Who are you? What is your background? What are your interests? What are your talents? What are your achievements? What challenges have you faced?[2] X Research source
What is your most interesting or unique quality? What word(s) describes you the best? Choose that topic.
Bad: I like sports. Ok: I’m a fan of basketball, football, tennis, and soccer. Good: My favorite sport is football, both to watch and to play. Better: When I was growing up, I would watch Big Ten football with my dad and brothers every Saturday, before we’d go outside and toss the football around. I’ve loved it ever since.
Braggy: I’m the best and most dynamic worker at my company right now, so you should want to hire me for my talents. Humble: I was lucky enough to be awarded three employee of the month awards at my current job. Turns out it was a company record.
Common themes or prompts for autobiographical essays include overcoming obstacles, great successes or spectacular failures, and what you learned about yourself.
Depending on the assignment, you may need to connect a personal anecdote to a reading or an idea from class. Start brainstorming topics that are connected to that idea, to give yourself a variety of options to choose from.
Common autobiographical essay cliches include sports stories, mission trips, and dead grandmothers. While these can all make for excellent essays if done well, it is difficult to stand out when telling the story of how your lacrosse team lost a big game, then practiced hard, then won. It has been written before.
If you want to tell the story of your nasty break-up, start with the break-up, do not start with the star-crossed way you met. You have got to get immediately to the tension in the story.
When you have an idea of your topic, start writing a “memory list” of specific things that you remember about the event. What was the weather like? What did it smell like? What did your mother say to you? Your opening paragraph will set the tone for the rest of the essay. Rather than telling the dull biographical details (your name, your place of birth, your favorite food), find a way to express the essence of the story you are going to tell and the themes you are going to explore in your essay.
Outline your qualifications and highlight your talents in a cover letter. Write about who you are. In a cover letter, describe how your education and experience qualifies you for this position. Explain how this opportunity will benefit your career goals.
When in doubt, keep it brief and serious. If you are unsure whether or not telling an amusing anecdote about your friend’s bachelor party is appropriate in a cover letter, it is probably best to leave it out.
“I’m writing to apply for the entry-level position with Company Inc. advertised on your website. I think my experience and training makes me an ideal candidate for this position. " Contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to include your name in the body of the letter: “My name is John Smith and I am applying. . . . " Your name will be included in the signature, as well as the header of a cover letter, so there is no need to put it in the text itself.
Who you are and where you come from. Where you want to go. How this opportunity would potentially help you get there.
Be as specific as possible. [11] X Research source It is alright to note that you are “A passionate leader in all walks of life” but it would be much better to write about an example of a time you lead in a surprising way. Stay focused on skills and talents that connect specifically to the thing you are applying for. Extracurricular involvement, leadership roles, and other types of outstanding achievement may be important to you personally, but it may be totally extraneous. If you include something, ensure to connect it specifically to the goal of the cover letter.
Be as specific as possible. If you are writing a university cover letter, it is obvious that you have to have a degree to get a job as a doctor, but how did you come to choose this field? Why did you choose this school? What, specifically, do you want to take away from the experience?
Be careful about using a cover letter to critique a business. It is not the time to describe the suffering of a particular brand over the previous fiscal quarter, then promising that you will be able to turn it around with your ideas. That might not go over well if you are hired, and then you are unable to live up to the promise.
Even if it is impressive, a high GPA or class ranking does not belong in a cover letter. Highlight it on your resume, but do not include it in two different places of the application.
Your name Mailing address E-mail Telephone and/or fax number
Pretend you are writing about someone else. Write your name and start describing that person like a character or a friend: “John Smith is the Executive Vice President of Company Inc. . . "
If you are a jack of all trades, say so. Do not be afraid to list “actor, musician, mother, motivational speaker, and professional rock climber” if they all apply equally.
It is common to list degrees that you have received. Pay particular attention to anything that ties into the work you are writing about. If you have special training, include it here.
“John Smith is the Executive Vice President of Company Inc. , in charge of marketing and overseas acquisitions. He received an MBA with distinction from Harvard and lives in Montauk with his cat Cheeto. " Do not overshare. It can seem funny to immediately start with “John Smith loves rafting and hates eating Cheetos. He’s a total boss” and such bio notes can be appropriate for some venues, however be careful to avoid awkward oversharing. Telling everyone about your killer hangover might be best left for after work talk.
Stephen King, who is one of the most successful and popular authors in recent history, has a bio note that just lists the name of his family members, his hometown, and his pets. Consider leaving out the self-congratulation entirely.
