How to Write an Essay About Yourself

The tips and tricks of how to write an essay about yourself

Writing about yourself can be such a fascinating task. Imagine talking about yourself from the introduction to the conclusion. You do not need a library or a reference handbook as you piece together an essay about yourself. After all, no one knows you better than you do. You know your achievements, strengths, weaknesses and your dreams. You can literally perform a personal SWOT analysis even at midnight. However, writing about yourself is not that rosy and easy as you may think. It has challenges and dead ends. You therefore need to equip yourself with the basics of how to write an essay about yourself in order to overcome such bottlenecks.

Coming up in this handout:-

  • Why you need an essay about yourself
  • Writing an essay about yourself
  • Tips on writing personal essays

This handout will walk you through a simple process of developing an excellent essay about yourself. Do not assume to know much about yourself that you do not need these nuggets. The simple things you always ignore about yourself are what spice a personal essay. Are you ready to learn? Let us go…

Untold secrets of how to write an essay about yourself

Have you ever thought of writing an essay about yourself? If you have not, then you had better prepare yourself for the task ahead. Personal letters are a common assignment, not only for students but also for people in the corporate world. Thus, you must understand the best of way describing yourself on paper.

When do you need to write about yourself?

Writing about yourself becomes a handy skill in the following three areas:

  1. Cover letters – It is a job searching that helps you market yourself by selling you to the selection panel with the best price tag. It is summarizes who you are without duplicating your CV. A good cover will land you a job before the HR manager looks at your credentials.

With your cover letter, convince the reader that you are the best candidate not only to fill the position but also to fix the problems ailing the firm.

  1. Personal Essays – If you ever dream of seeking admission in leading universities around the world or want to apply for a scholarship, you have to master how to write an essay about yourself.

Admission boards always ask candidates to submit personal essays while making the application. It can be disastrous to miss a lifetime opportunity because of a poorly done personal essay. But with the guidelines in this document, you should find this to be a walkover.

  • Writing bio notes – Personal bios are all about yourself. You have read biographies of great men and women on earth. However, you do not have to be great to write a personal bio. Whether you are a freshman, in graduate school or looking for a job, this is the right time to pen your bio.

By now, you already know circumstances that will require you to dig deep into yourself and write a well-constructed and thoughtful essay. Let us look at the prewriting stages.

Things to do before you start writing an essay about yourself

Because of the implication of a personal essay, especially towards your career, you should take time before you embark on the writing process. Synthesize the task on your table, putting emphasize on the purpose of the assignment.

Here are some of the things you should do:

  1. Read and reread the instructions. You will end up with a stunning essay about yourself if you understand the prompt well. Read the instructions and endeavor to follow them to the letter. Adhere to the style, word limit, and format as per the directions.
  2. Research before you write – As you think about master how to write an essay about yourself, dig deep to settle on the details you need to piece together your essay. Whether it is a personal bio or cover letter, you cannot miss to do research.

As you research, think about the following:

  • The field – If you are working on an admission letter or cover letter, capture why you want to be that person. Bring out why you should join the field, the source of inspiration, and your career journey. Remember to look ahead and bring out your dreams. Where do you see yourself in the field?
  • The program – Explain why you want to join a particular course. Be honest and do not sound superficial. Do research about the program. Find out the need and openings in that line of career and establish a legitimate reason to back your choice of program.
  • Yourself – Say what makes you stand out from the crowd. At this point, you want the reader to understand you better. Well, sell yourself in a special way. Talk about the things that have shaped who you are today. At the end of the day, you want to leave a mark in the mind of panelists as the best applicant for the slot.

Understanding who you are and being able to describe the person you are is the top secret of how to write an essay about yourself. Back your qualities where possible to affirm what you are saying.

Example: Sample essay about yourself

This excerpt should help you reflect on what we have so far discussed. Take a look before we proceed to the next section.

Leon Thomas is Head of finance at the American Double Ways Insurance Co. He oversees the firm’s claims and underwritings leadership within the entire region of Northwestern besides being the liaison to the communication office in Philadelphia…   

He has risen through the ranks, mainly because of his creativity, hard work and result-oriented attitude toward work…

Leo believes that everyone has the potential to become who they want to be. He is such a big resource to his employer because he acts as bridge between other employees and their dreams…

Brief analysis:

From the essay, the writer introduces himself, by stating his current position and explains his roles. Importantly, the essay brings out a special attribute of the writer as a team player with excellent leadership skills.  He paints himself as a pillar of the company.

You too can draft an excellent personal piece as long as you adhere to the hints of how to write an essay about yourself, which we have already elaborated. What’s more, the following section has more tips.

Final suggestions: How to write an essay about yourself

To this end, it should be clear to you that writing about yourself could be both easy and intimidating. The fun of it is that you have all the details to put down. The flipside of this is the challenge of deciding what to include and what to leave out.

How do you conclude that by telling the reader about your achievements will not make you sound like a proud person? This is can be a really hard nut to crack. Apply the following simple steps and see the magic….

STEP 1: Introduce yourself – You have everything to write but the reader does not need it in the first paragraph of your essay. Describe who you are in the context of the prompt of your assignment. If it is a cover letter, talk about your current position. The example above clearly illustrates this. Besides this, bring out your interests, talents, achievements and challenges.

STEP 2: Describe your abilities – Talk about what you can do and achieve without struggling. As you think about how to write an essay about yourself, have in mind a list of your talents. In case your assignment limits you to a single item, make the list when brainstorming the task.

STEP 3: Narrow your topic- Do not focus on your entire life history. Go for areas that matter and add value to the person you are selling – yourself.

STEP 4: Be brief but clear – Avoid vague language. Be clear since you will not be present to clarify what your colloquial expressions mean. Write what describes you with further description.

STEP 5: Be humble – Do not use your personal essay to prove your ego. Be cautious in the choice of your words, especially when talking about your achievements. Use a humble language.

We hope that these principles on how to write an essay about yourself will enhance your writing. Do not wait for tomorrow; start practicing now. Smooth sailing.

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CONSULTED SOURCES:

http://thewritelife.com/writing-a-personal-essay-mistakes/

https://blog.udemy.com/essay-about-myself/

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/application-essays/

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-About-Yourself

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/essays/tips-for-writing-an-effective-application-essay-college-admissions

http://www.mvc.edu/files/sfs-personal-essay-info.pdf