Mycareercoach.com

CV tips for:
senior management

'Alignment' is the most important feature in a CV. If you are submitting blind and don't know anything about the job in question, lack of alignment will put you at a disadvantage.

In a perfect world, you should align your CV with the role for which you are applying. For example, if the role on offer involves managing managers, where you would be accountable to the board, you need to emphasise relevant experiences or capabilities.

Mention the size of budget for which you have been accountable; whether it was revenue, cost or profit and loss (the latter being preferable). The size of budget can be put into perspective by relating it to the overall company turnover, for example, “XYZ Inc. annual revenues were $250m, of which I was accountable for $60m", is better than mentioning either sum in isolation.

It’s worthwhile outlining the size of organisations for which you have worked. Mention turnover, employee numbers and scope of responsibility – and how that responsibility manifested itself.

Concentrate on facts and achievements which can be substantiated – especially figures relating to key business performance metrics and increasing shareholder value.

Achievements: Accentuate the positive: your role regarding increase in turnover, profit, market share, margin, share price, return on capital, success in new market areas or initiatives - these are all worth highlighting.

Leadership: Highlight your relevant roles: were you a senior manager executing company policy, or were you the leader responsible for formulating policy?

Creativity: What new ideas have you contributed?

What level have you reported to? Specify if you are experienced in reporting to a board member of a listed company.

Project management: Which significant projects have you led? For example, you should menton a significant turnaround, a push into new business and/or the creation of a new business model. This says that the execs put trust in you (provided that you succeeded!).

Outline the breadth of your responsibilities and any functions managed. Mention the kinds of people you have managed; operational people, managed managers or managed managers who manage managers! And include the size of teams you have managed, as well as any difficult people management, for example, being responsible for right-sizing an organisation.

Demonstrate that you have rounded skills which show you have experienced bad times as well as good, and learned from the experience.

If you are a senior manager, chances are that you are more mature, and you may have more employers listed on your CV than you would ideally like. If this is the case try to state instances where companies you were working for were merged, bought or sold.

If you have a Batchelor's or Master's degree, or an MBA, you need not mention qualifications at a lower level, except achievements with a recognised significance, such as SixSigma.

In today’s volatile world it's worth mentioning initiatives you have been involved with such as compliance, risk management or reporting, or areas which protect an organisation's value, worth or exposure.