A Master CV captures your full career history, experience, achievements, and credentials in one place. It acts as a strategic reference, allowing you to respond quickly and decisively by aligning each application precisely to an employer’s needs. This is particularly valuable if you are keeping your options open or considering a move across sectors.

What Is a Master CV?

A Master CV is a comprehensive working document that records your complete professional background. It is never sent directly to employers. Instead, it provides the foundation for creating targeted executive resumes, board applications, LinkedIn profiles, and capability statements. By consolidating everything in one place, nothing of value is lost or overlooked when opportunities arise.

Why create a Master CV?

• Responsiveness – Act quickly when opportunities emerge, without scrambling to reconstruct your career history.
• Targeted applications – Select and refine the most relevant experience and achievements for each role.
• Career clarity – Step back periodically to assess progress, identify gaps, and plan your next move.
• Wider application – Draw on it when preparing board profiles, consultancy proposals, or capability statements.

Challenges a Master CV Addresses

⇒ Procrastination or Lack of Strategic Focus

Many executives find themselves reacting late to opportunities, submitting rushed and generic applications. At senior level, employers expect clear relevance to the role’s strategic demands, not a broad career summary supported by hopeful commentary.

⇒ Difficulty Presenting Transferable Skills

Moving between sectors can be difficult to articulate convincingly. A Master CV provides the space to identify transferable skills and frame them clearly against different selection criteria.

⇒ Positioning achievements for impact

Executive accomplishments rarely speak for themselves. A Master CV allows you to record achievements with context, making it far easier to align them to the priorities of different employers.

For senior executives, this approach enables you to:

• Frame results, not responsibilities – Outcomes, decisions, and impact matter more than role descriptions.
• Demonstrate transferability – Clearly connect your experience to new environments or mandates.
• Respond strategically – Move decisively on high value opportunities without starting from scratch.
• Avoid generic applications – Create targeted, role specific documents that meet employer expectations.

As my book The C-Suite Interview Playbook explains, relevance to selection criteria, both explicit and implied, is the defining factor in executive shortlisting. A Master CV supports a disciplined, prepared approach to presenting your value and securing interviews.

Two phase executive career strategy service

These consultancy packages provide structured guidance and ongoing support, helping you manage career progression, transition, or contingency planning in a competitive market.

Phase one – Master CV Development Package

• Initial consultation – A detailed discussion covering career history, sector experience, strengths, and direction.
• Master CV creation – I personally develop a comprehensive Master CV capturing your full professional record.
• Achievement identification – We surface the defining accomplishments that demonstrate your strategic value.
• Achievement refinement – These are sharpened to align with senior decision maker expectations.
• Role strategy – We clarify target roles and the attributes employers will prioritise.
• Pitch guidance – Support on articulating your value clearly in writing and conversation.

Phase two – Application alignment

• Opportunity assessment – Advice on which roles to pursue and how to prioritise them.
• Targeted applications – Creation of tailored executive resumes and cover letters for two specific roles.
• Pitch development – Clear, relevant elevator pitches aligned to each opportunity.
• LinkedIn strategy – Refinement of your profile to support visibility and credibility.
• Ongoing support – Continued guidance across live applications and broader career decisions.

A CV built around achievements

My approach centres your CV on outcomes and impact, not a timeline of roles. The focus is on what you have delivered, why it mattered, and how it positions you for the role ahead.

The value you add

Your CV demonstrates the value you bring to an organisation, showing how your judgement, experience, and leadership contribute to better decisions, stronger performance, and sustained results at senior level.

Your ability to solve problems

I shape a clear narrative around how you have handled complex challenges, led through change, and resolved high stakes issues, combining strategic thinking with sound people judgement.

Your financial judgement

Financial accountability is made explicit through evidence of revenue growth, cost control, investment decisions, and transformation initiatives, grounded in a clear understanding of organisational and stakeholder impact.

Your capacity to innovate

Innovation is reflected through examples of original thinking, improvement initiatives, and future focused decisions, supported by your ability to bring people with you and convert ideas into action.

Your leadership and influence

Leadership is presented through outcomes and behaviour, showing how you build capability, communicate clearly, and influence across diverse stakeholders, not just through title or scope.

Your professional standards

Your commitment to high standards is reinforced through consistent delivery, sound governance, and an ability to raise performance across teams, systems, and outcomes, positioning you as a leader trusted to operate at senior level.

In a market where anyone, regardless of suitability, can submit an application in seconds, many roles attract more candidates than recruiters can reasonably assess, making automated screening the first cut. It is common for senior executives to assume a generic resume will suffice or that parts of the process can be skipped. In practice, regardless of seniority, if your resume does not align with the selection criteria, explicit or implied, it is unlikely to pass ATS screening or reach human review.

Executive CV Elements

Most executive applications are built around three core components: the resume or CV, the cover letter or e note, and LinkedIn.

• Resume or CV – A focused summary of your qualifications, leadership experience, and achievements, written to align closely with the role’s selection criteria.
• Cover letter – Often submitted digitally, this distils your experience into a clear executive pitch that speaks directly to the employer’s priorities.
• Addressing selection criteria – Many executive roles do not list criteria explicitly. Identifying them often requires research and judgement. Where stated, responses may be required within the cover letter or as a separate document.
  • Most state and federal government roles require a stand alone selection criteria statement.

Even when addressing selection criteria is not formally requested, your application should demonstrate clear alignment with what the organisation values. For example, a strong or diverse professional network may be critical to the role, even if it is not mentioned in the job ad.

The role of the cover letter and LinkedIn

Both the cover letter and LinkedIn profile are derived from your resume and reinforce your positioning. For executive roles, LinkedIn is particularly important, supporting visibility, credibility, and headhunting activity where networks matter.

I bring hands on experience from senior roles in marketing, HR, and recruitment, including work with major mining, HR, and resources organisations in Australia. Over time, I have helped applicants pursue roles across Australia, the UK, and the United States. With a degree in Information Science, I also understand how digital recruitment systems assess and filter applications. I hold dual UK and Australian citizenship and work across both markets.

Sectors and organisations

My consulting work and previous employment spans a broad mix of public and private organisations, including power utilities, universities, police services, zoos, major mining and resources companies, state government bodies, information services providers, and biotech and pharmaceutical firms. I regularly work across sectors such as:

• Mining and resources CVs or resumes, including oil and gas
• Pharmaceutical, health, and nursing CVs or resumes
• Primary, secondary, and tertiary education CVs or resumes, including leadership roles
• Corporate management and C suite CVs or resumes, including international roles
• Political, chief of staff, and party pre selection CVs or resumes
• Government CVs or resumes at local, state, and federal level
• Franchisee and commercial operator CVs and applications
• Capability statement CVs for professionals and contractors
• Marketing and sales leadership CVs or resumes
• IT, AI, and digital leadership CVs or resumes
• ADF and former ADF CVs or resumes

My clients include regular folk as well as FTSE100 and ASX directors, distinguished individuals with KBE, OBE, AO, and MBE honours, politicians, and high-profile business professionals.

Certification and Memberships

I am a founder member of the UK based CVRA, an organisation dedicated to the professional certification and ongoing education of CV and resume writers worldwide.

• Video
• Website

Corporate engagements

I have delivered resume writing seminars and outplacement workshops for employees of Australian state and local governments, as well as universities.

Selection criteria describe the qualifications, experience, and capabilities an employer uses to decide who progresses to interview. Unlike a job description, which outlines duties, selection criteria focus on what a candidate must demonstrate to be shortlisted.

Selection criteria are often, but not always, set out in the job advertisement or role description. They act as a benchmark for assessing suitability and signal what the organisation truly values. For executives, this alignment is critical, as it reflects not only capability but fit with strategy, culture, and leadership expectations.

Selection criteria usually combine essential and desirable requirements, which may include:

• Demonstrated leadership capability and accountability for outcomes
• Relevant senior qualifications and depth of professional experience
• Strategic judgement and sector specific insight
• International or cross cultural experience where relevant
• Clear evidence of achievements with organisational impact

You may also see selection criteria referred to as job specifications, position requirements, or competency frameworks. Regardless of the label, they define both technical expectations and behavioural standards.

The challenge with interpreting selection criteria

Be cautious about relying solely on the job ad when interpreting selection criteria. Role descriptions are often written by HR or remuneration teams and may lag behind the expectations of decision makers. In practice, the minimum stated requirements are usually the most reliable guide. Where possible, insight from recruiters or trusted professional contacts can clarify what really matters.

Selection Criteria Statements

In Australia, many public and third sector roles require applicants to address selection criteria in a separate, stand alone document. These statements are a formal part of the assessment process and are used to evaluate skills, experience, and suitability.

Roles that commonly require selection criteria statements include:

• Government roles – Federal, state, and local government positions, including policy, administration, and project roles.
• Public service roles – Positions across health, education, justice, and social services.
• Education sector – Universities, TAFEs, and other education providers, particularly academic and professional staff roles.
• Healthcare sector – Many public health and community health roles.
• Not for profit and community organisations – Roles funded by government or operating under formal governance requirements.

Addressing selection criteria requires specific examples that show how your experience meets each requirement. These examples allow employers to assess capability and judgement against defined standards and play a decisive role in determining who progresses to interview.

This approach is designed to improve your prospects of securing interviews by aligning your profile closely with employer expectations and presenting a clear, coherent case for appointment. While each engagement is tailored, this outlines the core methodology.

Where no specific role is being targeted, sector or role level criteria may be used to guide the build. This can support broader positioning, but it is generally less effective for executive appointments than a role specific application.

To improve your chances of being shortlisted, focus on a resume that is clear, relevant to the role, and structured to work with ATS screening, not against it.

This is where many applications fall over.

Ignoring the ATS

Applicant Tracking Systems are the first hurdle for most roles. A large proportion of resumes are filtered out at this stage because they do not align closely enough with the employer’s selection criteria. Generic resumes are usually the first to go.

The obviously AI application

Leaning too heavily on generative AI can undermine senior applications. While AI can speed things up and polish language, it often misses nuance, judgement, and context. The result is content that feels generic, skirts selection criteria, and ignores cultural fit, all critical at executive level.

The generic resume trap

Sending the same resume for every role is a common mistake. Each application needs to be tailored to the position, showing clear relevance between your experience and what the employer is actually seeking.

Missing the job requirements

If your resume does not reflect the skills, experience, and outcomes described in the job ad or role specification, it is likely to be overlooked. Employers expect to see a clear match, not assumptions.

Over designed resumes

Highly stylised resumes may look impressive but often fail in practice. Complex layouts, columns, graphics, and colours can confuse ATS software and result in automatic rejection. Many organisations also discourage photographs to avoid bias concerns.

Career strategy