Executive resume writing for SES, C-suite and Board appointments.
The resume that gets you in the room. For senior appointments where the first thirty seconds a Chair or search consultant spends with your document matter more than anything else.
C‑suite
CFO with 22 years across listed financial services, infrastructure and professional services in APAC. Track record of leading capital programs that have strengthened balance sheets and held shareholder confidence through complex strategic moments — IPOs, debt restructures, demergers, and Board-level reporting cycles. Known among Chairs and Audit Committee chairs for combining technical financial rigour with the commercial judgement that listed-entity finance leadership requires.
Get the full Executive Career Guide.
A 47-page guide written for C-suite, SES, GM and Board candidates. Substantive enough to act on whether or not you engage us. No email required.
- The six documents in the executive set — CV, biographical CV, Board CV, LinkedIn, search-firm intake, speaking bio
- The 2026 Australian executive market and how senior recruitment actually works
- Working with executive search firms — the SHREK firms and the major Australian boutiques
- Board appointments — NED pathways, skills matrices, GAICD, the Company Directors Course
- The reference and reputation question, and the difficult-history conversation
- Salary, package and equity at senior level
Senior leaders, calibrated work.
Our executive practice serves senior candidates across three distinct tracks. Each calls for a different document set, a different recruitment process, and a different conversation.
Senior commercial leadership
CEO, CFO, COO, CHRO, CCO and Managing Director appointments at ASX-listed, mid-market, family-business and PE-backed organisations. Calibrated for the Chair and search-consultant audience.
Federal and state senior executive
SES Band 1, 2 and 3 federal APS, senior state executive equivalents across NSW, VIC, QLD and WA, statutory office holders and Deputy Secretaries. ILS-aligned, framework-precise.
NED, Chair and Committee roles
First-time non-executive directors, experienced directors expanding portfolios, Chair candidates, committee chairs, and advisory board appointments. Skills-matrix-led positioning.
Six documents, one coordinated position.
At executive level, a single resume is rarely enough. Most senior candidates need a coordinated set of documents, each calibrated to a different audience and a different decision. Understanding which document does which job is the foundation of effective senior positioning.
The executive CV
Four to six pages of strategic positioning for line executive appointments. Built around a summary, capability themes, and a chronological career section.
The biographical CV
Third-person narrative form for Board nominations, advisory roles, speaking engagements and prospectus inclusion. 400–700 words.
The Board CV
Structurally different from the executive CV. Governance emphasis, sector breadth, and contribution to the Board's skills matrix.
LinkedIn profile
A different document with different conventions. The search engine that decision-makers use to validate a candidate before formal contact.
Search-firm intake
The structured profile each search firm holds against your name. Filling these in carefully is one of the highest-leverage things you can do.
Speaking & bio assets
Short biographies for event programs, moderator introductions, industry publications and media. Often the gap in an otherwise current professional presence.
Three axes. One executive narrative.
Most executive resumes fail because they're written along one axis: experience. We write along three — and the document only works when all three align.
Capability
What you actually do at executive depth — strategic vision, operational mastery, financial acumen, cultural stewardship, Board engagement. Pitched at the level a Chair or CEO assesses, not the level a recruiter screens.
Industry
The sector context — listed financial services, professional services, healthcare, infrastructure, government, resources — and the language each one expects. A CFO resume for a Big Four bank reads differently from one for a mining major. We write the difference.
Level
EL2, SES Band 1, SES Band 2, MD, GM, C-suite, Chair. The classification dictates scope, complexity, and the language of accountability. An EL2 example won't carry an SES Band 1 application. We pitch every example at the level of the role.
"When all three axes align, the resume becomes the shortest path to the conversation that matters."
Page one earns the rest.
At executive level, your resume is read in three passes — a 30-second scan, a 90-second review, and a deeper read only if the first two land. We write each pass deliberately.
Overview
Your personal brand distilled into two to three sentences. Sets the frame for everything that follows.
Page one
A strategic snapshot — the six executive capabilities that matter most, anchored to your strongest evidence and outcomes.
The evidence
From page two onwards — each accomplishment proves the page-one claim. Selective, deliberate, never padded.
What makes the CFO example strong.
The Catherine Mortlock example at the top of this page is a representative first page from an executive CV we produced. Names and details have been changed; the structure and the proportions are real. Here is what is doing the work.
Six themes pitched at director level
Not a generic list of CFO skills. Six capabilities calibrated to a specific Group CFO target — visionary leadership, operational excellence, financial acumen, stakeholder stewardship, capital markets insight, transformation and growth. Each reads as something a Chair would assess, not something a recruiter would screen for.
Each highlight quantified at organisational scale
A $2.1B IPO during a demerger. An $880M debt portfolio restructured ahead of a maturity cliff. A 22% market cap uplift across the post-listing strategic reset. Each highlight names the moment it sits inside — the strategic context, the texture, the outcome — not just the headline number. The reader can verify each claim mentally; nothing requires taking the candidate at her word.
Organisational complexity made legible
Multi-billion-dollar transactions, ASX 200 listed entity, multi-jurisdictional financing, syndicate of nine lenders, Board and ASX disclosure cycles. The scale of what Catherine has been doing is established quickly, without bragging about it.
Measured, not self-promotional
The strongest executive CVs read as if written by a senior consultant describing the candidate — considered, evidenced, slightly understated. Overclaiming at executive level is more damaging than at any other level, because the audience reads applications professionally and notices. Catherine's CV avoids it.
Working with someone who reads at executive level.
Most resume writers can describe leadership work. Marc has lived inside the documents that drive it — change management, regulatory reform, government frameworks, Board-ready briefs. He brings background as a researcher, change manager, service delivery leader and project manager, and writes selection criteria, executive resumes and cover letters that stand up to the scrutiny of Chairs, Boards and CEOs.
- 01 Reads at level. Marc has interpreted government frameworks, executive briefs and Cabinet-level submissions. The reading is the writing.
- 02 Writes the difference. A resume isn't a pitch isn't a Board paper. Marc treats them as separate documents and writes each to its own audience.
- 03 Confidential. Senior career moves are sensitive. Every engagement is handled with the discretion the appointment requires.
Six steps, three weeks, calibrated work.
Our process for executive clients is structurally different from our standard service. Longer consult, more research, more iteration, sustained support across the campaign.
Discovery call
A 15–30 minute conversation, no charge, no obligation. We scope your situation, your target roles, your timeline. From this, we provide a quote calibrated to your specific scope.
Executive consult
90 minutes to two hours via Microsoft Teams. Word-for-word transcript provided. Most candidates describe this as the most useful conversation they have had about their own career.
Drafts in 7–10 business days
Executive drafts take longer than standard ones — calibration is more substantial, research is more extensive. Drafts arrive in Word and PDF, unwatermarked, for your full review.
21-day editing window
Uncapped revisions, processed within three business days. Most executive clients iterate through several rounds; the longer window is built for this.
Coaching, if scoped
Narrative articulation, difficult-history conversations, specific-role preparation, Board interview prep. Scheduled around your interview activity rather than on a fixed timetable.
Sustained campaign support
Once the documents are settled, we stay engaged through the rest of your search. Target-specific calibrations, search-firm submission support, quick updates as new roles emerge.
A different ballgame.
Board recruitment is structurally different from executive line recruitment. The document is different. The audience is different. The conversation about your contribution to the Board's skills matrix is different from the conversation about delivering against a P&L. We write for Board candidates as a distinct practice — biographical CV, Board CV, governance positioning, and the narrative for the interview with the Chair.
- NEDFirst-time and experienced non-executive directors
- ChairChair candidates building toward principal Board roles
- CommitteeAudit, Risk, Remuneration, Nominations, ESG committee chairs
- AdvisoryAdvisory Boards, statutory advisory bodies, ministerial appointments
- StatutoryGovernment Business Enterprises, statutory authorities, GAICD pathways
Marc didn't just write my resume — he interrogated my career. Two weeks of careful questions, then a document that read like the version of me I'd been trying to articulate for years. I walked into the final interview already knowing how to answer the hard questions, because we'd answered them on the page first.
Before you reach out.
How confidential is this?
Completely. We routinely work with executives who are still in role, exploring opportunities discreetly, or moving between competitor organisations. Nothing leaves our team. We don't use client documents in marketing, don't name clients without permission, and won't reference your engagement in any public material.
What does an executive engagement cost?
Every executive engagement is bespoke — pricing depends on level, complexity, the documents required, and turnaround. We'll provide a custom quote after the discovery call. As context, executive engagements typically include a CV, a one-page pitch, a LinkedIn profile, and sometimes a tailored selection criteria response or biographical CV for Board work.
How long does it take?
Two to three weeks from discovery call to final draft is typical for an executive engagement. The consult itself is the deepest interview most clients have ever had about their career. Drafts arrive within a week of the consult, and we revise iteratively within a 21-day window until the document reads exactly the way you'd want a Chair to read it.
Do you write for Board appointments?
Yes — non-executive director roles, advisory Board appointments, and Chair positions. The document for a Board candidacy reads differently from an executive resume; the emphasis shifts from operational accomplishment to governance contribution, sector judgement, and the value you bring to deliberation. We handle Board CVs and biographical CVs as a distinct practice.
What if we're not the right fit?
We'll tell you. If your role calls for sector expertise we don't have, or your timeline doesn't fit our capacity, we say so on the discovery call. Our work depends on doing every engagement properly — taking on the wrong one helps nobody.
Do you use AI?
No. AI writes resume copy that screens well and reads flat — exactly the wrong combination at executive level. Our work is written by human writers based in Australia, end to end. We don't outsource and we don't ghost-feed AI tools.
Is the Executive Career Guide useful even if I don't engage you?
Yes — it is written to be. The 47-page guide covers the executive document set, the 2026 Australian executive market, search firms, Board appointments, reference and reputation dynamics, salary and package conversations. It is substantive enough to act on whether or not we work together. No email is required; download directly above.
A confidential conversation, first.
Every executive engagement begins with a discovery call between you and Marc. Tell us about the role, the level, and the timing. We'll tell you whether we're the right fit — and what it would take to do this properly.