How to Write About Your Professional Background

The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember: Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career!
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Resume writing is a special kind of skill that can help you in securing your dream job. A masterly crafted resume makes it memorable and impactful for a hiring manager, so every detail should be thoroughly thought out. Normally, it should contain basic personal information, contact details, educational background with a specification of specializations and certifications, and professional background, which is probably the most crucial part of this document. If it is properly laid out, it will help you to stand out and prove that you are the best candidate for the position.

So, how to design your previous professional background for resume properly? Let us offer you some useful tips.

What Is Professional Background?

One of the sections in your resume should contain your career background. As can be seen from its name, you should present a summary of your work history in it. Although this section should be brief, it does not mean that a mere list of the positions held by you previously would suffice. Instead, you should also demonstrate your performance at prior jobs by highlighting the core responsibilities at each of them as well as the most relevant achievements. Even a brief mention of such issues will help the hiring manager to understand how your previous jobs have prepared and molded you into a suitable candidate for the position in their company.

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The meaning of the “Professional Background” section in a resume

First of all, a professional background section in a resume is needed to showcase your experience and suitability for the desired position. Since hiring managers usually only look through hundreds of applications, this separate part helps them to see your qualifications and evaluate your fitness at a glance.

Besides, a skillfully drafted section with details about your professional experience can show the hiring manager your ability to properly organize the right information, clearly articulate your value, and present yourself in a favorable light. Thus, if it is produced in the right way, your resume will stand out from the rest of the applicants, and the potential employer may pay more attention to it.

Finally, in the process of writing about your professional background in the resume, you also prepare yourself for the job interview. Indeed, now you are ready to answer any question about your work history, career path, qualifications, and reasons for being the best candidate for the position. Clear and precise answers without stumbling or forgetting anything are sure to improve your performance at an interview, thus enhancing your chances significantly.

Here’s a table summarizing the average statistics on the number of interviews people typically go through to get a job:

Industry/Position Average Number of Interviews
All Industries 2-3 rounds
Senior Management 4-5 rounds
Finance 4-5 rounds
Consulting 4-5 rounds

It’s important to remember that these are just general averages and that the number of interviews required can vary widely based on the specific job and company. Some jobs may require fewer interviews, while others may require more. Additionally, some companies may have a more rigorous interview process than others, which can impact the number of interviews required.

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What to Include in Professional Background?

In a professional background section, you should enumerate all of your previous jobs, the responsibilities you performed, the skills you used, and the achievements you have made. The details to provide for each job usually include:

  • The name of the company or employer
  • Dates of your employment (start – end)
  • Your exact job title
  • The main duties (and their impact)
  • Possible education or training you have undergone at this position and certifications
  • The main relevant achievements, promotions, awards, and recognitions

Generally, try to present details that are the most relevant to the position you are applying for and show the way these jobs have made you the perfect candidate for it. Include as much information as possible to achieve this goal but do not overdo it by presenting lengthy life stories with excessive details.

Professional Background Section Structure

Since this is a section of a resume, the professional background part should be presented as a bulleted list with brief bullet points for each job. This way, the hiring manager will see important details at a glance, which is why such a format is more preferable to coherent paragraphs written in a story-like manner.

Some specialists recommend a functional format that makes accent on your experience. In this case, you should start the list with the most relevant positions to the one you are applying for, emphasizing the most crucial roles and experiences. However, a more widely-used, logical, and preferable format is a chronological order of presenting your professional background, starting with the current or the most recent job.

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Placement

A professional background for resume should be placed as early as possible. It usually goes right after your contact information, before the education background section. In such a way, the hiring manager will see it immediately after opening the document and pay attention to it without the necessity to scroll down and go through other, less important details.

Useful Tips

Here are some useful recommendations and pieces of advice to help you in crafting a perfect professional background section for your resume:

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Infographics on Useful Tips for Crafting a Perfect Professional Background
  1. Draft all the relevant experiences. While making the first draft of the resume, list as many previous jobs as possible. Include all the roles, responsibilities, skills, accomplishments, and experiences demonstrating your professional qualifications that you can remember or think about. Try your best to specify the way they have impacted you personally as well as your employers. This first draft will provide you with the general picture, so do not worry about the relevance to the potential position or the length of the description. The next steps will help to narrow the section down to the key points.
  2. Emphasize the most significant details. Since quality is more important for the resume than quantity, it is now necessary to select the few most impressive items from the already drafted list so that they could present you as the best-suited candidate for the position. Revisit the description of the vacancy you are applying for and decide which items would be the most relevant to it. These key points will show your value to the potential employer, highlighting the exact skills and qualifications they require.
  3. Customize the key points to the requirements of the position. Now think of the best way to present these significant issues so that they could resonate with the position you are applying for. Incorporate and connect the information about your skills and experiences naturally, showing off your expertise and qualification. Organize your professional background section in a chronological or functional format, but keep in mind that it should correspond to what the employer is looking for.
  4. Save the draft for future adjustments. Your resume should be constantly updated. The job search may take quite some time, so there are sure to be some changes in your life during this period. Every time you get some new accomplishment or undertake a new project, you may need to include it in your list of professional background details. Besides, it may be necessary to adjust it in accordance with another position that you find more attractive to you later. So, it is good to save a draft version that you can revisit and change from time to time.
  5. Use your professional background for networking purposes. When you have a well-crafted professional background in your resume that you use while applying for a particular job, you can use it for creating useful networks or searching for a job through other channels. For example, you may post it on your social media profiles or in a biography section of your personal website. If you review it timely and aptly, you can keep up your background narrative, conveying your skills, talents, expertise, and qualifications to the readers. This way, you will be able to impress potential employers, partners, or clients, expanding your professional networks and getting even more opportunities.

As you can see, your professional background may be needed not only for job search. It may also help a lot in building professional networks and attracting customers, partners, and investors to your business. Therefore, it must be well-thought-out and constantly updated. You may hire professional biography writer at an online writing service or try to do it yourself. We hope our tips and recommendations will help you in your efforts to secure your dream job.

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