By writing a really good account executive resume which showcases your profile in the best, professional and appealing manner.
There are many things to consider when writing a resume: what to write, how to write, what are the current job market trends, which format to choose, which theme to choose, how to optimize the resume for applicant tracking systems, how to stand out and impress the hiring managers and so on.
In this all-inclusive guide we will cover all your queries and along with that, we will also provide you a number of tips for your resume to make sure you land a job you desire.
👉In the USA, the annual wage of accountants and auditors is $77,250 as of May, 2021.
(Source: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/accountants-and-auditors.htm)
You can also earn that well with the right job and for that you need the right account executive resume! So let's dive in!👇
What does an account executive do?
Account executives usually make the sales strategies, contribute to business development, help the revenue growth, handle the client accounts, improve the business administration and so on.
These responsibilities are performed with various account executive skills such as communication skills, technical skills, sales skills and other soft skills as well as hard skills that are relevant.
Account executive job description describes the various relevant skills necessary for the role of account executive or sales account executive. Account executive role is often taken up by sales representatives who have extensive experience.
Here are some of the areas that account executive job descriptions may include:
- Company growth
- Client satisfaction
- Client accounts
- Revenue targets
- Sales cycles
- Marketing strategy
- Lead generation
- Cold calling
- Client relationships
- Sales trends
- Account management
- Sales reports
- Customer accounts
- Annual revenue growth
As you can imagine from the list above, an account executive or sales account executive may be responsible for many tasks related to business development and/or new business.
The skills of an account executive is as important as the usual responsibilities and the answer to the question- what does an account executive do?
Without skills even extensive experience maybe worthless for the hiring managers! But you obviously have skills otherwise you wouldn't have kept your past jobs successfully! Question is not whether you have the skills but whether you present them well in your account executive resume!
Research the role
When you sit down to write your account executive resume, don't start writing right away. First, research your role i.e. Account executive, Sales account executive, Senior account executive, Account manager (and various other account executive position such as c level executives)
When you are doing the research, explore everything about your role, the job descriptions in various job postings and job ads, the industry, the target employers you are thinking of applying to for the job.
Now, why are we suggesting this? Because, research always helps you learn something that you may not know already. The job market is always evolving, with the remote work and online courses access and such other developments in the corporate world, hiring process has changed dramatically.
Having the required education and years of experience as mentioned in the job description is not enough anymore, you need some extra certifications and course and such in your resume. You need to offer something more, a little extra compared to average job applicants.
Researching the role will help you find out the current trends in the corporate world regarding your role, you can learn about average earnings of the role, the competition in the market, top employers and their reputation and so much more.
Knowing all this is very important to ensure you present your resume in the best manner possible and eventually land a job with the best compensation, healthy work environment and potential for your growth.
Choose the right format
Once you are done with the research, you need to choose the right format for your role. Without the right format, your resume will have no readability or order, it would be chaotic and more importantly- unprofessional.
For the right outline and neat presentation, choose the right format. There are various formats such as functional format for the freshers who want to focus on skills and additional skills.
The reverse chronological order format for the ones with extensive experience.
The combination resume format for those who are changing careers and need to focus both on the experience and skills, especially transferable skills.
For you, the reverse chronological order format may be the right one if your have notable experience to showcase.
The reverse chronological format is defined by the experience section of the resume where the experiences are described in the reverse chronological order, meaning the latest experience is described first and then you walk back to the first experience.
Accurate contact information
Once you have chosen the format for your account executive resume, you can start writing your resume. In the reverse chronological resume format, first section is the contact information section.
On the top of your resume, in the header, you need to mention your name in slightly bigger fonts than the rest. Then mention your contact number in formal manner with the area code and parenthesis () and + plus sign.
After the contact number, add your email address, ensure that you mention your professional and formal email address.
You can also mention your home address however it is not mandatory. In case you are applying for a job in another state or country, you can mention your home location briefly.
Make sure the information in this section is accurate so that the hiring managers can contact you for interview.
Crisp Resume Summary
After the contact information section, comes the resume summary section. The resume summary of your account executive resume is essentially the highlights of your profile as an account executive.
These highlights may cover your relevant skills, key accomplishments, any awards or recognitions that are of utmost importance and the number of years of your total professional work experience.
The resume summary should be written in bullet points no more than 5 and no less than 3. Make sure the sentences are short, the details are crisp and concise and there is no fluff content.
Write your summary details in numbers wherever possible, quantified details hold more weight than ambiguous details.
When writing your profile summary, mention your job title first. Note the total years of experience and a little background in the first bullet point. i.e. 3+ years of experience as a professional account executive in well-established businesses.
Next, mention your key skills and accomplishments with quantified details. You can mention any special challenges you overcame as well.
At last, mention what kind of opportunity you are looking for and how you will contribute.
If you don't have extensive experience, you can talk about your education-relevant courses, any other relevant achievements and skills in the summary.
Professional experience
The professional resume should have well described experience section. Meaning the details of the experience section should be informative and comprehensive of your responsibilities, key skills and your unique competency.
While writing the experiences, mention the job title, name of the employer and the period of time that you were employed by them.
While noting the details of your experience, you might think that usual responsibilities are obvious and you can skip them but do not make such a mistake.
The usual responsibilities of the role may be obvious but they need to be mentioned regardless because they include the relevant keywords which are important to beat the applicant tracking system. (more on that later in the article)
Apart from the usual responsibilities, you should also mention your exceptional performances, improved marketing strategy you implemented, your proven track record details, your expertise of client relations as well as client accounts and so on.
Along with the experience, mention your skills to back up the particular details. Your soft skills contributing to customer success and business development as well as business opportunities should be mentioned along with more such relative examples.
Education Section
Education section in your resume should mention the highest degree you hold along with the education section.
If you have multiple degrees, you may want to mention all of them including the bachelor's degree. Make sure you write any subjects you majored in, you do not have to go in-depth, a brief mention is sufficient.
Skills section
If you have worked on entire sales cycles you can say that you commit to the tasks, if you have worked with sales team, you can say that you have teamwork skills, if you have done a lot of cold calling, you can say you are patient.
Most account executives mention the skills in this section and nowhere else. As demonstrated above, you can describe skills as a list and also as a relative aspect of particular tasks and experiences.
You have already mentioned some skills in the experience section and in the skills section, you can mention skills that are defined easily and directly. All your soft skills as well as hard skills should be mentioned in this section.
Here are some of the skills you can include in your account executive resume:
- Providing excellent customer service
- Building client relations
- Lead generation
- Business development
- Sales strategies
- Business administration
- Ensuring customer success
- Account management
- Cold calling
- Develop strategies
- Develop relationships
apart from these you may also maintain the relationships with the existing customers and develop new ones with the potential clients. If you have worked with a new business, you may have learnt a lot of skills along the way.
You may be the employee that didn't just contribute to sales cycle but also provided much needed business acumen to the executive team. And your future employer as well as the hiring manager needs to know that from your account executive resume.
Certifications & Awards
Apart from your exceptional performance details such as how much revenue growth you inspired and the rate of customer success you achieved, you might have some certifications and/or awards as well.
During the job search, in the job description of various job listing, you may not notice certifications as a requirement however, it will certainly help you stand out and win extra points. This is important to increase the chances of getting hired.
Account executive resumes should mention the usual details of responsibilities such as your contribution with annual revenue growth and sales data and entire sales cycle however, even more importantly, it should mention what 'extra' do you bring to the table.
Which is why this section is important. If you don't have any certifications, you can easily acquire one through various short-term courses available on the internet.
Keywords
Most important of all is the presence of relevant keywords in your resume template. When you research your role, make sure to note down the relevant keywords to include in your resume later.
Especially the keywords from the job description are important. These keywords will help you beat the ATS or applicant tracking system.
The hiring managers utilize such software to scan the resumes received in job applications to avoid tiring manual workload. They take matters into hands once the applicants are shortlisted by the ATS filters.
Conclusion
In conclusion, to write a job winning resume, you need to follow the standards of professional resume template. All of which are discusses in this all-inclusive guide.
Once you have written the account executive resume, ensure you proofread it twice and remove any spelling or grammatical errors.
Now you know all about the account executive resume! You can also check out our resume examples and templates. Make sure you personalize the template according to your profile and never take any resume example or template as is.
Good luck with the job search!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do I need a degree for this role?
A bachelor's degree may be required however, every employer has their own requirements depending on the level of role. You should confirm with the hiring manager.
Should I mention an online program I'm pursuing on account management?
Yes, any and every relevant detail should be mentioned in your resume. Especially, if you don't have many years of experience and need more information to back your candidacy.
I'm a sales executive, can I apply for this role?
Many sales executives go for the role of account executive. You may need to provide experience and skills that may be transferable and prove your competency as an account executive. You may also add any relevant courses and programs you may have completed for preparation of account executive roles.
