Task 1a: Review of Professional Profile

After having looked at many other professional profiles and reflecting on my own, I found many were overly formal with very little personal touch. Infact in my own, I basically rewrote my CV listing specific details but not showing much of my personality as an individual. Often when going by the specific guidelines of writing a CV such things are forgotten and actually after taking a step back and looking at it in a different way, such as a "Profile", I feel the personal touch is just as important. Laura Houghton's comment on my own blog helped me to see this. I enjoyed reading Bethan Bullman's Professional Profile as she has included many of her personal qualities as well as including jobs she has done. I also Gabrielle Fairhead's blog interesting to read as she included photographs too which grabbed my attention.

I have redrafted sections of my profile in order to improve on it and try and help the target audience gage a better idea of me as a person. I began with the "Awards and Skills" section and decided to make it more personal than the formal bullet points by adding my interests and personal skills as well as events I have taken part in.......

"As well as dancing I have always taken a great interest in choreography. I am a social person with good communication skills and really enjoy working with other people. I also enjoy creating new things from specific ideas. I entered the English National Ballet School choreography competition and won 1st prize with a piece I did called "Your Loss" based on the four stages of grief. The audience really enjoyed this piece as many felt the could relate to it well. Also when taking my National Diploma in Professional Dance I based my final project on choreography. This involved me creating a piece for my fellow students to perform at a performance with a paying public audience. The process of this was a big highlight for me as I enjoyed creating something on others and seeing the development of both my creation and their work.
I have worked in promotion before which I enjoyed as I am an outgoing person and enjoy meeting new people. I have also worked with children which I loved and helped to organise fundraising events to raise money for charities such as breast cancer research. In fact when thinking about the future after dance event organising is something I have taken an interest in as I am a naturally organised person and really enjoy helping others."

I think this revised section makes me come across more humane in my profile and less like a computer ticking boxes. I do however know when sending a CV of to a director of a dance company for example (which is primarily who I have sent my CV off to) they have so many to look through. Usually a CV in such a situation is a way of choosing people for an invited audition. Maybe having this paragraph actually makes them less likely to read it as it is less easy to scan through? What are your thoughts? Would you be inclined to read this extra paragraph over the previous bullet points? Especially if you had several applicants for the one job?