Preparing a CV as a leader is not so very different to someone who is in a less senior role. The main challenge is that if you are a leader already, you will have had to gain a lot of experience to get to where you are now and may have had several jobs, so it’s going to be that much harder to fit everything on to a maximum of 2 pages. However, that is what you need to do if your CV is going to have maximum impact. One page would be even better.
Here’s our five top tips for making sure that your CV gets noticed.
Keep the Formatting Simple
If you are applying for a job as a leader in education, you are not going to be employed for your graphical design skills. Employers receive thousands of resumes so what they are looking for is CV’s that are easy to read. Also, employers are increasingly using technology to automatically scan CVs and if the text in your CV is embedded in fancy graphics then it probably won’t get through the first stage no matter how visually impressive it is.
Include a Profile Summary
You want to make sure that your CV is attention grabbing. Many employers literally only give each CV a minute or less to decide if they want to progress further. It is critical therefore that your “leadership sales pitch” is right at the top of page one. List your top three selling points and include them in a profile summary that stands out. Leave plenty of white space around your profile to give it extra prominence.
Emphasise your Leadership Strengths
If you have already got into a leadership position, then the things that you excelled at to get to this point are no longer really relevant to employers. They will make the assumption that you did well in previous roles, so you want to emphasise that you have the leadership qualities that they are looking for in addition to whatever you did before. Employers will be looking for evidence that you are capable of managing stakeholders, can guide and develop others, have business acumen and are able to generate performance improvement.
