As a senior-level executive, you most likely have a LinkedIn profile, a BlueSteps membership, and a membership to your industry's association. Maybe you've published books, have your own website, often have public speaking engagements, and your name may often appear in your local, or even national, media. With all of those credentials, you may start to think that your resume is no longer so important. Maybe you've even read somewhere about some impending death of the resume. Well, it doesn't matter how accomplished you are, the resume is not dead. And you need one--a smart one.

It's true, the resume is not the only game in town when it comes to a job search these days. Yes, you should have a LinkedIn profile. Yes, you should absolutely have a BlueSteps membership for lifetime career management and to raise your visibility to executive recruiters. Of course you need to belong to your industry's association, actively find ways to get your name in the media, accept speaking engagements, and your own website is never a bad idea. But, if you think of your resume as the foundation for all of those strategic actions, it will refresh you on why your resume is still essential.

All great things need a solid, well-planned blueprint--great structures, great investments, great jobs. Your executive resume is your outline for your executive brand, and it will be your guide when creating or refining the other tools that are also necesssary today to include in your career management portfolio, those items that make up brand you. A well-honed resume will become your foundation for filling out your BlueSteps profile that will connect you to executive recruiters, your LinkedIn profile, and it can also serve as the backbone for the bio on your website.

Your resume can help you create your elevator pitch and articulate your career goals--by having already clearly outlined where you have been and what you have accomplished, you will be more equipped to articulate where you want to go next.

Allow a polished and carefully crafted resume to set the tone for your entire job search strategy. Whether you are writing your own resume, or seeking the services of a resume writer (all BlueSteps members receive a complimentary resume/cv review and career consultation from seasoned executive career management experts), embrace the resume as the blueprint for your executive brand. Allow your resume to be the support that will guide you as you create and polish the other items in your career management portfolio, which will help lead you to your next great opportunity.

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This article was written by Joe Chappell from the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC).
 
About BlueSteps
BlueSteps is the exclusive service of the AESC that puts senior executives on the radar screen of over 8,000 executive search professionals in over 70 countries. Be visible, and be considered for up to 75,000 opportunities handled by AESC search firms every year. Find out more at www.BlueSteps.com.