savannah, Georgia May 2016 Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design Skills Adobe Creative Suite Typography HTML/CSS WordPress Collaboration Organization

Allison Neederly Chicago, Illinois , 60007 | (333) 222-1111 | [email protected] | www.linkedin.com/allison.neederly Resume Summary Dedicated customer service representative with 4+ years experience resolving customers’ needs in-person, online, and over the phone. Top achiever at XYZ Inc. with a 100% customer satisfaction rate for Q1 of 2020. Friendly personable, and knowledgable about company’s products and services. Relevant Skills Customer Service Responded to upwards of 200 customer queries daily with XYZ Inc., reducing the average wait time by 56% and increasing customer satisfaction rates by 13% Ability to resolve conflict and create a positive atmosphere for shopping for both new and existing customers through technical proficiency Expert product knowledge and communication skills, and experience training and mentoring new customer service staff Web Chat and Phone Skilled in 3 web chat platforms for helping online customers resolve their queries quickly and accurately Achieved fastest call resolution rate at XYZ Inc., with an average resolution time of under 5 minutes per customer Performed outbound calls for customer satisfaction surveys, as well as writing web-based surveys for 10,000+ customers Troubleshooting Detailed product knowledge allowed for customer technical issues to be resolved at rate within top 5% of all customer service associates at XYZ Inc. Created manual for step-by-step directions for troubleshooting that was implemented for team of 100+ customer service reps Positive attitude took average tech-related negative response from 1/5 stars to 4/5 stars, increasing trust in brands and services Work Experience XYZ Inc. | Philadelphia, PA Customer Service Associate New Look Global | Burlington, VT Junior Customer Service Representative L.L. Bean | Burlington, VT Sales Associate Education University of Vermont | Burlington, VT May 2012 Bachelor of Arts in Humanities

Priya Laghari New York, NY | (222) 111-0000 | [email protected] | www.priyabizdev.com Resume Profile Strategy Development: Grew John Deere’s international sales by 13% by tapping into undeserved countries in Southeast Asia Management: Oversaw a team of managers representing marketing, sales, and product teams. Streamlined collaborative, cross-functional communications through agile and scrum management system CRM: Developed, customized, and implemented new customer relationship management database for accounts totaling over $10M in value Work Experience Business Development Manager 01/2015-Present Microsoft | Redmond, WA Developed product strategies and roadmap for Google AdWords, increasing inbound traffic by 26% YoY Reduced time training on new software by 50% for new and existing employees by implement e-learning programs Spearheaded digital marketing campaign worth $1M that saw a return of 200% in first year by qualifying leads earlier in the sales funnel Regional Sales Manager 11/2012-01/2015 Big Things Inc. | St. Louis, MO Managed territory encompassing 29 regional locations with an annual revenue of approx. $55M Worked with C-level executives to plan business strategies, resulting in 20% reduction in overhead costs Increased client retention by 12% in first year by implementing a CRM approach based on account profiling and elevating levels of relationship selling Account Manager 02/2009-11/2012 Solutions Corp. | Chicago, IL Implemented and developed CRM strategic plans, increasing retention of long-term clients by 22% Maintained 50+ accounts totaling over $35M in value Generated leads through one-on-one consultation via phone inquiries, online check-ins, and meeting office walk-ins Relevant Skills CRM: Proficient with Salesforce, Zoho, and HubSpot; some experience with Keap. Used various CRM software over a decade to successfully manage customer relations and quick to adapt to new software and tools that aid in quality of customer experience. Salesmanship: Negotiated and closed over several deals worth $1M+ and skilled in upselling and cross-selling. Adept at working closely with marketing and product teams to maximize the efficiency of the sales funnel for both inbound and outbound traffic. Presentation: Represented Microsoft Northwest Region at quarterly board meetings, ensuring all stakeholders were kept abreast of new developments and opportunities. Also deliver monthly presentations to big clients and vendors to maintain positive relationship. Data analytics. Expert at integrating data from various analytics platforms, including Google, Microsoft Power BI, and SAP BusinessObjects Education Colgate University | May 2008 MBA Fordham University | May 2006 Bachelor’s Degree in Business

For more resume examples and templates:

Resume examples by job

Google docs resume template

Resume templates

Resume builder

Resume Headers Samples:

Tip : Never put your contact info in the header of your document; some applicant tracking systems might miss it.

For more on how to write a resume header:

Resume Header

Resume Titles

Resume introduction examples

Entry-Level Resume Objective.

Recent graduate with a bachelor’s in Marketing from the University of Virginia seeking an entry-level role in content marketing. Excellent copywriter with 2+ years experience editing content as a member of the UVa Writing Center.

Career Change Resume Objective.

Eager to apply 7+ years of experience with customer success management to make successful outbound B2B calls, deliver customized business solutions to new and existing customers, and provide expert product knowledge in the role of Account Manager for XYZ Inc.

Example Resume Summary Statement.

Accountant with over 8 years of experience in the medical industry. Adept at advising on management of cash deficits, reconciling departmental accounts, and creating new accounts and codes. Coordinated invoice preparation system for ABC that reduced contractor overhead by 19% YoY.

English teacher with a love of language and 6 years of experience teaching high school students. Developed new curriculum that boosted freshman reading comprehension scores by 12% and created after school book club for AP Lit class, resulting in 100% of participating students achieving a 5 on the AP Lit test.

Example Qualifications Summary.

Executive assistant with 5+ years experience helping maintain efficiency in an office of 25 employees Communicated directly with internal and external stakeholders, helping Senior Vice President manage projects worth $5M+ Proactively managed office schedules, identifying and prioritizing changes to ensure client satisfaction Recognized in a company of 500 for “Outstanding Achiever” in May 2019

Example Resume Profile.

Detail-oriented IT Specialist with 4 years of experience overseeing and improving the infrastructure of IT systems. Adept at building and running troubleshooting systems and testing services. Decreased security risk by 47% through continual optimization, while also improving the speed of client portal by 22%. Excellent communicator both internally and for client-facing discussions. Achieved 98%+ customer satisfaction ratings through weekly and monthly check-ins with accounts valued cumulatively at $500,000.

Entry-Level Resume Headline.

Bilingual College Graduate with 80 WPM Typing Speed and Tutoring Experience

Experienced Resume Headline.

Business Development Specialist with 6+ Years Experience Scaling Start-Up Tech Teams

For more on resume introductions:

Resume objective statement

Resume summary statement

Resume summary statement examples

Qualifications summary

Sample resume work experience sections

Work Experience XYZ Industries | Seattle, WA Marketing Associate | May 2019-Present Delivered weekly presentations to client-base to communicate brand messaging, increasing client retention by 11% Served as liaison between marketing and product teams, resulting in projects finishing 2 weeks early, on average Leveraged Excel skills to create and maintain spreadsheet to track consumer insights, emergent trends, and inform decisions of marketing team through competitive analysis Managed team of 5 contractors to juggle multiple priority projects simultaneously, never missing a deadline Initiated an affiliate referral program that PR team went on to turn into a revenue-generating stream valued at $30,000 annually ABC Corp | Seattle, WA Marketing Intern | September 2018-May 2019 Developed, maintained, and processed 20+ digital consent forms and distributor forms Worked collaboratively with a team of 10 marketing professionals, closely aligning our goals with the PR team Provided data analysis using Google Analytics and performed keyword research to increase blog traffic by 56% over six months Answered up to 50 customer queries by phone and email each week

For more on building the perfect resume work experience section:

Resume work experience section

First resume (no experience)

Examples Of Education Resume Sections

Graduated recently from a 4-year program.

Western Illinois University | Macomb, Illinois May 2020 Bachelor of Arts in Sociology | Minor in Psychology 3.95 GPA magna cum laude Dean’s List all semesters

Two degrees.

Fordham University | Bronx, New York April 2016 Master of Chemical Engineering Stony Brook University | Stony Brook, New York April 2014 Bachelor of Science in Chemistry

Anticipated graduation date (not yet graduated).

DePaul Univeristy | Chicago, Illinois Bachelor of Arts in History – Degree anticipated May 2021 Current GPA: 3.8

Older job seeker (graduated 10+ years ago).

University of Chicago | Chicago, Illinois Bachelor of Business Administration

High school graduate (no college degree).

Johnston High School 2016-2020 Head of Computer Club

More on crafting the perfect resume education section:

Education resume section

GPA on resume

Dean’s list

Magna cum laude

Examples Of Skills For Resume

Examples of hard skills include:

Examples of soft skills include:

Here’s more information on how to incorporate skills into your resume:

Resume skills section

Hard skills

Soft skills

Top skills for professionals

Skills-based resume

Resume writing FAQ

What is a resume?

A resume is a one to two-page document that focuses on professional experience, past achievements, education and certifications, and specific skills tailored to the job you’re applying for.

Almost every job application requires a resume, and hiring managers use them as a first impression in determining which applicants get a shot at an interview.

Whether you’re fresh out of college or have 30 years of professional experience, this guide should help craft a resume that stands out from the crowd and get you one step closer to landing your dream job.

What is the format for writing a good resume?

Most people will want to use a chronological or reverse-chronological resume format. This format is compatible with most applicant tracking systems (ATS) and is easy for employers to read. Additionally it helps highlight your experience, which helps prove your qualifications.

How far back should a resume go?

A resume should go back no further than 10 to 15 years. However, it is important that all your information is relevant. Therefore, do not include job experience that is irrelevant to your application, even if it’s fewer than 10 years old. Save that information for later discussions.

Should you personalize your resume for each job?

Yes, you should personalize your resume for each job you apply to. Many recruiters use ATS now, which will search for keywords in a resume and reject those that don’t have them. That means that the skills you choose to highlight as well as your opening, such as your resume summary, should be altered to suit each job you apply to.

You don’t need to rewrite the entire resume for each job, but it does show attention to detail and initiative to make sure that your resume is customized. It also makes it more likely that you’ll get past the first step of the process.

State of New York Department of Labor – Resumes, Cover Letters and Job Applications

Harvard University – Create a Resume/CV or Cover Letter

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Matthew Zane is the lead editor of Zippia's How To Get A Job Guides. He is a teacher, writer, and world-traveler that wants to help people at every stage of the career life cycle. He completed his masters in American Literature from Trinity College Dublin and BA in English from the University of Connecticut.

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