P&L, headcount, scope, exits. Executive CVs win on board-ready outcomes. Two pages, no Skills block, no Projects, just a Summary, Experience, Education, and an optional Board Service line.
Five lines. Level (VP, SVP, CRO, CFO, CEO), function (Sales, Marketing, Product, Operations, Finance), industries (B2B SaaS, fintech, manufacturing), the most defensible exit or outcome (took company from $14M to $84M ARR, led IPO, drove 3x EBITDA), and the next role you want.
Don't open with a personality statement. Don't open with a generic value proposition. Open with the number a board member would underline.
Per role: title, company, dates, then a one-line scope statement (P&L owned, headcount, segment, geography). Then 4 to 6 outcome bullets, each with a measurable result a board would care about.
Skip a Skills block. Skip a Projects section. Skip everything that isn't either Summary, Experience, Education, or Board Service. Executive CVs are evaluated on the strength of the outcome list, not the breadth of the skill list.
Two pages. One page is too short to convey scope at the VP+ level. Three pages reads as overweight. Two pages, with the second page weighted toward education and board service.
No. Skills are implicit at the executive level. The outcome bullets convey the skill: a CFO who took a company through an S-1 has demonstrated capital markets expertise; listing 'capital markets' as a skill below it is noise.
Yes, in its own block near the bottom. Each entry: company, role (chair, board member, advisor), dates, brief outcome contribution. Board service is a strong signal for executive search firms.
Level, function, industry, defensible outcome, next role. Five lines max. Anchored on a number a board member would underline.
Most of them. The 4-to-6 bullets per role should land 70% on quantified outcomes (revenue, EBITDA, headcount, valuation, NPS, retention) and 30% on strategic moves (acquisitions led, pivots executed, leadership team built).
Free. Outcomes parsed and matched to the role's mandate.
Check my CV →