The Main Mistakes When Writing an Essay
Grammatical and punctuation errors. Errors in the text will cross out the entire work of the candidate - because they say at the very least that he or she has not even checked his or her own work. To be sure not to miss any errors it's best to use a good Grammar checker.
Logical errors. Arguments should prove the author's thesis, not refute it. Moreover, they should not prove another thesis.
Repetition of ideas. It is not necessary to repeat the same idea twice, though in different words. The exception is a restated thesis in the conclusion.
Plagiarism. Plagiarism is copying someone else's work without citations or references to the author, which will lead to disqualification of the work and will spoil the candidate's image. Since many candidates are afraid of this kind of thing, they usually order their work from a suitable site, such as PayToWritePaper. But others still prefer to prepare on their own. A Plagiarism checker is very helpful to be sure that none of the content is derived from elsewhere.
Your thoughts and philosophizing about life. Yes, an essay is free-form reasoning, but it has structure and is based on specifics: facts, examples, data, not abstract musings.
Jokes. A business essay tests many skills, but a sense of humor is definitely not one of them.
Touching on politics and religion unnecessarily. It is inappropriate to discuss political and religious topics in a job application essay, unless the assignment itself requires it: for example, when a candidate gets a job as a political analyst.
Use of inappropriate language. An essay for a job application must be in business style: the use of jargon and foul language is prohibited.
Inclusion of personal information in the essay. Information about age, gender, diseases, marital status can affect the objectivity of the employer's assessment of the candidate, so it is better not to touch it.
How to improve an essay
You must give more specific examples. High-flown words and vague formulations are meaningless if they are not backed up by descriptions of concrete situations and results. For instance, instead of writing, "A career has always been important to me," you should describe your experience so that the employer draws the conclusion: "I dreamt so much about a career in journalism that from the age of 10 I started delivering newspapers, and from 14 I started writing articles for children's commercial publications”.
Reread aloud. When you write a text and read it aloud, you may miss misspellings or find sentences misaligned, clustered, and out of order. However, when you read aloud, the language "sticks" to the errors, and they are immediately visible.
Reread after a while or ask a friend. Often the meaning of some sentences escapes or is distorted by bad wording, but the author can not notice it himself. It is necessary to set aside the text or passage for a while and return to it after a while with a clear head. You can ask a friend to check - an outsider's view will help you find and eliminate inaccuracies that are not obvious to the author.
Ask if it's not clear. Some candidates think that if they don't understand something in the assignment and ask a future boss a question, he will consider them unintelligent or incompetent. This is a big mistake. If you have a problem, it's better to ask. It shows that the candidate is thinking ahead before he or she gets too far into the task, which in a work situation will save time, money and effort.
Use introductory words. Introductory words help organize text structure and logical transitions. This makes life easier not only for the author, but also for the reader.
Write a sample essay. You can take any of the possible topics or come up with your own, and write a trial paper. This will allow you to practice the structure of the essay, the statement of the thesis, the construction of argumentation, and time management. You can identify weaknesses in grammar and punctuation, which you should pay attention to during the real test.
Keep it simple. The essay is a demanding assignment, but you should approach writing it without fanaticism: "Don't overthink it, don't wisecrack, don't write too much. Just answer the question in simple language so that those of us who are not familiar with your world can understand you," the Harvard Business School recommends.