The General Manager resume,
and the P&L behind it.
A general manager inherits a business that was already moving, and the resume rarely separates the two. The page reports what the unit did — revenue up, margin up, a good three years — without saying which of those points the market handed over and which came from a decision. The reader is looking for the second number.
Which P&L, and how much of it was yours
Full P&L ownership covers a wide range of jobs. Some general managers set price and carry the factory; others sell at a transfer price fixed by group and are held to a contribution line they cannot fully control. Some carry the balance sheet, some stop at EBITDA. A reader cannot tell which one you held unless the page says so, and will assume the narrower version.
The second thing to settle early is the situation. A unit losing money, a unit doubling, a unit absorbing an acquisition and a unit defending share are four different assignments that select for different people. Name yours in the role line rather than leaving it to be inferred halfway down.
The line you were accountable to, stated plainly: revenue, gross margin, EBITDA or net income — and whether cost of goods was yours to change or a transfer price set elsewhere.
The functions with a solid line into you, and the ones that reported to group. A general manager with finance and supply chain on a dotted line ran a sales region under a wider title.
Your authority in numbers: the discount you could approve, the capital you could commit, the hire you could make without asking. These bound every claim below them.
The situation you were appointed into — turnaround, scale-up, integration, or holding a mature position under attack — and the state of the unit on the day you took it.
Trajectory, and the market it ran against
A single good year is a season. Three years with a starting position is a trajectory, and that is what a board is reading for. Each figure below needs two ends, and where the category moved it needs a comparison — growth reported without the market's growth beside it cannot be attributed to anybody.
Revenue at handover and at exit with the years between them, because a compound rate across a stated period is the only version of growth that cannot be assembled from one favourable quarter.
Category growth over the identical period from a source you can name, because the gap between your rate and the market's is the portion of the number that belonged to you.
EBITDA margin at both ends with the mix behind it, because margin also rises when a low-margin contract expires, and anyone who has run a unit will ask which it was.
Market share with the measurement source and the window, because an internal share estimate is an opinion and a syndicated tracker is a fact somebody else can check.
Revenue per employee at both ends, because it separates a business that grew by operating differently from one that grew by hiring in proportion.
Cash conversion or working capital days, because a unit whose revenue rose while receivables and stock rose faster bought its growth, and the group treasury paid for it.
The claim that swallows the whole unit
Three sentences appear on most general manager resumes. Each takes credit for everything the unit did, which is the one thing an experienced reader discounts on sight. The evidenced version is smaller and carries further.
“Delivered consistent double-digit growth year on year.” The category may have done the same. Give the market's rate across the identical years and let the difference make the argument.
“Turned around a loss-making business.” A turnaround is a short list of hard decisions. Name the monthly loss on arrival, the two or three things you stopped doing, and the month the unit crossed into profit.
“Built a high-performing team and a strong culture.” Every general manager writes this. State how many direct reports you changed, how many you promoted from inside, and what regretted attrition did across the same years.
Three lines, rewritten.
The same fact, made checkable. Every figure is illustrative of the shape an evidenced line takes — nothing here is invented on your behalf.
The claim on the left is not wrong. It is simply unreadable as evidence: nothing in it can be checked, compared or priced. The version on the right makes the same statement in a form a search partner can act on.
Managed the P&L for the country business and delivered consistent year-on-year growth.
Ran a $74M country P&L with sales, service, supply chain and finance reporting in: 310 people across 4 sites. Revenue $74M to $118M over four years, 12% compound against a category growing 9% on the industry association's data, so a quarter of the growth came from share. EBITDA margin 6.1% to 11.4%.
Led the turnaround of an underperforming regional business.
Took the region at $31M revenue and -$2.1M EBITDA, losing roughly $175,000 a month. Closed 2 of 9 depots, exited a 400-line product tail carrying 4% of revenue and 19% of working capital, and repriced the bottom decile of accounts. Breakeven in month 9; $3.4M EBITDA in month 22 on $29M revenue.
Responsible for a team of 300 across all functions in the unit.
Six functions reported in: sales, service, supply chain, quality, finance and HR. Approved discounts to 12% and capital to $250,000 without group sign-off; above that it went to the regional managing director. Replaced 3 of 6 direct reports in year one, promoted 2 from inside, and regretted attrition fell from 19% to 11%.