Professional profile: what it is and how to describe yours
In short
Your professional profile is the combination of what you can do, how you work and the kind of environment where you perform. The technical part is easy to put on a CV. The behavioural part, which usually decides the hire, is the one almost nobody manages to describe without clichés.
The three layers
A professional profile has a technical layer, what you know; a behavioural one, how you work and relate; and a context layer, the type of company and routine where that works. A CV usually covers only the first, the interview tries to uncover the second, and the third only surfaces once someone is already unhappy in the new job.
- Technical: education, tools, provable experience
- Behavioural: how you decide, communicate and handle pressure
- Context: company size, pace, management style
Why the behavioural layer decides
An approved CV is what gets you the interview. What decides from there is almost always the read on how you will work with the team that already exists. It is also the most common reason for leaving within the first year, and it is rarely technical: the person could do the job, but the way they worked did not match the team.
How to describe yours without clichés
Proactive, dynamic and communicative says nothing, because everyone writes it. What works is swapping adjectives for observable behaviour, with a situation attached. Instead of saying you are organised, say you document the process so someone else can take over without you. Instead of saying you are communicative, say you are usually the one translating the client's request for the technical team.
- Swap the adjective for a concrete behaviour
- Attach a real work situation
- Say what costs you effort, and what you do about it
- Cut anything anyone could have written
How DISC helps here
The report puts a name on what you already do without noticing. Plenty of people know they do well in a crisis but cannot explain why, let alone turn it into an interview answer. Having the four factors in order, with a reading of what is high and what is low, solves exactly that vocabulary problem.
On the CV and in the interview
On a CV, two or three lines of summary with concrete behaviour beat a list of qualities. In an interview, the same content shows up as an example. And honesty about the weak spot helps: saying what costs you effort and what you do to compensate reads as more secure than pretending there is nothing there.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a professional profile and a behavioural profile?
The behavioural profile is one part of the professional profile. The professional one also includes education, experience and the work context where the person performs. Two people can share a behavioural profile and have very different professional profiles.
How do I find my professional profile?
By putting three things together: what you have delivered and know how to do, how you tend to work (which is where a behavioural assessment helps) and the environments where you did well or badly. The first two are easy to list; the third shows up when you look at your history honestly.
What should the summary on my CV say?
What you do, for whom, and what tends to happen when you do it. Two or three lines, no generic adjectives and no slogans. Whoever is reading is trying to work out whether you solve their problem, not whether you are dedicated.
Find out which one is yours
The assessment takes about 5 minutes and returns all four factors, not just the dominant one.
Take the DISC test