UK CV Writing Guide & Top CV Tips for Executives
Our comprehensive CV Writing Guide UK answers common questions and gives top CV tips for executives and directors. Writing an executive CV is very subjective so we offer clear guidance on CV writing best practices and how to bring everything together in a worthwhile marketing document. With this, Executive Career Solutions (cvexec.uk) has compiled a list of CV writing advice and frequently asked questions below.
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Comprehensive CV Writing Guide for Executives
UK CV WRITING GUIDE: Executive Career Solutions has pulled together all things CV writing and commonly defined best practices. Due to the changing nature of executive recruitment, this page will be updated periodically to ensure any CV advice is up-to-date and best results.
Core themes include top tips on writing an executive resume, what makes a CV stand out, skills competencies, common mistakes and optimal formats. Other areas of focus include applicant tracking systems (ATS-friendly resumes), what information to include, making an impression and what recruiters want to see in an executive resume.
Section 1: Top-Level CV Writing Guidance
How to write an executive resume?
- Firstly, create a structured outline using employer names, dates and job roles. List job responsibilities, key projects and achievements.
- Secondly, delve deeper into each role by showing how you have applied skills, made decisions and demonstrated value added expertise / leadership.
- Thirdly, review existing job descriptions as they give clues about what to include, transferable skills and core competencies.
- Fourthly, list education, professional development, training courses, key certifications, industry thought leadership and professional memberships.
- Fifthly, bring everything together in an introduction summarising key things and overall experience.
- Sixthly, add a headline, contact details and structure an optimal layout (look for CV examples for inspiration).
- Finally, proof-read the entire document, validate information and correct any errors.
What is a good CV introduction?
A CV introduction summarises key information and positions candidates for roles. It should introduce overall experience, career progression, value added skills and expertise and include a headline achievement to make an impression. Keep it simple and concise.
What CV personal information to include?
Avoid too much personal information in a CV. Limit this to name, email and phone number. Given the need to secure CV personal information, avoid including things like dates of birth, marital status, national insurance numbers, passport details or family details. Employers also cannot discriminate on someone's age, location, nationality, ethnicity or anything else.
What company information to include in a CV?
It is good practice to include a one-line summary of a company to provide insights and context about the role. Keep it brief so as not to use too much space. Sometimes candidates include an entire paragraph which is not necessary. Best to keep the CV about oneself and not the employer.
What is a chronological CV?
A chronological CV format is the most commonly used. This is where employment roles are listed in reverse chronological order with most recent roles highlighted first. Chronological CV formats are also more ATS-friendly as there is a clear layout recognised by applicant tracking systems.
What are the top 5 tips for writing a CV?
CV writing is very subjective. We have included our top 5 tips for writing a CV to impress recruiters. Firstly, targeted approaches work best so tailoring a CV to skills, experience, achievements, responsibilities and keywords aligned to job descriptions is important. Secondly, executive CVs must elevate leadership and show impact, results and achievements to stand out from other candidates. Thirdly, logical structure, clear layout and a consistent format throughout the CV is important to ensure clear headings, concise wording and effective use of bullet points on 2-3 pages depending on length of experience.
Fourthly, align keywords, headings and formats to create an ATS-friendly CV document, whilst also writing for a human not just for applicant tracking systems. A human is going to hire an executive not an algorithm. Finally, the headline and profile summary are most important for capturing attention (10-15 second scan). Think about how best to aggregate experience, industry expertise, where you add value most (selling points, key skills and strategic fit) and consider including a headline achievement to really stand out and show leadership impact.
How to structure an executive resume?
With increasing use of applicant tracking systems, it is recommended all resumes are written for ATS-friendly keywords and section headings as much as for a human. For greater ATS compliance, we suggest keeping CV headings clear and concise focusing on a Profile Summary, Key Skills & Expertise, Professional Experience and Education & Career Development. This helps guide ATS algorithms through the document picking up employers, dates and job titles as well as using bullet points to identify role responsibilities.
What sections to include in a CV?
For an ATS-friendly CV, we recommend the following CV headings to help optimise overall structure and help ATS systems and humans navigate through the document. Broadly these include, Profile Summary, Key Skills & Expertise, Professional Experience and Education & Career Development. This helps better align with ATS algorithms.
What is the best CV format to use?
A simple CV format is best. This reflects a changing trend towards minimalist CV layouts and headings given the growing use of applicant tracking systems. Use clearly defined headings, avoid over-complicated layouts and do not use text boxes. Over-complicated formats and having too many CV headings only confuses ATS systems as it undermines the logical CV structure which ATS systems uses to parse information on the document.
What are the top skills in an executive CV?
Every person is different though common skills to include in an executive CV include the following high-level and some generic skills. Strategy, Leadership, Visioning, Financial Acumen, Commercial Leadership, P&L Ownership, Transformation, Board Engagement, Relationship Building, Senior Stakeholder Management, Communication, Operational Excellence, Decision-Making and Strategy Execution.
How many pages for an executive CV?
# Executive resumes should be 2-3 pages in length. Two pages is normally optimal to showcase leadership, skills, experience and achievements. For more complex careers and resumes with many employment roles, it is ok to have an extended CV onto a third page. A one page resumes no longer work with recruiters as they are too brief and really do not showcase candidates.
What are the main CV writing formats?
# There are three main CV writing formats. Most commonly used is the chronological CV which highlights employment roles in reverse chronological order with the most recent experience first. Other formats include a functional (skills-based) CV mainly for people with career gaps or inconsistencies; then there is hybrid CV which combines elements of both chronological and functional CV formats.
Section 2: Adding Value & Leadership in an Executive CV
How best to describe job roles in an executive resume?
Job descriptions, personal experiences and achievements help describe job roles. Give context and rationale to showcase what executives have done and results (outcomes) to demonstrate clear impact in each role. It is important to tell a story and how skills and expertise are applied.
What makes an achievement in an executive CV?
Achievements offer key talking points in an executive CV. They show where executives have excelled in roles, gone the extra mile or delivered above expectations to stand out over others. Achievements must be clearly defined, quantifiable and elevated enough to demonstrate clear leadership and personal impact. CVs lacking achievements will often get ignored by recruiters.
What makes a CV stand out?
There are six main elements to focus on the make an executive CV stand out from other candidates and make an immediate impression. Foremostly, executives must have a well-targeted value proposition and positioning with clear intent aligned to specific job roles. Secondly, executives must show clear results, achievements and impact with measurable outcomes around growth, KPI performance and exceeding targets. Thirdly, demonstrating strategic business leadership for driving the strategy agenda, future direction and vision.
Fourthly, best executive resumes show excellent board engagement, industry relationships and stakeholder management aligned to key soft skills such as influencing, communication, trust building and developing strong working relationships. Fifthly, value added change management, transformation and cross-functional leadership all make an impression. Finally, recruiters are impressed by clearly structured CV marketing documents enabling quick scanning for key information, keyword combinations, language with clear intent (not passive or generic) and enabling logical progression with clear ATS-friendly headings and formats.
How long does it take for recruiters to scan a CV?
To a trained eye, executive recruiters can easily scan a CV within 10-15 seconds. If they are interested, recruiters may spend longer reading the CV in more detail. A well-structured CV with clear headings, logical progression, different keyword combinations and an optimised presentation layout enables recruiters to find key information and gain a more informed impression about a candidate. An authentic real CV often reads better than AI-generated resumes using over-elaborate language.
What to include in a CV headline?
CV headlines directly position candidates towards roles. It can help recruiters immediately place candidates into roles without reading the entire CV. A well-defined headline can significantly improve positioning towards target roles and convey key information right at the top of the CV.
What are good differentiators for an executive CV?
# Great differentiators are proven industry expertise, excellent career record, thought leadership, high impact achievements, a strong academic background, professional memberships and executive leadership development. This is reinforced by strategic awareness, board positions, high-level stakeholder management, expert relationship building skills, specific expertise, technical certifications, personal attributes and personal engagement / soft skills.
Section 3: Common CV Writing Mistakes
What red flags to avoid in an executive CV?
An executive CV is a marketing document designed to showcase credentials, experience, skills and industry expertise. Executive recruiters look for consistency and excellent career record. Too many career gaps, underselling skills, lack of achievements and not making an impression with the CV are common red flags.
What are common CV writing mistakes?
Not being human or authentic by using AI resume generation tools. No headline.
Section 4: Other CV Writing Advice
What is an executive personal brand?
# Managing professional image, leadership style and strategically communicating personal value across different touchpoints and interactions through a personal brand is important for executives. A personal brand involves defining and consistently conveying a unique set of personal values, behaviours and skills attributes which strengths leadership, presence and reputation.
Why are CVs and LinkedIn profiles important?
# Both CVs and LinkedIn profiles are important personal and job marketing tools. CVs are sent to recruiters and employers for candidate pre-selection and interview selection. LinkedIn profiles are great for networking, finding jobs and showcasing experience, skills and expertise to a wider online audience. Recruiters validate candidates using LinkedIn, so it is always best to align both CV and LinkedIn information for consistency and to make the right impression.
What is an ATS friendly CV?
# An ATS friendly CV is a document which improves chances of being parsed by applicant tracking systems. ATS friendly CVs offer consistency, a logical structure, white space and clear sections. Simpler formats work best by avoiding text boxes, over-complicated designs and too many sections. Section headings must be clear so the applicant tracking system can read information aligned to what is in each section.
What is an applicant tracking system used for resumes?
# Applicant tracking systems or ATS are electronic systems designed for reading (parsing) information found on a resume. Employers are increasingly using ATS systems to automate recruitment screening processes and can set an algorithm looking for key information, skills and keywords. The challenge for candidates is to create an ATS friendly resume aligned to main job requirements. Job descriptions give clues around what skills and keywords to use in a resume.
Are AI-generated resumes ATS compliant?
# Claims around AI-generated resumes being ATS compliant can be misleading. Some AI-based CV templates use text boxes and over-elaborate formats which are not 100% compliant with applicant tracking systems. The best way to use AI resume generation tools is for analysing job specifications and aligning matching keywords.
Do AI-generated resumes really work?
AI-generated resumes may work well for professional and management roles. They may help with better keyword and job description alignment. However, AI-resume tools may be more limited for senior executives as recruiters are beginning to push back on AI-generated resumes because they cannot tell who is real or not. There are often many more dimensions in leadership roles, which may not be captured properly when using AI tools. Therefore, a well-written and authentic resume will stand out with executive recruiters as it is written for a human audience; and if done well recruiters can see a wider personal impact and expression of leadership which often lands better with recruiters when selecting candidates for roles.
Executive CV Writers UK : Popular Services
We have created dedicated pages for some of our most popular Executive CV Services and optional add-ons.
Executive Resumes
C-Level / Board Executive CV Services spanning most scenarios.
Executive CV ServicesCompany Directors
Senior Director CV Writing Services (most director roles and scenarios).
Director CV ServicesExecutive Branding
Complementing Exec & Director CV services (various branding options).
Personal BrandingNED & Board Advisory
Board Advisory and Non-Executive Director CV Services (NED Board).
Non-Executive DirectorsAdded Career Solutions
Career add-ons, interviews, job hunting skills and career changes.
Exec Career SolutionsLeadership Coaching
Bespoke combined executive and leadership coaching solutions.
Executive Coaching
Executive Career Solutions : UK Enterprise Awards.
# Winner, Best Executive Career Development Company.
# Winner, Excellence Award for Executive Personal Branding.