Perfect your CV with these tips!
By Hayley from Jobulo
Most employers will look at a CV for around 20 seconds before deciding whether to read on or not. So if you are currently applying for jobs and sending your CV out, that doesn’t leave you with much time to try and impress a prospective boss!
Your personal statement usually sits at the top of your CV and is one of the first sections an employer will read. So it’s important to get this section right if you want to grab an employer’s attention and entice them to read your entire CV.
What Is a Personal Statement?
Your personal statement is a few lines of text that introduces your expertise, career background and career motivations. A personal statement can give an employer a snapshot of you as a candidate. Read out more and find out how to write a personal statement perfectly.
What to Include in a Personal Statement:
#1 Your Current Situation
One of your opening lines in a personal statement should be about your current employment situation. An employer should automatically be able to see your current role – whether you’ve just left education or have an established role. For example: “I have recently graduated from university with a degree in Business Management.”
How it should look like
#2 Your Expertise
Your personal statement needs to clearly outline your expertise and work experience. You should briefly explain your experience and strengths so an employer can quickly ascertain whether you have the right qualifications and skills to fulfil the role. For example: “I have gained experience working for a number of high-profile hospitality clients, which has enabled me to gain strong customer service and sales skills.”
#3 Why You Are Looking for a New Role
And lastly you need to outline why you are looking for a new role. This is crucial as most employers want to know career motivations and your career goals. Don’t go into too much detail here – save that for your career objective. But it’s a good idea to give an employer an idea of your motivations for moving on. For example: “I am now looking to further develop my skills in a large organisation that can offer me more career development.”
Try not to look too furstrated
When writing your personal statement remember to keep it brief – a few lines of text is sufficient. It’s not designed to tell your entire career history or to tell an employer the exact reasons why you’re interested in working for them; it’s designed to give an employer a snapshot of you as a candidate. Hopefully this snapshot, supported by the rest of your CV and cover letter, is enough for the employer to want to find out more and invite you to a job interview. We’ve prepared some great examples of personal statements within our CV tips pages, if you’re struggling to get started taking a look at these may help get the creativity flowing.
Good luck!
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You may also want to check out the 5 reasons why your CV design is really important.
