28/05/2010
Get your Personal Profile word perfect
Samantha Pearce is the owner of Words Worth Reading an online editorial service for Job Seekers, Students, Writers and Businesses. Words Worth Reading offer individually-tailored, comprehensive CV and application form writing and editing services. Sam is also WorkWise's CV expert.
With the job market getting more and more competitive by the day, it is essential that your CV grabs the reader’s attention right from the start.
A potential employer will generally go straight to your opening personal profile and use this paragraph to assess whether they will read on. Your personal profile therefore has to be a comprehensive summary of all of your skills, knowledge and abilities. You should view this paragraph as a compressed version of your CV.
What should I include in my personal profile?
If you are writing your profile with a specific job in mind then you should make every effort to include in it the skills and experience that the job advert or job description has stated as desirable and/or essential.
Therefore always write your profile with a list of these necessary qualities nearby. If you are writing a generic CV then you should include your experience, key skills and transferable skills, in a succinct manner. In both cases you should back up your statements with some supporting evidence.
How do I start my personal profile?
A good place to start is to state one or two key skills, along with a brief summary of your previous experience.
For example;
I am a motivated and creative individual, with 7 years experience within interior design, specifically within the hotel and leisure industry.
The above statement lets the reader know exactly what the candidate’s experience is and gives a quick insight into the individual’s skills
How do I identify my skills?
Jobseekers often find it difficult to appreciate and identify the skills that they possess, but once you have identified them you will be able to enhance your CV greatly.
An easy way to do identify your skills is to think about all of the tasks that you carry out on a daily basis within your role and then consider the skills required to achieve these tasks.
For example, as an administrator you may file records, speak to clients on the phone and type up reports.
The skills required to achieve all of these things are:
- Excellent organisational skills
- Confidence in communicating with clients
- Strong customer service skills
- Good computer literacy
- High level attention to detail
Having identified your skills you can then include them in your personal profile along with some evidence that you have demonstrated them in your previous or current employment.
How do I finish my personal profile?
It is a good idea to finish your profile with one sentence that expresses your desires for you future career.
For example;
I wish to continue my professional career by applying and developing my skills and knowledge within a dynamic and fast-paced law firm.
Once you have incorporated all of the above elements into your profile, read it through and check that it makes sense, and that where possible you have provided evidence of your skills.
Most importantly make sure that there are no spelling or punctuation errors as this will almost guarantee that your CV will end up being thrown out.
And finally, take time to write your profile, as it could be the difference between you getting called to interview or your CV ending up in the bin before it’s even read
-ends-
Sam is WorkWise's CV expert. If you have a question for her please click here
Sam's company Words Worth Reading offer individually-tailored, comprehensive CV and application form writing and editing services at fantastic prices, with quick turnaround times.
For more information visit http://www.wordsworthreading.co.uk/
You can contact the team on sam@wordsworthreading.co.uk
Call them on 01277 824640
Samantha Pearce