It’s a very good question because judging by the “NED” CVs that we are sent to fix, it’s evident that many people, advisors and CV firms don’t know.
It’s an unusual thing to do, but since an alarming number of NED CVs aren’t really fit-for-purpose, let’s start by stating the obvious (as it clearly isn’t obvious to some).
The fact is that the role of a non-executive director is different to that of an executive director. Unsurprisingly then, NED employers look for different things, traits and attributes when they are looking to hire a NED than they would if they were recruiting an executive director.
This isn’t rocket science, and it’s no secret.
Even so, most (yes most!) non-executive directors apply for NED jobs, not with a NED CV, but with an executive CV that they, or a writer, has modified slightly to include some additional NED elements.
As a rough analogy, it’s a bit like an IT director tweaking their IT CV to add a few HR elements, then applying with the amended IT CV for Chief HR Officer roles.
It sounds crazy, and IT directors usually don’t apply for CHRO jobs. However, the fact is that many, if not most NEDs, apply for NED roles with a mishmash of a CV (executive with some NED bits clumped on), rather than a true, specialist NED CV.
It’s relevant because just as the IT director is on a hiding to nothing if they apply for CHRO jobs with a combined IT/HR CV, those NEDs who apply with executive/NED mishmash CVs essentially hand an advantage to those fewer applicants who apply with dedicated NED CVs.
Ultimately, your CV is a sales and marketing document. This page gives more details on that (link to what makes for a good CV), but essentially the best CVs sell you, and not just any old how, but strategically, and in a targeted manner.
If you really want to boost your chances of top NED roles then you need to change the perspective from executive to NED and sell the NED employer more of what they want to hear.
It’s a matter of horses for courses, so different NED employers look for different things. A good starting point is looking at the NED job specification as that will give you an indication of some of the things they are looking for. If you do then the likelihood is that (A) you’ll see that it’s very different from the last executive job you applied to, and (B) you’ll probably notice that your current executive CV is somewhat out of sync with the NED job requirements.
The most common course of action that NEDs take (and professional CV firms come to that), is some NED tweaks and touches here and there for the non-executive post. And you can do that if you wish. However, in our experience, tweaks are never enough, and if you want the best result you need to rip things up and pretty much start your NED CV (properly) from scratch.
It’s worth mentioning ‘properly’ because even when clients send us NED CVs written by other firms, we still need to rip them up and start again. Mere updates are never enough. And if you are serious about getting the best possible NED CV for you, then it really needs building up, holistically from scratch.
If, after amendments, your NED CV still seems quite similar to your executive CV, then that is a sign that you haven’t done it properly.
We build proper NED CVs from scratch and optimise them on an individual, case by case basis for non-executive director clients. It is a radical transformation and a specialist service that you don’t get elsewhere.
If you’d like our unique assistance we would be happy to help you.