Writing A Personal Statement For A Care Role
- Emily
- May 13
- 4 min read
A personal statement is a summary submitted as part of a job application to outline why you should be shortlisted for an interview. By effectively summarising the skills and experience that makes you a match for the position, you’ll be able to prove your suitability and convince the recruiter to look at your CV.
We’re going to share some tips to help you write a personal statement for a care assistant job regardless of your experience levels.
No Experience
If you have little to no experience within the care field, it can be daunting to write a personal statement and oftentimes you won’t know where to start. Once you start work as a care or support assistant, you’ll likely find that you have all the soft skills required already, and anything else can be learnt on the way.
Soft skills are character traits that describe the ways you work and interact with others. Examples of soft skills often used within a care role are:
Communication - good communication skills show that you can effectively share perspectives, ideas and insights whilst having the ability to listen, understand and empathise with others.
Team Work - being able to effectively work in a team environment is extremely important, as you will need to liaise with colleagues, employers, service users and their families.
Time Management - whilst working as a carer, you’ll often have time slots dedicated to each individual you care for. Solid time management skills are important to ensure you spend enough time with each service user, completing all required tasks during the slot.
Problem Solving - unexpected situations and problems can arise through daily work that you will need to help resolve. Having the ability to think critically and determine the best resolution under pressure is an incredibly important skill.
Adaptability - working within the care sector, you’ll find that no two days are the same. Adapting to each client and each situation depending on the service user’s needs is imperative to give the best care possible.
Soft skills are also referred to as transferable skills and can be used in many different situations. If you have examples of times where you’ve utilised these skills, you may be able to highlight these in your statement. A personal statement is your chance to express yourself - don’t forget to include why you’re pursuing a care career. It’s an opportunity for you to explain why you’re right for the role and what you hope to get out of it.
Some Experience
If you hold some professional or personal care experience, it’s important to highlight this in your personal statement as well as the soft skills you possess. Maybe you have had personal experience from caring for a family member, or maybe you’ve completed some volunteering or unpaid work. These types of experiences can equip you with more than enough to bag yourself a career in care.
Within your personal statement, you could talk about any conditions you’ve supported individuals with, and how you went about it. You can talk about the things you learnt during your experience, the skills you’ve gained so far and where you’d like to end up.
If your experience is related more to education than personal care, the skills and qualifications you may have can be a great benefit. If this is the case, be sure to briefly mention what you’ve learned and how this would make you a great fit for the role.
Lots of Experience
If you’re writing a personal statement with a lot of experience and previous care work under your belt, be sure to highlight your most important experiences and what you can bring to the table to your new role.
If you have previous care or support worker experience, you could discuss things you’ve learned, challenges you’ve faced and the interpersonal skills that you’ve perfected. Your experience may have some from working in a hospital, care home or residential; whatever your previous roles, communicating your duties, learnings and responsibilities can help you craft the perfect personal statement.
Do’s and Don’ts
Regardless of your experience levels, there are some simple do’s and don’t that can help guide when writing a personal statement.
Do
Get to the point - a good statement isn’t just informative, but succinct and concise.
Answer the key questions - Who are you? What can you bring to the role? What are your career goals? Use these questions to structure your statement and you’ll be able to maintain focus throughout.
Add value - be specific with your examples; quantifying achievements using numbers and stats is much more impactful than hinting at success
Use the job profile and description - a key part of writing an effective statement is being able to mention requirements and skills as listed in the job description.
Don’t
Be generic - it might take you a bit of time to craft an effective personal statement to suit the role you’re applying for, but the more personal you make it, the more effective it will be.
Focus on yourself - it’s tempting to focus solely on your personal attributes, but the best personal statements discuss what you can offer that no other candidate can.
Confuse it with a cover letter - your personal statement should be a brief overview of your experience, representations of your success are necessary but make sure to keep it brief.
Proofread - remember to read your statement out loud or get friends or family to read it too ensuring it flows well, makes sense and is grammatically correct before submitting
Overall, your personal statement should highlight any previous experiences, future goals and why you think you’re a good fit for the role. Be sure to keep it around half a page in length, you don’t need to write a book! Most importantly, make sure you express yourself.
Now that you know how to craft the perfect care assistant personal statement - get started today! You can put these tips to the test by applying for any one of our care and support worker vacancies on our website, or get in touch via our socials to see if we can match you to your perfect care career.
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