Use These Tips When Applying for a Leadership Position

As a job candidate for a leadership position, your resume must accurately describe your skills and qualifications for upper management. Increase your career opportunities with application materials that pinpoint what you can do for a company and what makes you a leader.

Create a Strategic Focus

Your resume for a leadership position should have a clear strategic focus. Instead of listing job duties for each position you have previously held, provide an overview of each project first to show how your work impacted that company in a positive way. Use specific industry terms and language that shows the big picture. For example, if you incorporated a new process that doubled productivity, then list both the action and the result to illustrate how your leadership strengthened the firm's operations and bottom line.

Customize the Executive Summary

The executive summary section of your resume should not follow a basic template that you submit to all the prospective employers. Instead, outline the type of leadership position you seek by pulling keywords from the job descriptions to show that you are thorough as a job candidate and a leader. Align your goals within this section to the goals and mission of each firm to demonstrate how your leadership skills, qualifications and strategic focus are a solid match for the company.

Use your executive summary to highlight accomplishments related to leadership. For example, specify the industry types, sizes of each company where you have managed and the types of budgets you've managed. Focus on accomplishments that clearly identify how your performance and your team's performance improved expense management, sales, customer relations, productivity and revenue.

Clarify Promotions

Spotlight promotions by creating a separate entry and company line for each leadership position you have held in the past. Accurately tell the story of your career by highlighting how you have moved from entry-level positions to management positions. Your resume should expose the key challenges you faced on the job as well as reveal how you succeeded within the company.

Outline significant details about your promotions. For example, if you were promoted to a leadership position to resolve a problem, clarify your strategies and successes. If you were the first salesperson promoted to an executive level, make this accomplishment prominent.

Incorporate Keywords

Hiring managers seek professionals who are well-versed in industry terms, and their applicant tracking systems seek out keywords. Incorporate terms within your resume that are common within the industry, such as "strategic planning," "talent management" or "operations leadership," to capture the interest of prospective employers.

Submit a resume that is polished, professional and focused on the traits needed to succeed in a leadership position. Assess your skills and qualifications, and create a document that clearly shows you are the most qualified person for the job.

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