Phil Rosenberg makes a great point in a recent Ivy Exec blog post regarding the content of executive CVs / Resumes. He states that despite managers widely recognizing they are attracted to results-driven documents, demonstrating a proven track record of solving problems and seizing opportunities, they fail to implement the same style in their own documents.

I have also experienced this problem. With one executive resume, I removed unnecessary descriptions and extracted key results. When returning to the executive, he liked the appraoch but felt the full picture of what he is capable of was no longer there. The problem Phil identified as a personal biography approach for a resume was clearly present in his response. Every executive would like to convey all achievements in their career with a detailed description of their leadership style, but there is simply not enough space in a modern CV / Resume.

Instead, think of your resume as a pixilated picture. From a far, the viewer can see the full picture and key highlights, enough to want to get closer and see more detail. Yet when they get closer they realize not all the detail is there and need to seek another way to fill in the gaps. During the hiring process, this is where the recruiter will call you in for an interview to discuss your career history, leadership style, skills and goals.

That is the job of a CV / resume; a marketing document that must entice the reader enough to want to discuss your specific results further and see how your experiences can apply to the role at hand.

About Ivy Exec

This article was inspired by the Ivy Exec Blog. Ivy Exec is a career resource partner of AESC/BlueSteps - a highly selective, invitation-only career site founded by a team of Columbia MBAs to address the unique career needs of top executives. Ivy Exec is a trusted recruiting tool used by companies such as JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Deloitte, Google, Prada, and other upper echelon firms looking to hire high-calibre executives.

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