Ask UK

So, while I've never solely been HR (I've mostly worked at start-ups or SMEs and worn a lot of different hats at all times), I've done a lot of hiring at different companies in the UK.

I have always been of the opinion that the CV explains what you've done so far, and the covering letter / personal statement should then explain why what you've done makes you a viable candidate. So the CV is about you, the personal statement is about you and the role/company. You certainly don't have to cover the spec points in order (and don't even always need to cover them all). Just sure you address as many of the 'essential' elements as possible. But, even if you can't cover them all you might still be a viable candidate. I've hired people who had skill gaps because they had some stuff I really cared about and I knew we could teach them to cover the missing stuff.

Caveat: this was before AI. I assume that's fucked the human element of the entire process completely in a lot of companies. For <20 headcount orgs your application might still end up in front of a human.

I'd be surprised if anyone reads it. No disrespect. It's just I can't see anyone sitting down to read a personal letter and then the CV and then do that for all the candidates before even an interview. You'd be surprised what recruiters do in order to sift through their workload quickly.

Having said that write a short statement of who you are and why you feel the job is important to you. Make it... personal to you. Obviously. Can't hurt to have one even if they don't read it in full. I wouldn't spend a lot of time on it.

What's the points and the job?

There is no set meaning for it. It could refer to a wall of text, the top few lines on your CV or another name for a cover letter. Does it have a word limit to help figure out what it is?

If it's a beefy bit of text, aim for just under that amount of text. Go through the job description and cover all the points in there, and refer to previous experiences (could be within work, uni, school, volunteering, anything really, tbh could make it up or exaggerate an event) to demonstrate that skill of requirement. Try to use I did x rather than we or x happened. In the examples, you could have something that went wrong and what you did to fix it. (E.g needs to be a team player in job description becomes I work well with team members by listening to the input from others and also putting my point of view across where relevant and helpful. For example, in my final year at university we did a group project on x. Two of my team members got into an argument about which direction to go. I talked to both of them to calm down and as a group, I encouraged everyone to evaluate each idea by the positives as well as areas of improvement. That way, we were able to take the best option for the group and move forward to complete the project.) Or some bollocks like that...

Don't use AI to blindly write it. You can use it top give you examples of what to put in or to proof read but chances are 90% of people will just use AI which they'll be able to tell and they'll sound the same so not using it will stand out.

Don't spend too much time and effort unless you really really want the job. They'll be mostly skimmed through if read at all.

How big is the "company/group/place" that you're applying to?

If it's a large enough place that your application will initially be skim-read by "HR and office types" who know nothing about the actual role (especially if it's a council or other institute type job), the person spec etc is often a literal tick list, and it seems to be preferred to answer it in order, like a robot.

Some job application packages give you a person spec, with a table that says whether each point is addressed in the application form, personal statement or the interview etc - that's normally a pretty clear indicator that they want it "robot-like".

If it's anywhere that's not that i.e. smaller places, where the person initially reading the application might be actually involved in the job and know what any of it means, then you should be a little more free with the writing.

Also, depending on who/what the place is, the job application may have a "for any questions, please contact (name/number)". Though it may be quite terrifying to do so, you can literally ask them directly how they prefer the application, i.e. "Hi, I just wondered if you'd like the personal statement to address all the 'person spec' points clearly and simply in order, or to be a more freely written statement about my experience and abilities". They don't want to reject applications on form-filling technicalities - if you have the skills they're asking for, they'd rather have you at the interview - so it's not a 'stupid question' to ask them.

My information may be a bit out of date, though I know a Council job earlier this month still followed this format.