Your personal profile

Your personal profile

I recently met with a group of HR managers from some of the largest firms in Ireland and asked many questions which I get asked regularly about C.V.s and interviews. I was given concrete answers which have helped me in creating winning C.V.s for my clients and I would like to take this opportunity to share them with you.

Something I am going to focus on in this article is the area of personal profiles. The first question I asked the recruiter was whether they liked to see them on a C.V. or not, the answer was an overwhelming yes. For this reason I am going to go through some of the main points on how to make an impactful profile.

The first thing to look at is why do we need a profile?, One of the main reasons to write a profile is because many recruiters while making the initial cut of C.V.s just spend between 15 and 30 seconds looking at our C.V.s, for that reason we must include our main selling points at the top of the C.V.

Many people make the mistake of filling their C.V. with descriptions of their personality, this is a big turn off for the employer. The profile needs to be meatier than that, it needs to prove that you can do the job. Try to imagine that this is the only thing that the employer will read. It is really important that these 2-3 sentences show that you can do the job. Below are a few tips on how to make a successful profile.

Tip 1: Treat your profile as your sales pitch.

Use this space as your advertisement of yourself, if you were a product what would the key selling points be, what would make someone want to invest in you.

Tip 2: Prove that you have everything it takes to do this role.

Think about what the key qualities, hard skills, soft skills, experience and education that you have that match this role and use this to prove to the employer that you can capably fill this role.

Tip 3: Tailor your profile to this particular role.

Search through the advertisement to see what the key points that the employer is looking for, this is the wish list of the employer and your profile should be a direct response to this. Include key words from the advertisement.

Tip 4: When writing the profile there are usually 3 steps.

Step 1 – underlining or highlighting the most important items in the advertisement.

Step 2 – Outlining the experience, education, hard and soft skills and qualities that you have that match the role requirements. Look through your C.V. and pick out the most relevant experience, education, hard and soft skills that match this role.

Step 3 – Using all this information to write your profile.

Tailored Personal Profile:

A fluent English and Spanish speaker with 4 years’ experience in a fast paced customer service role, with experience providing IT support over the phone, via e-mail and face to face to clients, with a diploma in administration and proven attention to detail, communication and data entry skills in addition to excellent computer skills, is looking for a Spanish customer service role.

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Tailored Personal Profile:

A professional Accounts Assistant, with over 10 years’ experience preparing monthly and yearend accounts, cash flow reports and audit files, with a degree in accountancy, mainly focused on bookkeeping management, tax, reconciling of accounts and sales invoices and payments. Proficient in the use of SAP and excel, is looking for a role where I can pursue my ambition to become a fully qualified accountant.

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Do not be afraid to be the hero of your own story, mention the most important information about you and what really matters to the role. Show your confidence and professionalism and this will make your profile stand out.

Breda Hegarty is the Pre-employment Trainer in Business in the Community and author of the blog www.thejobmotivator.com . For more information and to book an appointment for a place on our next free training course in relation to C.V.s . cover letters and Interview skills call (01) 874380 / (01) 8743814 or e-mail employmentprogramme@bitc.ie