The Small CV Details That Can Make a Big Difference

LUCY BOLAN

Director | Principal Marketing & Sales Recruitment Consultant

Founder and Director of New Chapter Talent, with 20 years of experience working in recruitment across the UK, New Zealand and Australian markets – with a strong focus on marketing, and now sales.

Contact Lucy

Are you looking for your new chapter, new start or new talent? Then let’s chat.

✉️ lucy@newchaptertalent.com.au

📞 +61 416 153 144

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭
𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕
𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫

Or connect with me ~ Lucy on LinkedIn ~ as I'll share all the insights on recruitment you could ask for! For more updates, career tips, and job opportunities, follow New Chapter Talent on LinkedIn.

Five simple things I look for when reviewing marketing CVs — and why getting the basics right can make your next move a little easier.

I’ve reviewed thousands of marketing CVs over the years, and there are a few simple things I still see people miss.

None of them are particularly complicated. They won’t require a new qualification, a beautifully designed template or hours of rewriting.

But they can make a real difference to how quickly I can understand your experience, where you’ve worked, what you’ve achieved and whether your background could be a good fit for a role.

When you’re applying for your next marketing or sales position, your CV has one job: make it easy for the person reading it to see the value you could bring.

So, if you’re updating your CV at the moment, here are five things I’d check before you send it anywhere.

1. Include the month and year for every role

This sounds basic, but it’s one of the first things I look for.

Rather than simply listing:

Marketing Manager | Company Name | 2023–2025

I’d recommend including the months as well:

Marketing Manager | Company Name | March 2023–August 2025

Why? Because it gives me a much clearer picture of your career timeline.

It helps me understand how long you spent in each position, whether you've had a number of shorter-term roles, and how your career has progressed over time.

It also removes unnecessary guesswork.

If there’s a gap between roles, that’s okay. Careers aren’t always perfectly linear. People take career breaks, travel, study, have families, make career changes or simply find themselves in a role that wasn’t quite right.

I’d much rather see an accurate timeline than have to wonder what happened between two dates.

My advice: be clear and be honest. Your CV doesn’t need to tell your entire life story, but it should give a recruiter a straightforward picture of your career.

2. Please include your mobile number

I know this one sounds almost ridiculous to mention.

But I’ve genuinely had CVs land on my desk without a mobile number.

Your email address is there. Your LinkedIn profile might be there. Everything looks polished — and then I realise there’s no easy way to call you.

If I’m recruiting for a role and want to have a quick conversation about your experience, I don’t want there to be unnecessary friction.

So, at the top of your CV, make sure I can easily find:

Your name
Your mobile number
Your email address
Your LinkedIn profile, if relevant
Your location

It’s not glamorous CV advice, but getting the basics right matters.

3. Give me some context about the businesses you've worked for

This is one I particularly encourage candidates to think about.

I work across marketing and sales recruitment, so I may know the businesses you’ve worked for. But the person hiring you might not.

If you've worked for a household name, I can probably make some assumptions about the size of the organisation and its market.

If you’ve worked for a smaller, niche or lesser-known business, I need a little more context.

A one- or two-line description underneath the company name can be incredibly useful.

For example:

ABC Company | Marketing Manager | January 2022–June 2025

Australian B2B technology business providing software solutions to mid-market professional services firms.

That immediately tells me more.

I know what the company does, who it sells to and that your experience was B2B.

You can also mention whether the business is B2B, B2C or both, the size or scale of the organisation where it’s relevant, and the market you were operating in.

This is particularly helpful when you’ve worked across different industries or moved between B2B and B2C environments.

Don’t make the reader work to understand your experience. Give them the context.

4. Show me the commercial impact of your marketing

This is probably the biggest one.

Marketing is commercial.

So when I’m reviewing a marketing CV, I don’t just want to know what you were responsible for. I want to understand what happened because of your work.

There’s a big difference between saying:

Managed paid digital campaigns across multiple channels.

And:

Managed paid digital campaigns that increased qualified leads by 32% and reduced cost per acquisition by 18%.

The second tells me something about your impact.

Of course, not every marketing role has a neat revenue number attached to it. And I’m not suggesting you force metrics into your CV where they don’t exist.

But think about the outcomes you can demonstrate.

Depending on your role, that could include:

Revenue growth
Lead generation
Customer acquisition
Conversion rates
Campaign performance
Return on investment
Engagement rates
Website traffic
Customer retention
Pipeline contribution
Cost reductions
EBITDA improvements

If you can quantify something, do it.

And if you can’t share confidential numbers, there are often other ways to demonstrate scale or improvement — percentages, growth rates, volumes or the size of a portfolio can all help.

I’d also encourage senior marketers to think beyond activity.

“Led a rebrand” tells me what you did.

“Led a rebrand across a 200-person organisation, supporting the launch into two new markets” starts to tell me about the scale and complexity of what you delivered.

Tell me what you did, but more importantly, tell me what difference it made.

5. Treat a Teams meeting like an interview

This one isn't technically about your CV, but it’s worth mentioning because it often comes immediately afterwards.

If you’re meeting a recruiter or hiring manager on Teams, treat it like an interview.

That doesn’t mean you need to put on a suit.

I’m not expecting everyone to suddenly appear in corporate interview attire from the waist up.

But I do think there’s something to be said for making an effort. A collared shirt, blouse or smart top can make a difference.

More importantly, think about your surroundings, your camera position, your lighting and whether you’re going to be able to give the conversation your full attention.

First impressions still matter when you’re meeting virtually.

And when I’m speaking with a candidate for the first time, I’m not just thinking about whether their CV matches the job description.

I’m getting a sense of who they are.

How do they communicate? What are they looking for? What motivates them? Would they be a good fit for the team and the culture?

Those things matter just as much as the technical experience on the page.

Your CV doesn't need to be complicated

After more than 20 years specialising in marketing and sales recruitment, I’ve learned that the best CVs aren’t necessarily the ones with the fanciest layouts.

They’re the ones that make it easy for me to understand the person behind the page.

I want to know where you’ve worked, what those businesses do, what your role involved, how long you were there and, ultimately, what you achieved.

That’s it.

You don’t need to include every task you’ve ever completed. You don’t need paragraphs explaining every career decision. And you certainly don’t need to fill your CV with buzzwords.

Be clear. Be specific. Give me context. Show me the impact.

And remember that your CV is only one part of the recruitment process.

At New Chapter Talent, I founded the business around a more personalised approach to marketing and sales recruitment. For me, recruitment has always been about understanding the person, not simply matching keywords on a job description.

I want to understand the culture of the team, the personality of the people involved, the values of the business and what someone is actually looking for in their next chapter.

That approach is why I’ve built relationships with leading brands across Australia and New Zealand over many years — and why the work we do extends beyond recruitment through initiatives including the CMO Chapters Podcast, CMO Collective Lunch Club, Marketing Leadership Awards and Marketing Mentorship Program.

The marketing community is small, and relationships matter.

Thinking about your next move?

If you’re updating your CV because you’re considering what comes next, I’m always happy to have a conversation.

You may be actively looking for a new role, quietly curious about the market, or simply wondering whether the next step you have in mind makes sense.

You don’t need to have everything figured out before you reach out.

If you’d like to have a chat, connect with me or the team at New Chapter Talent. Sometimes a conversation is all it takes to start thinking differently about your next chapter.

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Runners in starting blocks at a track meet, crouched on a red running track with lane numbers visible.

Your Career Is Not a Race

By Lucy Bolan • August 18, 2026

Why comparing your career to everyone else’s on LinkedIn can make you lose sight of your own next chapter

Group meeting in a bright office, with three people seated at a table facing a presenter.

The Interview Question You Probably Aren't Preparing For!

By Lucy Bolan • August 10, 2026

I recently had the opportunity to do something a little different. One of my clients invited me to sit in on the final panel interviews for a senior marketing role I was recruiting. Most of the time, my role is interviewing candidates, understanding their experience and motivations, and presenting a shortlist to my clients. So it was a great opportunity to see the process from the other side of the table and observe what happens when hiring managers make their final decision. What struck me straight away was the quality of the candidates. Every single person interviewed well. They were prepared. Professional. Organised. They arrived on time, communicated clearly and presented themselves with confidence. Honestly, they made my client's decision incredibly difficult. But there was one moment that really stood out. The Question That Changed the Conversation There was one question during the interviews that caught almost everyone by surprise. I won't share the exact question because every interview should remain confidential. What I can say is that it wasn't about technical skills or campaign results. It was about the future. How they saw the market evolving. Where they thought opportunities existed. How the business could continue to grow. It was fascinating to watch. The candidates who had clearly spent time thinking beyond the job description approached the question with confidence. They weren't trying to predict the future. They were simply demonstrating that they could think strategically and contribute ideas. The others hesitated. Not because they weren't capable marketers, but because they hadn't expected to be asked to think beyond what the business is doing today. The Best Candidates Think Beyond the Brief This experience reinforced something I've been seeing more and more across the marketing recruitment market. Hiring managers aren't only looking for people who can deliver great work. They're looking for people who can help shape what's next. That doesn't mean you need all the answers. No one expects you to walk into an interview with a fully developed business strategy. What they do want to see is curiosity. Can you spot opportunities? Do you understand what's happening in the industry? Can you connect trends with commercial outcomes? Can you think beyond your own role and consider the bigger picture? Those are the qualities that increasingly set candidates apart. Preparing for Tomorrow, Not Just Today When you're preparing for an interview, most people naturally focus on the obvious things. They research the company. They read the job description. They practise answering common interview questions. All of that is important. But I'd encourage you to spend another 30 minutes thinking about where the business could be heading. Ask yourself questions like: What opportunities exist in this market? How could the customer experience be improved? What challenges might the business face over the next few years? How is AI changing the way this industry operates? Where could technology create a competitive advantage? What trends are emerging that the business should be paying attention to? You don't need perfect answers. The value is in showing you've thought about them. Strategic Thinking Is Becoming a Competitive Advantage Marketing has always been about understanding customers and helping businesses grow. Today, it's also about helping businesses navigate change. Consumer behaviour is evolving. Technology is moving quickly. AI is reshaping how marketing teams work. The marketers who stand out are the ones who stay curious, keep learning and aren't afraid to challenge existing ways of thinking. That's exactly what many hiring managers are looking for. Not someone who simply maintains what's already working. Someone who can help build what's next. It's Not About Having the Cleverest Idea Sometimes candidates worry they need to come up with something groundbreaking. You don't. Interviewers aren't looking for the next billion-dollar idea. They're looking for evidence of how you think. Can you analyse a situation? Can you identify opportunities? Can you explain your reasoning? Can you back up your ideas with logic and commercial thinking? Those conversations often tell hiring managers far more than another example of a successful campaign. Why This Matters to Me One of the reasons I love recruitment is that every interview teaches me something. After more than 20 years specialising in marketing and sales recruitment, I'm still learning from the conversations I have with clients and candidates every week. Starting New Chapter Talent gave me the opportunity to build a recruitment business centred around people, not processes. Taking the time to understand personalities, ambitions and culture has always been just as important to me as understanding skills and experience. It's also why we've built such a strong marketing community through initiatives like the CMO Chapters Podcast, the CMO Collective Lunch Club, the Marketing Leadership Awards and the Marketing Mentorship Program. Those conversations constantly reinforce how quickly our industry is evolving and why strategic thinking has never been more valuable. One Final Piece of Advice If you've got an interview coming up, don't just prepare to talk about your experience. Prepare to talk about the future. Think about where the business is heading. Think about where the industry is heading. Think about where you could add value beyond the job description. It doesn't take long, but it might just be the thing that turns a good interview into a great one. Frequently Asked Questions How can I demonstrate strategic thinking in an interview? Show that you've researched the business and the wider industry. Share your thoughts on opportunities, emerging trends and areas for improvement, and explain your reasoning rather than trying to provide perfect answers. Should I mention AI during an interview? If it's relevant to the role or industry, absolutely. You don't need to be an AI expert, but showing that you understand how technology is changing marketing demonstrates commercial awareness and curiosity. Is it okay to challenge a company's current approach? Yes, provided you do it respectfully. Interviewers appreciate candidates who bring fresh ideas, as long as they're backed by thoughtful reasoning rather than criticism. Ready for Your Next Chapter? Whether you're hiring a marketing or sales leader who can bring fresh thinking to your business, or you're preparing for your own next career move, I'd love to have a conversation. At New Chapter Talent, we believe great recruitment is about more than matching skills to a job description. It's about understanding people, potential and where businesses are heading next. If you're ready for your next chapter, I'd love to help.

Person writing in a notebook while seated, wearing a dark jacket and jeans, with a soft blurred background

The Easiest Way to Make a Better Impression in an Interview

By Lucy Bolan • July 28, 2026

If you're interviewing soon, here's one piece of advice I'd love you to take with you. Bring a notepad. Honestly, it surprises me how many people still walk into interviews with nothing but their phone in their pocket. It might seem like a tiny detail, but after more than 20 years recruiting marketing and sales professionals, I've seen firsthand how much those little things matter. Not because anyone expects you to write pages of notes. Because bringing a notepad shows you've prepared. It's More Than Just Taking Notes Before every interview, I encourage candidates to write down a few questions they'd like to ask. Not questions for the sake of filling time. Questions that genuinely help them understand the opportunity. What does success look like in the first six months? What challenges is the team trying to solve? How does the marketing team work with sales? What type of leadership style can they expect? Writing your questions down means you won't forget them when the nerves kick in. It also gives you somewhere to jot down the answers, along with anything else that stands out during the conversation. You don't need to write everything down. A few key points are enough. Good Interviews Feel Like Conversations One of the biggest misconceptions candidates have is that interviews are all about giving the right answers. They're not. The best interviews feel like genuine conversations. You're learning about the company just as much as they're learning about you. That's why asking thoughtful questions is so important. It shows curiosity. It shows you're engaged. It shows you're thinking beyond simply getting a job. You're trying to work out whether it's somewhere you'll genuinely enjoy building your career. The Little Things Are Often the Difference People sometimes ask me what makes one candidate stand out over another. There usually isn't one big moment. It's a combination of small things. Turning up on time. Researching the business properly. Knowing who's interviewing you. Listening carefully. Asking thoughtful questions. Following up afterwards. And yes, bringing a notepad. None of these things are difficult, but together they create a really positive impression. Hiring managers notice candidates who are prepared. I know I do. Preparation Gives You Confidence There's another reason I always recommend bringing a notebook. It helps you. When you've written down your questions beforehand, you don't spend the whole interview worrying that you'll forget something important. Instead, you can relax and focus on the conversation. You're listening properly instead of thinking three questions ahead. That confidence comes across naturally. Recruitment Is About People When I started New Chapter Talent, I wanted to build a recruitment business that looked beyond job descriptions and CVs. The best hires happen when skills, personality, values and culture all align. That's why I spend time getting to know both my clients and my candidates properly. Every business has its own culture, and every marketer has their own ambitions. Taking the time to understand both is what leads to long-term success. It's also why we've invested so much in supporting the wider marketing community through initiatives like the CMO Chapters Podcast, the CMO Collective Lunch Club, the Marketing Leadership Awards and the Marketing Mentorship Program. Helping people navigate their careers has always been about more than filling roles. My Advice Before Your Next Interview If you've got an interview coming up, don't overthink it. Do your research. Write down a few questions. Take a notepad. Listen carefully. Be yourself. Sometimes it's the simplest habits that leave the strongest impression. Frequently Asked Questions Should I bring a notebook to every interview? I would. It's a simple way to stay organised, remember important details and show you've taken the opportunity seriously. Is it okay to take notes during an interview? Absolutely. Just keep them brief. The conversation should always come first, but noting down key points will help you reflect afterwards. What questions should I prepare? Think about the role, the team, the company and what success looks like. The best questions are the ones that genuinely help you decide whether the opportunity is right for you. Ready for Your Next Chapter? Whether you're looking to grow your marketing or sales team, or you're thinking about your own next career move, I'd love to have a conversation. At New Chapter Talent, recruitment has always been about people first. Taking the time to understand what motivates someone, what kind of culture they'll thrive in and where they want their career to go is what leads to the best outcomes. If you're ready for your next chapter, I'd love to help.

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