The first person to use my new Positioning Review was a Director at a large U.S. bank. By any measure she was ready for the role she wanted next, but her résumé presented someone for a much earlier one.
She wasn’t getting recruiter outreach for the roles she wanted next, in fact she was getting outreach about much more junior roles than the one she had. And I could see why - her profile didn’t give any details about her leadership or the enterprise-wide strategy she built.
She sent me her résumé, her LinkedIn URL, and the job she was after, and I recorded a video walking through what I saw.
The positioning was about 8 years old
Her résumé had been built around an earlier point in her career, and every role since had been added on top of that foundation. The titles had moved up over the years, and the language had stayed where it started, which positioned her for a much earlier role than the one she was targeting.
The bullets described tasks
Most of her bullets listed the tasks she had done. The role she wanted calls for a different vocabulary, built around enterprise-wide strategy, the decisions she shaped, and the scale of what she owned. Her experience included that kind of work, and the résumé didn't use that kind of language to describe it.
Here is an illustration of the shift, using made-up examples:
Task-based: “Prepared monthly portfolio reports for the commercial lending team.”
Strategy-level: “Directed the portfolio risk strategy that guided lending decisions across 12 regional markets.”
The underlying work is the same, and the second version shows a much higher level of ownership.
Why this happens
Positioning usually gets set at a moment, such as when you move into a new level, and then it doesn't get revisited. Each new job is added at the top while the language underneath stays the same. In my experience with 500+ executives, this is one of the most common reasons strong candidates get passed over for roles they're ready for. Their materials describe who they were the last time they wrote them.
What she changed
After the video, she made the changes I recommended, including updating her LinkedIn headline, which is the heaviest weighted part of the profile for recruiter search, adding specific, enterprise-wide project and strategy details, and including business-wide impact across her résumé and profile.
3 weeks later, she landed an interview for the role she wanted, at the Managing Director level.
Check your own positioning
Three questions can tell you whether yours has aged:
When did you last rewrite your résumé from the top? If you've been adding each new role to the same foundation, the language may be older than your title.
Do your bullets mention the strategy you set and the scale you owned? The roles you want next are screened for those.
Does your summary describe the role you want next? It should point forward.
If you want a second set of eyes
The Positioning Review is built for exactly this. You send me your résumé, your LinkedIn URL, and a job you want next, and within 48 hours of receiving them I record a 20 minute video on what's working, what's underselling you, and exactly what to change. It's $350 and needs no call.
I'm closed to new clients for the rest of 2026, so the Review is the way to work with me until January. It also feeds directly into my full positioning package, which makes it a good way to try my work and leave with advice you can act on right away.
