Your resume is overwhelming to the reader. If your resume is more than two pages it probably fits into this category. Examine your resume and edit, edit, edit. Do you really need to list the 7 management classes you took in 1987 now that you have been a CEO for the past 10 years? Do you really need to dedicate a full page to your employment experience before 1990? Probably not. Frequently with resumes, less is more.

Compare yourself to leadership peers.

Comparative analysis is one of the best ways to frame and express executive achievement, which helps to highlight your leadership brand value versus your competition.

For example, you might have brought in changes that were critical to company growth or customer perception - with bottom-line results. Look at each job for evidence of the following:

• New operational procedures that saved time or money
• Comparisons to your predecessor in the same role
• Performance measurements against colleagues with the same job title and function
• Industry comparisons for others in a similar role

Here, you’ll want to ensure the comparisons made are clearly conveyed on your resume, as in this example of a CEO in the pharmaceutical industry:

“Revitalized product sales with 65% growth after taking over sales team—despite lackluster results during preceding 2 years.”

If you were specifically recruited because of the results you could deliver (and surpassed other candidates in the hiring process), be sure to note this in your executive resume.

Your resume is made up of big blocks of text that no one wants to read. Imagine going to a website looking for information and being confronted with a homepage with a huge paragraph of text. Would you stay on the site and read everything word for word or would you quickly navigate away in search of a site that enabled you to find the information you are looking for quickly. My guess is you would opt for the later. People who read resumes feel the same way. If they have to muddle through big chunks of text to figure out if you are a potential fit for their job, they will probably navigate away from your resume quickly. Use bullets, bold, shading, or text boxes to highlight critical information and help your reader figure out what you are all about in just a few seconds.

Merely mentioning the scope of your duties isn’t enough.

So you’ve managed the P&L and helped create revenue growth. You’ll be up against numerous leaders with similar achievements—making it harder for you to stand out.

Distinguishing yourself on an executive resume requires that you specify the setting behind each of your accomplishments. To mine your background for this context, answer the following questions:

• Did you take on challenges within the company, such as frequent turnover, negative PR, or market volatility?
• Were your roles broader than what was typically required? In other words, did you take on the role of CFO and CIO simultaneously, or step into a Manager-level position to help out subordinates?
• Was the company experiencing rapid growth - putting pressure on you to hire or standardize procedures?
• Were you required to turn around a challenging situation or address looming obstacles that threatened profits?

This example of a CFO resume achievement demonstrates the candidate’s ability to take on a wider level of authority:

“Served as CFO and COO administering $23M annual revenue and sustaining operations during restructuring, with 18% drop in facilities costs from newly renegotiated vendor contracts.”

If any of these situations apply to your career, be sure to describe background detail when noting the scope of your achievements. The ability to gain results in these scenarios is highly sought after within the executive suite.

You are uploading a Word version of your resume into a database that requires a text version. Many people make the mistake of taking their formatted Word document and uploading it into a text box on a company website. The format is generally not preserved when you do this, and your document will end up looking sloppy and unprofessional. Here are instructions on how to create a text resume.

Demonstrate strategic, not tactical, value.

Employers are not only looking for your leadership skills — they’re intent on finding an executive champion that will impact growth, retain top talent, and impress their competitors.

Therefore, your executive resume has to take your brand message a step further than just results, and talk about context.

Consider whether the following situations apply to your background:

Heading a new growth strategy

Conceptualizing and leading the release of new products

Reacting to the threat of competition in the industry

Addressing the effect of the economic downturn

Next, write a short success story that pulls in the challenge and explains the reasons you got involved, plus the outcome, as shown in this example for a COO resume:

“Produced 142% increase in net income by transforming focus to life sciences markets; won contracts at AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson.”

Repeat this exercise for different situations, and create condensed summary versions of each story for your executive resume.

You have no clue what keywords are. Keywords are the buzzwords or industry terminology that is relevant to your job function or industry. You can source keywords by reviewing job descriptions for positions you would consider applying to and looking for the consistency in these keywords from posting to posting. Many employers use ATS or Applicant Tracking Systems to source candidates and they will only find your resume if the words in your resume correlate to those posted in their job specs.

See also our article Tapping the Power of Keywords to Enhance Your Resume.

You don’t show a clear connection between your past achievements and your future direction. If your resume merely represents your chronology it may be difficult for a hiring manager to understand how your past experience relates to their current position. This is especially true if you are trying to transition to a new job function or industry. Your resume needs to be idiot proof. Be sure to connect the dots between past performance and future value to the organization (I recommend a profile at the top of the resume to accomplish this). No one will connect the dots for you. Take the time to create a clear roadmap from past accomplishments to future value.

You have copied and pasted your previous job descriptions into your resume. The reality is that people in similar jobs perform similar job tasks. An accountant in company A may not have job tasks that are that different than the accountant in company B. Yet the value that each brings to their organization may be totally unique. Minimize content about job tasks and focus on more compelling accomplishments.

Consider our Accomplishments Worksheet for brainstorming your achievements.

You are using a resume template to convey how special you are. A resume is all about showcasing your unique value. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by using a stale Microsoft resume template to explain your unique value proposition.

You might want to start writing a thank-you note as soon as you have an interview scheduled. You can add the custom touches after your meeting. That is when you take the time to recap the critical skills you bring and reemphasize any pertinent discussion points. Don’t delay building the foundation of your thank-you note until after you’ve interviewed.

Blokdijk goes on to describe a job-seeker who contacted her in a panic, having still not sent a thank-you note a day and a half after her interview. Planning out the framework of a thank-you letter before the interview is a great idea so that right afterwards, you can add some quick (but thoughtful) customization and send the letter right away — within 24 hours of the interview.

We know that thank-you letters are an item that job-seekers truly struggle with because — of all the content on Quint Careers — thank-you letter samples are the second-most searched for item.

Our Thank You Letter Worksheet can be a big help, too.

You think using visual elements on a resume is weird. Many of us are used to seeing PowerPoint presentations where charts, graphs, and other visuals are used to create engagement and communicate information succinctly. Why would you think that a presentation of your candidacy should be any different? Visual elements can differentiate you from your competitors, convey a lot of quality information in less space, and position you as a savvy communicator. Here’s an example of a more visual resume.