How to Write a Great Personal Profile / Statement for your CV

Your CV is one of the most important documents you will ever create. It is your first chance to make a great impression on potential employers and recruiters, and it can be the deciding factor in whether or not you are offered a job.

That’s why it’s so important to make sure your CV is as good as it can be. And one of the best ways to do that is to make sure your CV includes a great personal profile.

What is a personal profile?

A personal profile is a short paragraph that tells potential employers and recruiters who you are, what you’re good at, and what you’re looking for in a job. It’s your chance to sell yourself to potential employers and recruiters, and it can be the deciding factor in securing that interview.

So how do you write a great personal profile? Here are some tips:

• Start by highlighting the key skills and experience that are relevant to the job you're applying for. Try to back up your experience with facts to make it more credible and stand out from competing CVs. For instance, if you're applying for a management role, you may want to write something like this within your profile "managed, coached and mentored a team of 10, which resulted in hitting the company's team targets for 3 consecutive months", rather than writing "have good team management skills"
• Next, Include other relevant information that may be a key requirement for the job, for instance, you may be a super user of a particular software package required for this role. If that's the case, make sure you include this within your personal profile. A good way to ascertain what you need to include within your profile is to read the job's key requirements as this will give you a great indication of what you should highlight within the CV's profile.
• Finally, tell them what you’re looking for in a job. Let employers and recruiters know what type of position you are interested in, and explain why you would be the perfect candidate for the job. However, you will need to adapt this for each job you apply to so that the profile is relevant for each job application.

How long should a personal profile be?

Your personal profile is a short paragraph (usually around 100-150 words) that introduces you to potential employers and recruiters and explains why they should hire you. It’s a great opportunity to sell yourself and highlight your skills and experience. it’s generally recommended that you keep it concise and focus on the most important information. You want to grab the reader’s attention quickly and make them want to learn more about you. So think about what makes you stand out from the crowd, and highlight those qualities in your profile.

Include keywords within a personal profile

Including keywords within a personal profile can help potential employers and recruiters find you more easily when using online CV databases to search for potential candidates. Keywords within a profile can also make your CV stand out to the employer or recruiter reviewing and shortlisting CVs.

Where should the personal profile be positioned on the CV?

 CV's are important when applying for jobs, and where you put your personal profile on the CV can be the difference between getting an interview or not 

Your personal profile should be positioned at the top of your CV, just under your contact details, as it is one of the first things potential employers and recruiters will read. It’s also a good idea to use keywords in your profile, as this will help to improve your ranking in online search results.

What should you leave out of your personal profile? 

When written correctly your personal profile should leave the recruiter wanting to read the rest of your CV. However, there are some things you should leave out of your profile. Here are four things you should avoid:

1. Your age

2. Your marital status

3. Your religion

4. Your political views

Conclusion on writing a personal profile

A personal profile is like a movie trailer, showing small, exciting and intriguing parts of the film, enticing you to buy a cinema ticket. A personal profile is similar. You want to highlight your key skills and experience, enticing the employer or recruiter to read the rest of the CV and invite you in for an interview to find out your full story.

Although a personal statement isn't a long piece of text. It needs to be concise and is worth the time to fine-tune and make your CV stand out from the crowd.

Check out our other CV and Cover Letter Writing, Job Searching and Interview Tips below:

CV Writing, Personal Statement and Cover Letter Tips and Advice

• How to Write a CV - 6 Essential Tips and Steps to Writing Your First CV
• How to Write a Great Job Application Cover Letter – 5 Essential Tips

Job Search Tips and Advice

• 6 Tips on How to Decide which Job to Apply for
• 9 Tips on How to Find a New Job
• 5 Tips on How to Interact with Recruiters and Hiring Managers
• 9 Tips on How to Interview for a New Job
• 4 Tips on How to Decide what to Wear for a Job Interview

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