How to Write a Managing Director CV

A Managing Director CV must show how your experience and achievements can propel an organisation to future success. An MD's CV needs to outline how many departments / divisions / companies you are overseeing, who / what you are managing.

The Managing Director's CV needs to show how you've steered the business towards higher profit margins and how you fit into the management structure, e.g. Are you accountable to the Board of Directors? Do you report to the Chairman?

Your CV needs to detail how you manage, monitor and guide the organisation, holding the ultimate decision-making power within the company. The successful Managing Director has to display sufficient knowledge of every area of the business to decide on the best routes forwards.

It does take time and considerable effort to achieve an outstanding CV. An easier option is to perhaps to use an established professional CV writing service like Bradley CVs who have the experience and inside knowledge, to help you to secure that all-important MD job interview.

Managing Director CV Profile

Like all managers, the Managing Director CV needs to demonstrate strong leadership as well as management skills. These need to be outstanding, when you are applying for executive jobs, given the MD's position at the head of the management hierarchy.

The MD in a large company does not necessarily need to show current hands-on experience, as long as this experience and knowledge has already been demonstrated earlier in their career. The Managing Director is often in the position of being concerned purely with strategy, based on information delivered from other managers. The implementation of the business plan is delegated.

Your profile should, therefore, refer to a style or approach to leadership and management. This may be a recognised style or an individual approach, or a combination of both. Certain management styles suit certain industries and types of companies. As the highest level manager, the MD is also concerned with the culture of the organisation, as expressed via its mission statement and ideology.

Your Managing Director CV Profile should also touch on some of the role's defining characteristics. If you are known for clear leadership, then the profile should state not only this fact, but the way in which it is transmitted through the individual.

Are you a compelling communicator who motivates the workforce in difficult times? Are you good at making unpopular decisions, such as leading mergers and acquisitions, or downsizing companies? Or is your strength improving the bottom line by implementing tough efficiencies and improving business systems?

Individuals who are already Managing Directors are most likely to be responding to invitations to submit your MD CV to executive management staffing agencies ('head hunters'). While you may be in a narrower field of candidates, the CV nevertheless needs to leave absolutely no room for doubt as to your suitability for a particular post.

This means the profile, as well as the rest of a Managing Director's CV, needs to be targeted towards particular opportunities. For managers aiming to attain a Managing Director position, the CV must be equally solid.

The strengths usually expected of Managing Directors include superb leadership skills, comprehensive management experience (particularly financial and business development), and the ability to motivate employees. MDs should also be completely focused on results and have powerful critical thinking abilities.

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Achievements for a Managing Director CV

There are no two ways about it: the achievements on a Managing Director CV should show results linked to productivity and profitability.

Figures should clearly be shown for increases in profit or output, percentage growth over time, or cost savings - every aspect of the Managing Director's role involves strategic planning, so achievements need to show the results of that process.

Each of your bullet points should include impressive facts and figures and be written in specific and emphatic language.

This section must hit hard - it is at the top of the CV (after your Profile) and represents the point at which the recruiter or agency will make their decision on whether to shortlist or reject your application.

The achievements included in this section of an MD's CV should be the best illustrations of your success in the following areas when you are applying for management jobs:

• Consultation, both within the organisation and externally with industry representatives and major customers, needs to be greatly evidenced.
• Decision-making, based in analysis of available information from the next tier of management, utilising sharp critical thinking abilities, needs to be a rapid process, with all suggested changes supported by evidence.
• Implementation of policies, with effects on finances and, if there has been restructuring, employees. The MD should know about the everyday working of the business.
• Innovative approaches, which yield positive change, are also a concern. As well as ascertaining that all systems are optimised, they also need to be highly aware of their industry and new developments which could take the business forward.
• Change and crisis management may be a necessary aspect of the work. Not all developments in business are positive, so retaining the focus to minimise the impact of challenging situations is also important.

Pursuing the Situation, Action and Result (SAR) approach to writing achievements is a good way to express past and recent accomplishments. Greatest impact is achieved by starting the sentence with the action - powerful action words (verbs) help to establish your central role in driving this accomplishment.

Include keywords and industry buzzwords, so that your Managing Director CV will be picked up by the recruitment search software that agencies use. It should always be clear that you possess knowledge of the relevant industry or type of company, so keywords should relate to this as well as management functions.

Our executive CV writing service can help you with your Managing Director CV.

Career History on a Managing Director's CV

Your career history is effectively a continuation of your achievements section on your managing Director CV. At this level, your job title is indication enough of your designated responsibilities - an achievement is a way of presenting a responsibility with the evidence that you were successful enough to gain results.

It is, however, wise to include some contextual information - the company's area of operation, size, number of employees and annual turnover are entirely relevant. Include this just below your job title and company name.

Only your positions from within the last 10 years need to be described in detail - i.e., with 5 or 6 achievements listed beneath each. For positions from more than 10 years ago, you may choose to simply list your job title, the company name and inclusive dates of employment, with a line or two of description.

Whatever your priorities were at the time, order the information on your MD CV according to its relevance to the position you're pursuing. This is not to downgrade the importance of other work, but simply to acknowledge the next employer's priorities.

Ensure that the way in which your experiences are written up is appropriate to your approach to management, as well as the culture of the business you're applying to. For example, if you write up achievements concerning change management in dramatic language, then you may come across as a risk-taker who is failing to consider the detail and effects across the workforce.

In most cases, however, future employers will already have identified the longer term outcomes of your tenures at other companies. They will be using the summation of your career, presented in the form of your Managing Director CV, as a means to compare your experience with that of other candidates.

Managing Director CV Qualifications and Training

Many Managing Directors hold at least one degree, with a smaller number holding master's degrees, including MBAs (Masters of Business Administration). While there are, of course, many Managing Directors who are heads of the companies they founded, and who do not have such qualifications it's less common for these managers to be mobile in the employment market in the same way.

Present your highest level qualification first on your Managing Director CV; giving the degree title, the awarding institution and the date it was awarded. Follow this with any other degrees.

Next include important industry certifications. A large number of certificates may not seem so relevant on an MD's CV, but they are important in demonstrating industry experience.

However, if your profession requires chartered membership of an association, place details at the top of this section.

Associations and Conferences on an MD CV

Membership of associations indicates integrity through conformity to a certain set of standards. List all memberships in this section, along with your level of membership.

Also include details on your Managing Director CV of any boards you have sat on, as this further indicates experience of how businesses operate and function at this level.

If you have spoken at illustrious industry events, include brief details here. Attracting the respect of your peers and showing high standing within the industry, sector or profession is an important qualification in itself.

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