Keeping a high profile

Making the most of your candidate profile and positioning yourself is the first step on our platform (and probably the most important) towards your dream role. 

Easy peasy, right? It can be – if you’ve already taken a deep dive, really checked in with yourself and have a clear map of where you’re at and how you want to move forward. If that’s not the case though, this is a perfect opportunity to do it. 

Let’s do this exercise together. 

First, allow yourself to let go of the idea that you have to ‘sell’ yourself to an employer, or pretend to be someone you’re not or try to fit into a job description that doesn’t fit you. 

The difference between ‘fitting in’ and belonging is that fitting in requires you to bend your natural self whereas belonging requires you to be just who you are. Go for the later. 

See the process as a two-way street where the choice is yours too. And it starts even before you start applying. It starts with connecting with yourself and what kind of work you really enjoy doing, what you have to offer, what are your needs and in what kind of environment you thrive most.

It’s deciding what’s truly gonna work for you, what you’re ready to take on and setting yourself up to to go for it.

The more honest you can be with yourself and then transparent and efficient in how you share that with potential employers on your profile, the more chances you’ll have to land where you need to. 

Then, look at your candidate profile as a self-reflective tool. Your invitation to think about the four main aspects of your professional self which combined and aligned, steer you towards your ideal place to be.

Your ideal role, your about me section, your work experience and your skills. 

In other words, what makes you the beautiful unique candidate that you are – what you’re genuinely passionate about, what you’re good at, your trajectory and what you’ve learned, and what you aim for.

These are the key sections on your profile that introduce you to companies, alongside your preferences in terms of flex level (the type of flexibility you’re looking for – fully flex, partially flex or fixed hours) and your desired monthly rate. 

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Your role section

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This small section right here is where your application journey starts. With a clear destination in mind, a strong direction that’d set the tone and shape the rest of your profile. 

This is where you add your ideal role, the role you think would be most suited and exciting for you. 

Being clear and real about it is what can make or break your application process and impact the success of your journey. As is not holding yourself back and really going for what’d you’d want instead of what you think is available. 

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‍About me section

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The about me section is – you probably guessed it – all about you. Or to be more accurate,  a summary of where you’re at professionally, and where you want to go, your strengths, what kind of work gets you all excited and what would suit you best. 

We hear you.  Not to mention defining ourselves in a few lines and capturing our essence is hard – after all we’re boundless creatures, unaware of our full potential, outlined by ever-evolving identities and shifting through different roles. Existential jokes aside, and getting back to our professional self – writing a punchy, on point summary about us and including what’s most relevant in this space can be challenging. We hear you. But asking yourself these questions and building your summary on the back of the answers could help a lot. 

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1. What kind of work would you like to further pursue?

2. What backs you up in that direction?

3. What keeps you motivated and engaged?

Remember that this section should be in alignment with the role that you’re going for and reflect why you chose that ideal role and explain why that’s the role best suited for you – as it should be in alignment with the following two main sections – your experience and your skills. 

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Experience section

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Here’s where you take stock of and add all the relevant experience you have that recommends you for your ideal role, the path you’ve been on so far in that direction. 

Adding all the things you’ve done if they’re not related in some way to that role, thinking the more information you add, the better – is generally not a good strategy. 

Better keep it clean and on point and focus on those experiences that really position you as a strong candidate for the role and make it easy for employers to spot why you’re a good fit. 

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Skills section

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We’ve now reached the final step, where you’ll need to highlight your skillset and areas of expertize. Straightforward enough – either select your skills from the dropdown list or type them in – you just need to add those skills you’re confident with, that you really have a good handle on, and learned to master through your experience mentioned in the previous section and that reinforce why you’re suited to take on your ideal role. 

Now, after you’ve gone through all the steps, take another good look at your profile and notice how you feel about it. 

Does it feel like a good reflection of yourself? Does it sound coherent and authentic? Does it make you excited?

If the answer is yes, hit save and pat yourself on the back. You’ve done great! You’ve not only successfully positioned yourself, but you’ve also showed up for yourself and got closer to your ideal job. 

Trust that you’ll find it. You’re already halfway through the journey, even if you haven’t applied yet.