Given half a chance to talk about themselves, most people wouldn’t know where to stop. Many application processes these days include  a requirement to state why you believe that you are suitable for the job or course in question and to demonstrate your enthusiasm and commitment. The temptation can be to write as much as possible about your qualities, skills and acheivements but you need to remember that it’s important to be concise as this is your opportunity to ensure that you stand out from the crowd.

We’ve had a couple of new books recently related to applying for courses – Personal statements – how to write a UCAS personal statement  explains how to organise and structure an individual and highly effective personal statement. Perfect Personal Statements includes samples of successful application essays for law, business, medical and graduate school. Although it’s targeted at students studying the USA there are plenty of good geenral tips to take on board. For those of you thinking of applying to medical school in the next few weeks then help is at hand with The Apply2Medicine Guide to Writing your Medical School Personal Statement

For some help with writing personal statements for job applications then check out the helpsheet from The Careers Group, University of London.