What to write in personal statement for CV

rz30 · 13 Jul 2009 at 12:22

Any IT managers / recruiters etc give me a hand writing a personal statement?

I basically have no commerical experience (well a few days worth), i have a degree in science, a few years work as a maths tutor (not teacher) , i have an A+ and N+ and should be capable of CCNA, have pretty good skills with a various lanaguages. I know Cisco IOS not too bad. I know tons of other things as well but not specialzed in anything.

Something like, it's a bit lame i know, hard to sell yourself when you have no exp.

I seek employment ideally as a network technician, I am constantly learning more advanced network theory although i lack the commerical experience to back this up. I believe I would be of very good use to your company as I am very capable of adapting to new challenges and techniques. I could also benefit your company through the various programming languages i have learned over the years. I have worked on various single day commercial networking projects installing and configuring up to 20 PCs and laptops in a wireless server environment.

shifty_uk · 13 Jul 2009 at 12:23

Don't say you lack anything and drop the "ideally", imo.

PardonTheWait · 13 Jul 2009 at 12:27

Don't put anything negative in, take out the 'although I lack the commercial experience'. The CV's to get you an interview, once you're in the interview you can explain that. Don't give them a reason to bin it.

Geffen · 13 Jul 2009 at 12:41

I know nothing about you or the kind of job you are looking for but would expect something more like this (only a bit longer and with correct spelling and grammer):

I am a network technician, with advanced knowledge of network theory. Adaptable, a quick learner, keen to take on new challenges. With wide ranging expereince of promgraming languanges (C++, Java etc). Experience of delivering in a variety of commercial enviroments.

Basically as PardontheWait said don't put anything negative in and you need to sell your self and your skills.

meghatronic · 13 Jul 2009 at 12:43

Are personal statements still the done thing?

Geffen · 13 Jul 2009 at 12:45

meghatronic said:
Are personal statements still the done thing?

Yes - But no one belives a word of them these days as there are two many professional organistion and internet sites that tell you what to say. Saying that you don't want your's to be rubish as it will stand out for the wrong reason.

meghatronic · 13 Jul 2009 at 12:47

Geffen said:
Yes - But no one belives a word of them these days as there are two many professional organistion and internet sites that tell you what to say. Saying that you don't want your's to be rubish as it will stand out for the wrong reason.

That's what I thought.. but I'd assumed they were just overlooked as they were full of bs.

RaohNS · 13 Jul 2009 at 13:03

OK, first off as you are going for a technical post, rather than write a "Profile" you are best writing a Summary.

So:

I seek employment ideally as a network technician, I am constantly learning more advanced network theory although i lack the commerical experience to back this up. I believe I would be of very good use to your company as I am very capable of adapting to new challenges and techniques. I could also benefit your company through the various programming languages i have learned over the years. I have worked on various single day commercial networking projects installing and configuring up to 20 PCs and laptops in a wireless server environment.

would be something like this:

An experienced Network technician with X years knowledge and skills. Able to aptly demonstrate industry recognised Programming Languages such as [1] and [2] (put biggies here). Can show a strong familiarity with Commercial networking projects, installing and configuring multiple terminals both in a wired and wireless. Furthermore would be willing to undertake any further training as and when required.

I normally charge £5 for a decent Summary (3rd person), but as i can't speak face to face with you i'll give some pointers: keep summary/profile between 5 lines minimum and 8 lines maximum, get in Expertise (area of), Transferable skills (doesn't really apply to you given knowledge and sector), Personality and also any buzz words you can think to clock in.

Also write you CV in Tahoma/Arial keeping the layout as simple as possible oh and the biggie all text should be font size 12 with exception to your name at the top which should be bold and f.s. 16

Sorry i can't help a little more but that should put you in good stead, chances are they will only spend 5-10 seconds looking at your profile and all in all no more than a minute looking at your CV

Warning: Don't ever put anything like: although i don't have experience or i have nothing to back it up, if you haven't got experience why make yourself negative from the first section they are going to read in your CV? Basically with your CV "blag" as much as you can plus its an opportunity to "bend" your version of the truth

rz30 · 13 Jul 2009 at 14:32

RaohNS said:
OK, first off as you are going for a technical post, rather than write a "Profile" you are best writing a Summary.

So:

would be something like this:

An experienced Network technician with X years knowledge and skills. Able to aptly demonstrate industry recognised Programming Languages such as [1] and [2] (put biggies here). Can show a strong familiarity with Commercial networking projects, installing and configuring multiple terminals both in a wired and wireless. Furthermore would be willing to undertake any further training as and when required.

I normally charge £5 for a decent Summary (3rd person), but as i can't speak face to face with you i'll give some pointers: keep summary/profile between 5 lines minimum and 8 lines maximum, get in Expertise (area of), Transferable skills (doesn't really apply to you given knowledge and sector), Personality and also any buzz words you can think to clock in.

Also write you CV in Tahoma/Arial keeping the layout as simple as possible oh and the biggie all text should be font size 12 with exception to your name at the top which should be bold and f.s. 16

Sorry i can't help a little more but that should put you in good stead, chances are they will only spend 5-10 seconds looking at your profile and all in all no more than a minute looking at your CV

Warning: Don't ever put anything like: although i don't have experience or i have nothing to back it up, if you haven't got experience why make yourself negative from the first section they are going to read in your CV? Basically with your CV "blag" as much as you can plus its an opportunity to "bend" your version of the truth

That is obvioulsy much better but it really oversells me as i am not experienced although i am very confident i can adapt quickly and learn anything i need to further what i already know. I see how negative and unformal mine is but i would never have sent that anyway. Thanks for the help so far, but again your statement makes me out to be a experienced network tech, now i know myself that i can do or learn anything but my work history does not match up to your statment which would probable cause my cv to be binnned pretty quick. I will have a think about it.

Guest2 · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:30

Dont get one off internet or copy one from somewhere. IT employers have probably seen similar cvs and statements. Would be ok if it was for something not in IT but it is

Skiddley · 13 Jul 2009 at 15:43

Nobody cares about personal statements.