Executives Can Freshen Their Resumes in 2017 with Three Tips from Jessica Holbrook Hernandez

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., April 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Employers are trying to meet talent shortages and discover new ways to find qualified candidates. But they will quickly dismiss a resume that looks like it was written 10 years ago.

"If you're an executive open to new opportunities this year you're probably taking a good look at your executive resume and wondering if it's as ready as you are for a new job search. I've heard from countless job seekers in the past two months who are concerned their executive resumes aren't up to the challenge. They are afraid that their resumes haven't been updated recently, aren't positioned correctly, or don't get responses," said Jessica Holbrook Hernandez, an award-winning executive resume writer and president of Great Resumes Fast, based in suburban Jacksonville.

If you're a C-Suite executive who is having a hard time writing your executive resume or simply are not feeling confident about the current condition of your resume, here are three quick tips that you can use right now to freshen it so that it's ready for the 2017 job market.

Culture Fit Is Important

The majority of recruiters say that culture fit is an important factor in their hiring decision. You don't hear much about culture fit when it comes to executive resume writing, but your resume is a great place to start setting the stage for culture fit. Start by researching the company culture of the organizations that you want to target in your job search. Find out what beliefs and values drive their organization and if these align with yours, be sure to include that information within your executive resume.

Ditch Pointless Words

Meaningless words that take up space and add no value to your executive resume do not market or brand you strongly enough to be included. Examples of these words include; results, success, professional, accomplished. These words are not inherently bad—it's just that they don't tell the employer much about you and the distinct value you offer an employer. Instead, replace these generic phrases with specific terms.

Instead of saying you are results-driven describe the pharmaceutical sales revenue you deliver with actual dollar amounts.

Replace the generic term success with the actual successes you've had; for example: Managed $32M in capital expansions. Launched Florida Cardiovascular Specialists for exclusive ER coverage and loyalist referral alignment.

The word professional can be switched with the actual position title that you're pursuing. Instead of saying sales professional say Medical Device Sales Representative.

Accomplished is an overused phrase that's hard to quantify. So instead of saying you're accomplished, share the accomplishments with metrics. For example: Elevated Florida Medical Center to level-2 trauma accreditation and level-3 pending. Grew billable trauma activation >110% in the past 3 years.

Modernize Your Resume

If you haven't updated your resume in the last two years it's time for an overhaul. Our society has become increasingly more visually driven. If you don't believe me just Google some basic information about the performance statistics around videos, visuals, and infographics over plain text. Or, research what our current attention span is (about 8 seconds … less than a goldfish by the way). Content-heavy resumes that lack visually engaging elements, design, and color are outdated. It's time to revamp the design of it to include charts, graphs, visuals, color, boxes, shading, borders, and other visual design elements that will engage the reader and make content easily digestible and quicker to consume. If you're getting an average of only six seconds for an initial scan, use visuals to communicate large chunks of information more quickly. For examples of visuals in executive resumes here are several resume samples that include color, borders, shading and graphs.

If you're not confident in your current resume, take time to make changes in these three key areas. If you're still struggling, need help, or are in a time crunch you can get more help here.

About Jessica Holbrook Hernandez

Jessica Holbrook Hernandez is President and CEO of Great Resumes Fast, a top-rated, award-winning executive resume writing service for executives. A Certified Social Branding Analyst, executive resume writer, and former recruiter for Fortune 500 companies, Jessica and her team create expertly-targeted executive resumes and LinkedIn profiles for busy executives.

By staying at the forefront of current trends in personal branding, executive resume writing, and LinkedIn profile development, Jessica offers a true competitive advantage—more than 99% of her clients land job interviews within 60 days.

Jessica has been cited hundreds of times in major media outlets: The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Fast Company, and many others. Great Resumes Fast has received nearly a dozen awards for excellence, including five consecutive honors for Best Executive Resume Writing Service

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