Until recently, your CV was a succinct list of your work history and career highlights. But nowadays, many employers are asking for a personal statement that goes at the top. Similarly, application forms often have a space for a précis of who are you and, of course, your LinkedIn professional sum­­mary is a place to tell browsers a bit more about yourself.

简历一向只需简单罗列工作经历和值得一提的成就，这种情况近来有所改变。如今，许多雇主要求求职者在简历开头提供一份个人描述。类似的，职位申请表上往往也有个人简介栏，并且当然了，你在领英(LinkedIn)网站上的职业总结也能供浏览者更多地了解你。

The trouble is that most of these personal summaries are not very personal at all. They are an interchangeable mix of words from the Lego box of management jargon. Everyone says they are passionate, committed, motivated and experienced and, in doing so, say nothing at all. LinkedIn has helpfully compiled a list of its most overused words.

问题在于，这些个人简介大多毫无个性，只不过是从一堆管理术语中抽取了一些词汇，然后排列组合了一下。每个人都说自己富有激情、认真负责、工作积极、经验丰富，结果相当于什么都没说。领英网站上满是在个人总结中用滥了的词汇。

So how do you stand out – without sounding like an idiot?

那么，如何才能写出让人眼前一亮、又不弱智的个人描述？

Start by thinking about who you are aiming at. If your statement is at the top of a CV or on an application form, its job is to get you an interview. “Think about context, purpose and audience,” says Janet Moran, founder of The CV House. “Don’t use the same statement for everything.”

首先，想一想你要写给谁看。如果你的个人描述置于简历或申请表之首，那么它的任务就是为你争取到一次面试。The CV House创始人珍妮特•莫兰(Janet Moran)说：“好好思考个人描述的写作背景、写作目的以及目标读者。别每次都使用同一份个人描述。”

Similarly, you need to avoid sounding like everyone else, says Nick Parker of language consultancy The Writer. People start by asking themselves what sounds good, so they write that they are passionate and creative because these are good things. You need to remember the cardinal rule of writing, which is show, don’t tell: “To convince someone you’re funny, you don’t say: ‘I’m funny.’ You tell them a joke.”

语言咨询机构The Writer的尼克•帕克(Nick Parker)说，你还要避免写得和别人一样。人们往往会首先思考哪些话写出来会讨招聘者喜欢，因此他们说自己富有激情、富有创意，因为这些都是优点。但你必须记住写作的基本原则，那就是：不要说结论，而要以事实证明。“要让别人相信你很风趣，不要说‘我很风趣’，讲个笑话就行了。”

Ms Moran adds that if in doubt, you should ask yourself, “So what, and says who?” You might kick off with a bold statement about something you have done, such as “In the past two years I’ve quadrupled sales.”

莫兰补充说，拿不准的时候，你应该这样问自己：“有什么了不起，谁说不行？”你可以用自己的一项成就开头，比如“我在过去两年中让销售额翻了两番”。

You should then go on to say where you are, what your experience is and where you want to go. Mark out specialist know­ledge and int­ernational experience. As with news stories, aim to have the more important stuff higher up and the less important things lower down. Avoid jargon, not least because it might be specific to your company and meaningless to outsiders.

然后，你应该说明自己目前在哪居住，有哪方面的经验，希望在哪工作。突出你的专业知识和海外经历。跟新闻一样，越重要的信息越往前放，越不重要的信息越往后放。避免使用行话，因为这或许只是你就职的公司所特有的，外面的人看不懂。

To be truly memorable, you need to create links and tell stories, says Mr Parker: “You might say: ‘Whether it’s getting up for a 6am run or heading up meetings for my team of 40, I always have the same attitude.’ Pick specifics that work on a number of levels and paint a little picture.”

要做到真正令人印象深刻，你必须创造联系、讲故事。帕克说：“你可以这样说，‘无论是早上6点起床晨跑，还是参加手下40人的会议，我的态度始终如一’。选取适用于多个层面的具体事实，营造一种画面感。”

But be careful when using outside interests to add colour. Saying you like reading and cooking is so dull that you are better off saying nothing – and extreme sports and global travel have become very mainstream.

描述业余兴趣爱好可以为个人描述增色，但在这样做的时候要格外小心。读书、烹饪这样的爱好太没个性了，说出来还不如不说。极限运动、环球旅行这样的爱好也已经非常主流了。

The unexpected can work, however. Mr Parker says: “I was once sent a CV where the applicant said that their hobby was needlepoint. They drew a parallel between sewing and concentration where they talked about making errors and having to unpick 1,000 stitches. That’s a really nice, un­usual, memorable, image.”

不过，另类爱好可能会让人眼前一亮。帕克说：“我收到过一份简历，申请人说自己的爱好是刺绣，并且将针线活与注意力联系起来，说到曾经因为绣错而拆掉1000针。这样的描述非常博人好感、不同寻常、令人印象深刻，并且极具画面感。”