{"id":62692,"date":"2015-05-21T09:30:26","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T14:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=62692"},"modified":"2015-05-21T09:27:35","modified_gmt":"2015-05-21T14:27:35","slug":"your-career-statement-of-purpose-a-sop-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=62692","title":{"rendered":"Your Career Statement Of Purpose: a SOP Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Christina Wilson, former Head Editor of\u00a0INALJ Alberta<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0INALJ Manitoba<\/a>
\npreviously published 2\/27\/14<\/em><\/p>\n

Your Career Statement Of Purpose: a SOP Story<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"ChristinaWilson\"<\/a>At a recent library conference, l learned a new\u00a0approach towards the all-important career summary\u00a0that all job seekers are expected to deliver during an interview. Typically, interviews begin with a\u00a0request to provide a career overview. Most responses\u00a0include career highlights and several anecdotes that\u00a0are directly relevant to the position being sought. It\u00a0should be a full summary of the candidate, covering\u00a0education, work history and aspirations, delivered in a\u00a0well-organized way that demonstrates the candidate\u2019s\u00a0abilities as a personable public speaker, able to engage\u00a0a group of people. A winning summary projects key\u00a0points for the interviewers that the candidate may\u00a0refer to later in the interview. It must be succinctly\u00a0presented and focused on the elements that you\u00a0wish to underline about yourself in the interview.\u00a0Interview questions may take a surprising turn and\u00a0one\u2019s best way to be focused and prepared is through\u00a0your own summary. Consider it to be your agenda for\u00a0the \u201cmeeting\u201d that is the interview.<\/p>\n

At the Ontario Library Association\u2019s SuperConference,\u00a0a career development session, cleverly entitled \u201cCreate\u00a0your own SOP story\u201d, drew my attention. It featured\u00a0three presenters, all experienced hiring managers at\u00a0a large, urban public library detailing what they seek\u00a0from applicants when they ask the question: \u201chow\u00a0would you characterize your career to date\u201d? They\u00a0characterized the reply as a \u201cStatement of Purpose\u00a0(SOP)\u201d, a unique term (and new acronym) that doubles\u00a0as a career management and skill development\u00a0approach. A well-crafted SOP allows applicants to\u00a0express who they are and to highlight their interests\u00a0and expertise. It\u2019s the candidate\u2019s opportunity to\u00a0outline their career goals and aspirations, projecting\u00a0how these might align with the institution\u2019s goals and\u00a0future staffing needs. The SOP is not lengthy, as it\u00a0should be delivered as a 1 to 2 minute speech during\u00a0the interview. In other settings, such as the persuasive\u00a0elevator talk, applicants may only get 30 seconds. Being\u00a0thorough, yet succinct is key to the successful SOP.\u00a0Practise your SOP so that it comes out naturally, and\u00a0appears as if you\u2019re just answering an unanticipated\u00a0question, in an ad hoc manner.<\/p>\n

Developing a Statement of Purpose is a valuable use\u00a0of time at any stage of your career. It\u2019s a strategic\u00a0approach to managing your career that develops the\u00a0skills of self-analysis, presentation and persuasion,\u00a0all of which can be useful during job interviews,\u00a0performance appraisals and when building support\u00a0for projects or ideas. The Statement of Purpose\u00a0becomes a living document that can be referred to and\u00a0updated at key phases requiring one to communicate\u00a0their attributes, values and contributions in a clear,\u00a0concise and invitational manner. Writing the SOP is\u00a0a useful exercise in personal contemplation, whether\u00a0to persuade others to hire you during an interview,\u00a0promote you during a performance appraisal or\u00a0support your ideas and special projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Christina Wilson, former Head Editor of\u00a0INALJ Alberta\u00a0and\u00a0INALJ Manitoba previously published 2\/27\/14 Your Career Statement Of Purpose: a SOP Story At a recent library conference, l learned a new\u00a0approach towards the all-important career summary\u00a0that all job seekers are expected to deliver during an interview. Typically, interviews begin with a\u00a0request to provide a career overview. Most…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":34335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,5988,5987,3974,3666,5888,4514,5979,5989,111],"class_list":["post-62692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-career-overview","tag-career-statement","tag-christina-wilson","tag-inalj-alberta","tag-inalj-manitoba","tag-interview-tips","tag-ontario-library-association","tag-statement-of-purpose","tag-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/ChristinaWilson.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-gja","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}