Home » Uncategorized » What is a Personal Resume and How to Create a Personal Resume
In today’s evolving job market, creating a personal resume is more important than ever. Your professional identity isn’t confined to job titles or a chronological work history. You’re more than just your career background — you’re a unique blend of skills, values, experiences, and aspirations. That’s where a personal resume comes in.
Unlike a traditional CV, a personal resume focuses on you — your personal brand, goals, transferable skills, and even your passion projects. It’s the perfect document to showcase not just what you’ve done, but who you are and what you stand for.
Whether you’re a freelancer looking to win new clients, a recent graduate trying to stand out, or a multi-skilled professional with a non-linear career path, creating a personal resume can help you present yourself in a far more memorable way.
This blog will walk you through:
Along the way, we’ll explore:
Let’s start by understanding what makes a personal resume different from your standard CV.
A personal resume is a custom-crafted document that reflects your personality, values, aspirations, and broader skill set — not just your job history. It blends your professional background with your personal brand in a concise, visual, and often more creative format.
Unlike a traditional resume, which focuses heavily on job roles, dates, and rigid formatting, a personal resume has more flexibility. It’s not bound by strict industry standards and can include things like:
It can also highlight your CV personal skills and provide skills and qualities examples that go beyond job descriptions. Including a section on CV skills and qualities allows you to show how your capabilities align with your goals, while using skills and qualities CV formatting helps recruiters quickly identify your strengths.
In short, it’s a portrait of your professional self, painted with personal brushstrokes.
Let’s break it down further. Here’s how a personal resume differs from a standard CV or professional resume:
| Feature | Traditional Resume | Personal Resume |
| Purpose | Job applications (role-focused) | Self-presentation (person-focused) |
| Structure | Rigid (employment-based) | Flexible (brand-based) |
| Language | Formal and professional | Authentic, sometimes conversational |
| Sections | Work experience, education, skills | Bio/mission, skills, values, projects |
| Use Cases | Recruiters, hiring managers | Clients, mentors, networks, personal websites |
| Design | Simple, ATS-optimised | Visually expressive, creative options |
While both are useful, they serve different ends. A traditional CV shows how you match the job. A personal resume shows how you match the world you want to work and live in.
A personal resume is not just about looking cool. It has real, strategic value — especially in today’s highly competitive and increasingly digital economy. Here are some key reasons you might want one:
Many people wear multiple hats — a marketer who also runs a blog, a coder who designs on the side, or a teacher who creates educational content. A traditional CV can’t always capture that range.
A personal resume allows you to showcase your multifaceted self, highlighting not just roles, but also your skills and attributes, personal skills, and interests that make you unique.
In the UK, personal branding is no longer just for influencers or creatives. Professionals across sectors — from finance to healthcare — are building their personal brands online.
Your resume is a big part of that. It tells people: This is what I do. This is what I stand for. A personal resume helps articulate both your professional skills and your personal skills for CV purposes in a way that reflects who you really are.
Clients don’t care what year you graduated or where you interned. They want to know your strengths, work style, and personal approach.
A personal resume gives you space to highlight relevant projects, testimonials, and even your story — the “why” behind your work. You can also showcase skills and qualities that are less conventional but equally valuable — such as adaptability, creativity, or leadership.
If you’re pivoting industries or applying for roles outside your usual scope, a personal resume helps connect the dots.
Instead of just listing jobs in unrelated fields, you can show overarching themes — transferable professional skills, personal skills examples, or guiding values — that tie it all together.
In a world full of LinkedIn profiles and PDF CVs that all look the same, a personal resume stands out because it’s yours — custom-designed, thoughtfully written, and full of life. It can present both your skills and qualities in a way that’s authentic and memorable.
A personal resume isn’t for everyone, but it’s incredibly useful in certain contexts — especially when you want to showcase more than just your job history and include skills and qualities for a CV that reflect who you are.
Whether you’re a content writer, photographer, or UX designer, you often need to sell yourself as a brand — not just your service.
Personal resumes let you do that with credibility, clarity, and flair. You can also include examples of skills and qualities that show how you solve problems, work with clients, or bring ideas to life.
If you’re juggling multiple projects, side hustles, or short-term gigs, a personal resume can bring cohesion to your story.
Instead of a messy job list, you have a polished narrative supported by relevant skills and attributes examples, helping others understand your strengths and range.
Early in your career, you may not have a long list of formal roles. A personal resume lets you highlight your interests, personality, projects, and potential.
It’s a great opportunity to feature personal and professional skills, as well as achievements or initiatives that wouldn’t fit neatly into a traditional CV.
People moving from one industry to another can use a personal resume to demonstrate their adaptability and transferable abilities.
Including tailored examples of skills and qualities helps connect your past experience to your future goals.
Designers, developers, marketers, and content creators benefit greatly from a resume that shows not only what they’ve done — but how they think.
A well-designed personal resume offers space to include creative projects and showcase both your personal and professional skills in action.
Creating a personal resume isn’t just about filling in boxes — it’s about curating a narrative that represents you holistically. In this section, we’ll break down the essential elements you should include and how to make each one count.
Think of this as your elevator pitch on paper. It’s the first section someone reads, so it should immediately give them a sense of who you are, what you do, and what you value.
“Creative and detail-driven graphic designer with a passion for visual storytelling. I help brands communicate through bold design and thoughtful user experience. With over 5 years of freelance and in-house experience, I specialise in turning complex ideas into simple, striking visuals.”
Keep it concise (3–5 lines), but make sure it feels human. This section is also a great place to hint at personal qualities for CV impact.
Here’s where you outline what you’re good at — both hard and soft skills. This section highlights your professional skills for CV impact, as well as personal skills and qualities that showcase your approach to work.
Use bullet points or clusters. Keep it easy to scan.
Avoid vague terms like “team player” unless you show it in your experience. Instead, choose more specific descriptions such as:
Skills
Copywriting, Content Strategy, SEO Optimisation
Email Marketing, HubSpot CRM, A/B Testing
Creative Problem-Solving, Public Speaking, Self-Management
You can also include skills and qualities for CV sections that align directly with a specific role.
Even if you’re not listing traditional job roles, people want to see what you’ve done. This is your chance to highlight relevant achievements — whether from paid work, volunteer projects, or self-initiated efforts. These examples serve as proof of your personal attributes for CV sections and provide a strong example of skills of a person in action.
Digital Content Strategy – Freelance, 2023
Designed and implemented a 3-month content calendar for a UK wellness brand, resulting in a 70% traffic increase and 22% email list growth.
You don’t need to include every job you’ve had. Pick the most relevant or impressive examples and summarise them clearly.
One of the biggest advantages of a personal resume is that you can include side hustles, creative pursuits, or passion projects that reflect your initiative, creativity, and dedication.
These projects reinforce your personal skills and qualities, and often reveal important skills and qualities for CV storytelling.
Your education is still important, but it doesn’t have to dominate your personal resume unless it’s central to your identity (e.g. a recent graduate or academic professional).
If you’re self-taught in a skill, mention it proudly. For example:
Self-taught in WordPress web development; completed over 40 client projects since 2020.
This demonstrates not just qualifications but also personal attributes for CV use — like initiative, curiosity, and drive.
Traditional CVs rarely include this section, but in a personal resume, it can be incredibly impactful — especially when your interests align with your professional identity or show personal growth.
Including these details brings out key personal skills for CV sections — like perseverance, empathy, or goal-setting — and can serve as subtle examples of skills and qualities.
If you have any quotes or testimonials from clients, managers, mentors, or peers — you can feature 1–2 short snippets.
“Kayes is one of the most reliable content strategists I’ve worked with — always meets deadlines and brings fresh ideas.”
— Emma R., Marketing Lead at Learnexus UK
Make sure to get permission, or keep it anonymous if needed. These reinforce both your credibility and your personal and professional skills from another’s perspective.
A personal resume gives you room to be visually expressive, especially if you’re in a creative or digital industry.
That said, never sacrifice clarity for style. Always prioritise clean, legible formatting.
So now that you know what a personal resume is and what sections to include, the next question is — how do you actually create one? You don’t need to be a designer or a professional copywriter. What you need is a clear process, a little self-awareness, and the willingness to present your story honestly and strategically.
Let’s go through this step-by-step.
Before you start writing anything, you need to figure out your personal brand. This doesn’t mean creating a logo or inventing a catchy tagline — it’s about knowing what you want to be known for.
Once you can answer these questions, you’ll find it easier to make consistent choices about tone, layout, and content in your personal resume. These answers also help bring clarity to your personal attributes for a job and unique story.
Write a personal mission statement of 1–2 sentences. You can refine this into your personal bio or positioning line later.
Example: “I help small businesses grow by creating simple and scalable tech solutions.”
Now decide how you want your personal resume to look and flow. There’s no one-size-fits-all format here, but generally you’ll want to choose one of these structures:
Great if you have a strong, linear job history you want to highlight. Still, pair it with creative elements like personal statements and side projects.
Focuses more on skills and accomplishments than job titles. Ideal for freelancers, creatives, and career switchers. This is perfect for highlighting a strong list of professional skills.
Combines both — shows a brief timeline but gives space to skills, projects, and values. This is the most popular for personal resumes and gives room to feature examples of professional skills and projects side by side.
Tools like Canva, Notion, or even MS Word templates can be a great place to start if you want more visual flexibility.
Here’s how to approach each core section when you start putting pen to paper (or cursor to document):
Use the mission statement you wrote earlier and polish it. Make it sound like something you’d say to a stranger who asked, “What do you do?”
Don’t just list generic terms like “Communication” or “Leadership.” Be more descriptive — show how each personal skill adds value.
Use bullet points for readability. You could also group them as a list of professional skills vs personal traits, especially to help recruiters or clients quickly identify your strengths.
Follow the STAR method (Situation – Task – Action – Result) if you can:
This approach is especially useful in demonstrating your examples of professional skills in real-world action.
Don’t be afraid to include insights about your passions or causes. But keep them relevant. Your interest in baking only belongs if it reflects patience, discipline, or creativity — not just that you love brownies. This is where unique personal attributes for a job can shine subtly.
This is where your personal resume becomes truly personalised. You can include:
If your resume will be used digitally (PDF or website), add clickable links:
This could be:
Even without official “references,” these extras help reinforce trust and credibility.
Before you hit download or print, make sure your resume works for its intended purpose. Ask yourself:
Then:
If you’re taking your personal resume seriously, consider creating a simple online version — even just a landing page. It gives you:
No need to be tech-savvy. Platforms like Notion, Wix, Carrd, and Canva have easy templates for personal landing pages.
Example:
www.yourname.carrd.co or www.notionsite.com/yourname
Creating your personal resume isn’t just about having something different — it’s about making a memorable impression. To wrap things up, let’s look at how others are doing it right, what you should avoid, and how to make your personal resume part of a bigger career strategy.
Here are a few types of personal resumes that work well across industries. Even if you’re not in the same field, the principles still apply.
Example: A UK-based UI/UX designer uses a visual resume featuring custom illustrations, clean layout, and a “Design Philosophy” section. It links directly to portfolio case studies.
Takeaway: Let your medium reflect your message. Creatives can use the resume itself as a sample of their work, showcasing both professional skills for resume and creativity.
Example: A freelance strategy consultant combines a timeline of client work with a central “Value I Bring” section. She uses real metrics (“increased conversion by 42%”) and testimonials from clients.
Takeaway: Use case studies and results to establish authority. If you work for yourself or do contract work, make each project count by highlighting your professional skills for resume effectively.
Example: A recent university graduate with limited work experience builds a resume around academic achievements, passion projects, leadership roles in student societies, and a personal blog on finance.
Takeaway: Focus on potential, not just experience. Your curiosity, self-initiative, and ability to learn matter a lot. Including a well-crafted personal skills CV section or a clear personal skills list can help emphasise your transferable abilities.
Example: A former teacher turning to tech highlights soft skills (communication, problem-solving) and shows certifications in web development. Her resume tells a story: why she’s switching and how her past roles add value.
Takeaway: Bridge the gap for your reader. Don’t assume they’ll connect the dots — you connect them by clearly outlining a list of personal skills and how these support your new career goals.
Even the most impressive personal resumes can lose impact if you fall into these traps:
Trying to squeeze everything in will make your resume bloated and unreadable. Stick to what’s most relevant for your goals and audience, focusing on a targeted professional skills list rather than an exhaustive one.
Phrases like “hard worker” or “motivated individual” mean nothing unless you show how those traits manifest in real work. Understanding what is personal skills and how to demonstrate them clearly is key.
✅ Replace “motivated” with “consistently delivered 100% task completion ahead of schedule.”
Too much colour, animation, or clutter makes it feel amateur. On the other hand, an overly plain document misses the point of standing out.
✅ Tip: Choose one accent colour and clean fonts. Use spacing to guide the eye, reflecting your professionalism skills through thoughtful design.
Don’t write a personal resume just for yourself — write it for someone reading it. Think: Will this make sense to someone who doesn’t know me? Understanding the personal skills definition helps tailor your message so it resonates.
✅ Tip: Ask a mentor, teacher, or friend outside your field to read and critique it.
A personal resume isn’t just a replacement for your traditional CV. It can be a powerful career tool in many other ways:
Use parts of your personal resume to update your LinkedIn profile or create a standout “About” section on your portfolio site. This is a great opportunity to highlight examples of personal skills and good personal skills that showcase your unique value.
Your personal resume can become the homepage of your career — a central hub that links to your work, blog, contact form, and even free resources you share. Here, you can emphasise your personality skills alongside your personal qualities and skills, helping visitors get a clear sense of who you are.
If you’re reaching out to mentors, applying to speak at events, or introducing yourself to potential clients, your personal resume serves as a curated introduction. It’s like saying: “Here’s me — not just what I’ve done, but what I believe in, what I’m building, and why you should know me.” This approach highlights the qualities for resume and the skills and personal attributes that make you stand out.
Your personal resume isn’t just a document — it’s a declaration.
It’s where you bring together your experience, your energy, your passions, and your goals into a single, coherent message. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being authentic, strategic, and clear.
Whether you’re exploring new job opportunities, freelancing, launching a side hustle, or simply defining who you are professionally, a personal resume helps you own your story by highlighting your personal qualities and skills and demonstrating the qualities for resume that make you unique.
You don’t need fancy tools. You don’t need a long list of achievements. You just need the willingness to reflect, write honestly, and present yourself with pride — showcasing the skills and personal attributes that set you apart.
If you’re working on your personal resume and want guidance, resources, or feedback — our team at jobsland offers tailored support for UK students, graduates, and freelancers.
Start showcasing your true potential — not just your past jobs.
