CV Personal Statement: How to Write a Personal Statement for a CV

What is a CV personal statement?

A CV personal statement is a short paragraph or set of bullet points at the top of your CV that summarises your work-related achievements, qualifications, and skills. A personal statement is sometimes called a CV personal profile or opening statement.

When you write your personal statement, you can either,

• write a three to four sentence paragraph to describe yourself
• use four or five short bullet points (to make it more readable)

The goal of a personal statement on your CV is to give employers an at-a-glance overview of your biggest professional strengths and selling points.

Do I need a personal statement on my CV?

Yes, you need a personal statement on your CV. Although a personal statement isn’t compulsory, it gives your CV a competitive advantage by emphasising your most hirable qualities in a place employers can easily see.

CV personal statement examples

Looking for inspiration about how to write a CV personal statement that highlights your relevant skills and experience? Check out these personal statement for CV examples:

Graduate CV personal statement

Recent PPE graduate (Cantab) with 1 year’s experience as President of University of Cambridge Howard League Society. Achieved 47% growth in new members of society over 12 months. Seeking to apply my people skills to help Greenpeace add new members and increase donations.

Teaching assistant personal statement for CV

Personable teaching assistant with 7+ years of experience in the classroom. Recognised for ability to help pupils with special needs prepare for KS2 SATs, with all to date gaining ‘AS’ outcomes. Hoping to bring an exceptional standard of support to teachers at Green Lane Primary School.

Customer service CV profile

Friendly and hardworking customer service representative with 2 years of experience helping customers resolve their issues. Received 100% client satisfaction rate in 2020. Upselling skills led 17% of customers to switch to Royal Bank of Scotland’s ‘Reward Black’ credit card. Seeking to apply my customer service skills to satisfy Yorkshire Building Society’s customers and boost revenue.

Career change CV personal statement

Creative graphic designer with 12 years of experience. Boast excellent interpersonal skills that allow me to create clients’ desired graphics. Hope to transfer my creative talent, people skills, and experience giving friends makeovers to become a makeup artist at Clarins.

How to write a CV personal statement

Struggling to write your personal statement? Reviewing the above examples, and then follow these tips:

Content

When you’re writing your CV, here’s how to write a paragraph-format personal statement:

Sentence 1 — Professional experience

In the first sentence of your personal statement, outline your professional experience and key traits. For example, if you’ve got three years of experience as a barista, note that information here:

Hardworking barista with 3 years of experience in a customer-facing role.

If you haven’t got any formal work experience so far, mention your highest level of education and any placements you’ve had instead:

Motivated sixth form leaver with four A-Levels and a week’s work experience at HSBC in Darlington.

Sentence 2 — Skills and accomplishments

In your second sentence, expand on the key skills on your CV that are applicable for the job. If possible, also mention any noteworthy achievements from previous positions that are relevant to the job you’re applying for.

For example, the second sentence of a personal statement written by a candidate applying for a call centre representative role might say:

Skilled at resolving customer complaints with a 100% client satisfaction rate.

Note how you can add hard numbers (‘100%’). Adding numbers to your CV personal statement puts your achievements in context, and lets employers see what kind of performance you’ll be capable of if they hire you.

Add an extra sentence if you’d like to give even more details about your achievements and capabilities or provide information regarding any special trade licences you have.

Sentence 3 — Career objective

The final sentence of your CV should summarise your present career goal. Use the company’s name and the job title here to show the employer you’ve tailored your CV to the role.

Tailoring your CV to the position shows you’ve taken into account the company’s needs, and aren’t just sending your CV to every company with vacancies.

Here’s an ideal final sentence for a retail position at River Island:

Seeking to apply my unrivalled interpersonal skills and provide customers with great service in the retail assistant role at River Island.

If you’re writing a bullet-point list for your CV personal statement, you can include four to five bullets that each describes one of your achievements, skills, or qualification. A bullet-point list is especially effective for experienced candidates who have several years of success to point to.

The structure of a good personal statement

A good personal statement (also known as a CV personal profile) is three to four sentences long. You can also use between four and five bullet points instead.

Here’s what a personal statement of the right length looks like on a CV:

Your personal statement should use the same CV font as the rest of the document. Use a professional font like Times New Roman, Arial, or Helvetica throughout your CV.

In your CV personal statement, avoid using first person (“I”). Not using “I” sounds more professional, as you can see:

You can also use a bulleted personal statement. Bullet points are more scannable because they’re shorter and each one starts on a new line: