No résumé is perfect. Even those of highly successful executives are at least a little bit flawed.
Amy Adler, a certified master résumé writer, management coach, andcareer strategist for executives — who has read around 4,000 executives' résumés in her life — says that there's one common mistake many of these people make.
"Executives typically have broad, deep, and successful careers," she tells Business Insider. "However, it's astonishing that their résumés don't demonstrate their success in the context of the hiring manager's needs."
She says people in executive roles often take the "self-centered approach" because it's easy — but it won't help them in the long run.
She says:
"When they write their résumés without researching, or even imagining, what their potential future role will require, they are banking on the notion that the hiring manager will read their résumé and have a 'light-bulb moment' that tells them why this person is relevant, important, and capable of doing the role. The truth is that hiring managers don't care enough about 'unknowns' to imagine where they belong."
For instance, job seekers typically list the things they have done on their résumé, Adler says:
"In retelling their career story, they simply say, 'I've done great things. Here are a few examples: Restructured division to cut FTEs 16% and add $150K to bottom line; innovated ABC process to generated 5% YOY growth in lead generation that resulted in 43 new customers annually.'"
Read more