How to write a strong Otta profile
We know how time-consuming it is to craft a great application, especially when it's for a role you are excited about. This article provides some top tips that should help you stand out.
Thousands of applications have been made on Otta, so we've been able to see what works to secure an interview. We've included the tips that make the most difference.
This article was originally posted by Otta, which is now called Welcome to the Jungle.
• 13 min read
Read a few examples of completed profiles
We've collected a few anonymised profiles, to help you see what good looks like.
Consider the hiring manager's mindset
Your Otta profile will be read by a hiring manager. They often have hundreds of candidates to consider, and therefore you need to tell a really crisp and concise story. Sometimes you only have 60 seconds of their attention to impress them!
When you've finished writing your profile, read it through carefully and ask yourself 'does this demonstrate that I'm a good fit?'.
A few quick tips:
A hiring manager isn't looking for a complete overview of your work history. Instead they want to know the most relevant and important details
Focus your efforts on more recent roles. You should be giving the most detail for roles you've had in the last 1-3 years
If you find yourself writing more than 6 bullet points for each of your work experiences, you're likely giving too much detail
Focus on impact when writing your bullet points
When writing about your work experience, we recommend you focus your bullet points on impact (what you achieved).
Three steps to writing great bullet points
Start each bullet point with an active verb in the past tense. This helps you write concisely
Add enough detail to show off your skills, and give the hiring manager context
Include the impact of your work. Using numbers (e.g. increase of 5%) can help showcase your achievements
Here is an example of a strong bullet point:
Completed a series of A/B tests to optimise the onboarding form. Developed a dashboard with data sourced from Google Analytics, which showed a 17% increase in form completion
In comparison, here is an example of a weaker bullet point:
I was part of a team that worked on the onboarding form with my team to make it easier for customers
It will take practice and iteration to make each bullet point effective, but we believe it's worth it!
Include the most important skills in your bullet points
We've looked at hundreds of job adverts on Otta and collated the most common job requirements. Try to demonstrate the commonly required skills for the roles you're interested in:
Engineering
Backend Engineer
- Write software at scale (most commonly in Python, Go, Java, Ruby, JavaScript)
- Understand trade-offs between business impact and technical robustness
- Work with with modern cloud architectures (e.g. AWS and GCP)
- Articulate what you're working on and why in a clear and structured way
- Advocate for clean code and best practices
- Strong understanding of system design, data structures and algorithms
DevOps & Infrastructure
- Secure, architectect, and scale cloud environments (e.g. AWS, GCP, Azure)
- Build and improve workflows and processes, and monitor the effectiveness of existing processes and tools
- Explain complex technical architectures to those less fluent
- Practical experience of operating Docker and Kubernetes in production
- Know how to prevent disasters from happening, and react well when they eventually happen anyway
- Understand the software engineering life cycle, including design, architecture, test automation, deployment automation, monitoring and alerting
Engineering Management
- Encourage a healthy work environment that's both supportive and high performance, helping teammates do their best work
- Recruit great people to your teams and improve hiring practices
- Work with product, design and engineering teams to support them in defining and delivering functional goals
- Enough technical sense to ask engineers good questions about architecture and product decisions
- Take ownership and thrive on a high level of autonomy and responsibility
Frontend Engineer
- Experience with modern front-end technologies (e.g. React, Redux)
- Collaborate with product managers, designers and backend developers to deliver great experiences for users
- Balance delivering code that provides an excellent customer experience with working in a fast-paced startup environment
- Strong sense of design, understanding the importance of crafting a superior UX
- Customer-first approach to product development
Full-stack Engineer
- Work on both backend (e.g. Go, Python, Java) and frontend code (e.g. React, Angular, JavaScript)
- Think deeply about the user with a passion for building things people enjoy to use
- Understand trade-offs between technical robustness and business impact
- Work closely with product managers and designers to deliver features end-to-end
- Explain highly technical subjects to diverse audiences
- Balance the need for tested and resilient code against the need to move fast and iterate
Game Engineer
- Use Unity or C# to produce games, with high test coverage
- Care deeply about player experience, with patience for fine-tuning features
- Understand the full QA cycle when launching a game, and beyond to post-release support and developing updates
- Work closely with product managers and designers to deliver features end-to-end
- Optimise for frame rate, hitching, load time, memory usage and storage space
- Knowledge of 3D modelling, sketching and game rendering
Mobile Engineer
- Create highly scalable, performant apps (e.g. in Swift, Kotlin, Objective-C)
- Understand trade-offs between technical robustness and business impact
- Care about product design and user experience, including an understanding of iOS/Android interface guidelines
- Work closely with product managers and designers to deliver features end-to-end
- Explain highly technical subjects to diverse audiences
- Balance the need for tested and resilient code against the need to move fast and iterate
QA & Testing Engineer
- Write automated tests in programming languages (e.g. JavaScript, Python)
- Review design specifications and define appropriate testing strategies
- Create and maintain an automated build-and-test environment (e.g. Jenkins)
- Make trade-offs between test quality and providing coverage
- Explain complex technical issues across the engineering organisation
Sales & Solutions Engineer
- Present to a highly skilled and experienced audience (including enterprise architects and C-level executives)
- Communicate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Analyse requirements, create specifications and work with engineering teams to implement solutions
- Strong focus on solving problems for customers, and tying business problems to technical solutions
- Knowledge of programming languages (e.g. building web apps) and databases
Security Engineer
- Communicate clearly both technical and non-technical topics
- Perform security testing and cyber security audits
- Strong understanding of network and operating system security techniques
- Take a risk-based approach when driving the security roadmap
- Implement systems for monitoring and threat mitigation
- Experience of programming (e.g. Python, Java, Go) and running services in Kubernetes and Docker
Operations & Sales
Customer Service & Support
- Great verbal, written and general communication skills. Able to communicate complex concepts simply
- Motivated to solve customer issues and have empathy when dealing with sensitive situations
- Organised, process-driven and comfortable working to tight deadlines
- Experience using live chat software (e.g. Intercom), and CRM tools (e.g. Zendesk)
- Maintain a positive and professional demeanor in challenging situations
- Interest in learning new things and comfortable working in a changing environment
Customer Success & Accounts
- Great verbal, written and general communication skills. Able to communicate complex concepts simply
- Organised and enthusiastic people-person. Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to manage challenging situations and customers
- Manage relationships and provide great experience to clients at a variety of levels and backgrounds
- Expertise in relationship management, with a strong understanding of sales processes
- Understand client requirements, develop and guide their thinking
Enterprise Sales
- Structure complex deals with large organisations and negotiate contracts
- Navigate the sales cycle from business partner to the C-level executive
- Expertly and persuasively tell a compelling story and own the room
- Self-sufficient and target-driven, with a track-record of meeting and exceeding quotas
- Build trust and rapport with senior management
- Talk to clients, problem solve, understand their requirements and deliver a great solution
Operations Manager & Strategy
- Comfortable with strategic thinking and making operational decisions to deliver impact
- Craft compelling narratives to influence senior executives, colleagues and customers
- Break complex problems into smaller ones, and approach problems with creativity
- Analyse data (e.g. Excel, SQL) and create models to identify actionable insights and put forward a business case
- Manage multiple projects across the business and be decisive without perfect information
- Personable and care genuinely about helping colleagues and customers succeed
Partnerships
- Develop relationships with senior and C-level stakeholders
- Identify opportunities for partners to leverage new and existing products
- Present clearly to partners and be comfortable talking through complex topics
- Commercially-minded and know how to maximise the value of a potential deal
- Strong analytical skills to develop regular reporting on partnerships and sales trends
- Target-driven and able to deliver against short-term goals and long-term strategies
Sales & Business Development
- Communicate with senior stakeholders and clients
- Negotiate and close clients based on trust and active listening
- Achievement-oriented and motivated to meet targets
- Follow a strong, repeatable and reliable sales methodology
- Analyse sales metrics to help manage your pipeline and plan for success (e.g. using Salesforce or another CRM)
- Strong ability to develop relationships, and you care deeply about client experience
Marketing
Content Marketing
- Knowledge of what makes great storytelling across all digital channels
- Exceptional verbal and written communication skills
- Creative thinker who can translate strategic and marketing needs into campaigns (direct response concepts, direct mail and email marketing)
- Online and social media fluency (ecommerce, websites, blogs, etc.)
- Multitask, adapt and prioritise under tight deadlines
- Understanding of digital publishing and SEO
CRM
- Secure, architectect, and scale cloud environments (e.g. AWS, GCP, Azure)
- Build and improve workflows and processes, and monitor the effectiveness of existing processes and tools
- Explain complex technical architectures to those less fluent
- Practical experience of operating Docker and Kubernetes in production
- Know how to prevent disasters from happening, and react well when they eventually happen anyway
- Understand the software engineering life cycle, including design, architecture, test automation, deployment automation, monitoring and alerting
Generalist Marketing
- Adapt approach and messaging to different customer personas
- Use analytical skills to optimise investment and maximise campaign effectiveness
- Manage expectations with internal stakeholders (especially sales, finance)
- Define and own growth KPIs, set metrics for success and lead marketing prioritisation
- Strong understanding of key marketing metrics (e.g. LTV, CPC)
- Know how to get the best out of third-party marketing agencies
Performance Marketing
- Analyse data (using Excel, Python or SQL) to make effective recommendations
- Run successful paid social (e.g. Twitter, Facebook) or paid search (e.g. Google Adwords, Bing) campaigns from end-to-end
- Come up with imaginative ideas to test, based on a strong understanding of users and the product
- Work with engineering, marketing and design teams to make your ideas a reality
- Optimise creatives, landing pages and marketing messaging
- Knowledge of technical SEO best practices and optimisations
PR & Communications
- Strong understanding of the media landscape in the UK (regionally, nationally and industry-specific)
- Build and maintain relationships a network in the media industry (journalists, influencers)
- Communicate clearly with stakeholders of all levels
- Think creatively and have the ability to translate strategy into creative ideas
- Natural storyteller, with the ability to create newsworthy opportunities and write compelling press releases
- Manage multiple projects at once, balancing both breadth and detail
Product Marketing
- Present the voice of the user, and champion user needs among competing priorities
- Use metrics to define differentiated product positioning and talk about the outcomes of your strategies
- Write copy that is precise, persuasive and ready for consumer or business audiences
- Coordinate multiple stakeholders (especially in sales, marketing and product)
- Distill complex products into easily understandable information
Social Media & Community
- Understand social media ecosystems such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Pinterest
- Find compelling ways to tell stories to users (especially long-form blog articles and social media posts)
- Understand marketing tools (such as Google Analytics) to report on your campaigns
- Provide the voice of the community and share feedback with the team
- Manage multiple priorities, campaigns and audiences
Data
Data Analysis & BI
- Problem solving and analytical skills: can understand a problem, break it down and execute to provide the answer
- Experience with BI tools (e.g. Looker, Tableau, Mixpanel, Google Analytics)
- Work with large datasets (e.g. using Excel, SQL, Python, R)
- Synthesise data to drive actionable insights for Product and Operations teams
- Clearly communicate analysis to stakeholders at different levels (internal and external)
Data Engineer
- Data warehouse design and modelling techniques
- Work with large datasets and workflow optimisation
- Experience with BI tools (e.g. Looker, Tableau)
- Present insights to technical and non-technical audiences and propose actionable solutions
- Commercial cloud platform experience (e.g. AWS, GCP, Azure)
Data Scientist
- Strong analytical skills (e.g. Python, SQL, R, Excel)
- Manipulate, transform, and analyse complex data at large scales to solve business problems
- Evolve an idea from inception to robust and scalable implementation
- Communicate effectively, with an innate ability to tell stories with data
- Understand the business inside-out so you know how to best add value
- Strong attention to detail, natural curiosity with ability to problem-solve creatively
Research Engineer
- Develop and deploy software in a production environment (especially in Python)
- Use ML and data science libraries (e.g. pandas, scikit-learn, Tensorflow)
- Follow an ML workflow: prepare the data, implement and train ML models, evaluate results
- Solve problems creatively and devise new approaches to reach results
- Work with large data sets, and leverate multiple data sources
Finance, Legal & Compliance
Accounting & Financial Planning
- Have, or working towards, an accountancy qualification (e.g. ACA, CPA, CIMA)
- Methodical and organised, with great attention to detail and ability to multitask
- Implement and develop financial processes (e.g. monthly reconciliation)
- Analyse data to extract insights and present clear business cases (e.g. financial KPIs)
- Quantitative, analytical and problem-solving skills (e.g. financial modelling)
Compliance
- Communicate complex ideas in a simple fashion
- Good judgement, integrity, and action-oriented approach
- Respond to changing priorities while working to strict deadlines with accuracy
- Strong knowledge of the regulatory environment in your sector
- Build relationships and influence stakeholders across the business
Corporate Finance
- Manage financial projects on tight timeframes through to execution (e.g. fundraising, debt raises)
- Structure complex problems and drive to persuasive and actionable recommendations
- Strong financial modelling, communication and presentation skills (e.g. Excel, Google Sheets, PowerPoint)
- Manage investor relationships (e.g. VCs, banks, asset managers, hedge funds)
- Build relationships across the organisation, particularly with senior management
- Data-driven, analytical and detail oriented
Legal
- Review, draft and negotiate contracts of all types (from internal policies to complex commercial transactions)
- Find the right legal solution while being pragmatic and commercial
- Meticulous and vigilant, with a strong attention to detail
- Balance and prioritise a large workload while working to strict deadlines
- Work directly with senior management and build relationships with other stakeholders (e.g. investors, clients)
Product
Product Analyst
- Work cross-functionally to make a clear business case and convince people to help you execute
- Track analytics with tools (e.g. Google Analytics, Mixpanel and Looker)
- Distill and explain complex problems and analyses in simple terms
- Data-driven approach to test hypotheses and glean user insights
- Analytical and quantitative skills (e.g. revenue forecasts, pricing models)
- Bias to solving problems and taking ownership
Product Management
- Work cross-functionally (especially with engineering and product design) and influence key stakeholders
- Track analytics with tools (e.g. Google Analytics, Mixpanel and Looker)
- Data-driven approach to add value to users (e.g. user feedback, A/B testing)
- Analytical and quantitative skills (e.g. revenue forecasts, pricing models)
- Prioritise the roadmap and run sprints to build software (e.g. planning sessions, retrospectives)
- Communicate by telling compelling stories and tailoring to the audience
User Research
- Synthesise data and research to tell compelling stories and make clear business recommendations
- Conduct end-to-end research (e.g. surveys and usability studies) and understand the rigour required for valid results
- Develop strong partnerships across the business (especially design and product managers)
- Present findings to senior stakeholders, and work with them to inform product decisions
- Empathetic and a great listener when speaking to users
Design
Graphic Design
- Work with design software (especially Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and After Effects)
- Communicate the rationale behind your designs
- Manage projects from end-to-end and manage changing demands
- Focus on customers and how they respond to the brand
- Think creatively and influence stakeholders to support your ideas
- Work with engineers to deliver email and web design (knowledge of HTML is a bonus)
Product Design (UI/UX)
- Work in a multidisciplinary team (with engineers, product managers and other designers)
- Articulate design decisions to influence a range of stakeholders
- Distill complex product challenges into workable solutions
- Use user-testing and knowledge of human behaviour to drive good design decisions
- Create prototypes using design software (e.g. Sketch, Figma)
- Strong visual design skills, and able to work with design systems (components and patterns)
People & HR
Executive Assistant
- Manage rapidly changing priorities, and stay focused on the highest leverage tasks
- Resourceful problem-solver and have a way of making the improbable happen
- Excellent communication skills. Equally comfortable supporting an external client meeting or having a chat by the coffee machine
- Strong organisational skills with high attention to detail (e.g. arranging meetings, travel, logistics)
- Work effectively with a variety of stakeholders with high emotional intelligence
Human Resources
- Personable and care genuinely about supporting colleagues and their projects
- Support managers to develop their teams, taking on the role as coach
- Maintain a high level of confidentiality surrounding sensitive information
- Build effective relationships with stakeholders across the business
- Use data (e.g. people surveys) to identify important trends and actionable insights to improve the employee experience
People Operations
- Strong ability to communicate with all levels of the organisation
- Work across multiple tasks and prioritise projects with many departments
- Have high emotional intelligence and build strong relationships with stakeholders
- Foster a work environment that is collaborative, friendly and effective
- Demonstrate warmth, kindness and a desire to help people
- Maintain a high level of confidentiality surrounding sensitive information
Recruitment
- Build strong working relationships at all levels within the organisation
- Strong communication skills to explain and pitch the business to candidates
- Use metrics to drive an efficient recruitment process (e.g. cost-per-hire and time-to-hire)
- Negotiate compensation packages and persuade candidates to accept an offer
- Passion for giving candidates an amazing experience
- Manage pipelines using ATS (e.g. Greenhouse, Workable)
Tech Recruitment
- Build strong working relationships at all levels within the organisation
- Speak the language of engineers and pitch them the opportunity, using your passion for technology
- Use metrics to drive an efficient recruitment process (e.g. cost-per-hire and time-to-hire)
- Negotiate compensation packages and persuade candidates to accept an offer
- Manage pipelines using ATS (e.g. Greenhouse, Workable)
- Passion for giving candidates an amazing experience
Admin & IT Support
Accounts & Payroll
- Experience with Excel, Google spreadsheets and accounting software
- Strong numerical and communication skills
- Work with a high level of accuracy and meet strict deadlines
- Organised and conscientious
- Great attention to detail
- Make connections and communicate across all parts of the business
Administration
- Excellent communication, teamwork, and interpersonal skills, with strong attention to detail
- Problem-solving and organisational skills (e.g. ability to multitask)
- Develops strong working relationships
- Strong computer skills (e.g. Microsoft Office, Google Docs, Slides & Sheets)
- Excellent written and spoken English
IT Support
- Manage IT environments (e.g. Office 365, G Suite, macOS) and handle support
- Happy to work on day-to-day IT issues (e.g. cabling desks, troubleshooting printers)
- Help colleagues solve problems over the phone, in person or via email/chat
- Improving IT processes on a regular basis, and automate where possible
- Plan and prioritise workload, whilst dealing with changing demands
Add as much detail as possible
When applying for a job, it can really pay off to spend 30-60 minutes putting your best foot forward. We give you a number of opportunities on your Otta profile to show why you're a strong candidate:
Projects - Projects allow you to show off interesting things you've done, and skills you've gained
Show your personality - We allow you to answer prompts like "I like to work with people who..." - these show the hiring manager about what you're like in an informal way
Interests - Adding 5-8 interests helps show your personality. Ideally you'll be happy talking about any for 5 minutes, don't write things just because you think it will make you look good!