Resume Makeover: How an Enterprise Architect Can Become a CIO

Carlton Lassiter began looking for a new job five months ago, after being passed over for a director of strategic planning position with his current employer. Lassiter, who asked CIO.com to use a pseudonym to keep his job search a secret from his employer, currently serves as an enterprise architect with an energy company. His long-term career goal is to become a CIO. He saw the director of strategic planning post as a stepping stone to a CIO position.

Lassiter says his co-workers were mystified when he was overlooked for the strategy job. They asked him why he didn't get it. He thought his rsum was largely to blame, along with his age: He's on the cusp of turning 32.

Lassiter believes he has what it takes to move from enterprise architect to a director- or executive-level position in IT. For one, in his current role, he works hand-in-hand with the CIO on matters of IT strategy. In addition, he built a multi-million dollar IT consulting company with global operations. The experience afforded him, among other things, the opportunity to build relationships with C-level executives across a variety of industries.

Lassiter says he's applied for four positions since starting his job search: one as a chief innovation officer, another as a chief information officer, and two as IT directors where he would have been the top IT leader inside those organizations.

He scored an interview for the chief innovation officer position, but because it required relocating, it didn't work out. He received the following canned response when he sent his rsum for the other three positions: "Thank you for your submission. We're pursuing other candidates who we feel are more qualified."

If those employers had taken the time to speak with Lassiter, they might have realized that he was indeed qualified. Unfortunately, Lassiter suspects his rsum just didn't succeed in giving hiring managers that impression. Lassiter needed a rsum makeover.

Carlton Lassiter began looking for a new job five months ago, after being passed over for a director of strategic planning position with his current employer. Lassiter, who asked CIO.com to use a pseudonym to keep his job search a secret from his employer, currently serves as an enterprise architect with an energy company. His long-term career goal is to become a CIO. He saw the director of strategic planning post as a stepping stone to a CIO position.

Lassiter says his co-workers were mystified when he was overlooked for the strategy job. They asked him why he didn't get it. He thought his rsum was largely to blame, along with his age: He's on the cusp of turning 32.

Lassiter believes he has what it takes to move from enterprise architect to a director- or executive-level position in IT. For one, in his current role, he works hand-in-hand with the CIO on matters of IT strategy. In addition, he built a multi-million dollar IT consulting company with global operations. The experience afforded him, among other things, the opportunity to build relationships with C-level executives across a variety of industries.

Lassiter says he's applied for four positions since starting his job search: one as a chief innovation officer, another as a chief information officer, and two as IT directors where he would have been the top IT leader inside those organizations.

He scored an interview for the chief innovation officer position, but because it required relocating, it didn't work out. He received the following canned response when he sent his rsum for the other three positions: "Thank you for your submission. We're pursuing other candidates who we feel are more qualified."

If those employers had taken the time to speak with Lassiter, they might have realized that he was indeed qualified. Unfortunately, Lassiter suspects his rsum just didn't succeed in giving hiring managers that impression. Lassiter needed a rsum makeover.

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