10 Best Executive Resume Writers: Expert Advice to Find Your Dream Position In 2019

10 Best Executive Resume Writers: Expert Advice to Find Your Dream Position In 2019

10 best executive resume writers offer executive resume & job landing strategies to empower you to win your next senior six-figure role. 

Now is the time to plan your move using these proven executive job search tips from 10 best executive resume writers so you can start 2019 where you want to be: continuously accelerating your career.

With volumes of career information online and an avalanche of ‘10 Best Executive Resume Writing Services’ lists to wade through, how do you choose which advice you should follow? And which advice is right for your situation?

I’ve have been invited by Rosa Vargas to contribute to a list of valuable executive resume writing and job search tips alongside 10 best executive resume writers and career coaching colleagues to provide you with best practices to position you to catapult your credentials and talent into a successful 2019 job search campaign.

The following 10 best executive resume writers and career coaches are subject matter experts and highly regarded within the resume writing and coaching industry for their trending insights, trustworthy business practices, and record of success helping executives reach next-level results. Here is what they had to say. Listen closely because this advice is coming from top-tier experts. 

While this isn’t a 10 Best Executive Resume Writers List Ranking, and everyone is listed in no particular order, these are all colleagues to whom I have referred business to and/or worked collaboratively on industry initiatives. I respect the work of everyone on this list and I am proud to share this list of 2019 executive resume writing and job search tips for your review.

You will thank us… believe me. 

Don’t wait. Ensure you do this. In fact, plan it now and hit the ground running in 2019. Putting this off until January will be too late! Many will start this now and be ahead of you if you wait… so let’s do this! Good luck!

HIGH-IMPACT EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITING AND JOB SEARCH TIPS FOR 2019 FROM 10 BEST EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITERS

10 BEST EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITERS – TIP #1 FOR 2019

Wendi M. Weiner, The Writing Guru

Master Your Elevator Pitch to Leverage Your Personal Brand

One of the most overlooked aspects of the job search strategy is the elevator pitch. Your elevator pitch is formulated by leveraging your unique value proposition and what truly separates you in your industry or niche. Mastering your elevator pitch should be a priority before you delve into updating your resume or crafting your LinkedIn profile.

The job search landscape has changed dramatically in the digital age. Without a personal brand or a clear elevator pitch, it is difficult to stand out, and rise above, particularly as an executive leader. Assessments such as the Reach 360 can help define those brand personas and leadership capabilities. Brand strategy coaching can help you understand the key skill sets truly shape your unique value. 

10 BEST EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITERS – TIP #2 FOR 2019

Lisa Rangel, Chameleon Resumes

Evaluate the Executive Resume Writer’s Recommendations & Expertise Beyond Resume Development 

Verify the writer’s success in the form of client job changes that are similar to the caliber of position you seek. Your resume writer should help you utilize the marketing documents they created for you and position you to land your dream job.

Look at the quality of their LinkedIn recommendations: Are the recommendations from actual clients? Are these clients who have held similar titles as you? Has the recommender had a successful job change resulting from using the writer?  Landing your dream job depends on so much more than the resume—ensure you are hiring a successful job search strategist who understands the overall recruiting process, of which the resume is one part of that process.

10 BEST EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITERS – TIP #3 FOR 2019

Rosa E. Vargas, Career Steering

Be Intentional in Your Online Persona and Brand

As analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence evolve it will become ever more imperative that your online executive brand is robust and expansive– beyond setting up your social profile on popular social media portals such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. 

As an executive, your personal brand is critical to your company’s digital equity. So not only is being on social media going to keep your brand relevant, but your online activity across business forums and the surfing trail you leave behind (YouTube, purchases, reading subscriptions) will play a role in helping define your online DNA.  Steer and energize your brand’s digital footprint with your own personal website, thought leadership posts, LinkedIn articles, and press releases to share your/company’s milestone to become the proactive architect of your digital story. 

10 BEST EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITERS – TIP #4 FOR 2019

Camille Carboneau Roberts, CC Career Solutions

What will your references say about you to influence the hiring team to select you for the job offer?

You don’t want to get this far in the job search process and have your references unknowingly sabotage your job offer. Instead, choose your references wisely then prepare your references to influence the hiring team.

Be sure each reference knows you are seeking a new position. Email them a copy of your most current resume for which you have included them as a reference. Send them a link to the job announcement as well.

Three ways you can make it easy for them is to:

• Outline talking points about your leadership experience, education, work ethic, character, business acumen, knowledge, skills, and abilities—and anything important that you’d like them to tell the hiring team.
• Remind the reference of key projects where you worked together and the impact that was made.
• Provide the name, phone number, or email of the contact who may be calling them, if possible.

Offer to discuss your strategy with your references at their convenience and be sure to thank them for their time.

10 BEST EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITERS – TIP #5 FOR 2019

Dawn Rasmussen, Pathfinder Careers

Don’t Be Afraid to Take Classes and Include Them on Your Resume

Boards and employers are interested in seeing how executives are willing to keep learning. This is, after all, a test to see how you can innovate and carry this company forward.

So actively seek out professional development opportunities that are particularly thought-leadership oriented. Understanding where the industry or economy will potentially take the organization will be critical for the next executive. And you can demonstrate that progressive knowledge acquisition and cutting-edge understanding of opportunities and challenges to not only evolve the organization but also stand out among competitors.

10 BEST EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITERS – TIP #6 FOR 2019

Mary Elizabeth Bradford, maryelizabethbradford.com

Be Bold – Go Direct

Do you have a favorite list of companies you would like to work with? Why not reach out to them directly?

If you are an executive level – this technique is especially effective and involves simply reaching out to another CEO or top title to see if the timing is right that they may want to speak with you – as you are currently vetting new opportunities.

It’s important to understand the spirit in which you are reaching out is entrepreneurial – rather than sales or marketing driven. It works in part because at the $300K+ level, only about 10% of positions available show up online. So by reaching out directly you do a few things:

• You demonstrate your initiative and strategic leadership.
•  You capitalize on the 90% of potential for unadvertised positions or positions that are being filled quietly.
• You potentially save the company not only time, but a hefty recruiter search fee.

Early interest before job parameters are carved in stone and sitting with a board, HR, recruiters or a combination thereof are often much more flexible and you can affect the evolution of the terms.

Look for companies that are moving, growing, expanding or in M&A mode. Look for growing industries too – vs. those that are flat, in decline or disrupted – unless you are a solution provider to those kinds of issues and that interests you.

10 BEST EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITERS – TIP #7 FOR 2019

Annette Richmond, Career Intelligence Resume Writing

Breakaway from Chronological Resume Format and Tell the Story Behind Your Career Progression

Take time to think about your career trajectory when writing your executive resume. Were you recruited by a competitor or former client? Were you promoted because you landed a big client or developed a process that was adopted company-wide? The story behind your promotion can make a difference.

One of the reasons employers prefer reverse-chronological resumes is because they show a candidate’s career progression. But, once you’ve reached the executive level you need to show momentum.

Let’s say you’ve been promoted 3 times since being recruited by your current employer. That’s great. But, being promoted based on your achievements is better. For example, after 2 years with ABC Company the manager of another department recruited you to come and work for her. She picked you to run the product merchandising team because she liked your work on an interdepartmental project. That’s more impressive than being promoted due to seniority.

10 BEST EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITERS – TIP #8 FOR 2019

Sandra Ingemansen, Resume Strategies

Executive Summaries & Job Descriptions: Long Story Short

There’s a way to engage readers in your career story in half the time and make sure they remember about 34% more content.

Who wouldn’t want to make themselves more memorable to executive hiring decision makers, right? Here are some key takeaways that take human reading behavior into account:

• Write tighter to shorten lines of text.
• Compose compelling, well-written headline statements. (This Poynter’s Eyetrack III study noted that readers only read 2 to 3 words of a headline, so make your opening header a good one!)
•  Frontload your main points first, because readers do the same thing for body text.
•  Use sub-headlines to categorize critical points into scannable information.

Basic Design Devices

Increase white space so that readers aren’t hampered by clutter.

• Create simple navigational structures for both written and visual content.
• Change long paragraphed content to bulleted items. (BEWARE “death by bullets”; more than 5 bullet points defeats the purpose of this strategy.)
• Bold important information. (NOTE: be strategic with your “to bold or not to bold” methodology; too much and your reader is faced with even more clutter.)
• Use relevant visual cues that support the most important written content. (CAREFUL: incorporating “dead weight” visuals can do much more harm than good. Leave it to a career marketing professional if this isn’t your forte.)

The Nielsen study relays that these strategies increased reader comprehension 12% and provided a more satisfying reader experience. 

10 BEST EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITERS – TIP #9 FOR 2019

Martin Weitzman, Executive Resume Writer

It’s Always About The Impact

In developing your resume, LinkedIn Profile, and other related career documents, it is always about ‘how much and your impact on the company.’

How much did you help them save, how much did you help them make, or what did you do to support your company’s cost or revenue goals? What issues was the company facing and what did you achieve in resolving those issues.  

Potential employers want to believe you can help them. 

10 BEST EXECUTIVE RESUME WRITERS – TIP #10 FOR 2019

Laura Smith-Proulx, An Expert Resume 

As we step into 2019, your executive job search and resume presentation can no longer be simply tack on your latest position and expect recruiters to call.

Instead, take the time to define and leverage your passion in your executive resume and LinkedIn Profile using 2019 trends. What distinguishes you and how do you leave a legacy of results? Fill your resume and social media activity with examples that clearly set you apart from other executives. Next, build a bucket list of target employers and industries to pursue, using strategically planned communications, while continuing to network. Summarize your personal brand with short, powerful statements of value that describe what you achieve and how you deliver ROI to employers.

What would you suggest as a Best Executive Resume Writing Tip? What executive job search hack do you have to share?

Be Well!

Lisa

Lisa Rangel – Executive Resume Writing Services

Chameleon Resumes

10 Best Executive Resume Writers: Expert Advice to Find Your Dream Position In 2019