Personal
Statement Do's and Don’ts |
| Do’s |
 |
1. Remember that your personal
statement is your personal statement, not an article
written about your prospective field of job - it should
tell us about you, not about the subject.
2. Discuss your personal statement with your friends
and other professional bodies that you think will advise
you.
3. Only put in things you are prepared to talk about
at interview (if you have one).
4. Show your personal statement to as many people as
possible. Ask them what you've left out, what you could've
put in a better light, and what you've over done.
5. Give convincing reasons for why you want to get that
job.
6. For very competitive jobs, find out as much as you
can about the nature of the work or research about the
company and try to make your personal statement relevant
to this..
7. If you have (realistic) long term career plans, make
a link between these and the job you’ve chosen
to apply.
8. Mention positions of responsibility with some examples
of duties and skills you learnt carrying them out.
9. Talk briefly about what you do outside work place
or how you can be an asset to that company.
10. Be reflective. If you make a point like 'I like
music', 'I travelled aboard', say what you got from
it.
11. Keep paragraphs concise. |
| Don’t |
 |
|
1. Just list what you're doing now.
You should pull out the skills and experiences that
are relevant to the job for which you're applying.
Show how your hobbies and interests contributed to
your generic skills or personality in a way what supports
success on a career.
2. Mention skills and activities without giving examples
of when they have been demonstrated or what you learnt
from them. Anyone can write "I have great leadership
skills" in a Personal Statement, actually using
a sentence to explain
3. when you demonstrated good leadership skills is
much rarer and more valuable.
4. Refer to experiences that took place before your
GCSEs (or equivalent) except as anecdotes or if absolutely
necessary
5. Mention interests without being more specific -
for reading mention authors or genres, likewise with
music or art - mention particular artists.
6. Lie or Exaggerate!!
7. Apply for too many different jobs, making it difficult
to write a convincing personal statement which supports
the application.
8. Write a statement specific to just 1 job, unless
you're only applying to that one choice.
9. Copy and paste the statement
from somewhere else!
|
|
|
