3 sentence personal statement

How To Write a Resume Personal Statement Professionally With Examples, Tips, and Guide

What Is a Resume Personal Statement?

Key elements of a strong resume personal statement, how to write a personal statement for a resume, professional personal statement examples for job applications, best practices for crafting the best personal statements for resumes, additional resources, frequently asked questions about crafting a professional personal statement.

Writing a personal statement for your resume can help recruiters and hiring managers get a better idea of who you are as a candidate and how your experience and achievements align with the company’s mission. Learn what to include and how to format this section in this personal statement writing guide.

A resume personal statement is a few short sentences at the top of your resume that provide an overview of your professional background and experience. It’s designed to create a strong first impression and catch the hiring manager’s attention quickly. This is important considering research shows most recruiters spend just seconds per resume on average.

A personal statement differs from a resume objective in that it focuses on showing the hiring manager why you’re a good fit for the company’s needs instead of talking about your personal career goals.

Clarity and conciseness

A personal statement should be brief — no more than two to four sentences. Space is at a premium on your resume, so convey your message as clearly as possible, and leave out unnecessary details. Fragment sentences are fine, as long as they are still cohesive and otherwise grammatically correct.

Relevance to the job role

Focus on your most relevant experience and qualifications in your personal statement, and tailor this section to each job. Look for keywords or must-have skills from the job description that you can include. For example, if the position requires a specific certification that you have, make sure this is included in the statement.

Highlights key skills and achievements

Resumes cover a lot of information in a small amount of space, and it’s easy for hiring managers to gloss over your contributions. Ensure they notice your most relevant skills and accomplishments by including them in the personal statement as well as a separate key skills list .

Start with a strong opening line

How to start a resume personal statement depends on the position, but begin strong with an opening line that grabs the recruiter’s attention and shows that you’re an immediate fit for the position. Include a key metric, such as how many years of experience you have, or a specific industry skill.

Focus on your most relevant skills and experience

Look through the required skills and experience in the job description, and pick the top three to five that match your professional background. Include these in your personal statement by tying them to career accomplishments or general strengths and proficiencies.

Include some personality

While a resume should always be a professional document, more employers are looking for candidates who are a good cultural fit for the company. Injecting a little personality into the personal statement by showing how your passions and aspirations align with the organization’s mission or goals can help you stand out.

Personal statement for entry-level job seekers

A 2023 marketing degree graduate specializing in social media strategy with internship and volunteer experience in multiple verticals. A proven track record of working with cross-functional teams to create multimedia content, manage social media calendars, and host live events across various social platforms to increase user engagement and support campaigns.

Personal statement for mid-level professionals

Dedicated and results-driven business analyst with over seven years of experience. Background in fuel-related systems optimization and renewable energy. Possesses a strong analytical mindset coupled with excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Leads cross-functional teams, conducts data analysis, and identifies opportunities for process enhancement.

Personal statement for senior-level and executive roles

A digital marketing director with over 10 years of experience defining marketing strategies for enterprise organizations. A proven track record of building high-performance marketing teams and collaborating with C-level executives. Adept at leveraging data-driven strategies to enhance market penetration and achieve positive business outcomes.

Personal statement for career changers

Experienced and dedicated technical support professional seeking to leverage skills in customer relations and product sales. Recognized for ability to find creative solutions and communicate complex instructions in a user-friendly manner. Adept with customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Tailor your statement for each application

Your resume should be customized for every job application you submit, and this includes your personal statement. Tweak the wording to reflect the keywords in the job description, and mirror the action verbs in the posting.

Keep it simple and straightforward

Your personal statement isn’t the place for industry jargon or overly complex language. While it’s fine to use key terms already present in the job description, stick with a clear, professional tone and easy-to-read language. Clear communication is an important skill for nearly every job, and your resume should reflect your abilities.

Proofread for clarity and accuracy

Just a few typos in your resume can dramatically reduce your chances of getting an interview . Always spend a few minutes checking your document for grammatical errors or inconsistencies before you hit the submit button. This is especially true for the personal statement because it’s the first section the hiring manager will read and is prone to errors when you’re adjusting it for each job.

Seek feedback

Ask a mentor or career advisor to take a look at your personal statement before you finalize it. They can help you identify confusing or vague words, suggest areas that could be more concise, and help you look for typos and other errors.

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A personal statement is often also referred to as a resume summary . While the two are similar and almost interchangeable, there is one key difference. A resume summary pulls from your professional experience and skills to provide a two-second summary for the hiring manager.

Though a personal statement is formatted in the same way, there’s a little more leeway in what you can include. For example, a writer may add that they are passionate about the Oxford comma, and a French translator may indicate their love for classic French literature.

One of the best personal statement tips for job seekers is to use this section as part of your personal branding. Many applicants are likely to have a similar professional history or skills and qualifications, and it’s who you are as a whole candidate that can help you stand out.

The personal statement section is a place where you can immediately catch the hiring manager’s attention and give them something to remember you by, whether that’s being a Six Sigma Black Belt or having advanced Excel skills.

Your overall resume length should be between one and two pages, and your personal statement is a small fraction of that. In general, the personal statement should be about two to four sentences long, but depending on your resume formatting, it can be more helpful to measure it in lines of text. In most cases, it should be four to five lines at a maximum.

Executive Resume Writer and Career Coach

Andrew Stoner is an executive career coach and resume writer with 17 years of experience as a hiring manager and operations leader at two Fortune 500 Financial Services companies, and as the career services director at two major university business schools.

ResumeTemplates offers free, HR approved resume templates to help you create a professional resume in minutes. Choose from several template options and even pre-populate a resume from your profile.

Build a Resume to Enhance Your Career

Essential guides for your job search.

Personal Statement Sentence Starters: Expert Advice

Good personal statement openings are crucial when it comes to engaging admissions tutors.

But in the process of writing your personal statement, you might realise that you’re repeating the words you use in your opening sentences and paragraphs.

This lack of variety can lead to a sense of monotony in tone and content, alienating the reader.

But don’t worry!

There are several sentence starters you can use that won’t leave your personal statement sounding stilted or unnatural and that will help your personal statement stand out.

Here’s an expert guide to using effective sentence starters to improve your personal statement…

Personal statement sentence starters fall into three specific categories. Introductions, comparisons and conclusions are effective ways to start paragraphs. Use connections, additions and relationships when developing content. Starters relating to the presentation of ideas work well throughout.

From sixth-form personal statement sentence starters to postgraduate applications, you’ll discover specific examples of each of these personal statement sentence starter categories in the sections below…

Introduction, Comparison and Conclusion Starters

Having a practical understanding of personal statement sentence starters in this category is extremely valuable if you want to achieve greater variety and originality in your writing.

Introducing a new point or topic can become repetitive quickly; how many times have you written “I also” or “as a result”?

Avoiding these common phrases can add depth to your statement, but also encourage the reader to view you as an informed and versatile candidate.

As Mary Curnock Cook, a former UCAS Chief Executive states:

“The personal statement is supposed to be personal. Learning to write about yourself in a compelling way is a vital skill when applying for jobs; using hackneyed phrases is not the best way to stand out.” Mary Curnock Cook

Have you ever felt the need to write the kind of overused opening sentences that start with “At a young age..?”

If so, here are some introductory personal statement openings that will add to the compelling quality of your writing, without making it sound as though you’ve plucked words from a dictionary:

If you can make good use of comparative sentence starters , your writing will be increasingly concise, your points will be made with greater precision and you will be more likely to meet the word or character limit.

Here are some effective examples:

What follows are some excellent ways in which to start a concluding sentence or paragraph.

Remember that your aim is not to repeat previous content, but to use the opportunity to lead into the next paragraph or topic:

Connection, Addition and Relationship Starters

Once you’ve begun writing about a specific point or topic, you’ll find you need to connect one idea with another in order to make a concise or compelling point.

This connection can be challenging, as very quickly you might start to use a limited range of vocabulary such as “also” or “along with” or “as well as”.

These are the kinds of words that applicants use frequently, and they can indicate a lack of breadth, vocabulary or research in the mind of an admissions tutor.

Unoriginal vocabulary can also lead to your personal statement being rejected, or even to your entire application being refused, in the case of plagiarism.

According to Carly Minsky at timeshighereducation.com these are some of the most overused phrases featured in UCAS personal statements , so do make sure you don’t repeat them.

Below are some excellent suggestions for connecting or adding phrases, concepts or ideas in your personal statement:

It can be vitally important to effectively illustrate the relationship between an experience or piece of knowledge that you hold and the demands of the course or role that you are applying for.

The focus of the reader needs to be on the content itself , not the words you use to compare or contrast it, and these personal statement sentence starters will help you achieve this, every time:

Now you’re feeling more confident about your vocabulary, you should get to grips with the right structure to use for your personal statement.

My Personal Statement Template eBook gives you 10 original templates to follow when you’re writing a personal statement, meaning you’re guaranteed to find the right structure for your application.

It’s packed full of useful advice and shows you exactly what content to include. You’ll also discover how many words or characters to use for each paragraph for maximum effect!

Perfect for UCAS undergraduate applications, Oxbridge and Medicine , master’s degrees and employment , my eBook also includes exclusive guidance for writing a perfect statement of purpose .

Click on the image below to discover how my eBook can help you write the perfect personal statement…

Sentence Starters for Presenting New Ideas

An important aspect of your personal statement is the presentation of new ideas and concepts that illustrate your understanding of the course topic.

You should also show that you can synthesise aspects of your prior experience and knowledge.

This can be a complex process to write about, so having dynamic and effective vocabulary to work with can be extremely valuable.

The table below gives you a selection of examples of the kinds of sentence starters you could use to introduce a new concept in a personal statement opening sentence:

It’s worth noting that, generally speaking, new ideas and concepts should be contained within a specific paragraph. If you’re looking for advice on how to structure the paragraphs in your personal statement, check out my article here.

You may have noticed that I haven’t included a section in this post devoted to the kinds of sentence starters you shouldn’t use in your personal statement.

That’s because each personal statement is unique, and good sentence openers need to focus on different aspects of your experiences and ambitions. Try not to think about avoiding specific words or phrases and focus more on including content that best represents your ambitions!

If you really want some pointers on what not to include, Amy Davies has a great article on words you should never use in your personal statement over at whatuni.com .

If you want to focus on writing an amazing opening paragraph, then check out my post that tells you exactly how great first paragraphs are created!

If you’re just starting out, then this is the post for you…

Good luck with your personal statement, and don’t forget to contact me if you’d like some 1-1 support.

You’ve got this! D

Research and content verified by Personal Statement Planet .

David Hallen

I've worked in the Further Education and University Admissions sector for nearly 20 years as a teacher, department head, Head of Sixth Form, UCAS Admissions Advisor, UK Centre Lead and freelance personal statement advisor, editor and writer. And now I'm here for you...