We work with lots of entrepreneurs to help them to understand and secure Non-exec roles. We also support organisations to find the right Non-exec for them, and many of our team work in Non-exec roles. This series of blogs covers the How, What and Why of securing a Non-exec role.

If you’ve decided to start looking for an opportunity to serve on a board it can be daunting to know where to start. Here are some suggestions on things to do/consider:

Focus on Strategic.

Boards should only be dealing with strategic matters, not day-to-day operational matters. Your CV should reflect this as far as possible. So for example:

• Write less about your experience of managing a team, and more about your experience of developing team culture and setting values.
• Don’t write about how you empower individual team members, tell them about your understanding of the strategic importance of development and succession planning.
• Don’t talk about how you did things, say why things were done and why they were of importance to the organisation.
• If there’s been a time when you’ve identified an organisational threat and influenced change, include that.

At times this can feel like an exercise in bullshit bingo, but there really is a difference between the strategic elements and the operational elements of projects. A lot of us will be used to listing operational stuff in our CV; doing this makes it harder for a recruiter to see how you’ll apply your skills to a board.

 

Next time… Non-exec roles – Demonstrate that you understand governance

 

Blog by Isla…