Which one is tougher: Writing a resume when you have little to no experience or writing a resume when you have decades of experience?
Okay, so both have their hurdles. But if you’re currently trying to write an executive director resume, then the second option likely feels like the bigger undertaking.
You don’t have the challenge of racking your brain to fill the document, but you do have the challenge of distilling your years’ worth of experiences—your skills, achievements, previous positions, and more—into a few impactful pages.
And you need to do it in a way that doesn’t make you sound like all of the other buzzword-bedeviled executive directors in the pile.
Think it sounds like an impossible feat? This step-by-step guide will help you write an executive director resume that’s light on the fluff and filler, but heavy on the influence and impact.
(Related: Learn more about my executive resume writing service).
What Is An Executive Director?
If you’re applying for executive director roles, you likely already have a solid understanding of this position. But for the sake of clarity, let’s get a quick overview.
An executive director is a high-ranking leadership position within an organization. The person in this role fills the executive position as an employee and also holds a seat on the company’s board.
The executive director is at the helm of the organization.
Far more than a figurehead, the executive director oversees and manages the organization’s strategy and operations.
They need a deep understanding of the business and the industry they serve, as they’re responsible for decision-making, budgeting and fundraising, and strategic planning.
While they often fulfill the highest-ranking position within the company, that doesn’t mean they call all of the shots.
The executive director serves both the organization and the board, and is viewed as the bridge between them. They’re responsible for communicating company information and issues to the board to seek their guidance and, ultimately, execute their decisions.
How To Write An Executive Director Resume: 10 Steps To Go From Blank Page To Bold Bullets.
As an executive director, you’re at the top of the org chart. And with great power comes great responsibility—responsibility you need to prove you’re capable of handling.
That’s where your resume comes in. To be a top contender for executive director jobs, your resume needs to present you as an experienced and unmissable match for the open position.
It’s a big job (but hey, so is being an executive director).
Here are 10 steps to write an executive director resume that highlights your most relevant and impressive qualifications in a way that’s clear, concise, and connected to the job description.
1. Review The Job Description.
Think of when you’ve reviewed other peoples’ job applications at your previous organizations. Relevance was top of mind—you wanted to see that the applicant satisfied the specific criteria you were hiring for.
That same philosophy applies when creating your own resume. That starts by developing a deep understanding of the job description so you can tailor your resume accordingly. As you look at the executive director job description, make note of:
- What is the expected experience level or education?
- What are the key responsibilities?
- What technical or hard skills do they emphasize?
- What soft skills do they emphasize?
- What keywords or phrases stand out?
- What values does the organization prioritize?
- What are the required qualifications? What about preferred ones?
Unlike with entry-level positions, this process isn’t just about stuffing your resume full of keywords to make it past an applicant tracking system (ATS).
A higher-ranking role like an executive director is less likely to go through ATS anyway since there are often fewer applicants and more nuanced qualifications (although, making your resume ATS-friendly still never hurts).
Rather, this is about fully grasping the unique expectations of a specific position and employer so you can better connect the dots between what they need and what you bring to the table.
You’ve reached a point in your career where you have a lot of notable accomplishments and experiences, but you can’t just rest on your laurels and submit a generic executive director resume for every position.
Remember, the goal of your resume isn’t to show that you’re experienced and qualified—it’s to show that you’re experienced and qualified for that specific position. And beyond that, to show you’re a better fit than all of the other candidates with similar backgrounds. You can’t do that with a templated document of your credentials. So, commit to reviewing the job description with a fine-tooth comb and creating a unique resume for each role you apply to.
2. Brainstorm Your Own Experience and Achievements
You know what the organization needs—now it’s time to look in the mirror and determine what you have.
This can feel overwhelming, especially when you have a lengthier or more diverse employment history to look back on.
So, let’s keep this simple: Review the bullet points from the job description and, for each one individually, ask yourself: Have I done this? When? Where? How? What were the results?
Make note of your answers.
You can create a simple table like this one to quite literally draw parallels between what the job description is asking for and the skills, qualifications, and experiences you bring to the table.
Role: Executive Director At Sustainable Futures Initiative.
What The Job Requires: | What I’ve Done: |
|---|---|
| “Develop and implement strategic plans to advance the organization’s mission and objectives.” | Executed a strategic plan for a youth-focused environmental education campaign across North America Created and implemented a plan to revitalize urban green spaces in Austin, TX |
| “Lead and manage a diverse team of staff and volunteers.” | Recruited, trained, and supervised a team of 15 staff members and 50 volunteers for the green spaces project Coordinated weekly team meetings and facilitated cross-departmental collaboration Implemented a mentorship program to pair senior staff with new team members |
| “Oversee the organization’s budget, financial health, and resource allocation.” | Managed a $45.5 million P&L Conducted monthly financial reviews Presented financial reports to the board |
Your table doesn’t need to be polished and perfect. Think of it more as a brainstorming document that lays the groundwork for a more impactful and relevant resume.
TIP: If you’re struggling to think back on your experience, comb through old emails, meeting minutes, memos, reports, performance reviews, and whatever else you have access to. Those resources can help you surface information you might’ve forgotten or overlooked.
It’s also important to consider the organization’s needs and how those align with your experience.
For example, if the company is looking for an executive director with experience leading mergers and acquisitions of major companies, you’ll need to demonstrate that specific experience to be competitive.
Sometimes these company needs are explicitly stated in the job description and qualifications, but sometimes you need to do your own digging.
Do some research of your own—searching the company’s website, perusing social media profiles, reading news headlines, and more—to read between the lines and get a better sense of the shoes you’ll need to fill as executive director.
(Related: How To Write A Vice President Resume).
3. Understand The Must-Have Resume Sections.
You did the prep work and are ready to start putting pen to paper (or your fingers to the keyboard).
Before doing so, it’s helpful to understand the purpose of the different sections you’ll include on your executive director resume:
- Resume header: Includes your name, headline, and contact details at the top of your document.
- Profile or professional summary: Short paragraph that summarizes your most notable and relevant skills, accomplishments, and achievements. Your goal with this section is to set yourself apart from all of the other qualified candidates for that role.
- Employment summary: Quick snapshot of the past positions on your resume, listing just the company, job title, and years you worked in that role. It’s helpful for hiring managers to glean a bit about your experience without having to review all of the details.
- Key skills: Bulleted list of your hard and soft skills.
- Work history: Reverse-chronological list of your previous positions, going back only 10 or 15 years.
- Education: Short section that lists your degrees, certifications, or other professional designations.
Those sections—or something similar to them—are necessary on most executive director resumes.
So, whether you start with a blank document or use an executive director resume template, get your section headers down on paper so you can fill in that framework.
In terms of sections you’re better off skipping, you don’t need to include:
- Career objective: This type of “Seeking an executive director position…” statement is outdated, unnecessary, and only takes up valuable real estate on your resume.
- References: List your professional references on a separate document rather than directly on your resume. There’s no need to say “references available upon request” or anything similar. Especially at the executive director level, most employers assume that if they ask for references, you’ll have them ready to go.
- Hobbies and interests: Unless you have hobbies and passions that are undeniably relevant to the role (for example, you’ve participated in the run/walks for the American Heart Association for the past eight years and now are applying to be the executive director), keep your resume focused mostly on your professional experiences and qualifications.
4. Start With Your Header.
Let’s start with the easiest part of your resume first: the resume header. At the very top of your document, list and format your:
- Full name: Also include any professional designation acronyms like Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP) or Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Contact information: List your email address, phone number, and LinkedIn URL
- Location: List your city and state or territory
- Headline: Use a single line to highlight your skills and desired job title (for example, “Executive Director | Sustainability | Conservation”)
Simple enough, right? Here are a few other tips to keep in mind as you put this section together:
- Make your name the biggest: As obvious as it sounds, your name is the most important piece of information on your resume. Make it bigger and bolder than any other font on your document.
- Optimize your headline: Your resume headline is an important focus area as you tailor your resume. Use it as an opportunity to swap in keywords that are relevant to the position or organization you’re applying to.
- Clean up your LinkedIn URL: Including your LinkedIn URL makes it easy for employers to find you, provided your URL doesn’t look like “http://www.linkedin.com/in/Q8envs3830snslkds.” You can clean up and personalize your URL by viewing your profile page and clicking the pencil icon next to “public profile & URL.”
- Skip your full mailing address: While it used to be common practice to include your entire street address on your resume, that’s not necessary anymore (and might even make you look out of touch).
5. Fill In Your Work History.
Your work history section is focused on your previous positions over the past 10 or 15 years.
You’ll list them in reverse chronological order, detailing the employer, location, job title, and your primary responsibilities in that role.
But here’s the thing: You’re not writing your own job descriptions here. Your goal isn’t just to say what you did in each role but why that work mattered.
Quantifying your previous responsibilities and achievements is the best way to illustrate your impact in previous positions. Look back on your work history and ask yourself questions like:
- What projects or initiatives did you complete successfully?
- What size budgets have you managed?
- What improvements or outcomes did you achieve?
- What goals did you meet or exceed?
- How much funding did you raise?
- How did you drive growth?
- How did you improve staff or volunteer performance?
- What partnerships did you establish?
Those questions will force you to dig deeper than generic job duties and focus on real-world examples and results you can integrate into the bullet points in your work experience section.
Here’s a simple template you can use to craft each of your bullet points:
[Action verb] [skill or task] that led to [specific result]
And here’s an example of how that framework can improve your bullet points:
| Bad: | Better: |
|---|---|
| Developed and managed a team of volunteers. | Implemented a comprehensive training program for volunteers that led to a 30% increase in community outreach and engagement within six months. |
When it comes to actually detailing the specifics of each position, include a one-sentence description of the organization as well as a one-sentence description of your role ahead of your bullet points.
It helps you set the context before you get into the nitty-gritty of your contributions and achievements.
Here’s an example of what that can look like:
PROGRAM DIRECTOR | 2020 – 2022
Community Progress Alliance | New York, NY
Community Progress Alliance is dedicated to empowering neighborhoods and fostering sustainable growth through strategic community development initiatives, innovative improvement projects, and strong partnerships with local stakeholders.
Led the successful planning, execution, and evaluation of community development projects, achieving a 25% increase in community engagement and a 15% improvement in project completion efficiency within the first year.
Your bullet points explaining the specifics of what you did and achieved in that role will appear below that.
Since an executive director is a higher-level role, it can be helpful to break your bullets into two sections: responsibilities and achievements. This gives you a clear structure you can use to explain what you did as well as what you accomplished while in that role.
Here’s an example of those categorized bullet points for the same program director position:
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Developed and supervised community development projects from conception to completion to deliver on organizational goals.
- Managed and mentored a diverse team of project managers, coordinators, and volunteers.
- Built and maintained relationships with local governments, businesses, and community organizations to garner support for initiatives.
- Monitored project budgets and financial performance to optimize resources, comply with funding requirements, and manage costs.
- Conducted regular assessments of projects to spot improvement areas, make targeted changes, and successfully communicate improvements to the board and other stakeholders.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
- Spearheaded five new community improvement projects that served over 15,000 residents, increasing overall community engagement by 30% within two years.
- Successfully secured over $2.5 million in funding through grant applications and partnerships, allowing the organization to expand program offerings.
- Streamlined processes and introduced project management techniques to increase project completion efficiency by 20%.
- Led a cross-functional team in executing a neighborhood revitalization project, resulting in a 40% decrease in crime and a 25% increase in property values.
- Established a volunteer training program that improved community engagement and increased volunteer retention by 35%.
Your work history section should take up a good chunk of your time, energy, and attention as you create your executive director resume.
After all, it’s where you offer real-world proof that you can make an impact.
Here are a few more best practices to keep in mind as you put together this section:
- Switch up your action verbs: Don’t repeat “managed” over and over again. Use a thesaurus to start each bullet point with a new action verb and keep your content fresh.
- Pay attention to verb tense: It’s one of the mistakes that’s easily overlooked on your resume. All previous positions should use past tense (“managed” or “oversaw”) while any position you’re currently working in should use present tense (“manage” and “oversee”). It’s a small detail, but one that helps with clarity and polish.
6. Create Your Employment Summary.
Hashing out all of your work history was a heavy lift, so jotting down your employment summary should feel like a welcomed break.
This short section goes near the top of your resume and serves as a snapshot of the positions you’ve held in the past 10-15 years.
It gives the hiring manager or board of directors a sense of your experience without having to page through your entire resume.
You don’t include any bullet points or details here—that’s what your work history section is for. Instead, this section simply lists the job title you held, the employer, and the years you worked there.
Here’s what it can look like:
Executive Director | 2022 – 2024
Community Progress Alliance
Program Director | 2020 – 2022
Community Progress Alliance
Program Director | 2015 – 2020
Resilient Neighborhood Network
Program Coordinator | 2012 – 2015
Community Thrive Foundation
Do you have to include an employment summary?
Not necessarily. It’s most helpful for people who have had a lot of previous roles—more than three being the benchmark.
In those cases, the section helps prospective employers to see your experience and how your career has progressed over time.
7. Highlight Your Skills.
It’s easy to think of the skills section on a resume as a “gimme.” You just take the keywords from the job description and riddle them off in a bulleted list.
But when you’re at the executive director level, a list of generic buzzwords and empty terms isn’t enough to separate you from the competition.
Everybody else likely uses the same words and phrases (you’re just another “dedicated leader” and “skilled decision-maker”), making them seem empty and meaningless.
Instead, flesh out your skills section by including a one-sentence description of each major skill or competency you list.
Here are two executive director resume examples to show you what this section can look like when done well:
| Bad: | Better: |
|---|---|
| Leadership Strategic planning Financial management Communication Fundraising Stakeholder engagement | Strategic Planning: Proven ability to develop and execute comprehensive plans that drive results and meet or exceed organizational goals Financial Management: Skilled in overseeing budgets, optimizing resources, and ensuring organizations are set up for continued success Leadership: Strong track record of building, leading, mentoring, and motivating high-performing teams Communication & Engagement: Demonstrated ability to communicate complex ideas that engage stakeholders and team members, foster a deep sense of collaboration, and maintain strong relationships with a variety of peers and partners. |
The second approach is more comprehensive and allows you to incorporate even more key terms than a straight list of words.
8. Fill In Your Education.
Your education section is another fairly straightforward section of your executive director resume. You’ll list your degrees and certifications in reverse chronological order, with the most recent at the top.
In this section, you can also include any relevant courses or other professional development opportunities that seem pertinent to the role and organization you’re applying to.
Revisit the job description to determine where to put this section. In most cases, it can go toward the bottom of your resume. However, if education requirements get a lot of emphasis in the job posting (for example, the organization is specifically looking for someone with an MBA), move this section up on your resume. Doing so proves you check that box right away.
Here’s a sample executive director resume to show you what your education section can look like:
EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Master of Business Administration (MBA) | May 2012
University of Central City | Central City, IL
Concentration in Nonprofit Management
Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration | May 2008
State University | Springfield, MO
Minor in Environmental Studies
Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP) | March 2014
Nonprofit Leadership Alliance
9. Write Your Summary Or Profile.
At this point, you have the bulk of your resume filled out. You’re focused and refreshed on all of your skills and qualifications, making it the perfect time to head back to the top of your document and write your resume summary.
Again, this is another area where relevance reigns supreme—especially since it appears at the top of your document.
When recruiters only spend an estimated six to seven seconds reviewing your resume, you want to hit them with the good stuff right up top.
Tailor your professional summary for every job by taking another look at the job description so you can incorporate the most important skills and qualifications.
In general, the following will be important qualities to emphasize for any executive director role:
- Leadership
- Driving strategic initiatives
- Budgeting
- Financial management
- Relationship-building
- Decision-making
With so much focus on keywords and qualifications, this section can easily read like boilerplate paragraphs stuffed with buzzwords. To write a strong and impactful summary:
- Get specific: This isn’t the time to be vague. For example, if you have experience in multiple industries, name them.
- Use first-person language: While it used to be a resume no-no, using first-person language in your summary can add some humanity to an otherwise stuffy and formal document.
- Incorporate achievements: Choose one or two of your most relevant achievements to add to your summary so it catches the hiring manager’s attention right away.
Essentially, think of your summary as your highlight reel.
Ask yourself: If I could only tell this employer five things about myself and my experience, what would I share? That will help you focus on the high points and weave them into your summary.
Here’s a look at how this section is improved when you incorporate the above tips:
| Bad: | Better: |
| Innovative Executive Director with 10 years of experience. Passionate about executing community development projects. Skilled leader and communicator dedicated to achieving organizational goals and delivering impactful results. | Innovative Executive Director with over 10 years of experience and a strong background in overseeing the successful execution of community development projects. As a skilled leader and communicator, I guide diverse teams to drive strategic initiatives and deliver impactful results. Under my direction, my team launched six major projects, increasing community engagement by 25% and securing over $3 million in funding within two years. |
10. Proofread And Refine.
By the time you’ve invested hours into your resume—whether you started with an executive director resume template or completely from scratch—you’re ready to be done.
But don’t let your sense of urgency undermine your accuracy.
Take a break from the document for a while and come back refreshed, focused, and ready to proofread carefully, fix any mistakes, and make any strategic improvements.
Here are a few tips to help you with your editing process:
- Read your document backward: Start reading at the bottom and work your way to the top. Doing so feels unnatural, but it forces you to focus on each line and sentence individually, which increases your chances of catching any typos or errors.
- Enlist the help of a friend or peer: Send your finished resume to a trusted friend or peer to ask for their feedback. When you do, also send the job description so they can keep relevance in mind when reviewing.
- Check your length: Popular advice tells you to keep your resume to one page, but that doesn’t hold true for executive-level positions. More experience warrants more pages. But even so, aim to stick around three pages—and no more than five. If you’re running longer than that, it’s time to trim.
- Use an ATS tool: There’s no way of knowing whether an employer will use an ATS. But when up to 99% of Fortune 500 companies say they’re using AI to screen candidates, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Upload your resume and job description to a tool like Jobscan to check and optimize your content accordingly.
Standout Qualifications Deserve a Standout Resume.
Writing a resume when you have decades of experience and a laundry list of impressive qualifications might seem easy at first glance.
But once you start writing, you realize just how deceptively difficult it is to distill all of your skills and experience into a few concise and impactful pages.
Rest assured, it’s possible. Follow the steps in this guide and you’ll go beyond a generic, write-by-numbers approach to write a resume that’s every bit as impressive as your experience itself.
Irene
