You’re accustomed to delegating authority, but there’s no one more qualified to know your history and strengths than you. A strong resume is a vital tool for capturing an employer's attention, so take charge and bring that executive touch to your resume with a complete rewrite using best practices demonstrated in our executive resume sample. Show the world that strategic mind at work by delivering a flawlessly crafted, well-targeted document.
You can use our sample the same way you’d use a business plan. As a roadmap laying out the end result and the pathways to get there, a resume sample can guide you in developing and expanding on your resume until the language is strong and compelling enough to capture any employer’s attention. When you’re shooting for the top, your resume needs to reflect the highest level leadership skills with confidence and professionalism. Let us show you how with a winning example, a list of C-level tips, and a comprehensive demonstration of the best resume style for top executives.
You can use our sample the same way you’d use a business plan. As a roadmap laying out the end result and the pathways to get there, a resume sample can guide you in developing and expanding on your resume until the language is strong and compelling enough to capture any employer’s attention. When you’re shooting for the top, your resume needs to reflect the highest level leadership skills with confidence and professionalism. Let us show you how with a winning example, a list of C-level tips, and a comprehensive demonstration of the best resume style for top executives.
Executive Resume Sample
Suzanne Fields
Houston, TX 11111 • sfields@emailservice • 555-983-9887
Houston, TX 11111 • sfields@emailservice • 555-983-9887
Summary
Seasoned chief executive officer with a stellar history of success building oil and gas industry companies into global giants with a solid market presence and a sustainable strategic plan for long-term business growth. Renowned for turning around underperforming businesses by providing the stewardship and direction necessary to bring the entire organization back on track. Committed to defining and achieving a broad-reaching corporate vision, with a clear roadmap for achieving optimal business alignment.
Skills
- Executive leadership
- Business stewardship
- Long-term and short-term planning
- Core business decision-making
- Corporate policy and procedure
- Business sustainability
- Revenue generation
- Corporate social responsibility
- Business turnaround
- Management team leadership
- Board-level communications
- Stakeholder engagement
- High-level negotiation
Work Experience
Chief Executive Officer, 2010 – Present
Canopus Oil, Houston, TX
Canopus Oil, Houston, TX
- Rescue the business from the brink of failure to restore top-level leadership and achieve consistent profitability for an international petroleum company
- Define 2-year, 5-year, and 10-year business plans
- Define future vision regarding exploration in global regions
- Make strategic decisions regarding business direction based on market and economic expertise
- Redefine business policies based on sustainable principles and lean operating principles
- Build a strong management team capable of executing strategy at the local and regional level
- Transformed $12M in losses into $91M in profits within 2 years of hire
- Replaced a stagnating Board of Directors with renowned industry thought leaders
- Improved company carbon footprint 9% through new policies regarding green technologies.
Chief Executive Officer, 2001 – 2009
Texan Petrol, Austin TX
Texan Petrol, Austin TX
- Stepped up during a challenging time to steer the post-acquisition merger of United O&G into Texan Petrol to create a multinational $32B entity
- Defined new policies and standards to govern the integrated business
- Harmonized processes and systems to create a single centralized template for business operations
- Implemented top-down transformations to business procedures, strategy, and governance
- Eliminated 4,500 personnel worldwide to save $1.2B in the consolidated organization
- Leveraged new territory rights granted by the acquisition to launch $232M in new drilling operations in Tanzania, Uganda, and several other countries
Executive Director, 1998 – 2000
Texan Petrol, Austin TX
Texan Petrol, Austin TX
- Delivered functional, operational, and strategic leadership as executor of CEO vision
- Monitored performance across all functional areas; presented executive reports
- Devised high-level recommendations for optimizing business plans
- Boosted profitability 21% by introducing Lean work cells
Education
Master of Business Administration
Duke University, Durham, NC
Bachelor of Business Administration
Rice University, Houston, TX
Certified CEO
The CEO Institute
Duke University, Durham, NC
Bachelor of Business Administration
Rice University, Houston, TX
Certified CEO
The CEO Institute
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Is This a Good Executive Resume? Let’s Check
Does the sample candidate demonstrate how her executive leadership skills positively impacted the business on an enterprise-wide scale?
Yes, it does. In both of her CEO roles, the example jobseeker listed instances of turning around business performance to the tune of multimillion-dollar profitability and increased stability for merged/acquired businesses. The key is that each job listing in the executive resume sample shows a combination of strategic and transformative leadership. Companies don’t hire new executives unless they need direction and change, and this resume shows the candidate is capable of that.
Is the executive resume sample focused primarily on top-level duties rather than getting lost in the details?
It’s entirely possible to write an executive resume that looks like it belongs to a junior project manager. By including too many low-level details, you can lose the power of your experience in descriptions of duties that are beneath the authority you’re trying to convey. Follow the example of our resume and stick to the high-level functions and decisions that impacted the entire business, rather than the daily minutiae better suited to a secretary or team member.
Does the resume show the career progression necessary to a good executive?
The best executives grew into the role; it’s their progressive experience that gives them the insight needed to know how their policies will impact the company from the ground up. The executive resume sample shows a promotion at Texan Oil, before our example jobseeker stepped up to use her knowledge of the company to take over and successfully navigate it through a difficult transition period.
Does the executive resume sample limit experience to only what’s relevant and recent?
Indeed. The rule of thumb is 10 to 15 years of experience, as anything else can appear outdated. The exception to that rule involves high-level leaders like executives. Although you should avoid dates that could age you or make you seem obsolete, a few extra years of experience can add weight to an executive’s resume while showing the aforementioned progression.
Does the sample resume make the mistake of including technical skills?
Absolutely not! You’d be surprised how many executives sabotage their own resumes by listing skills such as Microsoft Office or even something as basic as Notepad. Technical skills have no place on an executive resume when for the most part, executives focus on business decisions and strategy rather than working on the ground level with hands-on tech all day. Naturally executives use email and office software, but it’s assumed anyone who has the skills to perform as an executive can use basic and ubiquitous business software tools. It doesn’t need to take up space on your resume.
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The Most Important Executive Resume Sample Takeaways
As the top decision-maker, an executive carries a lot of weight. Your resume has to carry equal weight by showing the breadth and level of your history in a short space. Use high-level language and focus on the scope of your duties; show the impact of long-term and short-term decisions on a company-wide scale, as in our executive resume sample. Be clear on whether the impact was local, national, or global. Trim your history down to relevant recent roles, showing career progression if possible. Keep these tips in mind and use our resume builder to deliver an executive-level resume.
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