After reviewing 500+ executive resumes from directors and VPs, the same three mistakes keep showing up — and they're costing candidates interviews at top companies.

1. Leading with responsibilities instead of impact

"Managed a team of 45 engineers" tells me nothing. "Built and scaled engineering org from 12 to 45, shipping 3 products that drove $18M ARR" tells me you're a builder. Every bullet on your resume should answer: "So what?"

2. No executive summary (or a terrible one)

At the VP/C-suite level, recruiters spend 6 seconds on your resume. If your top section is an objective statement from 2015, you're done. You need a 3-line executive summary that positions you as the answer to a specific business problem.

3. Ignoring the ATS at senior levels

"I'm too senior for ATS" — I hear this constantly. Wrong. 75% of Fortune 500 companies run every resume through ATS, including executive roles. If your formatting is creative but not parseable, a human never sees it.

The fix for all three is the same: write your resume like a business case, not a job description. Lead with outcomes, quantify everything, and make it scannable in under 10 seconds.

I built The Career Vault to give senior leaders the exact frameworks that work. Executive resume templates, interview prep systems, and salary negotiation playbooks — all built for the VP and C-suite level.