The IT Director role can be a critical turning point in your career—the time when you move from a largely technical job description into a position with significantly expanded strategic and leadership possibilities. That's one of the many reasons why your IT Director resume has to clearly reflect that transition from "in the trenches" to a leadership role.

This LinkedIn tip is important. Because everything we write, post, or comment on LinkedIn immediately becomes part of our profession identity—our brand—online. Prospective employers and recruiters are looking at that brand to determine whether a given candidate is a good fit for a new opportunity.

Given that (obvious) fact, it's a bit surprising—but LinkedIn, like every social network, does have its share of trolls—or folks who may look like trolls because of offhand, often arrogant or condescending comments.

But if someone looks like a troll? Odds are good that person isn't going to be the first person a good recruiter will contact for a fantastic new opportunity.

We've all seen one. The CIO resume that leads with "27 years of experience" in the first line of the resume summary on page one.

On the surface, that seems like a great strategy. It's apparently clear, and seems to give a sense of career level. Also, many job postings do start with number of years required for the position – so, it seems reasonable to address the issue of experience directly, at the very beginning of the resume.

I was speaking with a client of mine yesterday, and we were discussing his unique value proposition - and his equally unique approach to technology leadership.

And he told me an interesting story (with all details changed to protect his privacy). He was recruited - by a large, US-based manufacturing firm headquartered in a major Midwest city - to lead a very low performing IT organization. His mandate, essentially, was to fire the entire team within a month, and rebuild from scratch.

"The most transformational job in the corporate world right now isn’t glamorous, certainly isn’t easy, and at times is even a little thankless. It’s a job where little can go right and a lot can go catastrophically wrong. If that isn’t enough, it’s probably the hottest seat in corporate America today

We're all driven by metrics these days. Whether it's cost, revenue, increase in market share, streamlined operations, or KPIs, numbers often seem to tell the story of success or failure.

That's why Executive Resumes Writers - myself included - work to dig out the quantifiable achievements to demonstrate our client's success.

It's a rare week that I don't see a blog post or article with the 3, 5, 7, or 10 things that a job seeker MUST or MUST NOT include on a resume.

There's one big problem with articles like this. They go on the assumption that every career is the same, and that there's an simple template - a cookie cutter approach - that works for every career, every resume, every job seeker.

I've blogged on this topic before - but I think that it's important - do to the amount of misinformation you'll find on the web.

It's a rare week that I don't see a career "expert" suggesting customizing IT Resumes for every job you apply for.

IT Resumes Writers see a number of critical patterns that can be easily missed - both by IT professionals seeking a new opportunity, and by hiring authorities primarily focused on filling critical positions.

Given the highly specialized nature of my work - and the large number of often unsatisfactory IT resumes that cross my desk, I'm in a unique position to notice those patterns. And it's my responsibility to my clients to make them aware of the bad news that may be keeping the phone from ringing

In this series of blogs, I'm going to address the 3 most significant issues that I see in the IT resumes that cross my desk.

And I'll start at the top of the organization - with CIO and CTO resumes - and continue the series with IT Directors, IT Managers, and then address issues that I see in the resumes of "hands-on" IT professionals.

My musical tastes are pretty broad - as my twitter followers know from the changes in my profile there. But one constant in my musical life is George Harrison - I've been listening to his post-Beatles work since I was a kid.

I've blogged extensively lately,on the rapidly evolving role of the CIO - and how that evolution can be most clearly and effectively communicated in your CIO resume.

Balance is a critical component in strong, successful IT Resumes - and one of the most essential areas for that balance between the amount of technical detail in the IT Resume and the broader business issues that you've solved.

My clients are very smart people.

They are expert problem solvers who can anticipate technical and business issues months - if not years - in advance, and create complex, detailed, and effective strategic plans that address many critical issues - before they happen.

As a professional resume writer, there are some issues that I see over and over again in the initial client IT resumes that cross my desk.

One of the most common is to see every job described in an almost identical number of words, the same number of bullets, the same visual space on the page - whether that job is current, or was a decade and a half ago.