Even though a personal statement is a great tool for enhancing your chances of securing a job or getting an admission in your dream college, the way you write it will determine whether it will achieve its goal or not. The best way to make your statement win the acceptance of the admissions board or your potential boss is to avoid costly blunders that most applicants make. With these factors in mind, https://yourwriters.net/blog/term-paper-writing-tips-for-college-students will discuss some of the fatal blunders that can blow off your hopes of getting that employment.
● Inclusion of unnecessary information
The first thing you should not mention in your personal statement is including the wrong information in the statement. Ensure that you tell the prospective employer only things that they need to know about how well you will add value to their organizations. Do not include personal details such as your age and marital status. Including irrelevant information is one way of telling the readers that you don’t know what exactly you are looking for. Also, irrelevant information will only turn them off because you will be wearing them with useless details. When applying to join a university, avoid including your grade-point average or repeating the answers you had given on the application form.
● Highlighting your shortcomings
When writing a personal statement, you are drafting strategic document to market yourself and boost your chances of securing an admission or a job. So, keep off highlighting your weaknesses because they will not to help you to maximize the employment or study opportunity you are applying to get. Even though your prospective employer wants real people, understand that they are human beings and they are mature enough to know that all people have their shortcomings. So, don’t try to be “real” or “humble” by highlighting your weakness thinking that you are doing yourself or the potential employer a favor because it will backfire on you.
● Playing the braggart
Another blunder that will backfire on you the same way the previous one will is being overconfident thinking that you are impressing the decision makers. Avoid all forms of flamboyance in your statement since if you do not, these men have read such statements before and they have enough experience to know what to do with the next one you will present before them—trash it! So, be moderate in the way you present your strengths and achievements. The way you show your qualifications should be tempered with moderation if you want to secure the approval of the admissions and hiring board.
● Exaggerations and lies
If you want your statement to gain the approval of the university board or your potential bosses, then you should avoid all forms of lying. You need to remember that if you use exaggerated claims, they will take you to the task to explain and furnish evidence for them. To avoid putting yourself in such an awkward situation, it is prudent to be truthful and only make claims you can prove.
● Keep yourself in the picture
When presenting your skills and experiences, avoid bringing other people into the picture. The reason is that the university or potential employers are looking at you. Even if you have people whom you genuinely admire or appreciate because they helped you to get where you are, do not mention them in the statement. Just keep the focus on who you are, what you can do, and where you are going.
● Writing in a hurry
Another blunder you need to avoid in your personal statement is drafting it in a hurry assuming it is another brief document that requires no serious planning and brainstorming efforts. You should take your time to prepare everything that needs to go into this critical document.
● Using clichés
As you master tricks on how to write a personal statement, it is necessary to remember you have a limited word count of between 50 and 150 words to tell your prospective employer why they should hire you. It is therefore prudent to stop using clichés that will waste your reader’s time and deny you an opportunity to utilize your limited word count well. Don’t use statements like, “I hope that lady fortune will smile on me and I will carry the day at the end of the day.
● Keeping money at the center
The last blunder you need to avoid when writing your statement is mentioning money. When applying to a job, the organization’s bosses know that they are supposed to pay people. Do not mention how much you want to earn or make any statement that alludes to it.
Writing a personal statement requires you to be careful and avoid blunders that can sabotage your chances of securing a university admission or a dream job. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid the blunders we have discussed in this post so that your statement can achieve its goal.