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Let’s talk about the “What do you actually do?” problem.

If you’re a professional in consulting, tech strategy, corporate development, or any generalist-heavy role, chances are your résumé looks like a lot of business-speak - designed to impress people who already speak the same language. The issue? Most hiring managers in industry… don’t.

You’ve spent 5–15 years operating in high-expectation environments where ambiguity is normal, and the mandate is: “Figure it out.” That makes you versatile, resourceful, and experienced. But it also makes your experience hard to pin down. And when the recruiter or hiring manager doesn’t “get it” in 10 seconds, they move on.

The real issue here isn’t your skill set - it’s your translation.

Meet Erin: A Case Study in Misunderstood Talent

Erin spent 9 years at a top consulting firm, then 3 years at a Series B startup in a generalist COO role. Smart, driven, strategic. On paper, a killer candidate. But when she applied to VP and Director-level roles in operations and strategy at mid-market companies, she got... crickets.

After 40+ applications and one awkward interview where a VP asked her, “So… what do you actually do day-to-day?”, she realized the résumé she’d been tweaking for months still wasn’t doing the job.

What changed?

She stopped trying to explain consulting, and started translating impact. We worked through her story and resume line by line, stripping out buzzwords and building a clearer bridge between her experience and the hiring manager’s world.

The results: 3 interviews in a month. 2 offers within six weeks. She accepted a VP Strategy role at a B2B SaaS company and finally left “What do you do, exactly?” behind.

Let’s unpack how she did it - and how you can too.

1. Ditch the Vague Generalist Labels

If your title doesn’t mean much outside your org, spell it out.

Industry hiring managers don’t always know what “Engagement Manager,” “Corporate Strategy Lead,” or “Chief of Staff” really means. These roles vary wildly by company and often don’t signal a clear function or scope to someone outside that ecosystem.

Instead of relying on title, describe what you owned.

Example:

❌ Engagement Manager at Bain​
✅ Led 4–6 person teams to deliver $5M+ EBITDA impact for F500 clients in logistics, healthcare, and tech

When you remove the jargon, you invite the reader into your world.

2. Translate “Consultant” into Operator

Industry hiring managers want people who get things done - not people who write slide decks.

But here’s the thing: you get things done. You just talk about it like a consultant.

Shift your language from advising to owning:

• “Recommended” → “Led implementation of”
• “Supported” → “Managed cross-functional execution of”
• “Developed strategy for” → “Launched and scaled”

Even if you weren’t the one pulling the trigger, highlight how you drove decision-making, influenced change, or led execution through others.

The goal: paint yourself as someone who delivers, not just advises.

3. Anchor Every Bullet in Business Outcomes

This should be obvious - but most résumés still miss it.

Hiring managers don’t care what you did. They care what changed because you did it.

Before:

• Conducted market research and financial analysis for M&A targets

After:

• Built investment case and financial model that secured CEO buy-in for $120M acquisition in healthcare tech

Better, right?

Use metrics - revenue, cost savings, time, customer growth, market share. If you can’t quantify, qualify: “increased adoption,” “cut cycle time,” “improved retention.”

If your bullets don’t have verbs tied to business outcomes, rework them.

4. Industry Speaks in Functions, Not Projects

Consulting and generalist résumés are often project-driven. But most industry roles are function-driven.

Hiring managers aren’t looking for “smart people to figure stuff out.” They’re looking for people to own a function: product, ops, finance, marketing.

Even if you’ve never formally held a product or ops role, you’ve likely done the work. Your job is to frame it accordingly.

Instead of this:

• Conducted customer segmentation to inform pricing strategy

Say this:

• Owned customer segmentation and pricing analysis that improved conversion rate by 18%, informing go-to-market roadmap

See the difference? Now you sound like someone who’s done GTM work in a product org - not someone who did a “project.”

5. The 80/20 of Resumes: Stop Burying the Lead

Most of the value in your résumé is buried under weak verbs, vague summaries, or soft skills.

Here’s the cheat code: Ask yourself, “If I had 10 seconds to pitch myself, what’s the most business-relevant, concrete stuff I’d say?”

Now front-load that. Make it your summary. Make it your top bullets. Make it unmissable.

Erin’s new résumé summary looked like this:

It reads like someone ready to own, not just analyze.

6. Speak to the Role You Want, Not the One You Had

Here’s where a lot of people get stuck.

You’re writing about what you did, but not tying it to what the next job requires.

So you look like a great consultant. Or a great internal generalist. But not a great VP of Strategy, or Head of Ops.

Study 5 - 10 job descriptions for roles you want. Look at how they describe responsibilities and outcomes. Match your language to that - without lying, but by choosing the clearest overlap.

If you want to be hired as a Head of Ops, your résumé should scream “I’ve run and improved systems, teams, and processes,” not “I’ve advised clients.”

7. LinkedIn Matters More Than You Think

Let’s be real: recruiters aren’t reading your résumé first. They’re skimming your LinkedIn.

So your LinkedIn has to do the same job: clear, outcome-driven, function-oriented.

A few quick wins:

• Headline: Don’t just list your title. Add a value prop. (“Strategy & Ops Leader | Driving Growth & Scale in Tech & SaaS”)
• About section: Tell a 3–4 line story of who you are, what you’ve done, and where you’re going.
• Experience bullets: Repurpose the best of your résumé, but keep it tight. Cut the fluff.

Don’t just update LinkedIn after you get interviews. Make it part of your strategy.

Let’s Wrap: You’re Not a Generalist. You’re a Translator.

Your job isn’t to prove you’re smart. People already assume that.

Your job is to make the value of what you’ve done unmistakable to someone outside your bubble.

If your résumé still sounds like a PowerPoint deck, fix it.

If your LinkedIn still reads like a mystery novel, simplify it.

And if you're feeling stuck - you're not alone. This is a common inflection point for people who’ve grown fast in ambiguous environments. The leap to “industry-ready” isn’t about reinvention or more education. It’s about communication.

Erin didn’t need more credentials. She needed a new lens.

Same goes for you.

Want to work on this together?

I offer 1:1 support for professionals making this shift - from positioning strategy and storytelling to résumé rewrites. Hit reply or schedule an intro call here to see if it’s a fit.

Until next week!

Beckie

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