How to Write a
Personal Statement
A four-part framework for writing a CV personal statement that gets read — with real before/after examples for experienced professionals, graduates, and career changers.
2025 · 7 min read · CV, job applications, and university
The four-part personal statement framework
Before vs. after: real personal statement examples
“I am a software engineer with over 8 years of experience in various technologies. I am hardworking and passionate about building great products and working in collaborative teams.”
“Senior software engineer with 8 years' experience building distributed backend systems at scale. Specialise in Go, Kubernetes, and event-driven architecture. At [Company], led the migration of core payment processing to a microservices architecture, reducing latency by 40%. Seeking a Staff or Principal role at a product-led company solving infrastructure or fintech problems at scale.”
“Motivated and creative marketing professional seeking an exciting opportunity to grow my career in a dynamic company. Strong communication skills and a passion for digital marketing.”
“Performance marketing manager with 3 years' experience in paid social and SEO for DTC e-commerce brands. Managed £800K annual paid media budget, achieving 3.2× ROAS. Experienced with Meta Ads, Google Performance Max, and Klaviyo. Looking to move into a Head of Growth or Senior Marketing Manager role at a Series A–C brand.”
“Experienced finance professional looking to transition into product management. Eager to bring my analytical skills and business acumen to a new challenge in the tech industry.”
“Finance analyst (3 years, investment banking) transitioning into product management. Experience in financial modelling, stakeholder management across 12+ client engagements, and data-driven decision-making at scale. Recently completed the PM School certification. Targeting junior to mid PM roles in fintech or B2B SaaS where financial domain expertise is a differentiator.”
Common questions
What is a personal statement on a CV?
A personal statement (also called a CV profile or professional summary) is a 3–5 sentence paragraph at the top of your CV that summarises who you are professionally, what you specialise in, and what you're looking for. It's the first thing a recruiter reads. A strong personal statement is specific to the type of role you're targeting, uses exact keywords from the job description, and leads with your most impressive credential or achievement. A weak one is generic: 'I am a motivated team player seeking a challenging opportunity.'
How long should a personal statement be for a job application?
For a CV personal statement: 3–5 sentences, 50–100 words. Long enough to establish your specialisation and value proposition, short enough for a recruiter to read in 10 seconds. For a cover letter (which is different from a CV personal statement): 3–4 paragraphs, under 350 words. Never exceed one page for a cover letter. For university applications (UCAS): up to 4,000 characters (approximately 600 words). University personal statements have specific formatting requirements that differ significantly from job application personal statements.
What should I include in a personal statement?
A job application personal statement should include: (1) Your professional identity in 3–6 words ('Senior product manager with 8 years in B2B SaaS' or 'Data engineer specialising in real-time ML pipelines'), (2) One or two specific skills or specialisations most relevant to the role, (3) A brief statement of what you bring (impact-focused, not duty-focused), and (4) Optionally, what you're looking for in your next role. What to exclude: generic traits ('hardworking', 'passionate', 'team player'), anything unprovable, and information that belongs in the experience section.
Should my personal statement be in first or third person?
For a CV personal statement in the UK and Australia: traditionally third person was standard. In 2025, first person is increasingly accepted and often reads more naturally and authentically. For US resumes: first person without the pronoun is standard — 'Led a team of 12…' not 'I led…' For cover letters globally: first person. If in doubt, check examples from the specific industry you're targeting — some fields (law, academia) remain more traditional.
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