Chevening is looking for individuals with strong networking skills, who will engage with the Chevening community and influence and lead others in their chosen profession. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your networking skills, and outline how you hope to use these skills in the future.
(minimum word count: 50 words, maximum word count: 500 words)
Good day guys! Please I need help on this one! General understanding of the prompt, understanding the meaning of the theme, grammatical errors etc thanks a lot
Networking means the act of exchanging information with people who can help you professionally. Robert Kiyosaki, the motivational speaker, always starts his day by saying "If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there" Evidently, Listening to others and looking for ways to meet their need as well as being persistent with my contacts has developed me into a master networker.
My first litmus test in the aspect of networking came during my third year in the university, when I attempted to unify all local undergraduate scholars of Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) all over the country, which consisted of about 1000 scholars from different institutions, under one single association called National Association of PTDF Scholars (NAPS) which I intended to preside over. I achieved this by creating a database of all the scholars published on-line by the fund and then proceeded further to make contacts by using friends from other schools, social media lookup and email correspondence. My major reason for creating this network was to foster communication between scholars around the country with the option of endorsing a presidential candidate for the 2015 general elections in Nigeria as a body. I am applying for the chevron scholarship today as a result of a contact from this association who familiarized me with the scholarship.
Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that LinkedIn has enabled me to connect with industry professionals in the field of sustainable energy. My activities there earned me a spot as a member of a prestigious group called "World solar Association" and this has exposed me to international standards and also gave me insights on the international policies guiding the industry.
Also, communicating with course tutors and professors of universities during open days in the process of my admission application shows the degree of my responsiveness when networking is involved.
With my vast networking skills, I intend to create and unify a group of Nigerian Chevening Alumni Association this will enable Chevening scholars share the qualities of ambition, drive and leadership potential. I also intend using my visual and pattern recognition skills coupled with my ability to develop relationships over time, to help organizations uncover and capitalize on new business opportunities which will culminate to a great delivery of value over time.
To conclude, I have substantiated my strong networking skills with both professional and extracurricular contacts and that i will broaden my network as I progress in my career.
Sebastine, You don't have to explain what networking means to the reviewer. Most specially, you don't need to place that at the very beginning of your essay. The quote from Robert Kiyosaki would have been a nice touch if you had used it as your opening sentence instead. Maybe you can still edit the essay regarding that?
You most certainly portrayed an excellent networking skill in this essay. However, I believe that you should explain how the NAPS network led you to the doors of Chevening in a separate paragraph. While I do not believe that you need to mention this in the essay, you already have it there alongside the story of NAPS, so we should use it to your advantage in a way. The story of the network that got to this scholarship application will show the reviewer how you use networking to your advantage :-)
I don't think your World Solar Association activity really helps to move along your networking skills discussion. Would you feel comfortable deleting that part? It just seems to stand apart from the rest of the essay in my opinion. Unless you can create a networking discussion for it, I don't think it should be in the essay.
In the part regarding your plans for networking through Chevening, I think you need to clarify the following part; "unify a group of Nigerian Chevening Alumni Association this will enable Chevening scholars" make sure you specify Nigerian Chevening scholars since your group is quite specific about its membership. In the same paragraph, you keep on using the term "over time", try to vary the words you use. While i was reading that part, I thought I had repeated reading the same line because you closed it with the same words. You need to make sure that each line stands out on its own.
