A complete, accurate profile makes it much easier for the right companies to find and reach out to you. The more relevant and detailed your information, the better your chances of matching with roles that fit your skills, salary expectations and career goals.
Your profile on OfferZen is made up of these sections:
We’ve broken down each section below.
1. Personal Information
This section helps your talent advisor support you and makes it easier for companies to understand your background.
Full name
Enter your first name and surname as you’d like them to appear to companies.
Current location
Type and select the city and country where you currently live. This is used to match you with roles in the right time zone and location.
Cell number
Add a mobile number with the correct country code. Your talent advisor may use this to contact you during your job search.
WhatsApp number (Optional)
If you’d prefer updates via WhatsApp, add the number you use there. You can use the same number as your cell phone.
Additional links (Optional: Pick up to 4)
Use these to showcase your work.
LinkedIn: Paste the URL to your LinkedIn profile.
Github: Add your public GitHub profile or a relevant repo.
Personal website: Link to your portfolio, blog or personal website.
Link: Use this for any other relevant link (e.g. Stack Overflow, Behance, Kaggle). Click + add link to add more.
Make sure all links are public and up to date.
Notice period
Tell companies how soon you can realistically start.
Notice period length: Select your standard notice period (for example: “Immediate”, “2 weeks”, “1 month”).
Notice period type: Choose whether your notice runs from the beginning of calendar month or from the date of notice.
Conditions attached to current contract (Optional): This isn’t visible to companies but provides more context for your Talent Advisor and helps move discussions quickly. Add any extra info that might affect your start date, such as:
“Still in probation period”
“Fixed‑term contract ending in November”
“Need to complete handover on key project”
Experience summary
This area pulls data from your Work Experience section.
Current role: This is auto‑filled based on your most recent role. To change it, edit your Work Experience and update your roles there.
Years of experience in role: This is calculated based on the amount of years you’ve worked in your current type of role (e.g. “4+ years as a Backend Engineer”).
Overall experience: This is calculated automatically for you based on the total years of all of your past roles added up.
About
Use this space (up to 600 characters) to summarise who you are as a professional.
Highlight your key skills, domains or tech stack.
Mention 1-2 career highlights or achievements.
Optionally add a line about what motivates you or what you’re looking for next.
Example:
“I’m a backend engineer with 5+ years’ experience in Python and Go, mainly in fintech. I enjoy designing scalable APIs and improving performance. Recent highlight: Led a migration that reduced average response times by 40%. I’m looking for a role where I can take more ownership of architecture decisions.”
2. Job intent status
This section is private and not shared with companies. It helps your talent advisor understand how to support you.
Are you looking for a new job right now?
Choose one of the options that best describes your current situation:
“Yes, I’m looking for a new job and ready to interview”
“Not actively looking, but I’m ready to interview for interesting positions”
“Not sure yet, I’m looking to learn more about my options”
“No, I’m not looking to start a job search right now”
When would you like to start your job search? (Optional)
If you indicate that you’re not looking for a job right now, this section allows you to select a future date if you’re planning ahead (for example, after a bonus or project delivery). This helps us know when to reach out.
Why are you looking for a new job?
Choose the main reason from the dropdown (e.g. “Better work‑life balance”, “Career growth”, “Higher compensation”).
Would you like to expand on this? (Optional)
Use this text box to add helpful context such as:
“Looking to move into a more senior role with mentoring opportunities”
“Want to switch from agency work to product companies”
3. Salary
Current monthly salary (Cost to company)
This section is private and not shown to companies. It’s used to give you better salary advice and help you set realistic expectations.Enter your current total cost to company (CTC): This is your total monthly salary in Rand (ZAR) before any deductions – including benefits and tax. If you’re not currently employed, you can leave this blank.
Preferred monthly salary (Cost to company)
Enter the monthly CTC you’d like to earn in your next role.
This amount is used to match you to suitable roles.
If your preferred ZAR salary is above market for your role and experience, our salary guidance tool will give you feedback about how that influences our ability to match you to the right opportunities.
You can always negotiate salary during the interview and offer stages, so treat this as your guideline, not a final number.
Tip: If you’re unsure, review our salary guide and speak to your Talent Advisor for help setting a realistic range.
4. Work authorisation
This section explains where you can legally work and whether you need sponsorship.
Citizenship:
You’ll need to indicate where you are a citizen/passport holder and where you currently have permanent residence.
Country of work authorisation / Visa type
Select the country where you are currently authorised to work, and specify your visa type if applicable (for example: “Permanent resident”, “Critical Skills Visa”, “Student visa with work rights”).
Sponsorship needed
Indicate whether you would need visa sponsorship to work in other countries you’re open to. Be as accurate as possible so companies know what’s feasible.
You’ll be able to upload multiple supporting documents here to give as much context as possible.
5. Ideal next job
Use this section to define what “a great next role” looks like for you. This information is visible to companies and strongly influences your matches.
Career goals
In the text box, briefly describe your medium‑term goals.
Examples:
“I want to move into a staff‑level backend role where I can shape architecture and mentor other engineers.”
“I’d like to transition into data engineering from analytics, working with modern data stacks.”
Role preferences (max 5)
Use the dropdown to select or search for roles (e.g. “Backend Engineer”, “Data Scientist”, “Product Manager”).
For each role, select your years of experience in that role, then click + add role.
Add up to 5 roles you’d genuinely consider. Avoid selecting roles you’re not interested in just to get more matches.
Career transition (Optional)
If you’re changing paths, use this field to explain:
What you want to transition into (e.g. “Product Manager”)
What relevant experience you already have (e.g. “3 years as a developer closely collaborating with product teams”)
This helps companies understand why your background is still a good fit.
Employment type
Select all the types of employment you’re open to. Only choose options you would actually accept:
Permanent
Contract (min 3 months)
Freelance
Part‑time
Heads up: We don't currently support freelance or part-time work but we'll get in touch if suitable opportunities become available.
Location and workplace policy
How would you like to work?
Tick one or more:
100% Remote: You want to work fully remotely.
Hybrid: You’re happy to split time between home and office.
Office‑based: You want or are comfortable being on‑site full‑time.
Where should the company be based for in‑office work?
If you selected Hybrid or Office‑based, choose the cities you can reasonably commute to or relocate to (e.g. “Cape Town”, “Johannesburg”). You can add multiple locations.
Work environment (Optional, max 3)
Describe the type of workplace culture you prefer. Type and add your own descriptors (e.g. “Fast‑paced; Experiment‑driven; Cross‑functional”). Focus on what genuinely helps you do your best work.
Skills I want to work with (max 5)
Add the top skills or technologies you want to use in your next role:
Start typing a skill (e.g. “React”, “Python”, “AWS”) and select it.
Choose your years of experience with that skill.
Click + add skill.
Add up to 5 skills, prioritising the ones you want to work with most in your next role.
6. Work experience
Add each company you’ve worked for and the roles you’ve held there.
Company details
Enter the company’s name (and any extra context if needed, e.g. “ACME Labs - Fintech startup”).
You can add multiple roles under the same company.
Roles at this company
For each role:
Role: Your job title (e.g. “Senior Engineer”, “Data Analyst”).
Start date / End date: Select the dates you started and ended the role.
Tick “I currently work in this role” instead of adding an end date if it’s your current job.
Workplace policy: Choose whether this role was Remote, Hybrid or Office‑based.
Employment type: Select Permanent, Contract, or Freelance/Part‑time.
Description
Use this text box to describe what you did in this role:
3-6 bullet‑style sentences work well.
Focus on responsibilities, ownership and impact (e.g. “Designed and implemented REST APIs in Go, handling 2M+ requests/day.”).
Technical skills (max 10)
Add the key technologies and tools you used in this role:
Start typing to search (e.g. “React”, “PostgreSQL”, “Kubernetes”).
Pick the skills that best represent your day‑to‑day work.
Soft skills (Optional, max 5)
Add soft skills you actively used in this role, such as:
“People management”, “Stakeholder communication”, “Critical thinking”, “Mentoring”.
Link projects (Optional)
If you’ve added projects in the Projects section, you can link the ones you worked on in this role here. This helps companies see concrete examples attached to each job.
Repeat this process for each company and role, then click Done.
7. Projects
Use projects to showcase practical work: Personal, open‑source, freelance, academic or professional.
For each project:
Project title
Give your project a clear, descriptive name.
Start date / End date (Optional)
Add dates if they help show recency or duration.
Company name (Optional)
If the project was done for a specific employer or client, add their name here.
Link to work experience (Optional)
Connect the project to the relevant role in your Work Experience section, if applicable.
Project details
The more detail you add, the stronger your profile:
Description: Summarise what the project is about and what it does.
Problem: Briefly explain the problem you were trying to solve.
Impact: Describe the results or value of the project (e.g. “Reduced data processing time from 2 hours to 10 minutes”).
AI usage in this project
If you used AI:
Tick “I used AI in this project”.
Under “How did you use AI in this project?” select all that apply:
I used AI in my process: AI helped with coding, reviews, testing or workflows.
I built an AI feature: You implemented features powered by AI models, APIs, or agents.
I built AI infrastructure: You set up data pipelines, model plumbing, or infrastructure for AI.
Then use the text area “Describe what you actually did with AI in this project.” to:
Mention specific tools, models, or platforms used.
Explain how AI changed your workflow or the project outcome.
Heads up: This links to the AI fluency section of your profile.
Skills (Max 10)
Add the main skills and technologies involved in the project.
Media attachments (Optional)
Upload supporting material (up to 10MB):
Screenshots, diagrams, or other visuals (JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF).
Additional links (Optional)
Github: Link to the repo if it can be shared.
Demo URL: Add links to demos or videos (YouTube, Vimeo, or Loom).
Use + Add link for extra relevant URLs.
Add as many projects as you need, then click Done.
8. AI Fluency [Beta]
This section lets you describe your hands-on experience and mindset with AI tools and technologies and you can choose whether to make it visible to companies.
How you use AI
Pick the option that most applies to you (you can only select one):
I use AI in my process: You use AI for everyday tasks such as coding, reviews, testing, documentation or planning.
I build AI features: You create features powered by AI models, APIs or agents (e.g. recommendations, content generation).
I build AI infrastructure: You work on data pipelines, vector stores, orchestration, or other infrastructure for AI systems.
I’m early in my AI journey and learning: You’re experimenting with tutorials or small projects to build your skills.
Summarise your AI experience and mindset
Use this text box to describe:
Which AI tools you use (e.g. ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, open‑source models).
What you’ve built or supported.
How you think about using AI responsibly in your work.
Projects and learning
Projects where you marked “I used AI in this project” will automatically appear here.
You can also link:
Work experience: Roles where AI was a key part of your work.
Learning and innovation: Internal initiatives or experiments.
Courses: AI/ML or related courses you’ve completed.
Which areas of AI raise caution for you, and why?
Use this space to mention:
Any privacy, ethics, or bias concerns you pay attention to.
How you handle sensitive data when using AI tools.
Things you actively do to use AI responsibly in your work.
9. Education
Add your degrees, diplomas, bootcamps or other formal qualifications.
Include the institution, qualification name, field of study and dates.
Add relevant short courses or certifications, especially those linked to your ideal next job or AI skills.
You can also now add any conferences and speak opportunities you’ve had and what role you had there (ie. organiser, speaker, etc)
Under innovation and learning you can now add topics that you’re actively exploring and learning more about.
10. Diversity and Inclusion
This section is private and not visible to companies. It helps OfferZen support fair and inclusive hiring and understand diversity across the marketplace. All fields are optional.
You can choose to share:
Pronouns: e.g. she/her, he/him, they/them, or describe another set.
Gender identity: Select the option that best describes you, or describe another identity.
Neurodiversity: Indicate if you are neurodivergent (e.g. ADHD, autism, dyslexia) and optionally add more context.
Ethnic or cultural background: Select all that apply and/or describe another background.
Disabilities or accessibility needs: Share any adjustments or support you might need during interviews or at work.
Additional information: Anything else about your identity or needs that feels important for us to know.
You can update or remove this data at any time.
11. Blocked companies
Use this to protect your privacy if needed.
Company name
Type and select any companies you want to block from seeing your profile (for example, your current employer or affiliated companies). Your profile will not be visible to the companies you list here.
12. Supporting documents
You can upload any other relevant documents here that can help give your Talent Advisor extra context to help you in your job search.