Last updated: 14th Jan 2026
You’ve spent years fixing broken businesses. Cleaning up messes you didn’t create. Taking responsibility when others pointed fingers.
And now, you’re close.
Close to the role that actually reflects the weight you’ve been carrying.
General Manager.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth.
At this level, everyone is competent. Everyone has run teams. Everyone has delivered “results.” On paper, all GM candidates start to look eerily similar – even though the reality couldn’t be more different.
And more often than executives like to admit, the deciding factor isn’t experience.
It’s whether your resume proves your commercial impact – or just describes responsibility.
Most would-be GMs fail right here. They talk about leading teams. Growth. Transformation.
- But they don’t show profit.
- They fail to explain the challenges they overcame.
- They don’t describe what they uniquely bring to the table.
Below is an example of a General Manager resume done properly.
Commercial. Specific. Outcome-led.
Use it as a benchmark.
It will impress CEOs, boards, and even the odd executive resume writer 🙂
General Manager Resume Example (Page 1/4).
Why does this page work well? Because it includes:
- White space. The design doesn’t look intimidating, because of the abundance of white space. Resist the temptation to cram the page full of text.
- Logical flow. The resume uses subtle design cues to guide your eye from the top left corner of the page to the bottom right. Your eye doesn’t dart around the page, trying to figure out where to start – and what to read next.
- Name, job title (General Manager, right?) and contact details. (Should you include your DOB?).
- Subheading that summarises your unique value. In the example above, Emily is clearly GM with an eye for driving profitability.
- A 5-8 paragraph profile that unpacks your value proposition. Note how the resume example above avoids generic buzzwords like “team player” and “stakeholder management”. Instead, it tells the story of Emily’s career, backing it up with facts.
- Employment summary that showcases the last ~10-15 years of your professional life. It gives the reader an “at a glance” view of your career progression. (You don’t have to list all of your previous roles here – just the last 3-4).
- Key achievements section that spotlights the biggest wins of your career. Choose them wisely – the more relevant they are to your value proposition, the better. And don’t forget to quantify.
General Manager Resume Example (Page 2/4).
Use the second page of your GM resume to blow the reader’s socks off with your achievements.
This is where you get to prove that you’re better than other executive candidates.
Important!
This is the most important page of your resume. Don’t waste a single word. A lot of executive recruiters will skip straight to it – because they’re used to the first page being packed with self-evident, mind-numbing fluff.
Here’s what the second page of your General Manager resume needs to get right:
- Reverse chronological format. Ideal for a General Manager, the reverse-chronological resume format prioritises your most relevant roles.
- Mandate. Why were you brought on? What challenges was the company facing? Who were you reporting to? Offer the reader as much commercial context as possible.
- Responsibilities. In the resume example above, we used a hybrid mandate that also offers insight into the GM’s responsibilities. However, you can also break out your responsibilities as a separate bulleted section. Place it between the mandate and the achievements.
- Action verb-driven achievements. Remember to quantify and explain. A bad achievement says “grew the business by 90% in 2026”. An excellent achievement, meanwhile, offers the recruiter or employer insight into the impact of your actions. See above for examples.
General Manager Resume Example (Page 3/4).
The third page of a General Manager’s resume continues to unpack your professional history.
It explains the impact you had earlier in your career.
Take care to:
- Keep an eye on detail. Ensure subtle stylistic differences don’t creep in. Double-check the spacing between lines, paragraphs and sections.
- Check that the start and end dates of your roles are consistent with those on the front page.
General Manager Resume Example (Page 4/4).
This is where you usually wrap things up. The fourth page of a CEO’s resume usually contains spillover content from their last role, plus:
- Earlier career history. Those roles you exited more than 15 years ago? List them here.
- Education. Resist listing your high school education. Even if the school was a fancy one. But if you’ve done management, executive or industry courses, list them here.
- References. Say that they’re available on request. Nothing else.
How Long Is An Ideal General Manager resume?
The typical length of an Australian executive resume is between 3 and 5 pages. The GM resume example above is four pages in length – normal for a leader with 15-20 years of experience.
Why Do General Managers Need Resumes?
Some recruiters mislead you into thinking that senior executives don’t need resumes.
That’s total BS.
Unless you’re shoulder-tapped by a boss you’ve previously worked for, you’ll be competing for your next GM role in an open market – against 5-10 other excellent leaders.
To be the winning candidate, you’ll need to explain if you bring something to the table that others don’t.
That’s where an excellent General Manager resume comes in.
It isn’t just a list of your previous roles. It’s a marketing tool that tells your career story and showcases your point of difference.
Irene
