Our personal statement review helpsheet will assist you in sorting out the good personal statements on job applicants’ CVs from the poor ones. You can go through the two lists as part of your recruitment process when assessing CVs and drawing up an interview schedule.
What’s a personal statement?
Most candidates now include a personal statement with their job applications. A personal statement is generally the first substantive section included on a job applicant’s CV and it’s a brief personal summary that they’ve written to help them stand apart from the competition. It’s the applicant’s chance to sell themselves to you by putting across their specific skills and experience which make them perfect for your vacant job role.
Good statements
A good personal statement shouldn’t be a reproduction of information already provided in the applicant’s CV or covering letter - it needs to contain useful extra information about them that makes them stand out from the crowd. Our Personal Statement Review Helpsheet confirms that a good personal statement will also:
Remember that if a job applicant sounds too good to be true from their personal statement, it normally means they are. Nobody is that perfect! It could well be the case that they’ve paid to have their personal statement professionally drafted by a third party.
Poor statements
Conversely, poor statements give little or no insight into who the job applicant really is and what their ambitions and motivations are and they fail to focus on how the applicant suits the particular job role and your business. Our helpsheet also confirms that poor statements will:
In addition, our helpsheet warns you to watch out for personal statements that criticise previous employers or work colleagues, reveal extreme or discriminatory views or portray the applicant as a perpetual “victim”. These are all red flag signs that you could have a problem employee on your hands were you to recruit them. However, if the applicant has a disability, it’s perfectly acceptable for them to set out how they’ve successfully overcome any substantial career disadvantages resulting from their disability.