Managing director and manager CV: example and tips

Keywords in job ads for managing directors and managers

Management job ads look alike, but they put weight on different things. A managing director in a small company often does a bit of everything, from budgets and hiring to sales and customer meetings. A department manager in a large organisation is judged more on operations, people management and working across teams. Read the ad carefully and notice which words come up again and again: “responsibility for results”, “staff responsibility”, “strategy”, “business development”, “change management” and “ability to deliver” appear in many of them.

Large employers and recruitment agencies use applicant tracking systems that sort candidates by the words in the ad. Use the same words in your CV where they match what you have actually done. If the ad says “budget responsibility”, write that and the amount, not just “finance”. Selja picks out these words from the ad for you and places them where they fit. Our guide to an ATS-friendly CV explains how these systems read your CV. Most ads in Norway are in Norwegian, so it helps to know terms such as resultatansvar (responsibility for results), personalansvar (staff responsibility) and budsjettansvar (budget responsibility). These words come up again and again:

• Responsibility for results, budget responsibility and financial management.
• Staff responsibility, people management and employee development.
• Strategy, business development and growth.
• Change management, restructuring and continuous improvement.
• Operations, quality and health and safety (HMS).
• Sales, customer relationships and working with the board and owners.
• Ability to deliver, decision making and clear communication.

Formal requirements: few rules, but some should be clearly visible

There are no formal education requirements for becoming a manager. According to utdanning.no, employers are nevertheless setting ever stricter requirements, and many managers have a background in economics, administration or leadership. If you have a bachelor's degree, a master's degree or a leadership programme, list it clearly under education with the institution and year.

Some requirements come from the law. Under section 3-5 of the Working Environment Act, the employer must personally complete training in health, safety and the environment. Arbeidstilsynet (the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority) states that this duty is personal, cannot be delegated and must be documented in writing. If you have taken a health and safety course for managers, list it under courses with the year. It shows that you understand the responsibility you are taking on.

In a limited company (AS), the board appoints the managing director unless the articles of association say otherwise (section 6-2 of the Limited Liability Companies Act, aksjeloven). The managing director is in charge of day to day management and must make sure the accounts comply with laws and regulations (section 6-14). If you are applying to manage a restaurant, bar or other serving establishment, section 5 of the Serving Act (serveringsloven) requires the manager to have passed an establishment exam, and section 6 sets requirements for good conduct. If you have passed the exam, list it under courses or certificates.

Example of a summary for a managing director CV

The summary is the three to five sentences at the top of your CV, and for managers it is often the most important paragraph. It should say what level you have led at, how large the responsibility was and what you achieved. Here is a made up example you can use as a pattern:

Example: “Managing director with eight years of management experience in retail and services. Has held responsibility for results and staff for 35 employees and a turnover of 60 million kroner. Turned a loss into a profit within two years through a new pricing model, better purchasing and closer follow up of sales. Enjoys building teams, setting clear goals and following them up. Looking for a role where I can lead further growth together with an active board.”

Replace the numbers with your own, and only include what you can explain in an interview. You will find more examples in our guide to writing a CV summary.

Bullet points with results: weak versus strong

The most common weakness in a management CV is bullet points that describe the responsibility but not the result. “Responsible for the budget” says what you were supposed to do, not what you achieved. Start with a strong verb in the past tense, say how big it was, and finish with what improved. If you do not have figures for the result, show the scale: number of employees, budget, turnover, number of departments or customers.

• Weak: “Responsible for the budget.” Strong: “Managed a budget of 18 million kroner and delivered within it three years in a row.”
• Weak: “Led the sales team.” Strong: “Led a sales team of nine that grew turnover by 22 percent in two years, partly through weekly sales meetings and shared targets.”
• Weak: “Worked on sick leave.” Strong: “Cut sickness absence in the department from 9 to 5 percent in 18 months through closer follow up and a better shift plan.”
• Weak: “Responsible for hiring.” Strong: “Recruited 14 new employees during a period of growth, and 12 of them were still with the company two years later.”
• Weak: “Carried out a restructuring.” Strong: “Merged three departments into a new organisation without redundancies, working closely with the union representatives.”
• Weak: “Contact with the board.” Strong: “Reported monthly to the board and presented a three year strategy that was adopted and followed up with quarterly targets.”

Skills, systems and courses worth including

For a manager, the best skills are the ones you can back up with an example. Write “financial management in Visma, monthly reporting to the board” rather than “good financial knowledge”. Include what the ad asks for and what you can actually do.

• Finance and accounting systems by name, for example Visma, Tripletex or SAP, and budgeting, forecasting and reporting.
• Systems for payroll, timesheets and rotas, and tools for HR and recruitment.
• Management education and leadership programmes, with the institution and year.
• Health and safety training for managers, and other courses required by law in your industry, such as the establishment exam for serving establishments.
• Board work, for example board positions or board training.
• Languages: Norwegian, English and any other languages you use at work, especially if the company has customers or owners abroad.

Your first management job, or many years as a manager

If you are applying for your first management job, you probably have more leadership experience than you think. If you have been a team leader, shift supervisor, project manager, specialist lead or acting manager for a period, that is leadership. Say how many people you were responsible for and what you achieved together. Positions in sports clubs, housing cooperatives or organisations also show that you take responsibility, especially board positions. Show in the summary that you want to lead, and why. Our guide on how to write a CV has more advice on the layout.

If you have been a manager for many years, the challenge is choosing what to include. Cover the last ten to fifteen years in detail, and cut older positions down to one line with title, employer and years. Use the space for the two or three results that are most relevant to the job you are applying for. A management CV can be two pages, but no more. Read more in our guide on how long a CV should be.

Common mistakes in a managing director CV

Many experienced managers write a weaker CV than they should, because they describe the positions instead of the results. Look out for these mistakes in particular before you send it:

• Responsibility without results, such as “responsible for operations and finance”, with no numbers or examples.
• No scale: the reader does not know whether you led three people or three hundred.
• Long paragraphs for each position instead of three to five short bullet points.
• Every job from the last thirty years given the same amount of space.
• Buzzwords such as “visionary” and “strategic thinker” without proof.
• The same CV for every job, even though a managing director in a small company and a department manager in a large organisation are judged on different things.

Tailor your management CV to each job in under a minute with Selja

Management jobs differ, even when the title is the same. One board wants growth and sales, another wants the finances in order or a manager who can see a restructuring through. With Selja you paste in the job ad and upload the CV you already have. In under a minute you get a professional, ATS-friendly CV and cover letter tailored to the job, with the most relevant results first and the words from the ad where they match what you have done.

Selja never adds experience or skills you do not have. If the ad asks for something your CV does not show, for example board experience, Selja asks you first and only uses what you confirm. With Pro you also get Job match, which shows how well you fit the job and what is missing. It is free to start: check your CV for free and get an honest review of the whole CV, or take a free ATS check against the ad. See pricing when you want to create more.

The application, the interview and the pay

For a management job, the cover letter should show that you understand what the organisation needs right now. Write briefly about how you have solved something similar before, with one or two concrete results, and why you want to lead this particular company. Keep it to one page. See our guide on how to write a cover letter for the structure.

Many management positions are filled through recruitment agencies that search for candidates on LinkedIn, so your profile should match your CV. Our guide to your LinkedIn profile shows how. Before the interview, prepare examples of decisions, conflicts and results, see preparing for a job interview. And before you say yes, check what the job should pay with the free pay check, and read how to negotiate your salary.