Build a killer résumé

By Genevieve Hancock

You’ve gotten your first job, and you’re ready to take your career up a notch. But how do you build your résumé to reflect your abilities and also your strengths? What will set you apart?

Emphasize your leadership experience to snag the position of your dreams.

Cover your basics

You already know that clear verbal, presentation and written communication are important leadership skills. Make sure you convey superb communication skills on your résumé by articulating job responsibilities using verbiage well known in the industry and demonstrating strategic understanding. Proper editing, section organization and formatting also show beginning leadership capabilities. In addition, make sure your résumé has been clearly reviewed.

Including mentor programs is also a strong way to showcase your coaching and leadership capabilities and take that next step in leadership. Many programs, such as the VSCPA’s MentorMatch, pair you with a mentee even at entry-level positions so you can learn about others’ experiences in an industry, company or field of finance or accounting. After gaining a mentor, take the next step by volunteering for a committee position inside or outside of your company. Invest your spare time and energy into something you are passionate about improving — be it community involvement, emotional intelligence or teaching classes in an area you are an expert in.

Those oft-asked questions during interviews: “What would you say is your biggest weakness?” and “Tell us about a time when you failed and how you handled it,” can have a great impact on the outcome of an interview. Every single person interviewing has failed at some point in their career. How you handle a not-so-positive situation and how you control your reaction shows what type of team player you can be. It is important to prepare complete answers to these questions and include specific details outlining how you accept accountability and maturely handle fall-out. This is also an opportunity to show your emotional intelligence capabilities by including empathy of the effect on mistakes and weaknesses have on others.

Adding a section for professional development or work above and beyond your employment position, such as boards you sit on and volunteer positions you have taken can help set your résumé apart from the rest when applying to a role with leadership skill requirements. Most positions above entry level have a leadership component in influencing or leading others. Quantify these positions on your résumé with a measurable effect, whether that is an increase in man hours and efficiency or a total number of dollars.

Show your influence

Managing up and managing down require many of the same characteristics, such as communication, development of others, passion around education or knowledge and demonstration of emotional intelligence. These skills all have a time and place in both delegating tasks and conveying understanding to executives and management. Ensure you develop your communication skills so you can adequately communicate your impact on the quantity or quality of a project.

Showing that you are able to accept feedback from partners, employees and your supervisors can also demonstrate a flexible growth mindset. What works for one individual may not work for another from a communication or learning approach. Just as one individual in an information technology position may not understand all of the acronyms in public accounting, someone in an industry accounting executive position

may not speak the same language as a dedicated accounts payable staff member. Identify these differences and make sure that you can speak the same language in order to influence your audience.

Promote leadership ability

When applying for any role, leadership skills can set your résumé apart from the rest of the applicants. Leadership does not have to mean directly supervising others, but could be a mentorship program or volunteer work where you influenced others or made strategy-based choices for the direction of a project or company.

Mirror language used in the position description if you are applying for a specific job. Research and develop knowledge of the business, company and hiring manager if at all possible. Articulate on your résumé how the role developed and thoroughly discuss what oversight you had of the project, data and team.

Tying it all in

If you are an existing leader looking for a leadership position, ensure the summary statement on your résumé reflects your abilities and experience. The size of your team, the trainings you have led and the relationships you have developed and maintained should all reflect your leadership skills and weave throughout your résumé . If you are a newer staff member, find the elements of your skillset you can use to promote your leadership potential. Highlight a strategic focus in the first items on your résumé. Thinking about the bigger picture, long-term sustainability and the people who you affect show great leadership.

About the author: Genevieve Hancock is a technical accountant specializing in complex modeling and changes in accounting guidance as a Manager of Financial Reporting & Audit for Trader Interactive based in Norfolk, Virginia. She serves on the Disclosures Editorial Task Force and the Young Professionals Advisory Council (YPAC).