How to Write a Personal Statement

There are a range of personal statement types, such as applying for a university and applying for a job, in which they both require a different approach. Although they do both share something in common, which is making the reader actually read the statement.

Here are some of SF Recruitments’s top tips to consider when writing a personal statement for your CV:

What is a personal statement?

A personal statement is the very first thing you write on your CV. It is a brief summary of yourself and will help employers to give a first impression on you and decide whether you stand out from the competition.

Why do I need a personal statement?

Having a personal statement gives you the opportunity to sell yourself to the employer and helps you to get across the skills you have and can give to the company. A personal statement is definitely one of the most important parts of your CV and making sure it is well written can give some assurance that the application won’t be rejected.

How long should a personal statement be?

Ideally, your personal statement should be no more than around 150 words (or four or five lines of your CV). If anymore than this it could seem off-putting and would take up too much valuable space. So keeping it short and sweet will look more professional and straight to the point.

What should it say?

Most personal statements will try and answer the following questions:

• Who are you?
• What can you offer?
• What are you aiming for in your career?

When drafting your personal statement try and do bullet points with answers to these questions as a guideline. This will give you inspiration, as well as using the actual job description for the role you are applying for, so you can tailor your personal statement to this.

For example, if in the job description it says that they are looking for a candidate who has AAT qualification, and you have this qualification make sure this is something you make aware of in your personal statement.

What tense should it be written in?

It can be written in either first or third person, as long as you ensure you make it consistent throughout.

How long should I spend writing my personal statement?

You should always make sure a new personal statement is written when applying for a new job, as you will need to ensure it is tailored to the specific job. This may seem time consuming, however the longer you spend on the personal statement the better it will seem and this will show to the recruiter.