“How to condense a long career on your CV without sending the wrong signal”

Having a long professional career is a strength. However, on the Swiss job market, this richness can quickly become a disadvantage if it creates the impression of a profile that is unclear, scattered, or difficult to position.

When a recruiter scans a CV, they are not trying to understand everything. They are trying to understand quickly:

• Who are you?

• At what level do you operate?

• And why you, for this specific role?

This is often where experienced professionals unknowingly penalize themselves.

The real issue is not length, but clarity

A long career path is not a handicap in Switzerland, quite the opposite. The problem arises when recruiters cannot quickly identify:

• your core expertise

• your level of responsibility

• your current professional positioning

In a competitive market, a CV must be readable within seconds. If the message is not immediately clear, the recruiter moves on.

Showing too much… or hiding too much: the two traps of long careers

Experienced professionals often swing between two extremes.

Showing everything

Because they have done a lot, some candidates list:

• all their responsibilities

• all their skills

• all the environments they have worked in

The result:

• long descriptions

• little hierarchy

• an impression of dispersion

The recruiter no longer understands what truly defines the profile.

Over-simplifying

Others do the opposite. Because they have “done too much”, they:

• remove entire experiences

• downplay responsibilities

• excessively shorten their CV

Out of fear of:

• appearing unstable

• being seen as overqualified

• losing clarity

The risk then becomes the opposite, the CV lacks substance and no longer reflects the true level of the career path.

In both cases, the message is blurred.

Condensing a long career is not about deleting randomly

Condensing does not mean saying everything nor hiding everything. It means choosing a clear reading angle.

Ask yourself this essential question:
If a recruiter were to remember only one thing about my career, what should it be?

This answer becomes the guiding thread of your CV, and of the entire job search strategy that follows.

Every experience should support this central message, never contradict it.

Think in terms of a dominant role, not a list of tasks

A CV is not a list of action verbs.

Writing project management, coordination, reporting, continuous improvement… may be factual, but it is rarely readable or differentiating.

On the Swiss job market, recruiters want to understand your dominant role and level of impact. In other words:

• what your real function is

• at what level you operate

• and what results you deliver

For example:

• Subject-matter expert: in which specific field, with what depth of expertise, and with what concrete outcomes?

• Manager: how many people, which profiles, what management routines, and what leadership style?

• Scope owner: which department or sector, with what scope and budget?

• Process owner: which processes, why, and with what measurable results?

• Transformation leader: what transformation was led and what real impact did it have on the organization?

Tasks should only serve to illustrate this dominant role and its results, never to dilute it.

Prioritise experiences without grouping them

Contrary to a commonly given piece of advice, grouping experiences is not always relevant, especially on the Swiss job market.

Why?

Because each role may involve:

• a different scope

• a different level of responsibility

• a specific regulatory or normative environment

• a different team size or operational context

Grouping experiences can:

• erase important nuances

• weaken credibility

• confuse an attentive recruiter

The goal is not to merge roles, but to prioritise them intelligently.

In practice:

• each experience remains clearly identifiable

• the level of detail varies depending on its current relevance

• what strengthens your positioning is highlighted

• what no longer adds value is streamlined

An effective CV is not one that groups experiences, but one that guides the recruiter’s eye.

Adjust the level of detail to your current career objective

The older an experience is, the less detail it usually requires, unless it is directly connected to your current professional objective.

A long career should be oriented towards:

• what you offer today

• what you want to represent tomorrow

A CV is not an archive. It is a projection tool.

Beware of the “jack-of-all-trades” profile in Switzerland

On the Swiss job market, a profile perceived as too generalist may be seen as:

• difficult to position

• risky to hire

• not immediately operational

The recruiter must be able to think very quickly:
“I know exactly where this person fits within my organization.”

Clarity always outweighs exhaustiveness.

Key takeaways

Condensing a long professional career does not mean shortening it. It means clarifying it and owning it.

This requires:

• a clearly defined professional positioning

• a structured prioritization of experiences

• a smooth and coherent reading flow

• a strong alignment with your current objective

On the Swiss job market, an effective CV is above all a CV that can be understood at a glance.

If you have a long and complex career path and would like to clarify your positioning without diluting your experience, I can support you with a tailored approach adapted to the Swiss job market.

👉 Learn more: www.candidateimpact.com/services

Let’s turn your experience into a strategic advantage.

contact@candidateimpact.com
+41 22 506 85 62