Executive Resume Writer: How to Become a Better Leader
Job-hunting process for senior executives is far more complex than for an average professional or a mid-level manager. The limited number of leadership roles in the market, high hiring costs and lengthy process can keep you unemployed for months. Moreover, the companies are less willing to hire you if you’ve been unemployed for a year or so. So, how to avoid all the pitfalls of job-hunt at an executive level?
Why partner with professional executive resume writers
In case if you possess the right qualification and competencies but the job-hunting brings little or no result, it’s time to analyze your job search strategy. For instance, if you keep applying for job listings and rarely hear back, the problem is most likely in your resume. Poor formatting, lack of personal branding, weak targeting – here are just a few most popular reasons why accomplished executives struggle getting interviews. In this case, hiring an expert to write a professional resume paper for you might be the right solution.
Executive writers of our team know how to give your resume a competitive edge and market your experience in a way that matches the hiring managers’ expectations. With 9+ years in the resume writing market, understanding of dos and donts for modern resume and the passion for helping our clients move their career forward, we are ready to help your career, too. E-mail us your old resume, your career expectations; fill out a quick questionnaire, and the writer will craft a result-oriented resume that will communicate your biggest strengths to a prospective employer.
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The golden rules of communication with subordinates
Effective leadership is impossible to imagine without developed communication abilities. Strong oral and written communication skills are necessary to succeed at any job level; however, for senior leaders these traits get more important as the overall organizational success depends on them. Moreover, the companies when leaders demonstrate excellent communication skills demonstrate lower turnover rate and higher job satisfaction among employees.
As a CEO, you don’t have to be a workaholic to succeed (by the way, here’s the real meaning of workaholic). However, even if you possess good interpersonal skills, keep in mind that there is always space for improvement. Learning more about habits and practices that engender good communication will help you become a more effective communicator and a stronger leader.
- Create communication culture
Before you take any practical step towards the improvement of communication between you and subordinates, take your time to evaluate the current situation, and if it’s not satisfactory, create a communication culture in the organization.
Define on which values you will be promoting (hint: transparency and openness are always good options), which communication channels you will be using, and how much time you are willing to devote to improving communication. Obviously, your culture of communications will depend a lot on your leadership style. For example, if you are a strong, dominant leader, you might feel uncomfortable during weekly group lunches.
Communication culture is closely connected with office etiquette, too. Here is a brief guide to the modern rules of workplace etiquette: https://resumeperk.com/blog/lifeline-for-newcomers-unspoken-rules-of-office-etiquette. - Send a weekly e-mail to all employees in the company
The weekly mail with your personal insights, business news and other company-related information is a good practice to keep the staff informed and engaged into what is going on with the company. Busy executives rarely have time for face-to-face or even group meetings; however, sending one e-mail can be fit into a busy schedule. By addressing recent news and crucial issues, you’ll build a connection with the staff without investing much time.
Sending concise yet informative e-mails is highly important for any leader. To streamline the efficiency of e-mail communication, check out our e-mail writing guide: https://resumeperk.com/blog/how-to-write-effective-email-that-get-opened. - Answer employee e-mails within 24 hours
If you’ve committed to building effective system of communication in your organization, don’t be surprised when you start getting more e-mails or phone calls from the staff. Ignoring these communication requests will put all your relationship building efforts to nothing. Always answer the employee e-mails within 24 hours – it will let the people feel heard and appreciated. Feeling appreciated, in its turn, contributes a lot to workplace satisfaction and employee morale, executive resume writing experts say. - Encourage (and reward) feedback
Streamlining the communication in the organization is impossible to imagine without employee feedback. Communication is a two-way process; so you need not only to deliver your message and ideas effectively, but also to track how the staff responds to them. To achieve that, it’s necessary to create a formal mechanism for giving feedback.
First of all, set up a channel for receiving employee feedback – it can be a mailbox in the office, a specific e-mail address or hotline. Make anonymous feedback possible since anonymity might be necessary if people want to inform you about conflict of interests, workplace bullying or similar issue. Respond to the feedback and take immediate actions if necessary – otherwise, the employees will see the feedback mechanism as a pure formality rather than their chance to make changes for better. And, if someone suggested the idea or improvement that was helpful, be sure to reward this kind of feedback. - Choose the right communication channel
There are three major means of workplace communication: in-person, phone, and email. The preferred one depends on your schedule, working style and the corporate policy on communications. Although the increasing number of organization uses email as the primary way of contact, don’t neglect the above two.
For example, face-to-face communication is critical during important matters such as coaching, instruction or conflict resolution. Since most signs are conveyed non-verbally, when you discuss touchy subjects via email, your message might be misunderstood. Phone communication or video conferencing is best when it’s necessary to discuss an important or urgent matter with a remote employee or team. In its turn, email is instrumental for discussing regular working matters. - Prepare for meetings and presentations
One of the best ways to make communication between you and employees more effective is to always prepare for meetings, presentations and one-to-one conversations. You might think that you remember what you’d like to say; nevertheless, communication is more than just sharing facts and feedback. To deliver your message and to be understood, you need to plan the communication, pick the arguments and tailor the message for the specific type of audience. If you’ve taken time to think the information through, choose the right communication channel and create a speech with the listener in mind, your words will have much stronger effect. - Make sure your message was heard
When preparing for a one-to-one conversation or a public speech, make sure you’ve strategized the act of communication in a way that will help your message to be heard. For instance, since people typically remember only a few key points from any speech or discussion, make sure to prepare the ‘key takeaways’ that will summarize your ideas in the end. Don’t be elaborate and speak up to the point; limit the meeting or presentation to one major issue rather than trying to embrace several subjects. Follow your body language and nonverbal signals to ensure that they support your message rather than contradict it. The context of communication matters, too – for instance, if you have important news to tell someone in person, schedule a meeting in the office instead of stopping by the person in the hall. And finally, answer the questions – they will help you understand whether your audience understood your speech the way you’ve planned. - Hold one-to-one and group meetings
To ensure the effective communication across all levels of the organization, holding regular meetings is a necessity. The frequency and length of those meetings will depend on your schedule and goals; still, the experts recommend that you hold group meetings every day or at least every other day. Morning group meetings are necessary to discuss the progress, set goals and address any arising problems proactively. Even 5-10 minutes of your time devoted to a group discussion with your direct subordinates is far more helpful to keep the operations running smooth than trying to resolve the issues with each employee individually.
To keep the employees motivated, it’s helpful to hold the skip-level meetings with the staff at least once a year. During such face-to-face meetings you can answer career building questions or explain how to get a raise – this will help retain the best employees. - Recognize and reward good performance
One of your essential communication functions as a leader is providing guidance and feedback on how well the job was done. And while criticism is inevitable, don’t forget to acknowledge great performance as well. If you only notice negative aspects, your subordinates won’t have the motivation for performing better the next time. Also, there’s a golden rule on giving feedback: praise the employees in front of the team and criticize them one-to-one.
Some researches also highlight that feeling appreciated and being rewarded at work is more important for employee satisfaction than the monetary rewards. So, give the credit to your staff when it’s due, and you will not only foster good communication, but also create a positive working environment. - Foster informal communication
Workplace communications shouldn’t be limited to formal meetings and discussions only. Organize – and be sure to participate in – informal corporate and team building events, such as gatherings for lunch, outdoor activities or office parties on the occasion. Such events aren’t the best place to discuss serious matters, but they work great for getting to know the subordinates on the personal level, which ensures more effective communication during the working process.
Need an outstanding resume? Contact executive resume writers
If your resume doesn’t bring much result in generating interview calls for you, it’s time for a change. Our writers are always there to relieve you from resume worries and create a high-quality, keyword-optimized and eye-catching copy that reflects your career aspirations. We will work on your resume until you’re totally satisfied with the finished product. Interested? Learn more about our services and prices.
Landing the next executive job is not easy – simplify this challenge and find the job faster with a professionally crafted executive resume.
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