When applying for a senior or executive-level role, your CV needs to be strategically positioned. By now, you will have had several years of accomplishments and experience which can be challenging to distil into a two-page CV.
At this level employers need to understand what you are capable of and your track record relevant to the role for which you are applying. This means you need to identify the most relevant experience you have and give employers clear and specific examples that evidence the results you’ve delivered.
Here is our guide to demonstrating your leadership experience and creating a CV underpinned by your achievements, to show potential employers that you’re the right fit for a senior or executive-level position.
Core Leadership Skills
Every achievement you list in your Career Summary should demonstrate that you are a competent and effective leader. Instead of focusing on your role responsibilities, highlight how you led a team, developed the strategy, or initiated changes – and then emphasise the results and outcomes you delivered.
To evidence your leadership capability, you should include metrics that back up your achievements as much as possible and keep each example very specific to the role you’re applying for. Prioritise recent relevant achievements that add the most value to your CV and avoid going into detail about less applicable positions or achievements you have held.
The examples you include will largely depend on the career you’ve had so far, but here are some of the key leadership competencies you could include on your CV, along with examples of how to effectively demonstrate them:
Driving Revenue Growth
This includes exceeding targets and budgets, entering new markets, securing new clients or contracts, and launching new products. Some of the statistics could include growth rates, profitability, consistency in delivering targets, or new clients you have secured.
Example: “Led sales and business development strategy into new target markets securing new major clients in excess of company targets, with a growth rate of 10% per annum and over £10m in revenue.”
Strategy Development
Talk about your experience leading the development of a new business strategy, and include the financial and/or operational impact you delivered.
Example: “Devised a new operating strategy to consolidate operational sites, reduce operating costs, and drive customer service levels, leading to a 25% saving in operating costs.”
People and Culture
Have you led a team through a project, implemented DEI initiatives, or spearheaded employee development, training or talent management programmes? Feature specific examples on your CV, such as improvements to employee retention, productivity and satisfaction where relevant.
Example: “Established a new talent management and succession planning programme leading to a 12% reduction in attrition and an increase in employee engagement from senior leaders.”
Costs Saved
To demonstrate your leadership competencies in this area, list the specific amounts or statistics of how much you helped the company save. Be clear about your contribution in any initiative.
Example: “Led a cost efficiency programme focused on identifying waste, reducing operating costs, and restructuring production activities, which led to a £220k saving within 18 months.”
Technology Innovations
If you’ve taken charge of a digital transformation strategy in a previous role, include information about how this improved productivity, modernised the internal systems and processes, reduced risk, and improved cyber and information security.
Example: “Directed the launch of a cloud-based infrastructure, reducing IT operational costs by 28% and improving system reliability by 40% through more effective management of IT Services.”
Change Management or Transformation
If you led a team throughout a transition period in a company, include details about how you successful the programme was, what it achieved, and your contribution within that activity..
Example: “Led core change initiatives across the multiple sites with a focus on new system and process implementation, thereby increasing compliance while reducing operating costs by 14%.”
Education Section
The workforce is constantly changing and there’s always more to learn about being a skilled leader. Participating in a dedicated leadership course or certification can help you hone your management skills and better understand effective leadership in the workplace.
If you’ve completed leadership training, whether this is an MBA, postgraduate study or any courses that can demonstrate your continued leadership development, then include it in your education and qualifications section.
This shows employers that you are invested in your development and have a growth mindset.
Professional Profile
Once you’re clear on the leadership experience you have included, you can then review your Professional Profile, as it sets the tone and gives a strong impression to prospective employers.
This section is a maximum of six to eight lines long. It needs to summarise your experience and highlight your capability without repeating the detail in your Career Summary. You can also use this section to talk about what you want to get from your next role and why you’re motivated to apply for this position – however, a Cover Letter is our preferred route for this.
We hope this guide has given you an idea of how to demonstrate leadership experience when applying for a senior-level position. By backing up your achievements with concrete, quantitative evidence you can show a potential employer why you would be an asset to their organisation.
At The CV Guru, we always include a consultation call with one of our expert Senior CV Writers to support you in identifying your achievements and understand your core leadership skills. Your writer will then succinctly weave these into your CV if you purchase our CV Writing Services. Each document from The CV Guru is targeted toward the positions you are applying for and comes with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee.
If you’d like expert assistance for your next job hunt, check out our Executive CV Bundles, which include a CV, Cover Letter, and LinkedIn Profile written by our Managing Director or Senior Writers. Or alternatively schedule a call with us to discuss your requirements.