IT Resume Writers keep a constant finger on the pulse of both business and technology.
That's why I continuously scan technology news to get a strong sense of current and future trends that will directly impact my client's careers and job search strategies.
One trend that I'm seeing a lot of is very positive - and that's the transformation of the CIO to a full, strategic partner with the other members of the C-suite.
In fact, there seems to be a major paradigm shift in the CIO's role in many major enterprises.
That trend is discussed in this excellent article, "The Changing Role of the CIO," by Ned Smith. Ned discusses many trends that are currently impacting the way CIOs do business, and will strongly impact the CIO's future career strategy.
Ned mentions many positives - including a larger proportion of CIOs reporting to the CEO (36% vs. 21% in 2010), 50% of all US CIOs are enabling business change, and 47% are managing a larger budget than last year. Interestingly, though, CIOs are now sharing a greater proportion of their budget responsibilities.
The biggest challenge CIOs are facing, according to Ned Smith, is "filling their company's innovation potential... They cite changing business priorities, smaller budgets and a lack of the right internal skills as the biggest barriers to achieving innovation."
So I have to ask this question.
If innovation is so critical to many CIOs, why are so many CIO resumes colorless, ineffective documents?
There are, of course, many reasons. But I would compare the CIO resume process to Ned Smith's quote above - in which he mentions "a lack of the right internal skills."
IT resume writing is a highly complex, specialized process - that's why there are so few IT resume writers in the careers industry.
CIO resume are simply too difficult, too complex, and too time consuming for this to be a successful do it yourself project. To clearly, compellingly, and effectively balance all aspects of a CIOs career - from early, hands-on experience to strategic leader driving innovation - requires a depth of industry expertise that is, quite frankly, very rare.
That's why CIO resumes are one of my personal sweet spots.
Because I thrive on the challenge of distilling the most critical aspects of distinguished IT leadership career into a tight, clear, powerful document - a document that does the one thing every good resume needs to do.