5 A summary of yourself
It is important for any interview situation to be able to give a clear and concise summary of yourself and your interests. This activity gives you that chance, so remember to keep a record of your final summary in your notebook – it could come in very handy.
Activity 3 Drafting a personal statement
One of the ways of putting yourself in the right frame of mind for this task is to envisage that you are in a lift with someone very important at your workplace. You introduce yourselves, and then your very important person (VIP) asks:
‘What do you do?’
What would you say? Remember that it needs to be short and sweet because you only have the lift journey in which to say it.
Write no more than three sentences as your answer in your notebook.
Comment
You may have found it tricky to sum yourself up in three sentences, which also sounds natural when you read it out. That will also make it less memorable.
a.
I am Sally, I just work on the tills … I like the fact that it keeps me busy
b.
I am Sally and I work on the till in the food section. I really like the fact that I get to specialise in one type of product.
c.
I’m Sally, I work on the food section. I really enjoy being able to answer queries and, of course, taking the customer’s money – because that keeps us all in a job.
The correct answer is c.
c.
Yes – this says clearly what she does, what she likes and the value of it to her employer.
In the next section you’ll finalise the statement that says who you are.