Tip 5 : General tips for writing your personal statement
Before we get into the specifics of writing your personal statement, I'd like to cover some basics. There are various points that you'll need to consider before you start writing, and they're relevant no matter what you want to achieve. So without further ado...
Tip 6 : No solid rules
There are no solid rules for writing a personal statement. There are any number of so-called 'experts' who will happily tell you that you must always structure your statement in a certain way, or that you must cover each requirement of the job/course in the order they appeared on the specification.
This is simply not true.
The truth is that your personal statement should be designed in a way that positions you as the ideal candidate. If that means responding to each requirement in order, fine, but don't be fooled into thinking it has to be that way - In my experience it usually doesn't.
And this applies to every aspect of personal statement writing. If you search around online, or ask for advice at your local job centre, you'll find that people have come up with a wide variety of (often contradictory) 'rules'.
Unfortunately, contradictory and nonsensical advice is very common, and that's where our next tip comes in..