CV Writing – personal profile/career objective/mission statement

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 - Article, CV Writing, How to Write a CV, Job Application, job hunting, tutorial

Personal Profile, Career Objective, Mission Statement

This is part of our series on How To Write A CV

There are differing professional and personal opinions on the value or need for a personal profile, career objective or mission statement, which is included after your personal (contact) details on your CV/resume.

Some say it is irrelevant information, in that it is emotional focus mixed with fact. Others say that it gives up front the reader the view of why you think you would suit this job – ideally as part of your whole career plan.

Generally this is not needed when applying directly to an employer and including a Cover Letter.  However, the inclusion of a personal profile, career objective or mission statement is popular in some sectors such as Public Relations, Sales and Marketing.

However, the most important gain in including a personal profile, career objective or mission statement and the reason for its return to popularity is that it engages the reader, and then focuses them on your skills and motivation.

A personal profile/career objective/mission statement works very well in a skills-based CV, often used by people wanting to change direction and seeking to provide evidence in support of a range of relevant skills. You may also want to include a profile when attending a jobs fair and meeting a number of employers.

Personal profiles are easier to write well once you have a period of relevant work experience. They should be punchy, relevant and no more than six sentences long. They should always be tailored to the job or type of role you are applying for. If as you should, you are customising your CV/resume to a particular job application, here is one of the areas to create a bespoke application.

A good structure for a personal profile, career objective or mission statement is to use a three part form:

• I am (sector)/am educated (level)
• I currently do and achieve
• I see my career going in this direction

The first two parts are based on facts drawn from existing skills (ie – function); you should then align your second part and wholly the third part on the job you are applying for.

Hence, when people ask “do I need to completely re-write my CV for every application;” the answer is simply to re-write your Cover Letter and your personal profile at minimum to focus your application.

In evidence of this approach, I noticed that Amybeth Hale – aka the Research Goddess – who is now working for Chris Hoyt’s team at AT&T, noted this on a recent Twitter comment:

I’m personally a bigger fan of a well-worded, concise mission statement talking about the career goals of the applicant and how my job fits them

Says it all really – Good Luck!

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2 Responses to “CV Writing – personal profile/career objective/mission statement”

1. Pages tagged "objective" Says:
   January 18th, 2009 at 10:48 am

   [...] bookmarks tagged objective CV writing – Personal profile/career objective : C… saved by 5 others     justkidding19 bookmarked on 01/18/09 | [...]

2. Steve Millar Says:
   August 8th, 2009 at 5:33 am

   Thanks – very useful! I didn’t know how to write his section until reading this. Great website, very useful resources