How to Write a CV Personal Statement (With 3 Examples)
How to write a personal statement for a cv?
A CV personal statement in three to five lines: who you are, what you offer, what you want. A formula plus examples for a student, graduate and career changer.
The personal statement is the first thing a recruiter reads on a UK-style CV, and most of them say the same thing: “hard-working team player with excellent communication skills”. Here is how to write one that sounds like a person.
What should a CV personal statement include?
Use a simple formula — who, what, want:
- Who you are — your current stage and field: “Final-year accounting student”, “Junior software developer with two years’ experience”.
- What you offer — two or three specific strengths, ideally with evidence: a project, a result, a tool you know well.
- What you want — the role you are applying for, in the employer’s words.
Three to five lines. First person without “I” is the usual UK style (“Final-year student with…”), but full first person is fine if it reads more naturally — just be consistent.
Example: student
Second-year marketing student with hands-on social media experience from running a 1,200-member university society account. Comfortable with Canva, Meta Business Suite and basic Google Analytics. Looking for a summer marketing internship where I can work on real campaigns.
Example: graduate
Civil engineering graduate (2:1) with a dissertation on low-carbon concrete and a ten-week placement on a residential site in Leeds. AutoCAD and Revit trained. Seeking a graduate engineer role on a chartership pathway.
Example: career changer
Retail supervisor moving into data analysis, with five years of managing stock and rota data for a team of 12 and a recently completed Google Data Analytics certificate. Looking for an entry-level analyst role where operations experience is an advantage.
Common mistakes
- Clichés with no evidence (“passionate”, “results-driven”).
- Writing about what you want from the employer instead of what you offer.
- Going past five lines — it stops being read.
- Numbers you can’t back up in an interview. Never invent them.
Drafting it with AI — carefully
ParaFree’s CV builder can draft a summary from the details you have already entered. Treat it as a first draft: it is instructed not to invent facts or figures and to leave placeholders like [X]% for you to fill, but you know your own story. Edit it until it sounds like you, then download the CV as a PDF — free, no watermark, no account.
Related: CV builder · UK CV format in 2026 · Student CV builder
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