5 Key Resume Tips for Aspiring CFOs - CareerAlley

5 Key Resume Tips for Aspiring CFOs - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Being a Chief Financial Officer of a major corporation is a challenging job. If you have years of experience in a senior finance position, you may be ready to take a step up the ladder. If your dream has always been becoming a CFO, its important to make sure that your resume is up to par. Resumes for executive positions are a key part of your Job Search Marketing Toolkit and will help to market you as a professional to Executive Recruiters as well as senior executives. With the right resume, you can make the right first impression and stand out among long line of other candidates while you brand yourself in the field. Here are 5 resume tips to ensure that you can show off your fiscal achievements and advance your career: 1. Choose a Summary Instead of the Generic Objective Statement Objective statements are, for the most part, a thing of the past. If you want to make more than just a visual impact with your resume, you should ditch the objective statement and go with a captivating summary of all of the things you have accomplished over the years. The summary will show the employer what youve contributed in the past, and what you can contribute in the past. A summary is a forward-looking statement that shows off your skill set, and not just a statement of what youre looking for. 2. Your Personality Must Shine Through You can have all of the experience thats required, but many candidates will have the same level of experience that you have. Executives receives stacks and stacks of resumes to review. If you want to become a contender for the CFO position, you must showoff your personality. Not everyone has the same personality type. If youre an introvert, make sure the resume is organized and factual. If youre an extrovert, make the resume colorful and bold. You want to be the same person on paper as you are when you go in for your interview. 3. Dont Rely on Financial Jargon Most professionals in finance are familiar with financial jargon so relying on the jargon to get you a CFO position wont work. If you seriously want to be considered for a CFO executive position, downplay the jargon and focus on talking about your achievements in a way that any professional can understand. Remember, the HR team might not be comprised of all finance professionals. Use simple terms anyone can understand so that they can truly understand the results that you can and have delivered. 4. Focus on Your Soft Skills Too Many finance professionals put all of their financial achievements in a resume, but fail to realize the benefit of listing their soft skills. CFOs need to possess a set of soft skills that many candidates dont focus on. You can point out all of the credentials and financial achievements, but dont forget to put a focus on the soft skills that will make you an asset. 5. Consider Your Experience and Make it Fit Into the Position If you want to apply for a CFO position in a smaller firm, you might want to highlight what youve done in the right context. If youve worked with larger accounts and budgets, the firm might wonder why youre wanting to downsize. Dont come off as overqualified and make your experience work with the position youre applying for. Also make your education count. Show off your degrees, and show why they are applicable. As a CFO, youll be the master of the numbers. Make sure your resume demonstrates this, but dont forget to highlight that youre a strategic thinker, driven and an effective communicator. Make your resume a powerful tool, and land a position on paper first. Book Corner [easyazon_link asin=1563706059 locale=US new_window=default nofollow=default tag=caree07-20 add_to_cart=default cloaking=default localization=default popups=default]Professional Resume for Accounting, Tax, Finance, and Law: A Special Gallery of Quality Resumes by Professional Resume Writers[/easyazon_link] Author Bio: Hannah Whittenly is a freelance writer from Sacramento, California and a mother of two. Connect with her on Facebook and Twitter. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+ Job Search job title, keywords, company, location jobs by