To land a job in 2020 and 2021, your goal must be to catch the attention of the hiring manager, decision maker, or executive recruiter. Everything in your pre-COVID resume needs to be updated from the language you use to display your leadership history to the marketing tactics needed to beat out the thousands of applicants applying for positions you want, your resume needs to reflect the latest changes. If not, it will never get the attention it needs to get that all important interview.
And if you or your executive resume writing service isn’t up-to-date on the latest subject line studies and effective headline writing tactics, chances are your executive resume won’t grab the attention of the person granting interviews either.
Here are tips to help you build a resume in these covid times:
Tip #1: Realize it may take more than one reach out attempt to schedule an exploratory call with a connection. Don’t give up after the first attempt. Most marketing and sales efforts involve multiple tasteful attempts so use this marketing principle to stay the course.
Tip #2: Include in exploratory interview requests a link to your calendar and an accommodation that you will use their calendar link to schedule a chat. Showing you are flexible with either option will subliminally show you are easy to work with people and how they communicate virtually and you will meet them where they are. So make it easy to schedule time with you.
Tip #3: Write a networking email headline that is no longer than 8-9 words so the meaning doesn’t get cut off. Choose your words wisely and factor in what the subject line looks like being received. 8-9 words is approximately what fits in both a desktop email viewer and a mobile email app. So maximize your impression by keeping your subject line meaningful and short.
Tip #4: Demonstrate how you hired, trained, managed, and generated results from a newly remote team. 2020 achievements are now typically focused on what you achieved working virtually—and that includes how you managed internal, vendor, and client teams.
Tip #5: Ensure you include a resume headline that targets the job you are pursuing beneath your contact information that is in line with the headline of your LinkedIn profile. Modern tactics dictate that headlines on both of these documents visually confirm with the reader they are reading the right resume/profile. An example might be Director of Marketing or Senior Vice President of Finance.
Use these tips to update your resume to better comply with the times. The result will hopefully end up with an interview with the hiring manager and bring you one step closer to your dream executive job.