6 Powerful Changes You Need To Start Making On Your Senior Level CV

By Lilian Wamaitha
Whatever position you are eyeing for as a seasoned employee, condensing all your work experience into one document is always a daunting task.
But if you are ready for a new position or to change your career, you cannot afford to ignore the importance of a polished and updated CV.
If you have 5 years of experience and above, you are likely to have held several positions working your way to a senior level which may even mean testing the waters in difference industries and departments.
For a few seasoned employees, they never had to interview for these positions but only got referred by their networks.
But for the majority it’s still a tough job market especially since you are competing with other competent professionals from different fields for the same jobs.
Your CV therefore needs to impress.
But how do you write a CV for that position you are eyeing for in a way that you emerge among the top?
In this article, I will take you some of the changes that you should start making on your senior level CV that will work for you now and in the long run.
1. Have your credentials at the very top of your CV
This is a quick change for anyone regardless of the number of years of experience under your belt.
Having your credentials at the top of the resume, especially the ones that are related to the job you are applying for will ensure that the employer doesn’t skip them.
2. Have your key skills at the top
Even for you at an executive level, an employer will first quickly scan through your CV in a few seconds before going into details.
If you want to stand out, have your key skills near the top and mostly on the first page.
Also ensure that you start with the skills that are directly related to the job you are applying for. That way, they will be more inclined to dig deeper into your CV than just having a plain one.
3. On the first page, have a selected achievements section
When you get to a certain level in your career, employers become less interested in what you can do but more on what you can deliver, that is the achievements you have already made so far.
If you are in a senior position, you most likely have a lot of achievements to choose from but this does not mean that you should use this section to list everything you have ever done.
So what do you do? Like the skills section, choose achievements that directly correlate to the job you are applying for.
4. Focus majorly on your recent work experience
Most CVs will focus on a chronological order when listing work experience, but if you are in a senior level position, you should at least spend some time on your recent position because that is where the employer will focus their attention.
Include details that will tell the employer your role, the company, whether small or large, nonprofit and so on.
And this rule applies even you haven’t been at you current job for a long time unless your current job has no relation to the job you are applying for.
5. Move your education to the end of the resume
As a fresh graduate, your selling point was your degree or diploma and a few years into your career, it served as your relevant work experience.
However, now that you have worked your way up the ranks, it’s time to shift the focus on your CV.
Move any education experience to the end of your CV except for any advanced degrees you may have pursued recently.
6. Include only the last 15 years of experience
So… you are applying for the position of director of finance. What is the use of including that finance assistant position you held more than a decade ago when you were just starting your career?
Employers at this stage will be more interested in the position y0u have held in the last 15 years.
If there are however positions outside the 15 year gap that you feel are relevant to the position you are applying for you can create a “prior experience” section and add them there.
With this in mind
A CV acts as a marketing as well as an elimination document. It is what will get your foot through the door for that interview. Therefore can be overwhelming to write a senior level CV since you have a lot of experience and have no idea what to include and what to leave out.
With your level of experience, you will be facing competition from other experienced and competent professionals hence why you need to stand out.
Luckily, things have become so easy today that you don’t need to struggle coming up with the perfect CV on your own. A professional CV writer will come through and guide you on how to write a CV that helps you stand out. For a CV that helps you stand out and bags you interviews, email cvwriting@corporatestaffing.co.ke today for a CV make over.