CV Personal Statements…

Looking for some Advice.

I know some agencies/employers don’t like them.

I hate them. So first question is, Yae or Nae on your CV?

If Yae, what would you put?

Nope. but in my area, not sure you would anyway.

Depends on the job. If the job is one where having some character or personal interest would help then yes. If you’re an accountant, then no.

I used to (for my sins!) be in recruitment! Happy to offer any more specific advice if you like!

I never used to have one on my CV (hated them) but now that I’m hunting for jobs again, I asked the advice of my aunt (who works in HR) and she reckons that you need a personal statement.

I have the same dilemma.

Cap’n – making a career change from IT to Environmental stuff. Needed? I can’t see why.

Ask me in an interview and I’ll tell you what I’m like, writing it on a piece of paper seems pointless, no?

“I’m a slack-jawed faggot who will do as little as possible, back-stab and blow my way to well-paid, mid-management and see it out until retirement. I’ll be a pretty poor addition to any company”

Oh, I mean

“I’m a hard working, motivated individual who works well from my own initiative or as part of a team. I have the passion and desire to succeed and inspire.”

I smell *sniff sniff sniff* bullsh’t! (NWA, c1991).

Thank you so far.

I used to have one on my CV a few years back, but that was when I was doing IT, now its commercial/Retail electrical maintenance/installs. Working currently, but have seen a few jobs advertised which are proving to be very tempting.

I’m of the mind to focus on the Skills/experience side of things.

do them in the third person, that really is pretentious.

I use one but I have a very fragmented CV with gaps in the work record so I use it as a way of filling in the gaps – rewritten for each job tho

“between 1998 and 2000 I did this which taught me that” sort of stuff

I had one onmy CV, wasn’t anything too specific, and yes it was written in the 3rd person 😀 I was asked about what i’d written in mine (it realy was worded quite pretenciously) and i could stand there with a straight face and justify every adjective i’d used. As for the 3rd person bit, im not sure its pretencious, just easier to sell yourelf from that perspective without sounding too boastfull.

General CV advice:
be specific, if the add asks for a team working, inventive person, then mentioning your presentation skills and charity work is pointless, there must be hundreds of “key skills” you could mentio, why talk about any other ones than what they’r asking for?

get someone to rip it apart, whatever you write WILL be rubbish, read poorly, and make no sense.

best advice i was given, if your not slightly embarrased reading it back, then its not selling you enough.

Dont rely on being able to talk the talk at an interview, they’ve got to invite you to the inerview for that, and if your CV doesnt grab their attention then thats not going to happen. You dont know the other aplicants, so unless its a team building excercise use every opertunity to sell yourself ahead of them.