The seven moves of a professional profile
Write for one reader, such as a recruiter or a course admissions tutor:
- Headline, a direction rather than a slogan: “Community coordinator | Sustainable logistics”
- Present situation: “I am currently completing a part-time diploma in supply-chain management.”
- Target role or course: “I am looking for a coordination role in urban food distribution.”
- Two strengths with evidence: “I am organized: my revised collection rota reduced missed deliveries by 20%.”
- Relevant experience: “As a depot assistant, I briefed drivers and updated clients during delays.”
- Qualifications and their status: “I will complete my logistics diploma at Northside College in June.”
- Your contribution: “I am keen to bring evidence-based planning and clear communication to a team that reduces avoidable waste.”
Two strengths, two kinds of evidence
An adjective is a claim; a duty or a result is evidence. Write the strength, then a colon, then what you did and what changed. Use a number only if you can explain it in an interview. Make the two strengths genuinely different: “organized” and “good at planning” are one strength said twice.
Listen: a part-time job becomes evidence
A policy student who checked microphones part-time at a conference centre had 48 hours to replace a panel moderator stranded abroad by a strike; the panel later led to paid research work. Listen to how she prepared. In a profile, the story becomes one line: “I prepare well under pressure: with 48 hours’ notice, I called each speaker and moderated a public panel on housing data.”
Owen Were you ready?
Maya Not at first. I reviewed the speakers’ evidence, called each of them, and built neutral follow-up questions. The audience challenged one statistic, so I asked the researcher to explain the sample instead of defending it.
Tenses for where you are and where you are going
Each tense shows your status honestly:
- Present continuous for study in progress: “I am currently completing a part-time diploma in supply-chain management.”
- Present simple for current duties: “In my current role, I organize volunteer collection routes.”
- Past simple for finished roles: “As an intern, I recorded food-safety checks.”
- Will for an expected completion date: “I will complete my logistics diploma at Northside College in June.”
- Be going to for a decision already made: “I’m going to specialise in public evidence.”
- A past conditional for a turning point: “If the strike hadn’t happened, I might not have connected those skills.”
Words for jobs, courses and applications
Use the exact noun:
- Qualifications are what you have been awarded; skills are what you can do; experience is what you learned by working.
- Work experience is uncountable: “I have three years’ experience in logistics.” Not: “I have many experiences in logistics.”
- An internship gives students or recent graduates practical experience; an apprenticeship is paid training with an employer for a specific job.
Should unpaid work go in your profile?
Volunteering and part-time jobs belong in a profile when they prove a skill this reader needs: weekend repairs at a repair café show fault-finding for a product-testing role, but add little to an accounting application. Discuss, using “If it’s relevant, I’d include it.” or “Unless it shows a real skill, I’d leave it out.”
- “When would you leave volunteering off a CV?”
- “Is a measured result always stronger evidence than a described duty?”
Common mistakes
Check your draft for these:
- Qualities with nothing behind them: “hard-working, motivated team player”
- Claiming a diploma you are still completing. Write “I will complete my logistics diploma at Northside College in June.”
- Missing capitals for institutions, cities, languages and months: “I studied English at Northside College in Bristol.”
- Irrelevant details. The rule: “Remove an unrelated summer job unless it proves a required skill.”
- “I assisted an interview.” A candidate attends an interview.
A 10-minute daily routine
Keep one target all week. At the weekend, spend 40 minutes writing the whole profile, then explain two edits you made.
- 2 minutes: play the profile cards and repeat each example aloud.
- 4 minutes: write one strength with evidence; tomorrow, a different strength with different evidence.
- 2 minutes: turn one past duty into an “As a …, I …” sentence.
- 2 minutes: read yesterday’s sentence aloud and cut what the reader does not need.
What comes next
Next at B1+, compare two moves through experiences and ongoing changes, or revisit an advice article with three tips. Further on, write a balanced workplace post at B2 or explain unequal promotion at C1+.