Before making buying decisions on a product, buyers love to do a quick scan or check out the product reviews. Knowing this, many companies do their best to highlight their product’s finest features and customer reviews. The same is often true in the business world, where you have to “sell yourself” to hiring managers using your CV. To be a fast-selling “product,” you must position yourself such that your best features are seen at a glance. In the hiring world, the good professional summary for cv is your fast-selling lifeline.
What Does Summary Mean on a cv
A good professional summary for CV gives quickly gives the hiring manager an indication of your achievements and skills. With this, the hiring manager knows necessarily need to delve into the rest of your CV. The professional summary is a sort of teaser for the rest of your CV. In other words, a catchy professional summary can land you your dream job, while a shoddy summary can make you lose out on many opportunities.
How Important is a Professional Summary?
With so much importance attached to the professional summary in CVs, it would be a damning mistake to overlook this section. Since your application would be just one of many, you must be able to sell yourself by hooking the recruiter with your skills and experiences. Since the hiring manager (aka recruiter) has so many CVs to review, you must be able to present your professional summary in only a few sentences. It’s a summary, after all, and not an autobiography.
So, if you have been submitting applications upon applications without hearing from the companies, there is a possibility that your professional summary is a bit off. Or maybe totally off. But that is about to change because I’ll be sharing with you hidden tips on how to write a summary on a CV! You may have to review your professional summary or even carry out a complete overhaul. Whatever the case, you’re fully covered with the tips and secrets that I’m about to let you in on. Are you ready to check out the sauce you need in your professional summary? Let’s explore together!
Are you having trouble writing a professional summary in your CV? No worries, Reventy CV Builder creates an impressive CV for you, just choose the beautiful template, add your own touch, and you’re done.
Why Do You Need a Professional Summary?
CVs are indeed important, but they tend to be useless when written poorly and without a professional touch. With a high number of CVs making their way to the trash, you may want to know how to stand out. So, why do you need a professional summary section in your CV?
- To get the attention you need
Everyone loves getting the attention of others, and so does your CV. With a well-written professional summary, you can get the attention of hiring managers at the speed of light.
- To highlight your area of expertise
The professional summary section helps you to highlight your area of expertise, experience, and skills. The hiring manager will scan through this section and decide if you’re worth inviting for an interview or not.
- To capture relevant keywords
It would help if you used the relevant keywords in your professional summary section. Keywords help the hiring managers to quickly decide if you’re who they are looking for or not. You can learn how to get the necessary keywords for any job description here! (Hyperlink to the article on A Simple Method for Tailoring your CV to any particular Job).
Do you have trouble writing a professional summary for your CV? Revenity CV Maker makes it easy to create a great CV, just choose the template of your choice, add your own touch, and it’s done.
How to Write a Summary on a CV Mindblowingly
The professional summary is usually a short paragraph of just a few sentences. That said, it is written at the beginning of a resume after supplying details such as your name and other basic info. In this section, you describe your professional experience, education, and skills. Just by looking at this section, a recruiter can determine your proficiency before going through your CV details.
Your professional summary is a synopsis of qualifications that are relevant to the job in question. When writing a professional summary, always bear in mind that recruiters are not interested in the history of your life to date. Don’t fall for the trap of listing all your work experience and skills to impress the hiring manager. Only list the most relevant skills and experiences and get all the attention you need very quickly.
With the right information, you can create a spectacular professional summary all by yourself! All you have to do is to follow the advice in the six steps below!
- Use A Maximum Of 3 Sentences Of 15 Words Each
Firstly, you have to debunk the myth of lengthy sentences and paragraphs. It is not how much you write but the quality of what you write that matters. As has been said before, hiring managers don’t have the luxury of time. Therefore, you should only supply the skills, education, and experiences relevant to the job description. With just three sentences of a maximum of fifteen words, you can nail your professional summary. Remember, it’s a SUMMARY – keep it short!
- Use the First Sentence as a Bait
The first sentence of your professional summary should tell the reader who you are and what you have done. This isn’t just any summary, so it should be done professionally. Getting the first sentence right is very important because it often determines if the recruiter will read the rest of the summary. So, put your primary selling point in the first paragraph! As much as possible, avoid using adjectives directly such as “charismatic leader,” etc.
- Avoid Filler Words and Buzzwords
When writing a professional summary, avoid filler words and industry jargon like the plague. Filler words are short, meaningless words, sounds, or phrases, that mark hesitation or pause in text or speech. Filler words are also called pause fillers or hesitation markers such as uh, okay, right, you know, etc. Industry jargons and buzzwords are words peculiar to a field or organization—buzzwords such as team-player or core-competency. Instead, you should demonstrate such expertise by stating measurable results.
- Show Transferable Skills and Interests
Never forget to tailor your professional summary to the specific job description at hand. Most importantly, show the recruiter that you have the transferable skills that the organization needs. Examples of these transferable skills include personal motivation, leadership, time management, and a host of others. Don’t just give a list of transferable skills and interests. Write the ones that align with the needs of the specific job you’re applying for.
- Quantify Your Achievement
Quantify your achievement in the first or second sentence. Your professional summary should help you sell yourself and showcase your achievement and awards. Although you don’t have to list these achievements in the summary section, you can quantify them in the first or second sentence.
Quantifying your achievement helps you to sell yourself better than general achievement statements. For example, if you want to apply for the post of design engineer, your achievement can go something like this:
“Designed an operational process for the customer support team that increased output by 125%.”
Specificity and figures do well to catch the attention of any reader – the hiring managers inclusive. Do ensure you make the best use of the opportunity to grab your readers’ attention.
Final Thoughts
It’s a wonder that sometimes the CVs of the most qualified applicants don’t even get to the recruiter’s table. Or that when they do, they end up in the trash. Pay attention to every detail and work on your CV if you want to get your dream job. Nothing comes easy.
Need help writing a professional summary for your CV? Make your CV stand out with Reventy CV Builder [no. 1 CV Maker in Nigeria] and improve your job-seeking chances.
