Oxford CV Writer

Pitch Your True Value

" Creating a compelling CV is a challenge for executives, requiring the distillation of a lifetime
of achievements into a succinct document that beats screening and exceeds employer expectations.
Knowing what to emphasise and, just as importantly, exclude is critical. My bespoke service gives
you a strategic advantage by carefully aligning your CV with employer demands, significantly
enhancing your prospects in a fiercely competitive process."

~ Elle Bradshaw, Owner of Oxford CV Writer.

Consultant to FTSE100 directors, distinguished individuals
with KBE, OBE, and MBE honours, and high-profile business professionals.

Before you write your CV

While selection criteria may not be directly specified in a job description, they must be addressed if your application is to be tailored to the employer's goals, requirements, and circumstances.

  1. Your attributes: The first circle represents your (the applicant's) knowledge, achievements, and skills
  2. Job description: The second circle represents the employer's strategic and operational needs in filling the post
  3. The market: The third circle represents the broader trends and challenges facing the employer's industry

This shows why every top executive CV and its accompanying documents must be aligned to the selection criteria, needs, and situation of each prospective employer's organisation. Venn and the CV (Bradshaw and Edwards, 2022).

Aligning your CV

Selection criteria may not be explicitly stated in a job description, but addressing them is crucial if you are to align your application to the employer's needs, requirements, and circumstances.

  1. Your attributes: The first circle represents your (the applicant's) knowledge, achievements, and skills
  2. Job description: The second circle represents the employer's strategic and operational needs in filling the post
  3. The market: The third circle represents the broader trends and challenges facing the employer's industry

Career Strategy Checklist

This condensed checklist is for executives aspiring to advance their careers. Whether you’re a high-flyer, seeking change, or recently retrenched, it covers essential actions often overlooked, offering practical insights and valuable food for thought.

Accomplishment Checklist

A compelling executive CV must convey the candidate's potential value to the board and capacity to drive success in complex corporate landscapes. Think salient and measurable achievements rather than focusing on duties, responsibilities, headcount, and budgets.

The getting to interview playbook

CV, Oxford, UK Look inside

Engage with us, and you'll receive a copy of our book free of charge—a guide that could save you from the headaches of trial and error and improve your odds of success.

Book a 15 min. phone call with Elle

Click on the phone to book a complimentary 15 minute call to discuss your Executive career trajectory, at a time that suits you.

Ask a Question

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Career Strategy FAQs

How to be shortlisted for interview

Curate your CV to give prominence to those attributes that best meet the employer's needs. More...

The key to being shortlisted lies in curating your CV to highlight the attributes that align with the employer’s needs. These attributes include your leadership qualities, accomplishments, and experience that directly meet the job’s selection criteria.

Think Strategic Marketing - Your CV is not just a list of past positions, and duties and responsibilities; it’s your personal marketing document. It should clearly articulate your value proposition in a concise, easy-to-read format. Include relevant details about your education, accomplishments, professional experience, and skills, presented in a way that resonates with the role's requirements.

Make It Bespoke - A generic CV will not suffice. Tailor your CV for each position by using precise, relevant language and formatting, ensuring it is error-free and fits seamlessly with the employer's expectations.

Demonstrate Value - Focus on evidence-based achievements. Quantify how your leadership, work ethic, business acumen, and professional network translate into measurable value for the employer. Include examples that demonstrate how you solve problems, lead teams, and contribute to organisational goals.

Remember, It’s Competitive - Executive-level roles attract top-tier candidates. Your CV must be crafted to compete effectively, demonstrating not only your suitability but also why you are the strategic acquisition that the organisation needs.

Make It A Priority - Success at this level doesn’t come from chance or half-measures. Dedicate the time to research, network, and refine every application. Be methodical in your approach, treating each application as a bespoke pitch tailored to the unique demands of the role.

Get Expert Advice - The stakes are high, and the competition is fierce. Seeking guidance from professionals who specialise in executive recruitment can be the difference between a generic application that gets overlooked and a targeted submission that resonates with decision-makers. Experts can help you avoid common pitfalls and create materials that align perfectly with employer expectations.

Landing an executive role is a transformative milestone, one that demands deliberate effort and strategic focus. Treat it as your primary project or, as I often say, your most important side hustle.
Click on the phone, anytime night and day, to book a complimentary 15 minute call at a time that suits you.
During our initial call, we will go through my process, and I will outline the kind of support and communication you can anticipate throughout our partnership. The primary objective here is to instil confidence in my ability to present your profile in a light that optimises your chances of securing interviews.

If your needs are urgent, the best approach is to complete my form with as much detail as possible. This provides me with important context.

A focus on personal accomplishments

Show how you’ve met complex, specific, and measurable goals. More...

In very simple terms, your CV should demonstrate your critical thinking abilities to, for example: make money, and/or save money, and/or save time and improve productivity for the enterprise.

Highlight Your Impact - Clearly stating your accomplishments in a CV is essential to show potential employers how you’ve actually applied your skills to meet goals. Employers at executive level are looking for measurable results - whether it’s driving revenue, improving efficiency, or leading successful projects. Emphasise how your work has made a difference.

Move Beyond Duties & Responsibilities - Many executive CVs still tend to focus on prerequisites rather than concrete achievements. Focus instead on achievements that align with the employer’s needs. Detail how you’ve led initiatives, solved pressing challenges, or delivered on critical objectives.

Not All Achievements Are Equal - It's tempting to list every accomplishment, but doing so risks overshadowing those most relevant to the employer's needs. Focus on examples that align with the employer's needs. Emphasise key attributes such as leadership, innovation, or strategic thinking demonstrate your suitability for the position.

Quantify Your Achievements - Whenever possible, use data to illustrate your success. Whether it’s percentage growth, cost savings, or efficiency gains, quantifying your achievements adds credibility and demonstrates your ability to deliver measurable value.

See the Accomplishment Checklist on this page.

CVs & an ATS (Applicant Tracking System)

How to make sure your application sidesteps the robot gatekeeper. More...

Why Many CVs Fail - An ATS serves as a gatekeeper, and even highly qualified candidates risk being overlooked if their CV isn’t properly optimised for the algorithm. Common issues include poor formatting, misalignment with selection criteria, and missing essential keywords.

Understanding the ATS - An ATS (Applicant Tracking System) is software widely used by employers and recruitment agents to manage applications and filter out unqualified candidates. With advancements in AI, these systems are now highly capable of ranking applicants based on relevance, qualifications, and even the originality of their submissions.

Tailoring Is Essential - To pass ATS screening, CVs must be carefully tailored to each job, incorporating the right keywords, sentiment, and phrases to ensure they stand out to the system. Incorporate keywords and phrases directly from the job description and any insights you can glean from the selection criteria. Structure the document with clear, machine-readable formatting, and avoid using complex layouts, images, or graphics, as these can confuse the system.

Stay Human-Friendly - While optimising for an ATS is vital, your CV still needs to impress the person who reads it next. Balance ATS compatibility with clarity and relevance, ensuring your achievements and skills are highlighted in a way that resonates with both systems and people.

What exactly are 'selection criteria'?

Think of these as a blueprint for differentiation, ensuring your CV mirrors the employer's exact needs. More...

What Are Selection Criteria? - Selection criteria outline the specific qualifications, experiences, and personal attributes a company values in candidates. These are particularly important for executive roles, where alignment with an organisation’s strategic goals and culture is paramount.

Key Components - Selection criteria often combine essential and preferred qualifications, such as:

  • Demonstrated prowess in leadership and adeptness in team oversight.
  • Advanced educational qualifications and pertinent professional history.
  • Strategic acumen and sector-specific insight.
  • International experience, highlighting a global perspective and cross-cultural competency.
  • Proven accomplishments that have delivered measurable impact.
Different Names, Same Purpose - Selection criteria may also be labelled as Job Specifications, Position Requirements, or Competency Frameworks. In the public sector and NHS, selection criteria may also be referred to as Person Specifications or Success Profiles. In each case, they provide a clear guide to the expectations of candidates, encompassing both technical expertise and behavioural qualities.

Beware of Job Description Gaps - Job descriptions, often maintained by HR or compensation teams, may not fully reflect the actual requirements of the role. These documents can be outdated, with 'minimum criteria' sometimes the only reliable indicator. To gain a clearer understanding, engage directly with recruiters or leverage your network to uncover the true expectations and demands of the position.

Board-level job applications

Follow a disciplined process to align your CV to the employer's selection criteria. More...

Structured Pathway - This provides a disciplined process for executives seeking advancement. It’s more than simply finding a new role; it’s about shaping your professional story and establishing your credibility as the ideal candidate.

  • Selection Criteria Audit

    Understand what your prospective employer is truly looking for. This critical first step involves identifying explicit and implicit selection criteria to ensure your application aligns perfectly with their needs.

  • Insight into Your Future Employer

    We dig deeper than surface-level information, exploring the company’s values, leadership team, and industry context. This insight adds depth and relevance to your application, positioning you as a strategic fit.

  • Skills and Fit Analysis

    Your unique blend of skills, experience, and personal qualities is analysed against the role’s requirements. This allows us to highlight your strengths and subtly address any potential gaps to present you as the ideal candidate.

  • CV Drafting

    Using the insights gained, we craft a CV that reflects your ambitions and addresses the employer’s priorities. Every detail is tailored to demonstrate how you meet the role’s demands.

  • CV Polishing

    Meticulous editing ensures your CV is polished, compelling, and aligned with industry and employer expectations. Every word is carefully chosen to make an impact.

  • Complementary Materials & Online Persona

    We extend this refinement to cover letters, bios, and your online presence. Consistency across all professional materials enhances your credibility and helps tell a cohesive story.

  • The Application Process

    Finally, we prepare and submit a compelling, tailored application package. With everything strategically aligned, your chances of securing an interview are significantly increased.
Generic Is Sub-Optimal - Each client’s journey is unique, and this process is designed to provide a flexible framework. Where no specific job specification is available, we use sector-based or classification criteria to guide your application, although this is far less effective than targeting a specific role.

Avoid the pitfalls of job applications

Don't be 'that' person who sends hundreds of applications and gets no responses. More...

Steer Clear of Application Missteps:

⇒ Ignoring Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

The primary hurdle is applicant tracking systems (ATS), which reject up to 70% of CVs at the initial screening for failing to align with the employer’s selection criteria, signalling the imminent end for generic CVs.

⇒ The 'obviously AI' application

Relying heavily on generative AI for job applications can be a double-edged sword, particularly for senior executives. While AI can streamline the process and produce polished content, it often lacks the nuance, depth, and personal touch that recruiters value. Overusing AI risks creating applications that feel generic, fail to address specific selection criteria, and overlook cultural fit—essential elements for executive roles.

AI-generated content can also create inconsistencies between your written application and your interview performance, potentially casting doubt on your authenticity and capabilities. As companies enhance their algorithms to detect overly robotic or formulaic responses, the risk of blending into the AI-generated crowd becomes ever greater.

It’s crucial to blend the efficiencies of AI with your own insights, experiences, and strategic vision, ensuring that your application not only meets the employer's needs but also resonates with a human touch.

⇒ The One-size-fits-all CV

Using the same CV for multiple executive applications, even with a tailored cover letter, is a critical mistake. It’s unlikely to pass an ATS and won’t impress recruiters. Instead, tailor your CV for each role, highlighting how your unique skills and experience make you the ideal candidate.

⇒ Mismatch with Selection Criteria

An executive CV that fails to reflect the specific attributes and experiences outlined in the job advert signals to employers that you’re not a serious candidate. To stand out, your CV must be meticulously tailored to align with the employer’s selection criteria.

⇒ Not Researching the Employer

At the executive level, employers expect you to have thoroughly researched their culture, ethos, strategy, market position, and competitive landscape. These unwritten selection criteria should be thoughtfully integrated into your application documents to demonstrate your suitability, insight, and ingenuity.

⇒ Not Emphasising Transferable Skills

In cases where your direct experience is lacking in certain areas, demonstrating the effectiveness of your transferable skills is essential. Employers value candidates who can adapt their expertise to new challenges and achieve results. By highlighting these skills—be it leadership, strategic thinking, or problem-solving—you can bridge gaps in your experience and convey your potential to excel in the role.

⇒ Overly Stylised CVs

Prioritise simplicity over excessive styling in your CV. Graphics-heavy or overly designed formats can confuse ATS systems, reducing your chances of success. Additionally, many organisations and jurisdictions reject CVs with photos to avoid potential claims of bias related to gender or ethnicity.

To avoid the pitfalls and boost your chances of an interview, focus on crafting a CV that is not only clear and concise but also accomplishment-focused, bespoke for the job in question, and compatible with ATS requirements.
"Senior executives wanting to refresh their careers or facing redundancy often find themselves at a disadvantage due to their lack of recent job-seeking experience. While they may have reviewed countless CVs throughout their careers, many haven't written one for themselves in decades. This gap can pose a significant challenge when they transition from evaluating candidates to becoming one."

Quotes from my co-authored book "The Getting to Interview Playbook".

Robot-led CV writing makes you sound generic, keyword-stuffed, foreign or misaligned to the job description. I can spot it a mile off, and so can most HR people. It’s the same wording, line spacing, punctuation and it's cliche-ridden. So ironically you might be rejected for not being a real person!

Elle Bradshaw in a The Daily Telegraph article by Liz Hoggard.

About Elle Bradshaw

Hello, I'm Elle. I personally lead every project, ensuring no aspect is passed off to juniors or third-parties. With over fifteen years in CV optimisation, I've seen the spectrum of application missteps and successes.

Given the 'ocean of ordinariness' characterising the current wave of poorly tailored, inartfully GPT'd executive CVs, it helps that I am a qualified marketer, author, and seasoned HR consultant.

I've pivoted a lot (180°): from my first job at a biscuit factory, earning a degree while being pregnant and working full-time at Loughborough University, onto AstraZeneca as an information scientist before venturing into the international realms of HR, recruitment marketing, and now self-employment.

My eclectic background has endowed me with unique insights into understanding employer needs, aligning individual skills, knowledge, and experience with those needs, crafting persuasive narratives, and the digital nous to create documents that bypass ATS screening filters.

Contact Elle

Please complete this form to outline your situation and schedule a 15-minute chat to discuss your needs before committing to my executive CV services. I will revert with available time and date options.

Executive CV fees and services

Executive CVs, Cover Letters, Linkedin Profiles & Addressing Selection Criteria

Search | Ask a Question

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In search of the perfect CV

We each bring a distinct set of skills, knowledge, experiences, and achievements to the table. Yet, not all these qualities are equally significant to employers. Giving every attribute the same weighting in our CV takes the spotlight off those key traits that could secure us an interview. It's crucial, therefore, to carefully align our CV with the employer's requirements.
~ Elle Bradshaw

Client Testimonials


Hi Elle, I just want to say thank you for the work you did to make my CV application for the CEO (of a major sporting body)* stand out. It has been a pleasure working and interacting with you during the process. You answered every question, right down to - what format should I send the application in. I would have got it very wrong, but you referred me back to the job ad and showed me what to do next, your patience with my obvious lack of knowledge of how to do these things is very much appreciated as I know I would have never gotten to the interview, despite being well known in the sporting world.
*organisation name withheld

- W.S. (CEO)


I've been living and travelling abroad for years, but had to come "home" because of COVID. Knowing I needed to get a job, and not having the first clue about putting together a CV and job application for Government positions (I'm an ex-copper and worked In Immigration) I trawled the internet and came across your site. From the first conversation, and then the meeting we had, I knew I had picked the right person to help me. And you did - great news I am now through to final interviews with the agency. The process has been long-winded but you have been there every step of the way, even down to the panic phone call when my browser got stuck and I couldn't upload the application, you talked me down off my panic tree and walked me through the steps. Couldn't have done it without you.

- A.P. (Law Enforcement)


Just wanted to let you know that the CV and cover letter were fantastic and we’ve had interview one, with interview two next week! This is going to be such a game changer for us as a family. While we have a very successful business at the moment, working as a Franchisee for one of the Premier Fast Food Brands* has been our ultimate goal and we would not have gotten this far without your help. We know there will be other requirements for your assistance as we move through the process, and I want to thank you in advance for helping us get to where we want to be at this point in our careers. Thanks again Elle and speak soon.
*organisation name withheld

- L & B.E (Franchisee Applicants)

The above are genuine reviews that are obviously anonymised for client confidentiality. I can provide referees upon request.

News and Tips

My 'The CV Times' newspaper is updated frequently with news and views on Executive Recruitment matters and tips on taking control of your career.

As companies refine their algorithms to detect AI-generated content, the dangers of blending into the crowd increase. To truly differentiate yourself, it’s essential to balance AI's efficiencies with your own strategic insights and genuine voice.

Articles

Here is a selection of articles on executive career strategy, CVs, and job applications—relevant to both UK and international roles.

General FAQs

Here are answers to questions I'm frequently asked regarding my credentials, specialisms, CV creation process, and how to engage me.

CVs submitted to:

Some of the organisations where I have assisted clients in applying for employment or provided career coaching and outplacement services.

Clients' CVs submitted to:

Some of the organisations where I have assisted clients in applying for employment or provided career coaching and outplacement services.

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