It’s not the mechanics of getting out a piece of paper and asking a few questions, any more than your job is to have a meeting. 

A few days ago a resume writing colleague was at a loss for words when a potential client queried why a resume for an executive would be more expensive than say, a resume for a graduate. “After all,” the person asked, “the process is the same isn’t it?”

As with anything, it comes down to education. People don’t know, what they don’t know!

So let me start by saying this: If you’re an executive,and you have your resume written by someone who is not an executive resume writer and doesn’t understand your world, then it’s going to be obvious.

Very obvious.

So, to that person, wherever you are in the world, here’s my response:

Mr Executive, you’ve made your way throughout your career to reach the pinnacle.

Whatever you started with, you’ve obviously achieved great things.

The experience you’ve had and the knowledge you’ve accrued over the years allows you to command a much higher salary than five years ago, ten years ago and certainly more than 20 years ago when you were just starting out.

Sure there are many things that you do in a day that you probably did in junior jobs, but you are paid for what you bring to the table now.

The decisions you make, the strategies you employ, the leadership you show as you deliver the vision to all key stakeholders, makes your business and your teams work faster, better, smarter and harder.

That’s what you are rewarded for—the body of work over a career lifetime that you’ve amassed to lead you to this point.

It’s also the same for me.

I didn’t wake up one morning and intuitively know what was important in representing industry movers and shakers impacting thousands and sometimes, millions of lives. Where sometimes, a word mispoken can cause share prices to plummet or rise.

No.

Instead, over time I learned more and more; about careers, about what’s important, about what really matters to global executive search companies looking for people like you at the executive level.

And then, like you, I turned my knowledge into a commercial advantage—writing documents that position senior people to get noticed by those that matter. 

It’s not the mechanics of cranking up software and asking a few questions… any more than your job is to have a meeting.

It what you and I both do that changes the course of lives, businesses and careers. It’s the value of an executive writer, over the less experienced. 

And when we put our heads together, the results can be phenomenal.