How to write a Personal Statement for your resume (with examples)
Learn to write a strong professional summary for your resume. Get inspired by our personal statement examples and make writing your resume's profile section simple.
Want to get more job interviews? The easiest way to get a recruiter's attention is with a strong personal statement at the top of your resume.
Research has shown that recruiters look at resumes for an average of only 7.4 seconds. It's crucial that you make the summary count.
The personal statement's purpose is to highlight key skills and experience which match the job's requirements. It should be a brief (1-3 sentence) summary of what you can offer.
This is your elevator pitch - a short, confident summary that tells a potential employer who you are and what you do.
It should sit right at the top of your resume, just below your contact information.
What is a personal statement?
A personal statement gives the hiring manager a brief overview of your skills, achievements, and experience without them having to read your resume in detail.
Experience: Your job title and years of experience.
Skills: Key technical and/or workplace skills that are relevant to the role. Bonus points if you copy the exact wording from the job description.
Achievements: 1-2 measurable results or major successes from a recent role.
Most professionals should aim for 1-2 sentences. This section needs to be easily scanned. If you're an executive, then 3-5 sentences is acceptable.
We have examples below to help guide your writing of your summary.
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How long should a personal statement be?
Your professional summary should be short. The best length is 1-2 sentences and no more than 3 lines of text on the page.
If you're applying for a senior leadership role, this can be extended to 3-5 sentences, particularly if you've been headhunted.
Why do I need a personal statement?
Many applicants fail to include a professional summary on their resume, which is generally a mistake.
Why is it a mistake not to include a personal statement?
You want to get the hiring manager's attention straight away
You make the recruiter's life easier by summarising your experience
Recruiters and hiring managers are busy. Recruiters can look through over 100 resumes each day just to find a few suitable applications.
This unfortunately means that they'll often take shortcuts. Recruiters scan resumes for keywords that match the job description. You make their lives much easier by including those keywords right at the top of your resume in a summary.
How to write a personal statement
Although this resume section goes at the top of your resume, it's actually easier to write it last. After you've completed the rest of your resume sections, you'll have a better understanding of your key skills and experience.
Start with your experience. Include your job title, years of experience, and area of expertise (if it's not clear from the job title). This helps hiring managers immediately understand your background.
Choose the skills and achievements worth highlighting. Pick 2-4 key selling points. Focus on the ones that best match the job description.
Focus on results. Don't just say what you did, show them what you achieved.
Use numbers where possible. This quantifies your results. Use percentages, sales figures, budgets you owned, team size you managed. Saying "managed a team of 10" is stronger than "managed a team".
Tailor it to the job description. Read the job advert and directly copy the phrasing they've used to describe the key skills and experience they're looking for. This also helps if the employer is using an Applicant Tracking System to screen resumes.
Most importantly, keep it short and to the point.
Personal Statement examples for common careers
Here are some professional summary examples to help inspire your own resume writing.
Personal statement example for software engineer 🧑💻
Android Engineer with 4 years' experience at J.P. Morgan. Fluent with Kotlin and the Android SDK and experienced with Jetpack Compose.
This immediately tells a recruiter that you have the experience and skills to be interviewed for any Android engineering roles. It also demonstrates that you have banking sector experience, which would be of particular interest to companies in the financial services industry.
Personal statement example for retail
Customer-focused Sales Assistant with 3 years' experience. Adept at forming trusting relationships with customers and upselling products or services. I had 32% more sales than the average employee in my last role.
Straight away you make it clear how much retail experience you have and demonstrate that you outperformed other employees in your latest job.
Personal statement example for customer service
Customer Service professional with a track record of increasing service quality levels and sales over the last 5 years. In my last role, my ability to settle disputes and make customers feel comfortable led to a 94% customer satisfaction score.
Personal statement example for nursing and care workers 🧑⚕️
Care worker with 4 years' experience in the health care sector. Thorough knowledge of residential care guidelines and specialist training in caring for individuals with mental health problems.
Personal statement example for truck drivers 🚛
Delivery Driver with 3 years' experience operating heavy goods vehicles. Hold the full Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and have a strong knowledge of major highways.
Personal statement example for warehouse workers
Warehouse Operative with 2 years' experience in shipping, receiving freight, and picking and pulling stock. Strong knowledge of health and safety requirements and experienced with forklift equipment and training new staff.
Personal statement example for construction workers 👷
Laborer with 8 years' experience in the construction industry. Trained to safely operate and maneuver a range of heavy-duty construction equipment.
Personal statement example for graduates 🧑🎓
Economics graduate from the University of Miami. 6 months of marketing internship experience with Capital One and Feeding America, focused on social media marketing.
Personal statement example for sales managers
Pharmaceutical Sales Manager specializing in Cardiology and Endocrinology. Experience leading sales teams of up to 25 people. In my most recent role, turned a $2M product line into an $8M business in under 3 years.
Personal statement example for data scientists
Data Scientist with 5 years' experience, primarily working on machine learning and real-time decisioning projects. Looking for a new challenge in the e-commerce industry.
Personal statement example for executives 💼
Specialist in guiding early-stage startups into successful businesses. Two companies I helped build have been acquired for $50M+. Currently the Head of Business Development (EMEA) at eBay, building new strategic partnerships with telecoms companies across the region.
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How to use keywords in your personal statement to beat the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
Many large employers now use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to screen resumes as they receive a huge volume of applicants for each job opening.
A well-written professional summary can help you make it past that screening process.
The ATS typically works by comparing your resume against the job description. They are looking for keyword matches, for example an "Android Engineer" job will have the ATS looking for the words "Android" and "Engineer" on your resume.
Read the job description and make a list of the key skills and phrases used to describe the job and experience the employer is looking for. From that list, pick the skills and experience that you have. Make sure to include 2-4 of those keywords in your personal statement.
It is important not to use keywords that don't align with your experience. While it might help you get a job interview, the employer will immediately reject you if they realise you've lied about having a certain type of experience.
Good and bad personal statement examples
Even minor edits can significantly improve the quality of your professional summary.
Bad personal statement example
Experienced manager with strong leadership skills and a proven background operating in fast-paced environments. Looking for a role where I can use my leadership skills to build a successful team.
What is wrong with this?
Generic and uses buzzwords like "fast-paced" and "proven background"
No achievements or numbers to back up the achievements
Vague and lacks a job title or area of expertise
Focuses on what the applicant wants rather than why the employer should want them
Good personal statement example
Sales manager with 10 years of experience selling enterprise software. Currently leading a team of 8 responsible for over $4m in sales over the last 12 months.
What is good about this?
Clearly states job title
Gives the sector they've worked in (enterprise software sales)
Quantifies how many employees they manage
Gives concrete sales figures to help the employer understand how big their role is
Communicates value by telling the hiring manager how much money the candidate makes their existing employer
Where to place a personal statement in a resume?
This is simple. It should be the first resume section at the top of your resume, just after you've listed your name and contact details.
Common mistakes when writing your personal statement
Here are 4 common mistakes that job applicants make when writing their professional summary. Try to avoid them where possible.
Focusing on responsibilities instead of achievements. Instead of writing about what your tasks were, highlight what you achieved. Recruiters want to know the impact you had e.g. "increased average order value by 41%".
Not tailoring the personal statement to the job description. Each company will use different keywords and phrases, even when describing very similar roles. Tailor your summary for each job application to mimic the keywords each company uses in its job advert.
Making it too long. The whole point of the personal statement is to provide a short, easy-to-read summary that recruiters can scan. If you make it too long, they'll likely skip over it.
Too many buzzwords. Recruiters get tired of reading the same meaningless buzzwords like "dynamic" or "team player".
Resume words to include and avoid in your personal statement
This short video highlights some of the words that you should add to your resume's professional summary and also warns about buzzwords that should be avoided.
How to write a personal statement when you're changing career direction
If you're changing career direction, then the personal statement is crucial for showing how your previous experience can translate to the new position.
For example, if you work in human resources but would like to move into a project management role in the tech industry, you could highlight the HR projects that you've led in your previous roles.
Human Resources professional with 5 years of experience looking to transition into project management. Led the introduction of the Workable hiring software into a company with over 200 employees.
This acknowledges that you are making a career change but also highlights that you've led tech-adjacent projects.
Final advice on writing your personal statement
We've covered everything you need to write an effective personal statement. Here are some final tips to keep in mind.
Highlight proven experience. Don't just list your skills, also include achievements to showcase what you accomplished with those skills.
Keep it short. If a recruiter can't quickly scan this section, then you've missed the point of it.
Check it for spelling and grammar mistakes before sending. This section goes at the top of your resume, and you don't want to start with errors!
Good luck with your job applications!
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