Personal background statement template

A personal record form (also called an autobiographical statement, lý lịch tự thuật) is a declaration about yourself and your family on an administrative template, written by you and under your own responsibility, and usually with your signature certified by the commune-level People's Committee. It answers the question "who are you and where do you come from", while a CV answers "what can you do for this job". The two documents complement each other; neither replaces the other.

If you are still applying, put your effort into your CV first; the personal record form only needs to be ready to hand in once you are hired.

State agencies, public service units, schools, hospitals, state-owned enterprises and companies with strict HR procedures almost always require a certified personal record form when you join. Many private companies and start-ups only need a CV when you apply, and ask for the rest of the paperwork when you sign the contract. So do not rush to have a stack of copies certified at the outset: prepare one completed but unsigned copy, and get it certified when the company tells you it is needed, because certified copies are usually required to be "issued within the last six months".

A complete paper application pack usually contains:

The widely used template has six parts, in the order that HR staff are used to reading:

The pre-printed forms sold in bookshops sometimes still carry fields from decades past, such as "family class after the land reform" or "current personal class". These fields no longer mean anything for recruitment outside the state sector; unless the company asks for that exact form, the streamlined template above is all you need.

Personal details

• Full name in capitals, exactly as it appears on your ID card, including your middle name. Personnel records are checked against the ID card, and a single wrong letter means doing the form again.
• ID number, date and place of issue: the chip-based citizen identity card and the new identity card both have 12 digits; copy the place of issue from the back of the card, usually the "Police Department for Administrative Management of Social Order" (Cục Cảnh sát quản lý hành chính về trật tự xã hội). The 9-digit people's identity card (chứng minh nhân dân) ceased to be valid on 1 January 2025 under the Identity Law 2023 (Luật Căn cước 2023), so do not write the old number.
• Place of birth follows your birth certificate. Ancestral hometown (nguyên quán) is your family's place of origin on your father's side (or your mother's side if your father is unknown) and must match the place of origin (quê quán) on your ID card; this is the field most often confused with place of birth. Current address is where you live now, written down to the village or residential group, the commune or ward, and the province or city under the new administrative boundaries in force since 1 July 2025 (the district level no longer exists).
• Ethnicity and religion: write "Kinh" and "None" if that is your situation; do not leave them blank, or you will be asked about them again.

Qualifications and occupation

• General education uses the 12-year system: 12/12, 9/12. This is your school level, not your university degree.
• Professional qualification is your highest level together with the field: "Bachelor of Accounting", "Mechanical Engineer", "College diploma in Nursing", "Intermediate certificate in Pharmacy". If you are still studying, write "Fourth-year student of…".
• Foreign languages and IT skills: give the name and a level you can prove, for example "English, IELTS 6.0" or "Office IT skills"; do not just write "good".
• Current occupation and workplace: fresh graduates write "Not yet employed" or "Recent graduate"; people in work give their job title and company name.

Family relations

List your father, mother, spouse and siblings in the same way: full name, year of birth, occupation. For retired parents write "Retired", for farmers "Farmer", and for those who have passed away "Deceased", with the year if you remember it. If you are not married, write "None yet" in the spouse field rather than striking it through. List siblings briefly, one per line; children do not have to be declared unless the form has a separate field for them.

Education and work history

List everything in chronological order by month and year, starting from upper secondary school or university. Each line gives the period, the name of the school or company and what you did there. Keep the periods continuous: if there were a few months between two jobs, say so plainly, for example "Left job, looking for new work" or "At home caring for my child"; a long blank gap will make the reader ask questions.

Awards, discipline and the declaration

For awards, give the title, the level that granted it and the year; if you have none, write "None". The same goes for disciplinary measures: never leave the field blank. Keep the pre-printed declaration as it is, add the place and date, and then do not sign yet: the signature must be made in front of the certifying officer, and a copy signed in advance at home will have to be done again.

"Certifying a personal record form" is in fact a signature certification (chứng thực chữ ký) under Decree 23/2015/ND-CP: the competent authority confirms that the signature on the form is yours, not that what you declared is true. Knowing this saves you hunting for a "notary" and also makes clear that responsibility for the content lies with the person who made the declaration.

Where

Any commune-level People's CommitteeOr a notary office; your place of permanent residence does not matter

Fee

10,000 VNDPer signature certification, under Circular 226/2016/TT-BTC

Time

Same dayUsually well under an hour if your papers are complete

What to bring

ID card + formThe form fully completed but not yet signed

1. 1
   Fill in every field and attach the photo, but do not sign

   Stick a 4x6 cm photo in the box and complete every section. Bring the original of your valid ID card; a certified copy is also accepted.

2. 2
   Go to the one-stop desk of the commune or ward People's Committee

   Since 1 July 2025 local government has had only two tiers, so applications are received by the People's Committee of a commune, ward or special zone. You can choose whichever office is convenient, including where you are temporarily residing or where you work, because signature certification does not depend on your place of residence.

3. 3
   Sign in front of the certifying officer

   The officer checks your ID card and you sign the form there at the counter. The certifying officer then signs, dates and stamps it.

4. 4
   Pay the fee and collect the original

   The signature certification fee is 10,000 VND per case. If you need several copies, prepare several identical forms and have them all certified at the same time.

• Signing at home before taking the form for certification; the officer will ask you to fill in a new one.
• Writing the 9-digit people's identity card number, or using an old template with a "CMND" field.
• Confusing ancestral hometown with place of birth or place of permanent residence.
• Leaving the discipline, religion or spouse fields blank instead of writing "None" or "None yet".
• Erasures, two colours of ink, hard-to-read handwriting; if your handwriting is not neat, type the form and print it.
• A photo more than six months old, a cropped selfie, or a photo that does not fit the box.
• Unexplained gaps in your education and work history, or entries that contradict the CV you submitted.

The last mistake deserves the most attention: HR departments often put the personal record form next to the CV to compare them. Graduation year, previous employers and job titles must match; even a small discrepancy is enough to prompt questions and cost you goodwill on your very first day.

The template on this page is designed to be filled in once and used many times. You enter your details in the fields, the A4 preview updates instantly, and you download it as Word or PDF, print it, attach the photo and take it for certification. The template comes in 17 languages so you can make a bilingual version when applying to a foreign company, and it is saved to your account so that next time you only change a few details instead of starting from scratch.

1. 1
   Click "Use this template" in the list above

   Sign in so that your documents are saved; one Việc Hot account covers your CV, application letter and personal record form.

2. 2
   Fill in each group of details

   Personal details, qualifications, family, education and work history, awards. Where something does not apply, write "None".

3. 3
   Choose a language, download as Word or print

   Add a second language if you need a bilingual version. Download as Word if the company wants an editable file, or print on white A4 paper, on one side only, then stick on a 4x6 cm photo before going for certification.