Much more than a professional description!

By L.V.

So you are on this amazing adventure of applying to Chevening Scholarship, an instance that can imply a critical juncture in your academic, professional, vocational and personal path.

Following Mr Jobs: joining the dots!

My experience in writing all the Chevening essays has meant an opportunity to give light and sense to many of my past experiences in connection to my present and future goals.

As Steve Jobs once said at a commencement address at Stanford University:

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

(Watch Video: click. Written discourse: click).

I highly recommend you to listen or read this discourse. Steve Jobs mainly encourages us to follow our instincts and curiosity towards our educational and practical experiences. Once we look back, we can find that all those isolated activities and courses we participated in may have coherence, sense and relevance in our broader professional and personal masterplan.

A trip to our past

Immerse yourself into this fascinating brainstorming Chevening is proposing to you. You now have the opportunity to remember and become aware of all those personal, volunteering and professional activities you have participated in. Try to analyze them in terms of the challenges, lessons, obstacles and benefits they have meant for you.

Consider your audience

Another important aspect to take into account is the kind of people Chevening is searching for. They are looking for leaders and change agents who want to make a significant contribution in their home countries through their professional and vocational path.

Show them you are the one!

Present a clear and coherent plan from now to the next ten years. Above all, demonstrate your passion and enthusiasm towards achieving your goal.

At most, you need to focus on connecting your study objectives and future plans to those experiences you have had in the past. This is your opportunity to show Chevening secretariat that you know how to capitalize and take the best possible outcome out of your learning and networking experiences.

Coherence and direction

Linking your PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE professional path is something you need to stay focused on. You will be asked to present a short, medium and long term professional career plan. It must become clear how this scholarship can help you give that professional upgrade you are looking for. You should demonstrate your ability to transform all your acquired knowledge into concrete and relevant measures, actions and results.

What differences this essay from the other ones?

You are asked to focus on your professional history, which goes way beyond your specific job experiences. Try to transmit that flame that burns inside of you which triggers you to be such a responsible, committed, creative and enthusiastic leader at your work and at every aspect of your life. Stay aware of your mission and remember: Chevening is not for someone who is just focused on making money or improving their CV. This scholarship is for people who are willing to put their soul into making a real difference in this world through their profession and social networks.

Trust your path, believe in it and make it shine!

Remember: there is no best seller than the one who believes in his product.

GOOD LUCK!

 

*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect that of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and its partner organizations.