Creating my 'story' in applications

[addy2004]

Hey everyone,

I'm starting to gather all my experiences/skills and how I can write about them in applications. I have been told previously that stronger applications often tell a 'story' - basically meaning all their experiences link together and have a unique angle on why that individual is applying to a commercial law firm, why they are best suited etc.

I'm not entirely sure how to link all my experiences together, and also how to even find my own unique 'story'. Does anyone have any advice please on how to find my own individualised selling point? Thank you!

 

[pri]

This may be a useless advice but I'll tell you how I usually do these things. I make sure I'm in a good mood, sit at my desk or wherever and let everything out, kind of like a stream of consciousness. While writing things down I start to see connections between my experiences and the story creates itself (with a little help of course). Once I've done this I only need to take care of the structure of my answer and those technical aspects. This is how I do it, I don't think too hard about it, you don't want your story to sound artificial or irrealistic. Hope this helps

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hey everyone,

I'm starting to gather all my experiences/skills and how I can write about them in applications. I have been told previously that stronger applications often tell a 'story' - basically meaning all their experiences link together and have a unique angle on why that individual is applying to a commercial law firm, why they are best suited etc.

I'm not entirely sure how to link all my experiences together, and also how to even find my own unique 'story'. Does anyone have any advice please on how to find my own individualised selling point? Thank you!

You don't necessarily have to link everything together, if anything you just have to explain the relevance of the things you have done to the opportunity you are applying to.

Rather than connecting everything up, think more about:

1. Why do I want to highlight this?
2. Why should me reader be interested in this?
3. How does this make me a better candidate?
4. How has this shaped or changed my motivations for what I am applying to?

 

[addy2004]

This may be a useless advice but I'll tell you how I usually do these things. I make sure I'm in a good mood, sit at my desk or wherever and let everything out, kind of like a stream of consciousness. While writing things down I start to see connections between my experiences and the story creates itself (with a little help of course). Once I've done this I only need to take care of the structure of my answer and those technical aspects. This is how I do it, I don't think too hard about it, you don't want your story to sound artificial or irrealistic. Hope this helps

You don't necessarily have to link everything together, if anything you just have to explain the relevance of the things you have done to the opportunity you are applying to.

Rather than connecting everything up, think more about:

1. Why do I want to highlight this?
2. Why should me reader be interested in this?
3. How does this make me a better candidate?
4. How has this shaped or changed my motivations for what I am applying to?

Thank you so much for the advice, I will definitely sit down and think through my experiences and how I can showcase them better!