Chapter 6 | Building your CV strategy

Work out your professional story before you build the CV, it will be stronger when it reflects a clear narrative that helps someone understand your career properly.

Ask yourself:

What have I consistently been trusted with?

What themes run through my career?

What am I known for?

What strengths show up repeatedly?

What kind of environments suit me?

What kinds of problems do I solve?

What do I want to be known for in this next step?

Common career themes might include:

Operational leadership

Service improvement

Stakeholder engagement

Transformation

People development

Commercial growth

Governance and compliance

Technical specialism

Customer experience

Delivery under pressure

Building structure from chaos

Multi-site oversight

International coordination

Project recovery

Process optimisation

When you identify the themes, your CV becomes easier to write because you stop listing disconnected tasks and start presenting a coherent professional identity.

Create your positioning statement by summing yourself up in plain language.

For example:

‘I am an operational leader who improves performance, brings structure, and leads teams through change’

‘I am a commercially minded finance professional who strengthens reporting, improves visibility, and supports strategic decision-making’

‘I am a programme delivery specialist with experience leading high-risk, cross-functional change across complex environments’

This is not final CV wording it is just to anchor your thoughts at this stage.