A personal statement is a useful tool to have during a job or university application process. Having a strong personal statement – sometimes referred to as a personal summary – is an easy way of making an exceptional first impression. While it can seem overwhelming when you first sit down to write a personal statement, it’s a relatively straightforward process once you understand how to split the process up. Below are several personal statement templates that you can use, alongside our top tips on how to start a personal statement.
How to Use a Personal Statement
Before we run through the various personal statement templates we have available, it’s important to consider how you can use it most effectively.
While the reasoning for creating a personal statement can differ – you might be applying for a new job or writing one as part of your UCAS application for example – an engaging personal statement usually features several fundamental elements.
Ideally it should run through your skills and experience, including any work experience, and provide context for this in the form of achievements or success.
How to Adapt Our Personal Statement Templates
The personal statement templates below are meant to be used as a guide when writing your own. You’ll see that we’ve typically split the statement into several core sentences.
The first sentence is an introduction to your current job role and overview of experience. The second sentence may expand on that experience and also highlight any goals. We then show an example of academic or workplace success, highlighting a core skill we used to get there. Finally, we finish by reinforcing our goals and how we can provide value for a business or course.
This is a rough structure that works better for job applications but can still be applied to a university or internship application. While you may want to stick to this structure, it’s best to write what feels natural to you as this comes across as more authentic.
Take a look at our vacancies.
5 Personal Statement Examples
Your personal statement should always be tailored to the different job roles or admissions tutors. A personal statement for a marketing job, for example, will differ to that of a finance job. Likewise, if you’re applying for an internship or you’re writing a personal statement for universities, the content will differ. Below we’ve written 5 different personal statement examples that you can use as a template for your own.
Personal Statement Example for a Marketing Job Application
“I am a senior marketing executive with extensive experience in email marketing and PPC. With a degree in Marketing and six years of experience in the marketing sector, I have a deep understanding of Google Adwords and email platforms such as Mailchimp and Dotdigital. My skills in PPC have helped me develop a PPC campaign from the ground up for my current company, a campaign that currently delivers over 300 leads a month with a qualification rate of 30%. I’m seeking a role as a PPC Manager at your company as I feel I have the skills to improve your PPC campaigns and help you achieve your revenue generation targets over the next five years.”
Personal Statement Example for a Finance Professional
“After completing a degree in Statistics at university, I’ve gone on to work in the financial sector as a Financial Analyst. The analytical skills I developed during my education, as well as the technical skills I’ve learned in my current role, have helped me to increase the effectiveness of our forecasting and resulted in a 15% increase in client profits. I’ve consistently proven my ability to work under pressure and utilise critical thinking to improve our overall optimisation. I am currently seeking a role as a Lead Financial Analyst at a larger firm to further my own career development.”
Related: What is a Personal Statement
Personal Statement Example for an Internship
“I’m writing to you to ask that you consider me for your internship position within your accountancy team. I’m currently studying Economics at university and I’m forecasted to pass with a First-Class Honours degree. I want to join your company over the summer to learn more about the industry and the processes involved in a busy, high-level accountancy firm. My most recent essay covered advanced concepts such as the Bertrand model and I want to earn practical, real-world experience to go alongside my theoretical learning.”
Personal Statement Example for University
“Hi, my name is John and I’d like to be considered for your postgraduate Broadcast Journalism course. After completing an undergraduate course in Journalism with a 2:1, I’m looking to expand my knowledge in video and radio broadcasting. Over the course of my bachelor’s degree, I specialised in filming video broadcasts and enjoyed sourcing new stories to create news packages. The nature of my course meant I was constantly working to tight deadlines while also completing my academic work, which I feel has prepared me well for a more pressurised, time-intensive postgraduate course.”
Personal Statement Example for a Volunteer Position
“I’d like to apply to be a volunteer at the London Arts Festival. I want to expand my experiences in a working environment and I have a strong interest in music, art and theatre. I’m a hard-working, motivated and passionate individual that is looking to build a career in event management, which I feel the voluntary experience at your event can help with. I’m open to any of the positions you have available and would love to work as part of a larger events team.”
How to Create an Attention-Grabbing Personal Statement
The best way to create an attention-grabbing personal statement is to be unique, thorough, concise and factual. You want to be as engaging as possible without being overly descriptive or using cliche phrases.
There are fundamental elements that you have to cover, including your qualifications, skills and achievements, which you can support by including statistics or real-world experiences. Once you’ve engaged the reader, you can go into more detail within the rest of the CV or application form, utilising both the qualifications and skills section.
Also remember, your personal statement is an opportunity to show more of your own personality. While you want to get across the relevant information, that doesn’t mean you’re limited to just repeating stats and figures. Use the opportunity to show your work ethic and how you’d be a good fit for the culture of the place you’re applying to. This is especially important in a job application, where culture fit is becoming increasingly important.