Answering Additional Questions on Application Regarding Work Experience

[butterfingers2010]

One of my applications has a page on the online application in which I have to answer various questions about my work experience. The application page provides text box areas in which you copy and paste your answers in. The problem is, they provide no guidance as to how long the answers should be. Obviously I have to provide enough information to answer the question, and they probably aren't expecting a full blown essay since the boxes are so small.

I feel like this is more or less a repetition of my resume, but in narrative form. What is the point of such redundancy? I suppose I should just expand a bit on what it states in my resume, but I'm not sure how much I should write. I don't want my answers to be inadequate but I don't want to bore them with tons of long-winded answers either.

[DancesWithDogs]

fist, a response, second, another question on that topic

1) i dont quite understand. the application is asking you to free write about your work experience? as in, job by job? Or is this a chance to tie up your professional experience in a nice bowtied story on why you're the bomb-diggity for this school?

2) on that very topic-- I was asked to explain any professional or educational gaps. How in-depth do you think they want it? Just 2 sentences ok? like: it was a mutual termination and afterwards i did xyz until job abc started....?

thanks!

dwd

[butterfingers2010]

The application asks questions such as "Describe any teaching experience you've had" and "Describe any counseling practicums and internships you have had." It does not specify how long, just asks you to describe the name of the organization, dates, and duties. To me that seems like pretty much a repetition of the resume, which they asked for anyway.

[fuzzylogician]

The application asks questions such as "Describe any teaching experience you've had" and "Describe any counseling practicums and internships you have had." It does not specify how long, just asks you to describe the name of the organization, dates, and duties. To me that seems like pretty much a repetition of the resume, which they asked for anyway.

Hmm. It sounds like they are asking for 1-2 sentence descriptions of your jobs and not much more; it's possible that it's repetitive and it's hard to imagine what it's good for. It's even possible that it's not good for anything and that it's a leftover from an older app version or that it's just a universal feature of the app system that the school is using and the adcom will never even look at it. Regardless, even though it's annoying, just give them what they asked for.

2) on that very topic-- I was asked to explain any professional or educational gaps. How in-depth do you think they want it? Just 2 sentences ok? like: it was a mutual termination and afterwards i did xyz until job abc started....?

How much space do they leave for the answer? Is it a small textbox or does it look like they want the answers in essay form? I would guess that they just want to create a short timeline describing your adult life (or just your undergrad-life maybe), in which case a short response like you suggested seems appropriate.

[DancesWithDogs]

@fuzzylogician

its an doc/pdf upload version. so i caaan write a whole book (will most likely not do so) or just two lines....

I wrote 3-5 sentences for each part (yes, i took breaks in both education and work, sadly!) sounds enough, eh?

@jellybean24

I agree with fuzzylogician's input. but then again, this might be an opportunity to jazz up some critical work you've accomplished that a compact resume just doesnt do justice to

[fuzzylogician]

its an doc/pdf upload version. so i caaan write a whole book (will most likely not do so) or just two lines....

I wrote 3-5 sentences for each part (yes, i took breaks in both education and work, sadly!) sounds enough, eh?

I'm not sure why it's sad to have taken breaks between major stages in life, I've always found that people who have an "unusual" life trajectory have original ideas and interesting takes on things that other people might not have. Anyway, I would say, explain what needs explaining and not more. If you traveled -- just say that, no need to give a detailed description of the route though some details are probably fine; if you volunteered, say where. I wouldn't even bother saying anything if you stayed home and did nothing for a couple of months between jobs. It all depends on the details of your situation but if you over-explain you're not helping yourself much. Just be sure that they know how you account for your time if you took major breaks just so they know that you've settled down and are ready for a serious commitment.