What to include in a personal statement

Clients often ask us what they should include in a personal statement, and unfortunately the answer is invariably the same: It depends.

What are you trying to achieve? Is it a job statement, a university statement, or something else? Do you have relevant experience? Are you changing industries, job roles or making a transition into a more senior role? Do you have experience from outside of education/work that could be relevant?

All of these questions, and many more, will influence what you should include in your personal statement.

Rather than asking what you should include, you could more usefully ask yourself what you could include that will help you achieve your goals. At the same time, ask yourself if there’s anything you’ve planned to include which perhaps won’t bring you closer to your goals.

The key here is that there are no set rules about things you should or shouldn’t include – You simply have to make a case-by-case decision about which elements of your skills, knowledge, experience and achievements are going to genuinely improve your chances of being selected.

In order to help you make these decisions, the tips that follow will discuss both how and when to include various aspects of your educational and employment history. If you follow our advice you should end up with a significantly stronger personal statement than you would otherwise have had.

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