Q: "I know I need a new resume because the one I have was written more than 10 years ago, and I am up on things enough to know that times have changed. Here’s my situation: I have been a COO, CIO, and CFO over the course of my career, and I am confident I can land a senior executive role in any one of these areas. Should my resume be general enough to present all of this?”
A: To be cliché: “No, no, 1,000 times no.”
While I understand you are brilliant in several key areas, you cannot be all things to all people. Your name is not Whitney Houston. You are not Every Woman.
You are also not alone in this situation. Many of my executive clients come to me with a similar set of circumstances. My first strategy is to see if I can narrow you down to two choices, say, you want to target COO and CIO roles. If you feel equally compelled to more possibilities than that, I would strongly recommend career counseling with my partner Bettina Seidman at Seitbet Associates in order for you to gain greater clarity regarding your objectives.
I will say this, before I present the second step of my strategy: I am not a big believer in preparing two resumes. I have found time and time again that the second resume is weaker, significantly so. My other feeling is that your history is your history, and it cannot and should not be written completely differently depending on whether you’re target is COO or CIO.
What I do recommend, though, is an alternate cover letter and profile. The cover letter is critically important in further enhancing your authentic voice. It guides the reader to what you are most proud of and passionate about. Most likely, you are proud of a different set of achievements from your COO roles, than during your CIO work.
The profile (also known as the “summary,” “synopsis,” or “qualifications” section) at the top of the resume is your opportunity to emphasize those assets which are absolutely most relevant to the employer. There would certainly be different points to emphasize, based on the role you’re targeting.
The remainder of your resume would be the same for both presentations.
This strategy works because it’s important to not dilute your message. After all, you’re not going to be a COO and CIO in the same company at the same time, right? A singular, focused, spot-on message is infinitely superior to a “general” resume. Uuuuuggh. I cringe when executives ask me for a general resume. I cringe even writing it here. Let’s eliminate that from our lexicon.
This approach has proven to be a sound one, and I send many executive resume clients to pursue their career management goals with their alternate cover letter / profiles. This positions them to go forth with confidence.
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