We’ve recently relaunched our candidate profiles so that jobseekers can better showcase their talent, including professional credentials, formal qualifications and awards, as well as soft skills, hobbies and personal projects.

The candidate profiles are designed to set you on the path to your dream career through:

Connecting you with more career opportunities

Recruiters regularly search our candidate profiles to discover top talent, meaning impressive candidates can be contacted directly with career opportunities.

Speeding up the application process

Jobseekers can seamlessly apply for jobs with just one click using their Simply Law profile, as well as their CV.

Increasing your chances of reaching the interview stage

Recruiters often use candidate profiles to confirm who they would like to interview; by having an outstanding profile, it’s an opportunity to really stand out. In fact, your profile could be the difference between you and another jobseeker reaching the interview stage.

But how do you craft an impressive candidate profile which gets you hired? Here’s our complete rundown of what to include in each section and how to make it stand out from everyone else.

Start with the basics

All good profiles will start with basic information – your name, location, profile picture and contact details. Contact details are essential so that recruiters can get in touch with career opportunities.

When uploading a profile picture:

Make sure it is a professional representation of yourself
Use a high resolution image
Ensure your face takes up 60% of the frame
Avoid distracting backgrounds

Capture their attention with an executive summary

The executive summary is similar to a personal statement but shorter. This is an opportunity to briefly highlight where you’re up to in your career, explain what you’re passionate about and how this contributes towards you being an excellent employee.

Top tips

Keep it brief but make an impact – this is a potential employer’s first impression of you
Set yourself apart from everyone else – make a recruiter want to continue reading your profile
Be enthusiastic – don’t be afraid to share what you’re passionate about

Set expectations

In your candidate profile, you can include information on your current circumstances but it’s also a good idea to include your preferences, such as location, salary and contract type, for upcoming opportunities.

For example, if you’re currently based in London, but are seeking opportunities in the Manchester, you can amend your preferences accordingly.

This will help to set expectations with recruiters who may be interested in contacting you about career opportunities. By outlining your preferred terms, it will save time in discussing vacancies which are not suitable.

Executive summary example

From a young age, I dreamed of becoming a Solicitor. My parents practice law so it has been a big part of my life from a very young age. I finally joined law school at the age of 19 after achieving top marks in all my subjects at college. I spent 5 amazing years at law school learning my craft. From law school, I joined Burges Salmon as a junior. During my time there, I worked my way up to a senior member of the team. As I am keen to progress my career further, I am looking for opportunities to take my skills and experience elsewhere and flourish in a new role.

Include hard and soft skills

The legal industry is built on hard skills such as legal knowledge and experience, and while these are essential, soft skills are also extremely valuable to employers.

Soft skills include things such as people skills, listening skills and time management. You could be the best solicitor in the world, but if you don’t work well with your fellow colleagues, this would be a big problem for your employer.

When building your candidate profile, be sure to include a range of hard and soft skills which are relevant to the roles you are applying for.

List relevant professional experience

Similar to the skills section, only include professional experience which is relevant to the roles you are applying for. While it can be tempting to include the history of your entire career, recruiters don’t need to know about your paper round from thirty years ago.

Top tips

List your experience in chronological order, with the most recent appearing first
Draw parallels between the experience you’ve previously acquired and the roles which you are applying to
Remember to include how your role contributed towards the business’s goals. For example, instead of saying, “My role was to reduce the law firms costs,’ you could say “By implementing X,Y & Z, we reduced the law firms costs and increased revenue by 10%”

Soft skills

Interpersonal (people) skills

Teamwork

Time management

Empathy

Ability to remain calm in a crisis

Positive attitude

Hard Skills

Attention to detail

Commercial awareness

Working under pressure

Written communication skills

Problem solving

Showcase certifications, academic qualifications & professional credentials

This section of your candidate profile enables you to detail the qualifications which you have achieved over the years. Recruiters will use this to ascertain if you have the right qualifications for the job.

Top tips

List your credentials in chronological order, with the most recent appearing first
Only include qualifications which are relevant to the roles you are applying for
Upload supporting documents to verify your achievements
Don’t include incomplete qualifications without good reason (such as it explains a gap in your academic history)
Don’t include expired qualifications. If you have to include them, make it clear that these are expired to avoid misleading recruiters
Remember to update your candidate profile as and when you acquire new qualifications

Show off your communications skills

Detailing your language proficiency is an key area within the candidate profile.

Some employers are actively searching for bilingual professionals so it is important to display each language you can speak – and how fluent you are within each language.

Remember to be honest when listing your language proficiency, as recruiters may ask you to provide documentation to support your claims.

Highlight personal projects

Are you a volunteer? Part of a sports club? World champion at chess?

Though not related to a job role specifically, personal projects can give additional insights into your personality, attitudes and behaviours. They can also highlight additional skills such as dedication, empathy or enthusiasm, which could be qualities that a recruiter is looking for.

Shine a light on awards

Listing an award is a fantastic way to stand out from your fellow jobseekers. Employers love to read about accomplishments rather than a list of job responsibilities.

Awards or honours display that you perform well and deliver results, which are desirable traits to employers. By highlighting these achievements, you’re much more likely to be invited to an interview.

Your award could be:

Awarded from a professional association
Scholarships
Graduation distinctions
Extraordinary results in examinations or tests
Employee/volunteer of the year
The award could also be something which you achieved as part of a team. For example, “As part of my 800 strong team, we won the ‘Law Firm of the Year’ award.”

Some final things to consider

Complete all fields

It’s really important to take the time to complete all the fields which apply to you. An incomplete profile won’t be visible to Simply Law recruiters, and you could miss out on career opportunities as a result. Besides, an incomplete profile is hardly going to impress any recruiters.

Put the time in to make it awesome

If you’re serious about your career, creating a great candidate profile is time well spent. It’s your passport to unlocking career opportunities and confirming to an employer that you’re the right person for the job.

Things to consider:

How will your profile set you apart from other jobseekers?
What could you include to make an employer want to interview you?
Spelling and grammar – don’t give employers any reason to dismiss your profile

Inject some personality

Recruiters aren’t looking for a robot, so don’t be afraid to inject some personality into your profile. At the end of the day, the most exciting people to hire are the people who are the most excited about what they do.

Keep it updated

Keeping your candidate profile updated is extremely important. Each time you build upon your experience or win an award, be sure to include it. You should aim to update your profile every 6 months, even if you’re not actively searching for a job. Who knows what opportunities may present themselves if a recruiter likes what they see?

Now you’ve discovered how to craft an outstanding candidate profile, all that’s left is for you to get started. Remember, once your profile is created, you can start applying for vacancies on Simply Law using it.