Kim Vercoulen
Recruitment Consultant
It is a conversation many senior treasurers recognise. You have built a strong track record, navigated complexity, and delivered results across multiple cycles. Yet when you re-enter the job market, things feel less straightforward than expected.
Many organisations lean towards medior candidates. They are perceived as more flexible, more affordable, and easier to shape. At the same time, senior professionals are sometimes seen as less adaptable or less energetic. These assumptions may not always be explicit, but they do influence decision-making.
The challenge is not to push back against these perceptions directly, but to address them through how you position yourself.
Be clear about what really matters to you
At a later stage in your career, the definition of a “good role” changes. Earlier on, progression often meant a higher salary or a broader technical scope. Now, the content of the role and the environment become far more important.
The strongest candidates in this phase are very deliberate. They understand what they are looking for and can explain it clearly.
Take time to reflect on questions such as:
- What type of challenges still give you energy
- In which environments you perform best
- What kind of role content you want to move towards
This clarity does two things. It helps you target the right opportunities, and it ensures you come across as focused and intentional rather than overqualified and exploring broadly.
Present your experience with focus, not volume
A long career often leads to a long CV. However, more detail does not necessarily create more impact.
In fact, a CV that is too dense can work against you. Hiring managers want to quickly understand why you are relevant. If they have to search for that message, it can get lost.
A strong senior CV is selective and easy to navigate. As a rule of thumb:
- Keep it to two pages, with three as an absolute maximum
- Focus on recent and relevant experience in more detail
- Summarise older or less relevant roles by title, company, and dates
The goal is not to document everything you have done, but to highlight what matters for this specific role. That level of focus signals clarity and confidence.
Actively bring energy into the process
This is often the most underestimated factor. Many hiring managers enter conversations with an unconscious bias that senior candidates may struggle in dynamic environments.
The interview is where you can immediately change that perception.
Energy is not about being louder or more dominant. It shows in how engaged you are in the conversation, how curious you are about the business, and how you connect your experience to their current challenges.
You can reinforce this by:
- Asking thoughtful, forward-looking questions
- Showing genuine interest in the organisation and its direction
- Sharing examples of how you have adapted to change or driven progress
What matters is that your experience feels current and relevant, not historical. You want to leave the impression that you are still building, still contributing, and still motivated by new challenges.
For senior treasurers, the difficulty is not capability. It is perception.
By being clear about what you want, presenting your story with focus, and showing real energy in your interactions, you shift that perception. You move from being seen as overqualified to being recognised as someone who can add immediate value.
And ultimately, that is what every organisation is looking for.
