If your CV reads like a job description, the fix is to rewrite every line so it shows what changed because of you: how big it was, what you did and the number that proves it. Hiring managers already know what a head of operations or a project manager does, so a CV that lists duties tells them nothing about whether you're ready for the next level.

That's one of the most common reasons good people don't get selected for six-figure job interviews. Their experience is strong, but the page reads like a job description written in the first person.

I've personally reviewed more than 50,000 CVs and helped 250 professionals get hired into six-figure roles. Below, I'll walk you through two real CVs that were sent to me for review, Rachel's and James's (names and details changed), show you the mistakes a hiring manager spots straight away, and then show you the rewritten versions so you can see the difference.

What do hiring managers look for on a senior CV?

A hiring manager scanning a senior CV is looking for four things: your impact, your results, your seniority and a clear career narrative. These aren't skills or buzzwords. They're the signals that tell someone you can operate at the level they're hiring for.

  • Impact: what changed because you were there.
  • Results: the numbers behind it, such as cost savings, efficiencies gained and risks reduced.
  • Seniority: the size of the teams, budgets and stakeholders you worked with.
  • Career narrative: progression that shows you chose your moves, rather than a career that looks like it was decided by a roll of the dice.

The trouble is, most CVs only show one of these. Here's what that looks like on the page.

Why does my CV sound like a job description?

Your CV sounds like a job description because the lines describe your responsibilities instead of your results. A line that starts with "Responsible for" says you were there. It doesn't say you were good.

Rachel is a head of operations who's been in her role since 2018. These lines are from her original CV:

  • "Responsible for the operational function of the business."
  • "Handle the day-to-day running of operational processes."
  • "Budget setting and monitoring department spend."
  • "Deal with supplier relationships."
  • "Sit on the senior management team and contribute to wider business discussions."

Every one of those is something her job title already tells me. It's basically a job description that's been put into the first person.

So for every line, ask the questions a hiring manager is asking in their head:

  • How big? How many people, how many sites, one country or several? How big was the budget?
  • What exactly? Which processes? Were the suppliers tier one partners or the company that delivers the milk and coffee? Were the stakeholders C-suite, directors or private equity?
  • What changed? Cost savings, efficiencies gained, risks reduced. What did you catch that saved the business money?

Rachel's best line was "responsible for the management of a large team across warehouse, logistics and customer service". It's better, because it starts to tell me who she was looking after. But how large is "large"? That one number is what tells me the level of impact you operate at.

James, a project manager, had the same problem. One of his lines read: "Helped to ensure projects were delivered on time, on budget and within the agreed scope." That's literally the definition of a project manager. It was the third sentence describing his last five years of work, and it told me the most basic thing a PM does.

Think about that for a moment. Your CV is valuable real estate, and passive words like "assisted", "helped" and "attended regular meetings" make you sound like the passenger, not the person driving things.

How do I turn CV responsibilities into achievements?

To turn a responsibility into an achievement, keep the same piece of work but add the size, the action you took and the result, with a number. Same person, same job, but a completely different signal.

Here's Rachel's original summary and the rewrite.

Before: "Responsible for overseeing teams and managing the day-to-day running of operational functions."

After: "Operational leader who turns underperforming functions into commercial assets. Over 15 years, I have scaled operations spanning warehouse, logistics and customer service, most recently running a $24M function of 140 people and delivering $2.1M in annual savings."

From that one sentence, I know how many years of experience she has, where she's led teams, how big those teams were and how much money she saved. Instantly, I know the calibre of the work she's done.

Her bullet points got the same treatment. "Responsible for the management of a large team" became "Led a 140-person operations function with full P&L accountability." She added lines on savings delivered over three years, improved on-time-in-full performance, two key accounts recovered, order cycle time cut by 31%, and a four-strong management team she built and promoted.

It's totally different gravy. She hasn't changed jobs, but now her CV reads like a potential director of operations.

Here's James's.

Before: "Responsible for managing a variety of projects across multiple departments from initiation to completion."

After: "Led a $6.2M programme across four departments, delivered three weeks early and under budget."

And the rest of his rewritten bullet points read like body-blow punches:

  • "Lifted on-time delivery across an 18-person cross-functional team from 71% to 94% within 12 months."
  • "Recovered a stalled CRM project, cutting a five-month delay to six weeks and protecting $1.4M of committed spend."
  • "Managed cross-functional departments including a $500K IT upgrade, delivering a 10% cost saving."

Impact, seniority, clarity and expertise, all in one line each. That's exactly what a CV should show.

Now, some of you are thinking, "Dan, I don't have results like that." Here's the thing. Whatever your level is, you can find data in your work. Someone working at McDonald's has KPIs, and if they've got numbers, so have you. Start keeping track of what you work on, so the proof is there when you need it.

If you want to see how your own lines hold up, run your CV through the free Six Figure CV tool. When I ran Rachel's original through it, it scored 68 out of 100: technically strong, but not clearly positioned as a senior hire, because it was responsibility-heavy and light on quantified achievements.

What should a CV summary say for a senior role?

A senior CV summary should say what you do, where you've done it, at what scale and with what result, in three or four sentences. Anything subjective, generic or obvious is wasted space.

These are the summary mistakes I see most:

  • Your current job title at the top. Rachel had "Head of Operations" under her name. That just tells me what you're doing now. Put the title you're aiming for, such as director of operations.
  • "15 years of experience across multiple sectors." Name the sectors. A director of operations role at an engineering or software company might be looking specifically for someone with manufacturing experience, and if you don't list your industries, you'll never come up.
  • "I am looking for a new challenge." Well, obviously, why else would you be sending your CV? Tell me what the challenge is and why it matters to you.
  • Subjective claims. James opened with "highly motivated and results-driven project management professional with a proven track record of delivering successful outcomes". Who's going to say they're not highly motivated? Without the evidence, those are just nice things you'd want your mum to hear.

"Passionate about leadership and committed to excellence" has the same problem. How are you committed to excellence? Have you done a PMP, an MBA or professional development courses? Show me, don't tell me.

Here's James's rewrite, which is the best part of his updated CV:

"Senior project manager who delivers complex change programmes on time and under budget. Over the past four years, I have led portfolios worth up to $6.2M and run cross-functional teams of 18, specialising in recovering at-risk projects. I lifted on-time delivery from 71% to 94% in my current PMO and have a consistent record of bringing projects in ahead of schedule."

Compare that with "a natural team player and strong communicator with excellent interpersonal skills". The rewrite shows me what level he's operating at, his calibre, and that maybe he is ready for that next challenge.

How long should you stay in a job before it looks like stagnation?

Around five years in one role is the sweet spot: long enough to get settled, prove your worth and deliver success more than once. Once you're at eight, nine, 10 or 11 years without progression, companies subconsciously start to wonder about you.

They ask themselves whether you can be the new kid at school again, whether you've just got very comfortable, and whether you still have the fire in your belly to do it all over again.

Rachel's CV showed a lovely progression from team leader to operations manager to head of operations. That's a strong career narrative. But she'd been head of ops for almost eight years, so her CV had to work harder to prove she wasn't stagnating.

The rewrite does that job. Even though she's been in the same role since 2018, her results now say she's got the chops to move up.

It also helps to show you're still learning. If your last qualification was a business studies course nearly 20 years ago, add the recent training and certifications that show you're operating at a senior level today.

Should I put skills and interests on my CV?

Drop generic skills like "problem solving", "team player" and "communication", and replace them with a short core expertise section that names what you're actually known for. Interests are optional, and that space is usually better spent on your results.

If you're a project manager, I'd imagine you're good at problem solving. If you manage a team, you're probably a team player. Those words don't tell anyone anything, and claiming strong interpersonal skills on paper can make a hiring manager more sceptical when they meet you. Show those skills in the interview instead.

James replaced his generic key skills with a core expertise section:

Programme delivery up to $6M · Cross-functional leadership · Stakeholder management · Risk and recovery

Those are the terms a hiring manager is actually asking for, so they line up with what they're scanning for. His certifications, PRINCE2 and Scrum, stayed in, because they're real evidence of the commitment to excellence he'd only claimed before.

As for interests like five-a-side football and travelling, they might show you're a human, and the person reading might share them. But in today's market, you're better served talking about your achievements, impact and results.

What are the most common CV mistakes that cost six-figure interviews?

  1. Writing duties instead of results. Fix: rewrite every "responsible for" line with the size, the action and the number.
  2. Vague scale words like "large team" and "multiple departments". Fix: say how many people, how many sites and how big the budget was.
  3. Subjective claims with no proof. Fix: cut "highly motivated" and "results-driven", and let the numbers say it for you.
  4. Your current title at the top and no sectors named. Fix: lead with the title you're targeting and list the industries you've worked in.
  5. A career narrative that looks stuck or random. Fix: show progression, recent learning and bigger results in your current role.

The bottom line

We're all our own favourite person, so when you review your own CV, you don't see the blind spots. But a hiring manager does, in seconds.

Stop writing what your job was. Start proving what changed because you were in it. That's what shows your seniority, your impact and your results, and makes you the standout candidate for a six-figure interview.

What's your next step?

If you want to see how your CV holds up before your next interview, try the free Six Figure CV tool. Upload your CV and get an instant score with specific fixes.

And if you want to work on this with me directly, here's where to start.