Board-ready shortlists, confidential by design
In retained search the document is the deliverable. FormatMyCV turns senior CVs into consistent, beautifully typeset profiles in your firm's house style — anonymised when discretion matters.
- Your firm's typography
- One-click anonymisation
- Secure, revocable links
In retained search, the document is the deliverable
Clients judge the firm by the shortlist
A board or CEO receiving a shortlist sees your firm through that document. Inconsistent fonts, uneven profile lengths or a stray phone number undermine months of careful search work.
FormatMyCV makes every profile look like it came from the same careful hand — because the template guarantees it.
Discretion built in
Many senior candidates are currently employed and cannot be identified until late in a process. Anonymised profiles let the client assess the shortlist before names are revealed.
- Names and contact details removed
- Optional removal of current employer
- Original kept securely in your vault
Why search firms choose FormatMyCV
House typography
Your fonts, spacing and profile structure reproduced exactly on every candidate.
Confidential shortlists
Anonymise profiles in one click for early-stage client review.
Secure sharing
Share via revocable weblinks rather than email attachments.
Executive summaries
Draft a concise summary from a long career in one click, then refine.
International mandates
Translate profiles for cross-border searches while keeping the layout.
Researcher time back
Associates spend time on research and assessment, not formatting.
Support at every stage of an assignment
| Stage | Document | How FormatMyCV helps |
|---|---|---|
| Market mapping | Longlist of profiles | Bulk-format longlist CVs into a consistent summary format |
| Shortlist | Anonymised candidate profiles | One-click blind versions for first client review |
| Client presentation | Named shortlist report | House-style profiles with consistent structure |
| Interviews | Candidate briefing packs | Export to Word for final consultant edits |
| Appointment | Final candidate report | Secure link that can be revoked after the assignment |
Long careers, presented with clarity
Senior CVs can run to many pages. A strong executive profile puts the story first:
Executive summary
Three to five lines on scope, sector and signature achievements.
Current and recent roles
Scale (revenue, headcount, geography) and outcomes, most recent first.
Board & non-executive roles
Listed separately so the client sees governance experience at a glance.
Earlier career
Condensed — titles, employers and dates only.
Education & qualifications
Concise, with professional memberships.
Everyone on the assignment, on one workspace
Researchers & associates
Turn raw CVs into draft profiles in seconds and spend the time on research and referencing.
Consultants
Review, tailor and approve profiles without reformatting anything.
Partners
Present a shortlist that looks like a single, considered piece of work.
Trusted by search consultants
★★★★★“Hands down the best automatic resume formatter I've used. I switched firms and brought it with me — and recommend it constantly.”
★★★★★“As a headhunter I'm constantly buried in CVs. Automatic formatting to our agency standard has saved us countless hours every week.”
★★★★★“Format My CV is brilliant — our consultants save roughly 80% of their time. After years of searching, nothing else came close on accuracy.”
What a board reader wants from a candidate profile
Scope at a glance
Revenue, headcount, geography and reporting line for each senior role.
Outcomes, not duties
What changed because this person was there — in numbers where possible.
Governance experience
Board and committee roles listed clearly and separately.
Your assessment
The consultant's view on fit, motivation and risks.
Confidential search checklist
Before a profile leaves the firm on a confidential assignment:
- Name replaced with a candidate reference
- Current employer removed or generalised if required
- No contact details, links or photos
- Shared via a revocable secure link
- Named version held back until the client is ready
Candidate data, handled carefully
Senior candidates trust you with sensitive information. So can your clients.
- Encrypted in transit and at rest — CVs are protected from upload to export.
- Access controls and audit logs — only your workspace can see your candidates, and exports are logged.
- Retrieve or delete on demand — respond quickly to candidate data requests.
- GDPR-friendly workflows — anonymise before sharing and keep only what each stage needs.
- No copy-pasting into public chatbots — consultants use the AI tools inside the FormatMyCV editor instead.
Key terms explained
Plain-English definitions of the terms used on this page.
- Executive search
A specialist form of recruitment focused on senior leadership, board and hard-to-fill roles, usually run on a retained basis with in-depth research and assessment.
- Retained search
An executive search engagement where the client pays the search firm part of the fee up front to run an exclusive, in-depth search for a role.
- Longlist
The first, broad list of potential candidates identified for a role before screening narrows it to a shortlist.
- Shortlist
The small set of screened candidates a recruiter presents to a client for interview, typically three to six people.
Executive search FAQs
How should executive search firms present shortlists?
As a consistent set of candidate profiles in the firm's own house style — executive summary, career narrative, board roles, education and consultant assessment — with identical typography and structure for every candidate. FormatMyCV builds each profile from the candidate's CV in seconds, anonymises it when the search is confidential and shares it through secure links.
Can FormatMyCV handle long senior CVs?
Yes. Twenty- and thirty-year careers, board portfolios and multiple non-executive roles are structured cleanly, and the Classic and custom templates are designed for multi-page executive documents.
How does FormatMyCV support confidential searches?
One-click anonymisation removes names, contact details and — optionally — current employers, so a shortlist can circulate before candidates are revealed. Secure, revocable weblinks mean documents do not have to travel as email attachments.
Can we reproduce our existing shortlist document design?
Yes. Our design team rebuilds your existing profile format as a custom template, typically within 48 hours, including your typography, logo placement and confidentiality footer.
Who in a search firm uses FormatMyCV?
Researchers and associates who prepare candidate profiles, consultants who review them, and partners who present the final shortlist — all on unlimited seats.
See a live shortlist in your firm's style
Upload a handful of real candidate CVs, pick a template and compare the output with what your team produces by hand today.
Unlimited team seats on every plan · Cancel anytime · GDPR-friendlyAsk us anything about your CV workflow
Send a note and a real person replies within one business day — or book a 20-minute demo and watch your own CVs reformatted live.
Reach us directly
- Emailsupport@formatmycv.com
- London+44 20 3807 7392
- DemoBook a 20-minute demo
London N1 7GU
United Kingdom
Replies within one business day · No sales sequences · GDPR-friendly