When to Include a Profile on Your Resume
By Emily Sanderson
Use a profile or statement of qualifications on your resume when a summary of your accomplishments, skills, and career focus would be helpful in guiding potential employers, such as when you are changing career pursuits or entering a new market, whether it be a different geographic area or a different industry sector. A profile can emphasize transferable skills, those skills you have already gained in your career which make you marketable for your current career pursuits.

	A profile can emphasize transferable skills, those skills you have already gained in your career which make you marketable for your current career pursuits.

Potential employers give your resume an average of 20 seconds upon first review. That means you want to provide the most pertinent and relevant information in a format that is easy for them to absorb and that will make the best impression of you as a strong and viable candidate. Placing a profile or statement of qualifications at the top of your resume is one way to summarize this information.

The space on your resume right below your name and contact information is the first section of the resume that potential employers will read, even before your name in some cases. The information in that space should tell them, in essence, what type of job you are looking for and what you have to offer them. For example, if you seek to go in a different direction than the work you performed at your most recent place of employment, the account of which would otherwise fill that primary space on your resume, use a profile to draw potential employers to the skills and accomplishments that you would like to emphasize instead.

A chronological resume lists experience and accomplishments under the name of your employer and job title at the time as well as the dates of your employment. This format presents some limitations in that you can only list those skills used within that particular time period and for a particular employer. A chronological resume that employs a profile or statement of qualifications will provide perspective to your resume, which will give potential employers a better idea of, for example, patterns in your work history and directions that you have taken in the past in pursuit of your career goals.

Your profile serves as the theme of your resume; construct bullet points in your work history to support it. Remember that a resume is a marketing tool which may emphasize different parts of your work history for different types of jobs that you are applying for. Just changing your profile can give your resume a very different feel.

Potential employers give your resume an average of 20 seconds upon first review.

Individuals who are fresh out of college who don’t have a lot of work experience outside of an academic setting can still benefit from using a profile. At this time of economic uncertainty, profiles should be strategically written not to pigeonhole you but to emphasize your strengths and those skills which could be applied to multiple sectors within your industry.

A profile uses a different structure than the rest of your resume or your cover letter. The text of the profile is comprised not of sentences but of a series of strategic phrases that include actions and that express enthusiasm and zeal. Be careful that the profile doesn’t follow a classified ad format — save your career objective, if mentioned at all, for the end of the profile. The following are a few examples of profiles:

1. Accomplished human resources generalist with nearly 18 years of experience supporting human resources administration, billing, and office functions with leading oil company. Demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills and ability to effectively communicate across all organizational levels. Strong commitment to cooperative teamwork; able to adapt quickly to new environments, programs, and situations. Able to maintain accurate and thorough data and to enhance processes.


2. Corporate, commercial, and trial attorney with expertise in commercial contracts and litigation; franchising and franchise law; banking and finance law; federal, regulatory, and compliance matters; and employment law and defense of EEOC claims. Adept at managing manufacturing, development, marketing, distribution, and products liability.


3. Results-oriented and talented marketing professional with strong analytical and strategic planning abilities paired with superior client and project management skills. Expertise in developing promotional materials. Firmly committed to earning and inspiring rapport and confidence with all members of the team.

Including a profile is an excellent way to summarize your skills and accomplishments and to provide a theme for your resume. ResumeApple can assist you in preparing the perfect resume for your particular career search needs and for a reasonable price. For more information check out our services at www.resumeapple.com.