Writing a resume means knowing your audience. If you try to please everyone, youu2019ll only wind up with an unfocused and disjointed document filled with unconnected work experience and accomplishments. Credit: Thinkstock The longer your career stretches out, the more experience and knowledge you gain. But that doesn’t mean you need to dump it all onto your resume. Instead, resume experts say, you should focus on crafting a focused and concise resume. JR Hunt, IT director at Yellowstone Association and the Yellowstone Park Foundation knew his resume needed a stronger focus. “My CV suffered from a case of ‘catch-all-itis’ whereby the depth and breadth of experience seems to target nobody and everybody,” he says. For Cheryl Lynch Simpson, career, job search and LinkedIn coach and Master Resume Writer, the focus of this resume makeover was to bring a cohesive focus to Hunt’s resume that truly demonstrated his wealth of knowledge and experience. Know your audience Hunt knew that his resume was trying to do too much at one time — rather than demonstrate in a direct manner how his years of IT experience would translate to a C-suite position. But in crafting his resume, Hunt had to consider who his target audience was before he could create a narrative that showed the connection between his IT roles and consulting roles. The longer your career stretches out, the more experience and knowledge you gain. But that doesn’t mean you need to dump it all onto your resume. Instead, resume experts say, you should focus on crafting a focused and concise resume. JR Hunt, IT director at Yellowstone Association and the Yellowstone Park Foundation knew his resume needed a stronger focus. “My CV suffered from a case of ‘catch-all-itis’ whereby the depth and breadth of experience seems to target nobody and everybody,” he says. For Cheryl Lynch Simpson, career, job search and LinkedIn coach and Master Resume Writer, the focus of this resume makeover was to bring a cohesive focus to Hunt’s resume that truly demonstrated his wealth of knowledge and experience. [ Download original Senior IT Executive resume ] Know your audience Hunt knew that his resume was trying to do too much at one time — rather than demonstrate in a direct manner how his years of IT experience would translate to a C-suite position. But in crafting his resume, Hunt had to consider who his target audience was before he could create a narrative that showed the connection between his IT roles and consulting roles. A major part of your audience includes recruiters, Simpson offered firsthand knowledge on what recruiters want to see on a resume — and what they don’t. On Hunt’s resume, she identified what she calls, “a deadly mistake.” He had grouped all of his accomplishments in one area, rather than leaving them with the job they were associated with. Simpson knew this was another major pain point she’d have to address, moving the accomplishments so they would be associated with each job listed on the resume. During their initial conversation, Simpson tried to gain an understanding of Hunt’s background and overall career goals to connect the dots. She had to know how he intended to use his new resume before she could go about properly restructuring the document. At the end of the call, she gave Hunt some homework: Sit down and think of stories from his old jobs that reflected challenges, actions and results to help create his career story and brand. Create a brand If you don’t have a personal brand, you’re behind the times. As people gain more exposure through the internet and social media, it’s become increasingly important to meticulously craft your professional image — and it all starts with your resume. Simpson said that Hunt’s resume actually did a decent job at presenting a brand compared to others, but noted that his scattered experience didn’t create a unified story around his qualifications as an IT executive. “His resume had too few achievements paired with a tactical focus. The biggest problem, though, was the structure of his work experience. By profiling each of his consulting roles individually his resume made him look like a job hopper who doesn’t know what he wants to do…,” says Simpson. She decided to move some of them around, grouping similar work experience together to make his past look less spotty. Even though he had been working full time, contracting positions can sometimes confuse recruiters or send the wrong message, she says. [ Related story: IT Resume Makeover: How to show employers the real you ] Making connections After speaking with Hunt, Simpson quickly realized that — while his resume didn’t reflect it — much of his past experience directly correlated to his current IT role and aspirations. The challenge was connecting those dots so that any hiring manager or recruiter would understand just how well-rounded his experience was. She knew it was time to tackle his “accomplishments” section and move them into more strategic areas on the resume. “I infused more branding in JR’s document by providing readers with a big picture perspective of his career along with an introduction to his leadership and communication style,” says Simpson. She chose some of his best achievements in the summary. By moving these accolades higher on the resume, and giving them a prime spot, she was able to demonstrate just how qualified Hunt is for C-suite roles. Elevating a career brand [ Download Senior IT Executive Resume Sample ] In the end, Hunt says he walked away with a resume that better portrays his career experience and future goals. What surprised him most about the experience was that it was less about addressing “writing techniques,” and more about “strategic discussions about the approaches and methodologies used in recruiting and selling your own brand.” And Simpson thinks Hunt will successfully move forward in his career, armed with a resume that sends a clear and concise message about his work experience. “Overall his new resume elevates his career brand, unifies his employment/entrepreneurial experience, and places his achievements front and center without divorcing them from their respective job titles. This document slightly revamped his consulting experience to overcome objections recruiters might have to his history of moving back and forth between full-time and consulting roles,” she says. Related Video Related content feature Red Hat embraces hybrid cloud for internal IT The maker of OpenShift has leveraged its own open container offering to migrate business-critical apps to AWS as part of a strategy to move beyond facilitating hybrid cloud for others and capitalize on the model for itself. By Paula Rooney May 29, 2023 5 mins CIO 100 Technology Industry Hybrid Cloud feature 10 most popular IT certifications for 2023 Certifications are a great way to show employers you have the right IT skills and specializations for the job. These 10 certs are the ones IT pros are most likely to pursue, according to data from Dice. By Sarah K. White May 26, 2023 8 mins Certifications Careers interview Stepping up to the challenge of a global conglomerate CIO role Dr. Amrut Urkude became CIO of Reliance Polyester after his company was acquired by Reliance Industries. He discusses challenges IT leaders face while transitioning from a small company to a large multinational enterprise, and how to overcome them. By Yashvendra Singh May 26, 2023 7 mins Digital Transformation Careers brandpost With the new financial year looming, now is a good time to review your Microsoft 365 licenses By Veronica Lew May 25, 2023 5 mins Lenovo Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe