Earlier this week, I was on a call with a manager who sounded exhausted.
He told me:
“Michal, I’ve rewritten my CV three times with different coaches. I updated my LinkedIn profile. Still no offers. What am I doing wrong?”
When we dug deeper, the issue became clear within minutes.
The problem wasn’t the CV at all.
Nobody was seeing it.
He had almost no visibility, no digital footprint, and no meaningful engagement with decision-makers in his industry.
And this is where most European managers get stuck:
They keep rewriting the document instead of fixing the distribution.
This is why rewriting your CV, again for the 5th time, will not help you land a manager-level job. The dynamics of senior hiring have changed, and the higher you go, the less your CV matters.
Let’s break down what’s actually happening behind the scenes.
1. Manager-Level Roles Don’t Live on Job Boards
Managers who rely on applications are playing a game that’s already over by the time they join.
On a recent call, a CTO from Amsterdam told me:
“I realised the job was already decided internally. They only posted it because HR needed a process.”
This is the reality in Europe:
• The role is discussed internally weeks before it’s public.
• Someone from the board suggests potential candidates.
• A founder calls two friends for recommendations.
• A headhunter runs a confidential shortlist long before applications open.
By the time you see the job ad, the shortlist is already warm.
The CV is not your entry point.
It’s a formality they ask for after they’ve chosen you.
2. CVs Cannot Express the Qualities That Get Leaders Hired
At senior levels, companies care less about your proficiency and more about your judgment. They want to know:
• Can you influence?
• Can you lead through uncertainty?
• Can you align stakeholders?
• Can you communicate at a board level?
• Can you turn a mess into clarity?
A CV has no way to demonstrate these qualities.
A VP from Denmark told me:
“On paper, I looked like every other engineering leader. But when people heard me talk about how I build teams, that’s when they realised I was different.”
Leadership is experienced in conversation, not text.
3. The Senior Job Market Is a Trust Market
At the Manager, Director, VP, or C-level, companies are not comparing CV bullet points.
They’re asking one question:
“Do I trust this person to handle what’s coming?”
Trust is earned through:
Being visible
Being recommended
Being present in conversations
Showing your thinking publicly
Being referred by a mutual connection
A CV does none of this.
Visibility does.
4. Why Strong Managers Aren’t Getting Calls From Recruiters
A common frustration:
“I have 20 years of experience. Why is nobody reaching out?”
Because the recruiter’s job is to reduce risk.
They need candidates who are:
Visible
Current
Active
Strategically positioned
If your presence is invisible or outdated, they simply won’t think of you.
The best talent doesn’t always get the opportunities.
The most visible does.
5. The CV Paradox: The Higher You Go, the Less It Matters
Early career:
CV → HR → interview.
Later career:
Conversation → introduction → coffee → internal sponsor → CV → offer.
The CV arrives at the end.
One CTO inside our CareerCrackers program recently said:
“I got three interviews without anyone reading my CV. They reached out because a board member saw my post about scaling teams.”
Visibility unlocked the conversation.
The CV simply followed.
6. Real Stories From Real Leaders
Because you speak to so many of them, the patterns are clear:
The Manager Who Hid Behind His CV
Strong achievements, great profile, excellent delivery record.
But he posted nothing.
Nobody remembered him.
His CV sat unseen in inboxes.
The Director Who Thought Her CV Was the Problem
She rewrote her CV five times.
Then she realised the issue wasn’t formatting — it was invisibility.
Once she started appearing in front of decision-makers, the quality of offers changed overnight.
The CTO With 25 Years of Experience, but No Reach
He moved across countries and lost his local network.
Once we rebuilt visibility and warm introductions, he received three interviews within weeks.
None of them wrote a better CV.
All of them became more visible.
7. What Actually Gets You Hired Today
If you want manager-level opportunities, you need an engine that makes you visible before you need the job.
This includes:
A strong, search-optimised LinkedIn profile
A clear positioning statement
Content that signals competence and strategic thinking
Engagement with decision-makers
Warm introductions
Conversations with CEOs, founders, and hiring managers
A network that knows who you are and what you do
This is how managers get pulled into opportunities, not sifted through ATS systems.
8. Why Rewriting Your CV Again Is a Distraction
Rewriting your CV feels productive.
But it’s not moving you closer to a hiring decision maker.
Most senior leaders don’t need a better CV.
They need:
More visibility
More reach
More authority
More conversations
More strategic relationships
Your CV is not the bottleneck.
Your visibility is.
9. So What Do You Do Instead?
Here’s the path that consistently works:
Reposition your leadership narrative so you look like the leader you want to be hired as.
Make your LinkedIn profile a magnet — not a placeholder.
Publish credibility signals that elevate your reputation.
Build a warm network of 100–200 decision-makers months before you need the job.
Engage consistently so they remember you.
Let opportunities come through conversations, not job applications.
This is how senior careers move today.
10. And Here’s the Part Most Don’t Know…
At CareerCrackers, we now use a technology solution that gives managers, Directors, VPs, CxOs, and founders an unfair advantage:
Our system:
✅ Connects directly to your LinkedIn profile
✅ Creates and publishes content that boosts your visibility
✅ Runs hyper-targeted LinkedIn Ads to your exact decision-makers
✅ Initiates networking conversations with stakeholders in your target companies
✅ Tracks engagement and hiring signals
✅ Ensures your name stays in front of the right people, every day, even on weekends and when you sleep!
This is the visibility engine that gets you into conversations your CV never will.
If you want to see how this could work for you, book your Visibility Engine Strategy Call. We’ll look at your current positioning and show you where opportunities are hiding, and how to make them come to you.