Most candidates struggle to write a personal statement for their CV, but it doesn’t have to be as difficult as you may think. The perfect personal statement is fairly short and straight to the point, and most importantly, relevant to the job that you are applying for. When writing your personal statement, be sure to break it down into these three sections:
1 – Introduce yourself: Are you a graduate? Where from, and what did you study? Perhaps you’ve been working as a Marketing Coordinator for the last 4 years? That would make you ‘A proficient Marketing Coordinator with 4 years’ experience…’
2 – Tell the recruiter what skills you can bring with you: Would you say you have excellent communication skills? I’ll bet you could use those to increase sales and obtain new customers. Remember to keep these skills relevant to the job you are applying for.
3 – Your career goal: What sort of role are you currently looking for? Personalise this to match the job you are applying for to make yourself look like the ideal candidate.
Remember, your covering letter is used to go into more detail about your skillset and experience, so your personal statement doesn’t need to be very long.
Now that you’re ready to write a perfect personal statement, here are a few more tips to consider:
- It doesn’t matter whether you use first or third person, but once you’ve chosen one, stick to it, or your statement will be confusing to read.
- Separate your statement from everyone else’s out there by avoiding clichés. Recruiters are tired of reading CVs from ‘great team players’.
- Use the job description you are looking at as a guide, but don’t simply copy & paste the wording, show some creativity.
- Keep to the point. Your ideal statement should be between 100-200 words.
- Proofread your statement more than once, and ask a family member or friend to do the same. You should also read it out loud to be sure that it flows well.