The View from the 30,000-Foot Level: Your Resume is No Longer About You

Soft skills, such as leadership and communication, are in demand by 92% of recruiters.

Throughout your career, you’ve proven you can do the work. You’ve managed the projects, hit the targets, and mastered the skills. Your resume has been a detailed logbook of your impressive accomplishments as a top performer.

But now, you’re aiming for the C-suite, the VP title, the executive team. And at this level, the rules change completely.

An executive resume is not a longer, more detailed version of your old one. It’s a fundamentally different document with a different purpose. They no longer care as much about what you can do. They care about how you can lead. Your resume is no longer about you; it's about your vision, your leadership, and your ability to drive the entire business forward.

Step 1: Ditch the summary, write your "leadership profile"

The top of your resume is no longer a summary of skills; it's your personal brand thesis. This 4-5 line "Executive Summary" or "Leadership Profile" must immediately establish your authority and strategic value. It should answer: What is your leadership philosophy? What is the scope of your impact? What is your vision?

• Before (Senior manager):
  "Results-oriented sales director with 15 years of experience in leading teams and exceeding quotas in the SaaS industry."

• After (Executive profile):
  "A visionary and data-driven Chief Revenue Officer with over 15 years of experience building and scaling high-performance sales organizations in the B2B SaaS sector. A servant leader dedicated to fostering a culture of accountability and innovation, with a track record of driving triple-digit revenue growth and successful market expansion into the EMEA region."

Step 2: It's all about scope, scale, and P&L

Your bullet points need to be elevated from project outcomes to business impact. Every accomplishment should be framed in the context of its scale. The questions you must answer are "how big?" and "how much?"

• Instead of: "Led a team of sales representatives."

• Elevate it: "Directed a global sales division of 150+ across 10 countries, with full P&L responsibility for a $75M budget."

• Instead of: "Launched a new marketing campaign."

• Elevate it: "Orchestrated a global go-to-market strategy for a new flagship product, resulting in $20M in pipeline growth within the first six months."

Step 3: Showcase strategic oversight, not tactical "doing"

At the executive level, getting bogged down in the tactical details can be a red flag. It suggests you’re a micromanager, not a leader. Your language must shift from "I did" to "I led," "I directed," "I architected," or "I transformed."

• Good: "I increased efficiency by 20% by implementing a new software."

• Better (Executive): "Championed a digital transformation initiative, securing board approval and overseeing the implementation of a new ERP system that improved operational efficiency by 20% enterprise-wide."

Step 4: Add a "core competencies" section

Right below your Leadership Profile, include a scannable, keyword-rich section of your high-level expertise. This gives a board member or recruiter a 10-second snapshot of your strategic capabilities.

Example:

• Core competencies: P&L Management • Go-to-Market Strategy • Change Management • Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) • Board & Investor Relations • Talent Development • Global Operations

The leader's challenge: letting go of the weeds

The most difficult part of writing an executive resume is letting go. You got here because you were great at the details, and you're proud of that work. It can feel unnatural to delete the hands-on accomplishments that defined your success for so long. The biggest challenge is learning to speak the language of the boardroom, not the cubicle.

Your strategic advisor in an app

Distilling 20+ years of rich, complex experience into a sharp, two-page strategic document is a monumental task. You need a partner who understands the language of leadership.

This is the high-level challenge the TailorMyResume iOS app is built for. Our app helps you make the critical shift from tactical to strategic. By analyzing senior-level job descriptions, it identifies the key leadership competencies and strategic priorities the company is looking for. It then guides you in reframing your extensive career history into the high-impact, visionary language that resonates with a board, a CEO, and executive recruiters.

Your resume is your business case. Let us help you write a compelling one.

Ready to craft a resume that reflects your leadership? Download TailorMyResume from the App Store and position yourself for the next level.