After completing the About section, it’s time to delve deeper into your professional journey. This step helps turn your achievements into a compelling narrative that grabs recruiters’ attention and increases your chances of landing an interview.

It’s crucial to make your descriptions progressively detailed and logically structured as the reader moves through your profile.

 

What Experience Should You Highlight in the “Experience” Section?

 

 

Key Principles:

• Focus on the last 5 years: While you can describe roles from the past 10 years, positions older than that should be summarized briefly.
• Value your journey: Even if certain roles feel less relevant, they have contributed to your professional growth. However, prioritize experiences that are most aligned with your current career goals.

 

How to Identify Relevant Experience

Analyze which aspects of your previous roles align with your current profession. Consider highlighting key accomplishments, skills, and results that add value to your profile.

 

Logical Proof of Your Experience

 

Each achievement should be supported by concrete examples and measurable data. Break your experience into the following components:

 

Job Title:

• Use industry-specific keywords that meet market standards and global expectations.
• Maximize the 100-character limit effectively.

Company and Project Description:

• Highlight the nature of the business, products, and services.
• Include quantitative metrics such as user base, revenue, or project scale.

Technical Stack (for IT Professionals):

• List the tools and technologies you worked with.
• This emphasizes your technical expertise.

Measurable Results:

• Specify achievements in numbers: increased revenue, reduced costs, team growth, etc.

 

How to Address Career Breaks

 

Avoid leaving gaps in your profile. Instead, explain what you were doing during these periods:

• Upskilling: Certifications, courses, or professional development.
• Personal Projects: Freelance work or self-driven initiatives.
• Learning and Growth: Exploring new domains or building expertise.

Note: Avoid using phrases like Career break, Parental leave, Sabbatical, or CEO of my own company in your current job title if you want to attract more opportunities from recruiters.

 

Choosing the Right Employment Type

 

Ensure that the employment type you specify (full-time, freelance, contract, etc.) matches your actual work arrangements and professional interests.

 

How to Validate Your Achievements

 

Add links to projects, websites, or publications. This not only enhances credibility but also makes your experience more tangible.

 

Tailoring Your Profile for Different Career Levels

 

For Entry-Level Professionals (Juniors):

• Highlight internships, hackathons, or volunteer work.
• Emphasize your enthusiasm and eagerness to learn.

For Mid-Level Professionals (Mid-Level):

• Focus on showcasing well-developed hard skills.
• Include specific projects and their measurable outcomes.

For Senior Professionals (Seniors):

• Combine hard and soft skills.
• Emphasize domain expertise and strategic contributions.

For Managers and Executives:

• Demonstrate the scale of your projects and initiatives.
• Highlight emotional intelligence and leadership qualities.

 

Effective Methods to Describe Achievements

 

CAR (Challenge, Action, Results):

• Challenge: Describe the problem you faced.
• Action: Outline the steps you took to address it.
• Results: Highlight the tangible outcome.

Example:

• Challenge: In 2020, 2 out of 5 recruiters on my team left, overwhelming the remaining team with workload.
• Action: I completed a course on recruitment automation and implemented an automated outreach strategy.
• Result: By year-end, we matched the previous year's placement numbers, reduced costs by 20%, and shortened the hiring process by 25%.

STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result):

• A similar approach to CAR but with more emphasis on defining the task at hand.

ARTA (Achieved X Result by Taking X Action):

• Concise and impactful: Increased sales by 50% through a targeted marketing campaign.

 

How to Strengthen Your Profile

 

Use action verbs like:
Accelerated, Boosted, Transformed, Redesigned, Cultivated.

Keep it concise:

• Break text into paragraphs.
• Use bullet points for clarity.
• Avoid overusing emoji and ensure descriptions remain professional.

 

Example of an Experience Section

 

Lead IT Recruiter & Founder | IT Talent
October 2014 – Present (9 years 9 months), Estonia

• Hired over 300 professionals globally, helping IT companies build strong teams.
• Managed a team of 7 recruiters, establishing high standards of quality and professionalism.
• Optimized recruitment strategies, reducing time-to-hire by 40% and improving candidate quality.
• Trained and mentored 350+ recruiters, significantly enhancing their productivity and career trajectories.

Key Achievement:

• Recognized as one of the top employers in recruitment in Estonia, ranked second in Äripäeva TOP (2019).

 

In Summary

 

• Structure your experience in a clear and compelling way.
• Focus on growth, achievements, and measurable results.
• Simplify complex terminology, aligning with global standards.
• Use links to validate your experience.

A profile that tells an inspiring story of success will set you apart and attract the best opportunities!

 

Julia Jolkin 👠👠

Top IT Recruiter & LinkedIn Expert

 

Feel free to contact me if you need:

• A review of your LinkedIn profile to understand how potential employers, partners, or clients perceive it. This will help you quickly find a job or confidently promote your services at any time. Sign up for the upcoming LinkedIn Makeover session.

• A career consultation to revise your career path and skills, especially if you haven’t been to an interview in a while and want to prepare thoroughly.