Why Your CV Isn’t the Problem, It’s the Language You Use
Claudia Cubbage is known for her work in leadership and career development, particularly within education. She is the founder of RenewEd Ltd and is currently developing the RenewEd book series, drawing on over 25 years of school leadership experience.
When people struggle to secure interviews, the first instinct is to fix the CV. They rewrite it, reformat it, add more detail, and tailor it again. It feels like progress. However, the CV is rarely the core problem. The real issue is how you use language to convey your value. Without changing your language, your results and opportunities stay stagnant.
The frustration and problems many professionals face
I often speak to people who feel stuck in their job search. They are experienced, capable, and often highly successful in their current role, but their applications don’t land. They apply consistently but hear very little back. Or they reach the interview stage and struggle to communicate their value clearly. This creates a natural assumption, something must be wrong with the CV. Over time, this begins to affect confidence. People start to question their experience, even when they have been successful in their current role. The frustration is not just practical, it becomes personal.
Why experience does not always translate
Every sector has its own language. People become fluent in their organisation’s language, understanding terminology, expectations, and measures of success. But when they step outside that environment, the language does not always carry meaning. The same experience that is highly valued in one context can feel unclear in another. At this point, many capable professionals begin to feel stuck.
The difference between tasks and value
One of the most common patterns I see is this, people describe what they did. They list responsibilities, processes, and tasks. They don’t clearly articulate the value of their actions. Managing a team becomes “responsible for a team of ten.” Delivering change involves being “involved in a project.” Solving complex problems becomes “supporting operations.” The substance is there, but the impact is hidden. When this happens, experience becomes difficult to recognise from the outside. What feels significant internally can appear generic externally.
Why this matters more than people realise
Recruiters and hiring managers are not merely looking for activity, they are looking for relevance. They need to quickly see what you offer, why it applies, and why it matters. If that connection is unclear, strong candidates are often overlooked. Not because they lack capability, but because their experience has not been effectively translated.
What effective translation looks like
Translation is not about exaggeration, it’s about clarity. Identify core skills, understand how they transfer, and communicate them for the new context. This is where people begin to shift. Clarity replaces uncertainty, and confidence replaces hesitation. Once you can clearly explain your value, everything else becomes easier.
Where people get stuck
This is difficult to do alone. You are too close to your own experience. What feels obvious to you is not always obvious to someone outside your sector. What feels normal in your role is often highly valuable elsewhere. Without reflection, people undersell themselves, default to familiar language, or copy job descriptions closely. None of these approaches work particularly well.
Where coaching changes the process
This is where career change coaching becomes valuable. Not as a quick fix, but as a structured way to step back and think differently. As a career change coach and career transition coach, I work with professionals to identify what they actually bring to the table, beyond job titles and sector language. We then translate that into something that makes sense to a new audience. When that happens, the shift is clear. Applications become more focused. Conversations become easier. Confidence grows. The experience stays the same, only the way they communicate it changes.
What this looks like in practice
A recent client came to me feeling exactly like this. They had strong experience but were struggling to secure interviews. Their CV was well written but focused on activity rather than impact. When we reframed their experience together, the shift was immediate. Their applications became clearer. Their interviews became stronger. Importantly, their confidence returned. Their experience remained unchanged. Only the way they communicated it was different.
The real shift
The goal is not just to improve a CV. It is to understand your value. When the value is clear, everything else improves. CVs, interviews, and decisions all improve. A career change is starting to feel far more achievable.
Moving forward
This is something I explore further in my book, RenewEd Career: How Coaching Provides Clarity and Direction. Changing careers is not simply about finding opportunities, it is about recognising and articulating where you fit. To learn more about my work and how coaching can help you change your career, visit RenewEd Ltd.
Connect with me on LinkedIn for regular career insights and updates. To explore how coaching could support your next step, visit here.
Read more from Claudia Cubbage
Claudia Cubbage, Headteacher and Career Change Coach
Claudia Cubbage is a UK-based career change coach and headteacher coach specialising in sustainable leadership and purposeful transitions. After a decade as a headteacher and 30 years in education, including 25 years in senior leadership roles, she brings deep, practical insight into the realities of leadership. She supports headteachers and school leaders to lead effectively while balancing the demands of complex roles, alongside professionals from outside education navigating career change. She is the founder of RenewEd Ltd and the creator of the Compass framework, which underpins RenewEd Leadership coaching. Her work focuses on helping people lead and work in ways that are sustainable, values-led, and confidence-building.
