However, even if you’re not quite looking to move on, you never know when/if you’ll want to leave – or under unfortunate circumstances – have to leave. It’s for this reason that it’s good to update your resume, not after you leave your employer, but while you’re there and everything’s fresh. However, it’s sometimes difficult to know where to start, so here’s a few tips to get you going.

Note Daily Tasks as You Accomplish Them

Of course, being an executive you don’t have time to note your every move; however, it’s a good idea to keep track of the tasks that you complete as you complete them. The reason that it’s better to keep track of what you do in real time rather than when you’re ready to look for your next gig is because everything’s fresh in your mind at the time.

Think about it. How often do you complain to yourself about your workload, mentally listing everything that you’ll have to do? By this point, probably hundreds if not thousands of times. This is the perfect time to note it all down. Remember, you can always simply sort everything out later if you don’t have time to do it during the project–just copy your notes or to do list.

Keep Track of Exceptional Events

In addition to the goals that you fulfill on a regular basis, you want to be sure to keep track of the exceptional events. Whether you gave a leadership speech that resulted in a new way of operating the company, or you pushed a team of managers through a successful initiative that earned the company tons of money, you want to make sure that you keep track of what occurred.

These exceptional events are usually career-defining moments and something that you want to make sure you’re able to summarize effectively. So rather than minimizing your success later down the line because you’ve forgotten the pertinent details, take time to jot down what occurred while in the moment.

Make Sure to Note the Specifics

When keeping track of the details, don’t forget to make them specific. That is, if you’re jotting down a specific project that you initiated and oversaw, be specific about the number of people you managed, how much money and what items were listed in the budget, how much money was made, how many hours your employees worked, etc. The idea is to be as specific as possible so that a prospective employer down the line can visualize your contributions to a tee.

Hopefully you’ve gotten a chance to see just how beneficial it could be to work on your executive resume while still working. Of course, many people choose to wait until they’re between jobs to update a resume, but why do things the hard way?

With that said, there are a number of great places to get your resume information out there so that if recruiters are looking. They can find out more about you without you having to attach a resume in an email. If you’re thinking of increasing the number of places that recruiters can find professional information about you, here are a few places to consider.

Visual CV

Visual CV is a site that is gaining a lot of recognition because it allows users to place not just their resume, but also their portfolio of professional marketing documents in one location. Your portfolio can include various samples of your work, graphs, and more–pretty much anything you can think of.

It’s easy to sign up for a new account, and it only takes a moment. Afterward, you get to piece your portfolio together into a comprehensive package. Through the site, you are able to share your new VisualCV with recruiters via email, as well as through your social networking sites. It’s also a secure website, as you have total control over who can see your profile.

Google Profile

Another way to get your professional information out to the public is through a Google profile. While the site is not exactly meant to have you create a professional-only profile, it works great for this purpose.

The way Google Profile works is that it allows you to determine just how you are viewed in the Google search engine. Your profile controls what recruiters see when they search for more info, and most recruiters use Google as a first resort when looking for info on a particular candidate.

Once you create a Google Profile account, you set up your profile. Use the “about me” section to list information about yourself, your title (or titles), your location, and even resume info. This makes it much easier for recruiters to find out what they need to know about you.

LinkedIn

Most professionals are already aware of LinkedIn and the benefits that it offers; however, it wouldn’t be right to not mention it as a great place to place your professional information. Here, you can build a resume and make valuable connections with professionals and even obtain references. It is the powerhouse of sites to help you build your online professional identity and is one you shouldn’t overlook.

Obtaining an executive position nowadays is often heavily reliant on your online activity. In other words, the more you do to increase you professional online presence, the more you increase your chances of being found by recruiters. If you have yet to get started, now’s the time to see what these three sites, as well as others out there, have to offer.

While you can’t guarantee a perfect job search, you can certainly refine and renew your approach and your resume to keep it on track. If you find that your executive job search is beginning to stall, keep it going with a few of these tips.

Make Some Unique Adjustments to Your Resume

If your traditional resume isn’t pulling in the attention you want, you may have the wave the red flag at the bull. In other words, you may have to say some things that may get a recruiter or employer’s attention. For online applications, this can mean using a more attention-getting title. Rather than simply restating the title of the position you’re applying for (i.e. “Executive Sales Director), you might use one that draws people in (i.e. “Executive Sales Director at 123 Trading Led Team to Record $1 Million Revenue in 2008”).

Another unique resume strategy would be to list the logos of past (or current) employers on the left-hand side of your resume. Logos and snapshots from your college(s) and any awards you’d received during your collegiate career are also valuable. These images display a powerful look at your background and qualifications, and make a large impact without words. You might also vary the system that you use to deliver your resume–if you use email often, try using regular mail, or vice versa.

Adding A Smart P.S. to your Cover Letter

In a continued effort to stand out among your competition, you might also consider adding a “p.s” to your resume’s cover letter. One reason is that in this section you can add one or two tidbits about yourself that the employer may not know. But an even more important reason is that, if nothing else gets read in the cover letter, the “p.s” will – in fact, it may draw the employer in first then intrigue him enough to work backwards and read the entire cover letter.

So what do you say in your “p.s.”? You may take a chance and namedrop. For instance, you might say something like “Call me ASAP to find out why Dr. George Rudford from Impressive University believes that I’m the best sales executive in the country.” You might just want to add a personal statement that explains why you’re a good executive hire for the prospective employer’s business.

Broaden Your Contact Scope

After years as an executive, you may have a healthy list of contacts to connect with as you seek job opportunities. However, if you haven’t had much success with your contact list in your job search, it’s time to make a few additions. LinkedIn, ZoomInfo, and similar professional networking websites can help you find millions of like-minded professionals in any field.

A dragging executive job search isn’t the end of the world, it just means that you may have to light a fire – better yet, a towering inferno – under your own you-know-what. In almost no time at all, you’ll take your executive job search to the next level, as long as you’re able to push yourself and stay creative and motivated.

You’ve probably heard a ton of advice about ways to prepare for an interview, but just when you think you’ve heard it all, something jumps out that could actually work for you. The best tips in the world are some of the strangest, so here’s a look at some interesting ways to prepare for your executive job interview.

Prepare in an Office Space

While preparing for your interview, it doesn’t hurt to do so in a space that reminds you of a serious, office environment. For instance, if you have an office in your home, it’s good to organize your thoughts in this space. Occasionally, there’s nothing wrong with practicing for your interview with a TV blasting or your family vying for your attention, but a bit of practice in a more subdued, interview-like setting can get your mind prepared for an interview much more quickly.

Rehearse in Front of a Mirror

Another quirky, yet helpful, preparation tip is to consider rehearsing in front of a mirror. While you should have professional conversation down to a science, sometimes it’s good to be aware of the facial expressions you’re giving off, as well as how you hold your body during an interview. Very often, it’s difficult to know how the way that one holds his arms, sits, or looks around a room can affect the mesasge he’s trying to get across. Practice in front of the mirror helps you reign in your facial expressions and get rid of the nervous tics that might make an interviewer nervous or uncomfortable.

Talk in Front of Your Kids

A large aspect of interviewing at the executive level is being able to tell a good story about who you are and what you’ve accomplished while keeping the attention of everyone in the room. Children get bored very easily, which makes them perfect subjects for your story–try to get them interested and use clever word choice and other techniques, and if you can keep their attention, you’ll know that you’re doing quite well.

Don’t Rely On Your Resume

While you want to know what’s in your resume, executive biography and any other documents you’ve submitted, you don’t want the interviewer to feel as though you’re reading from them as you answer questions in your interview. If you do, the interview will not feel genuine. So as you practice, think about who you are, what you’ve accomplished, and what you’d like to accomplish on the job. A bit of confidence and honesty will help you a lot more in answering interview questions than a piece of paper.

You know the basics of preparing for your interview, so it’s always good to learn about those tips that may be a bit more quirky but could still work. Considering the above tips is a great way to get a step ahead of the competition in your job interview.

Executive level temp jobs can be as challenging as full-time jobs, and they’re certainly worthy of respect. So as you write your resume, don’t feel that your temp positions deserve anything less that the treatment you would give a permanent position. Whatever you do, don’t leave these temp jobs out. Instead, learn how to add them on. Here are a few steps to consider:

Follow the Standard Resume Format

You may be tempted to use different resume format since you’re adding material that is not considered standard on your resume. However, you really need to make your resume seem as normal as possible when adding temporary positions. This means making your temp job entry the same as the other employment history entries on your resume.

How, then, can you show that the temp position was different in some way from your other positions? Well, since a temporary position isn’t exactly the same, you would simply add “temporary” at the end of your job title. For instance, if you were filling in as the Executive Communications Director then you would simply write “Executive Communications Director, Temporary” on your resume. You don’t need any other reference to the “temporary” part of the temporary position. If the employer has more questions during the interview then you can answer them then.

Make Sure to Add to Regular Job Section

Again, you want your temporary position to have the same feel as the other jobs on your resume. Keeping the temporary positions listed chronologically along with your more permanent positions is a good strategy. In other words, don’t create a separate “temporary” section. You really fulfilled the same duties and responsibilities of any permanent employee in the same position. Don’t diminish the job in any way–treat it as a real position?

Listing Your Agencies

If you were hired on a temporary basis through an agency, you do want to list the agency on your resume. If you had only one assignment through the agency then it’s a good idea to combine the assignment and agency into a single entry. In other words, you would list the job you worked for and your title then list the agency you worked for in the job description.

On the other hand, if you had multiple assignments through an agency then you want to list the agency in the place where you would normally list the company. If you want to list more than one of assignments you had with the agency, the will be listed as bullet points under the company. If you only want to list a single assignment, however, you’d want to put the agency’s name in the “company name” part of the listing, then detail your exact duties and name the business that had employed you temporarily under the “job description” section.

So now do you feel more comfortable with adding a temporary position to your resume? If so then there’s no better time than now to get started.

Of course, you know you’re not planning on walking away from your career anytime soon, but it’s sometimes hard to explain this to employers, which for many means disguising their age until they’re able to get to the interview. If this is something you’d like to try in your resume, here are some tips to consider:

Exclude Some Specifics of Your Professional Employment

One trick that you can use to disguise your age on your executive resume is to structure your professional employment so that it doesn’t focus on specific dates. For instance, if you’ve been working for over 20 years, you might summarize some of your early experience at the end of your resume – without dates – rather than including every job you’ve had chronologically.

Another option you have is to not mention the early years at all, unless they’re so impressive that you just can’t leave them out. For instance, if you worked in retail at a local department store and your latest job was president of the department store nationally, you might want to include this to show your fast progression throughout your career. If you’re trying to avoid showing your age, however, this link is too tenuous to include, as it doesn’t necessarily show your executive strength and it quite clearly gives away how old you are.

Exclude Dates for Your Education

Another exclusion you might consider for your resume is your graduation dates. By the time you’ve reached the executive level, the amount of knowledge, training and skills you’ve acquired probably far outweigh the education you received in 1968.

New technology has surfaced that wasn’t even thought of back then so there’s no way your schooling could have trained you for everything you know now. This isn’t to discredit or downplay what you’d learned at college, but remember that most of what’s helped you through the years was a form of on-the-job training. Telling an employer the exact date of your graduation unnecessarily shows your age, although it’s important to mention all the education you’ve picked up–just leave out exact dates.

When You Get to Your Interview …

So now you’ve been called in for an interview and you’re a little worried about becoming a victim of age bias. You should keep in mind, however, that the job interview is where you can really prove yourself. You are a strong candidate with tons of experience, so this is the time to showcase your knowledge, commitment to the organization, impressive ROIs and more.

Don’t let your age slow you down from getting the job you want. Your age can be a very positive thing, as older executives have more experience, skills, and accomplishments. If you don’t forget this as you write your resume and go to your interview, you should be able to snag a great position in no time.

You’ve probably read numerous blogs in your time, but haven’t written your own. Some people use them for personal venting sessions while others showcase their professional expertise. If you’re trying to build your brand and enhance your executive job search, creating a blog is a good idea. However, if you’re unsure that it will work for you, here are four reasons to consider it as an option.

You Get to Share (and Grow) Your Expertise

One great aspect of writing blogs for your field is that you have the opportunity to share your wealth of expertise. Having been in your field for many years, you’ve seen it grow and can share your own comparative analysis, as well as offer insight into where you see your field heading.

Additionally, you get to conduct research for your blog that can help grow your knowledge. When working with a single company, you know the specifics of the job that you have and the goals and mission statement of that organization. Writing blogs is different, however, as your approach needs to be a bit more general in order to apply to all of the professionals that might be reading it.

You Can Increase Networking Opportunities

By writing a reputable blog for your field, you could eventually draw in members of your field who would like to comment on your writings and maybe even contact you directly. It helps if you have already set up a LinkedIn profile that you can link to from your blog. This way, interested parties who have already gotten a taste of your level of knowledge can look at additional accomplishments and know how to contact you if they’re looking to recruit.

It’s a Great Resume Builder

Another great reason to blog is that you can build on the accomplishments already on your resume. Since most resumes are shipped off in electronic formats, you can post a link to your blog when you apply for jobs. You’ll come out ahead in the eyes of any employer who’s looking at a few final applicants for an executive position, as they’ll see that the knowledge and expertise displayed on your blog clearly show a better, more focused candidate for the position.

You Might Eventually Guest Blog

There’s something very special about having someone ask you to guest blog for their site. When another blogger is saying that his or her readers want to hear your expert’s viewpoint, it’s a huge honor, and implies that you’ve really got a foothold in your field. As you develop your own footprint in the blogging world and expand your professional brand, you might find that some will come to you for your expert opinion. You can certainly get some major employment opportunities from a guest blog spot, so if you get an offer, take the time to do it, and be sure to give it all of your effort.

Some say that the idea of blogging being a benefit to a job search is a moot concept because so many people can do it without a professional background. However, many of the major blogs are written by well-respected, well branded professionals. Why not give it a good try, and see if you can build your name as a brand and improve your executive job search?

It’s not always your fault when you can’t get an executive level job; it may be the economy or a number of other things. But it’s also a good idea to look at your own actions throughout the process to see if you may be sabotaging your own efforts. Here are a few ways to help avoid this from happening …

Create a Quality Resume

At the executive level, creating a quality resume requires more than just writing one that is action-driven, you need to prove that you’ve made a true impact on your previous employers. By showing in numbers what types of profits you’ve helped the company make, as well as any types of initiatives you’ve started and followed through on, it’s important for companies to see through your resume that you would be a great return on their investment.

Spend Time with Forward-Thinking People

When you want to make big moves in life, you have to think big. Try to find and stay and contact with anyone who has the same big goals that you have. It’s important to be able to share ideas and information that can benefit everyone as you all progress through your careers. But it’s even more important that you keep company with people who feel confident and positive about their futures, not those who feel “stuck” and believe there’s nothing good to look forward to.

Don’t Worry about Being Perfect

You may feel that you simply can’t send out a resume or contact a lead because you haven’t come up with the “right” things to write are say. While it’s not a bad idea to be concise and clear in your communication, perfection is something you can never achieve. While it may be possible to improve certain wording, you’ve also got to make sure that it’s out there–even the best written resume and cover letters won’t do you any good if they’re just sitting on your desk.

Get Organized

When you’re in the midst of a job search, it’s critical that you successfully follow up on your leads, interviews, etc. Getting organized during your job search essentially means keeping track of who you’ve talked to, who you plan to talk to, what you’ve discussed (or want to discuss), etc. Make a spreadsheet to keep track of these kinds of data.

Step Away from the Computer

With blogging, networking and researching capabilities right at your fingertips, it’s not uncommon to want to spend the majority of your job search behind the computer. For executives, face to face networking functions are more important than any online job searching. The Internet and computers can certainly be helpful for some job searches, but nothing will help an executive more than face-to-face contact with prospective employers.

If you can keep these ideas in mind when conducting your executive job search, you may find that the process will move a lot smoother than expected. What’s the worst that could happen if you change your approach to incorporate a bit of common sense?

But, of course, ultimately there’s no excuse for having a subpar executive resume. If you’re stuck, take a look at a few of these tips to help improve your executive resume writing skills.

Define a Clear Target

One of the first things you want to do when organizing your executive resume is to define a clear target. You should know the mission of the company you’re applying with, as well as what would be expected of you in the position you want. Otherwise, you can’t expect to speak effectively about why you’re the ideal candidate.

Make Sure to Brand Yourself

At this point, you should be known for contributing something to your field. It doesn’t matter what field you work in, it simply matters that your name is directly associated with your positive accomplishments and expert abilities. Your executive resume should focus a bit on branding yourself, and showing why you’re a different and better choice than the other applicants. Make special note of your unique, valuable attributes, characteristics that make you and only you the perfect leader for the job.

Include a Success Story or Two

Again, at your level, you should be known for having accomplished a lot. You want your resume to show all of your successes. As you know, many successes present themselves with challenges, so showing how these challenges were dealt with can be very beneficial.

Leave Room for White Space

When writing an executive resume, it’s often difficult to find a balance between including the right amount of information and leaving enough white space so that BlackBerry email cruisers won’t be overwhelmed with information. To give your resume a sense of balance for these devices, use short, topically relevant statements with a lot of value rather than drawn out sentences. Employers will appreciate an approach that’s easy to read, yet still filled with important information.

Edit and Re-edit

There is absolutely no excuse for having misspelled words or grammatical errors in your resume at the executive level. If you’re not the best speller or grammar buff, you most definitely should have everyone you can think of edit your resume to avoid the embarrassment of being overlooked for something so elementary.

Avoid Too Many Pages

You may have a lot of information you’d like to include in your resume due to your extensive experience; however, as you know, managers are busy people with little time to read pages of accomplishments. Don’t write five pages of extensive detail; instead, cut your resume down to a few pages with essential branding and information that markets your abilities and successes as a strong investment.

Hopefully these tips (and your short breather) have helped to give you some focus as you write your executive resume. Now it’s time to write the best resume you’ve ever laid eyes on.

At the executive level, a resume needs to provide a solid, full description of an entire career’s worth of accomplishments. If your executive resume is too short, here’s a look at a few ways to stretch it out while still maintaining your focus.

Tell Your Story

One way that you can stretch out your mini executive resume is to tell a story. Most people think of resumes as dry documents, but you can get a good relevant anecdote into yours. Resumes of the executive level have different rules, and a quick story with a point is certainly acceptable.

There are a number of ways to tell your story, including defining who you are and what you want to accomplish in your executive profile, which replaces the objective/summary of qualifications. Also, you can tell 2-3 sentence stories as you define each one of your accomplishments with who, what, when, where, why and how information.

Include Every Detail

One habit that most workers get into early in their careers that seems to be hard to get out of is thoroughly keeping track of accomplishments every step of the way. Most times we’re too busy working to even notice what we’ve done. When it comes time to write a resume, we’re often at a loss when trying to explain an accomplishment that happened a long, long time ago.

The only problem with this “non-strategy” of recordkeeping is that when it comes time to include these events in a resume, all of the details are all but lost. So we end up including basic descriptions instead of describing each event as it truly occurred. The more information you have about a certain event, though, the easier it is to stretch out the information in a resume without adding too much fluff. Take some time to pause occasionally and write down the important aspects of accomplishments–the sooner, the better.

Try to Avoid Half Pages

That nagging half page can be a major annoyance when working on your resume. It seems that just when you’re putting the last few bits of information in the document, an entire section shifts to a new page, leaving you with a partial page to deal with. This means you either have to subtract information, or add new details.

In a concise executive resume, this isn’t easy to do. You can, however, use your word processor to eliminate those half pages by slightly changing the margins and adjusting the size of the font, subtracting or adding a half number to the font size. You’re also able to change a font style to add some extra length as long as the new font maintains a degree of professionality. Don’t switch the font around too much within the document, though, as you need to have a consistent look.

Every little thing counts when you’re creating your resume, and length is no exception. While you’re spending time updating and making little resume changes, don’t ignore the resume’s length or you’ll be missing a great opportunity.