How to Write a Professional Summary For Your CV (With Examples)

A professional summary is a paragraph outlining your work experience, achievements, and skills. It should be written in relation to your target jobs, employers, and industry, focusing only on relevant parts of your candidate background. Also, it should include relevant keywords and language to resonate with your audience.

A good professional summary communicates to hiring managers what you could bring to the table as a candidate. When they read it, they get an understanding of your capability, personal brand, and career trajectory. Then, they can use the rest of your CV to access more details about you.

Where should the professional summary be placed?

While the length of your professional summary should be in line with your needs, there are some general guidelines. As a rule of thumb, I recommend keeping this section between 5-7 sentences long. Also, if you like, you can open with a one-sentence recommendation as shown in the above examples.

When it comes to CV writing, structure is key. A solid CV structure can make your content easy to process, enhance clarity, and refine the document’s flow. Also, it can make writing easier and faster. Here is how to write your professional summary section.

1. If you have a compelling and relevant recommendation, put it on top of your professional summary.
2. Then, start with a sentence that summarises your background and capability at a high level. This will enable you to follow with 3-5 sentences where you can outline related skills, experience, and achievements. Remember to keep it relevant to the job and include a mix of technical skills and soft skills.
3. Lastly, close with a sentence highlighting your goals, which should reflect your motivation for the job you’re applying for.

One of the most common CV mistakes candidates make is using full sentences. When it comes to your professional summary, it’s important to keep it concise and succinct. The best way to achieve this is using fragments.

Fragments omit pronouns to eliminate redundant words. Also, this technique helps in avoiding too many first-person pronouns, which can make your content feel self-centred. Instead, it allows you to put the emphasis on your audience – the employer. However, make sure you write in the first person to keep your content personal and relatable, as third person can sound too corporate and alienating.

In terms of your tone of voice, there is no silver bullet, as it needs to be tailored to your target employer. Thus, I recommend researching the brand of your target companies. Are they corporate or casual? Once you find out, you can replicate their tone of voice in your CV.

As you may have already understood, when it comes to your CV, relevancy is key. This means that the content of your professional summary should not only be related to your background but also aligned with your target job. With this in mind, I suggest starting by analysing the job description.

The Duties & Responsibilities section can give you a strong understanding of the scope of work while the Requirements section will inform you about the qualities the employer is looking for. I recommend starting with conceptual analysis and then deep-diving into the details to identify important keywords. Let’s go through an example together.

Below is a vacancy for a Sr. Technical SEO Analyst. Going through the “What You’ll Do” section (Duties & Responsibilities), you can see that the scope of work revolves around working with diverse stakeholders, analysing SEO needs, recommending solutions, and working with the SEO engineering team on their implementation.

Then, you can move to the “What You’ll Bring” section (Requirements), where you can find information on what Glassdoor is looking for in this case. As you can see, this is a technical role requiring deep SEO expertise with a focus on data manipulation, front-end frameworks, SEO crawling, and process design. You can also see specific tools that are preferred.

Based on the below, you could include a recommendation on your SEO skills. Then, you could start your professional summary with a sentence highlighting your SEO experience and expertise. The rest of the section could be used to demonstrate the required technical skills, including experience with the desired tools, and soft skills, such as cross-functional work and stakeholder management. Lastly, I’d suggest closing off by showcasing your commitment to an SEO career.

After covering the content creation process, let’s have a look at what good looks like using some successful examples courtesy of CareerHigher. As mentioned, each CV should be unique. However, you can use these samples for inspiration to create your content.

Director of IT professional summary

Innovative, solutions-oriented, and reliable Director of Information Technology (IT) with in-depth experience leading the design, deployment, maintenance, and security of IT infrastructures. Proven track record of elevating the customer experience, mitigating information security risks and threats, and  ensuring timely and cost-effective delivery of large-scale technical projects. Possess a proven ability to lead by example, delegate with accountability, and build a collaborative team culture. Equipped with excellent communication skills to influence decision-making and deliver persuasive and insightful public presentations. Looking for a challenging  Director of IT & Security role within the information technology and services sector.

Data Scientist professional summary

Analytical, collaborative, and creative Data Science Professional with over 13 years of experience in leveraging engineering best practices, data science, and ML-driven models to empower exploratory data analysis of multi-billion dollar projects. Have a track record of improving forecasting accuracy, reducing costs, and maximising profitability through process and model optimisation. Adept at providing technical mentorship to junior engineers through knowledge sharing. Equipped with strong communications skills to craft impactful data narratives that inform company decisions around product, business, and finance. Looking for a challenging Inference Data Scientist role within the technology industry.

 

UX Lead professional summary

Self-starter, analytical, and results-driven Senior UX/UI Lead with extensive experience spearheading all aspects of the creative process, including marketing strategy, brand development, and digital design and ideation. Successful in optimising user experience, establishing competitive market advantage, and strengthening brand positioning. Equipped with strong leadership skills to develop and manage a creative team through a collaborative culture. Possess excellent communication skills to clearly present design concepts to cross-functional teams and stakeholders. Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of design fundamentals, including iconography, typography, color, and data visualisation. Looking for a challenging Creative Director role in a leading creative firm.

eCommerce Director professional summary

Self-motivated, analytical, and results-oriented Head of eCommerce with over 10 years of experience managing all aspects of eCommerce business, including go-to-market strategies and strategic partnerships. Proven track record of success in boosting sales growth, strengthening market position, and maximising operational efficiency. Adept at building and motivating high-performing teams to surpass performance expectations. Equipped with strong communication skills to nurture partner relationships. Looking for a challenging eCommerce Director role in the retail industry.

Account Director professional summary

Highly motivated, solutions-oriented Account Director with over 12 years of experience in  managing all aspects of enterprise sales, new business acquisition, account development, and multi-stream engagement. Proven track record of exceeding sales targets, closing high-value deals, and leading technology projects to successful deployment. Possess practical knowledge of public cloud, big data, hybrid IT, information security, and artificial intelligence (AI).  Equipped with excellent negotiation, communication, consulting, and presentation skills to build relationships and capture business opportunities. Looking for a challenging Client Account Director role within a tier 1 technology vendor.

Head of Marketing professional summary

Creative, resourceful, and results-driven Head of Marketing with extensive experience leading the development and execution of revenue-driving digital marketing strategy for international markets. Built a marketing division from scratch,  increased client acquisition by up to 2X, and boosted conversion rate by up to 300%. Possess strong leadership skills to guide, coach, and inspire a marketing team to meet brand and lead generation objectives. Equipped with outstanding communication skills to communicate with all levels of the organisation, establish partnerships, and build strong relationships with key counterparts. Looking for a challenging Head of Marketing role within an established organisation.

 

Finance Manager professional summary

Highly motivated, analytical, and ambitious Finance Manager with comprehensive experience leading global treasury operations, finance, and general accounting activities. Have a track record of success in improving cash flow, maintaining financial efficiency, and securing multimillion-dollar M&A deals. Equipped with strong leadership skills to manage and train junior team members. Possess excellent verbal and written communication skills to converse with senior management and external partners. Exhibit effective time management skills to meet deadlines while maintaining a high level of accuracy and attention to detail. Looking for a challenging Senior Finance Manager role within the venture capital & private equity industry.

Business Transformation Director professional summary

Self-motivated, analytical, and innovative Corporate Head of Transformation with extensive experience in spearheading operational excellence strategies and business transformation programs. Improved efficiencies by up to 50%, saved up to $120M in costs, and ensured timely and cost-effective program completion. An effective leader with demonstrated ability to lead and motivate employees to deliver the required outcomes. Equipped with excellent written and verbal communications skills to drive effective stakeholder engagement, build trusting relationships, and promote the acceptance of change. Possess strong organisational skills to manage multiple projects while maintaining keen attention to detail in a fast-paced multi-site environment.

Director of Product Management professional summary

Self-starter, analytical, and innovative Director of Product Management with  over 13 years of experience in end-to-end product management, including developing a product roadmap, strategy, and vision. Have a proven track record of success in boosting international expansion, delivering features that maximize product value, and achieving top and bottom-line growth. Equipped with effective leadership capabilities to inspire and motivate a team and maintain a high-performance culture. Possess strong problem-solving and strategic thinking skills to manage multiple competing priorities and make quick decisions in a fast-changing environment. Looking for a challenging Chief Product Officer role in the technology industry.

Head of Research & Strategy professional summary

Innovative, analytical, and results-driven Head of Research & Strategy with over 8 years of experience in leading the production of market analysis and timely white papers that address industry trends. Proven track record of building and maintaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace through deep local market expertise, analysis, and insight. Possess strong leadership and influencing skills to develop and lead teams. Equipped with excellent communication skills to form and clearly articulate a topic. Looking for a challenging Global Head of Retail Research role within the retail industry.