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How to write a good personal statement | LIFE ON CAMPUS

So you’re looking for internship placements…There are many job/ internship placement opportunities that will require you to submit a personal statement.

There are many job/ internship placement opportunities that will require you to submit a personal statement. Some people are already familiar with what a personal statement is, as some universities require you to have one as a requirement to be accepted– as well as with your certificates.

Not only universities require personal statements of interested applicants, you might need one to get internship placements, industrial training. In fact, it is sometimes recommended to attach a personal statement to your CV (if you are strictly required submit just a CV, you might not want to attach a personal statement as they strictly require a CV).

How to write a good cover letter

What is a personal statement?

A personal statement is a short (2 or 3 paragraph essay) summary that describes who you are, your skills, achievements, goals and the reason for your application. You are trying to convince the recruiter that you are a perfect choice.

how to write a good personal statement - life on Campus - hopeasfro.blog — You are trying to convince the recruiter that you are a perfect choice.

While personal statements can vary pertaining to organisation or position (for instance, a personal statement by someone looking to get into university and someone looking for an IT slot), there are few basic things to add into your personal statement and tips on writing a good one.

1. Know about the organisation

First things first, any student looking for IT placements needs to know about the organisation they intend to apply for. What type of organisation is it, is it an accounting firm, a law firm? How does the nature of the institution correlate with your career path? If you would like a paid internship, if possible find out if the organisation pays its interns.

2. How can the organisation be of value to you?

Think about how the organisation can add value to you. That is, in your skills, experience and strengths. This needs to be spelt out, as that will help you write your statement.

3. Plan your essay structure

It’s OK to have few drafts, as long as you get the right one. Your first draft is where you plan your essay structure. Like I said earlier, personal statements are used to tell whoever is reading who you are and everything about you they need to know.

Most importantly, talk about yourself a bit more, do not over define the specific role or subject you studied. For example, if you are studying business and want a placement in an office, do not spend a whole 30 lines paragraph on who a business person is. Instead, write how you can be of help to the company, how you can add value with the skills you have been able to learn after a year in university.

See an example of a personal statement structure —

– First paragraph : Start by giving an overview of what you study, your career path, why you chose to study the course, what you intend to do with it, your interests and skills that further propelled you to study that course. Why you want an internship. Make it interesting to read, something captivating!

Remember, the first paragraph is the charm

— Second paragraph : Give the reasons why you are interested in getting a placement at that organisation, explain how the organisation can be of help to you (for example ; “ABC firm is a reputable establishment and with a large share in the market, it has become a household name. I would love to serve as an intern as I can surely learn and sharpen my marketing skills” . It’s just a quick example but I hope you get the gist).

In the second paragraph, you also explain a little how you can be of help to the company, again highlighting your skills and strengths. Put in some of your achievements in school or in your community other work experience (you can add why you want this one, how it can be a valuable addition to your other experiences). Show off what you have learnt being in university and be detailed about it. I am guessing you would have spent up to at least four semesters in uni before your uni program asks you to go for industrial training.

Portray how much you’d love to have a placement at that workplace or organisation, in the body of your letter.

Impress the recruiter with your knowledge on the company – that requires extra reading.

— Third paragraph : Discuss your hobbies and interests and link them with how it can help you in the workplace. You can also discuss vaguely about your future plans career wise and how interning will help you. You can write down what you expect to learn after your IT program.

You’re probably wondering “well, didn’t I write that in the first paragraph?” it’s best you touch on it a little at the end, sort of reminding the recruiter who you are.

Conclude with a call to action. For example , “I would love to, or I’ll be looking forward to your acceptance”.

4. Tweak Tweak

rewrite your statement, remove unnecessary information and add what’s necessary.

5. Give an expert to go through it

It might be a lecturer friend, someone who has interned before .

6. Reread with fresh eyes.

What to check out for in your personal statement review

1. Don’t copy – be original, don’t copy a personal statement you saw online, you can get caught and it doesn’t say nice things about you. You can learn from personal statement structures or formats online.

2. Make it readable and easy to understand. Do a grammar check, make sure to put punctuation marks where necessary, avoid words or phrases that are cliché. Crosscheck your work, ask if it all makes sense.

Don’t skip meals | LIFE ON CAMPUS

Hi and welcome. If you’re new to the blog, it’s Hopeasfro and it centres around Lifestyle Art and Literature. This post is on the lifestyle segment.

Life on Campus is a new series that’s about living as a student on campus. I’m going to be touching on things such as spending, saving, studying and lifestyle changes as we go into it. There are few people who have always been living in bubbles (not their fault! ) and come into uni like ‘what’s going on?’, if you’re like that, then these series is for you. Or if you want to learn some tips, for you too.

Don’t skip meals

School requires almost every part of you, including your time. Skipping meals can become a habit, especially if you’re like me, that loves finishing up what’s being done before going to the next task. In a year, I lost up so much weight. Apart from risking being under weight, I risked falling sick. It might not look like it, but your body is taking too much.

I only got to know this when I stood in front a mirror. Dang I was skinny! I didn’t really feel hungry anytime I didn’t eat ’cause my stomach got smaller.

What I did to stop skipping meals

We are all about healthy living, right? And we’ve all come to the conclusion that there’s no point skipping meals, right? I mean, no one intends to faint in a pile of homework, at least not me.

I became very serious with mealtime : This meant setting reminders on my phone. I assigned specific times to eat and that includes getting up in the morning so I have a lot of hours to space my meals in-between. This includes eating three times a day and taking light snacks between.

don't skip meals life on Campus hopeasfro.blog — I assigned specific times to eat

This does not mean the three main meals were large, or just a chunk of carbohydrate, I became more specific with the nutrients I was taking. A balanced nutrition is key to staying healthy.

I downloaded a fitness app. Currently, I’m using myfitnesspal and I’ve been loving it. On the app I have a sort of diary where I can write down the meals I’ve had, the snacks I had and also the amount of water I took. It can also calculate how much calories you’ve lost in a day (that’s if you connect it with your step tracker).

After inputting the meals I had, it then calculates how much calories I’ve taken and compares it with my daily nutrition goal, apart from this, I get a rough picture of my nutrient intake. One good thing about myfitnesspal is that it has data for not just popular foods but less popular ones like indigenous afro-carribean foods.

I set up bodygoals. Now, It’s perfectly OK to be slim and equally OK to be plump. However, it’s not OK to be underweight or overweight, if we’re being real. I’m slim and I love it that way. However, during that period I lost considerable amount of weight and I was in the brink of being so unhealthy. In fact, I looked unhealthy, stressed, I just looked like a mess! What I did was look up healthy looking pictures of me and others, and sought to get to that look. However, I was being realistic. Can you be that size if you take care of yourself better?

Set up a diet timetable. I drew up a timetable of foods I could be eating to meet up with my daily nutrient goal. As a student in campus, you can be tempted to just eat anything.

Well, while some foods are super healthy, others add nothing much to your body, they just take up space. So, I had a mental note or list of foods I could eat, that I ticked off when I was going to get food or eat out.

So that’s it guys for this, there will be more to come later on. Remember y’all it’s not advisable to skip meals as that’s what gives you part of energy to study. Also, be very careful on what you eat, every food you eat should serve a purpose, that is giving you the needed nutrients.

If you have questions or comments, feel free to comment down below and I will see to that.

Have a nice day!

How to build a daily routine timetable for better productivity

Do you have tons of work but less time? Are you unable to fit things you love to do in your tight schedule? Do you find yourself neglecting other aspects of your life or just finding it hard to juggle out everything? Well, if yes, this post is hopefully going to help you manage all of this.

With this new season comes reflections, new goals and to dos. For me, I have decided to be more caring to myself. I’ve been working on routines and I think I have it in check now, last year, there was somehow a change for me and that came with an entire routine I couldn’t keep up with. There were tons of work, with less time to fit other aspects in my schedules. I even used to forget food… Can you imagine? Sweet sweet🍿 savoury🥗 food because, I would loose my appetite after I’m done with everything.

I just love to finish stuff I started, can you relate?

Well, you just need to find a daily routine that works best for you. A day starts in the morning and if you don’t want to end up worn out in the evenings, it’s good that your routine starts in the morning. Without much ado, lets dive in.

1. Compare the amount of work you want to do that day, with the time you have

This first step helps you figure out the things you need and want to do. It also helps you check if the amount of work is reasonable for that amount of time. If you have 8hrs free, what can you do in those 8hrs? Probably not a 12hrs activity. Listing out these to-dos help you stay focused in writing down your plans and also achieving them. This way, you can understand what to prioritise and not end up engaging in something you didn’t plan for with little use to you.

2. Put physical or mental strenuous work in the morning

People tend to be more active in the morning (that when they’ve come out of sleep dizziness) to midday. Thus, put activities that require more physical strength or activities that involve constant calculation like tidying up a rundown garage, in the morning or a little before afternoon. That way, you have the energy to finish that activity done & dusted.

I even used to forget food… Can you imagine?

hopeasfro.blog how to build a daily routine timetable for better productivity

3. Make mealtimes important

This one is for me LOL. Skipping meals because you need to finish work, and ending up not eating much at all is bad for your health. You need to have good healthy habits for productivity. So, make mealtimes important. Set reminders for snacking and follow it.

4. Have your siesta

A 30 minutes break to take a nap goes a long way, trust me, I know. It acts like sort of a refuel to get you going after the first part of the day.

5. Are you a morning or evening bath person?

Yes, this is a thing. If you do not take a bath twice a day but just once, you might try taking your baths in the evening instead. This helps people who have a long morning preparing process relieve off some activities. If you take long to groom yourself in the morning then rush instead to the next thing, you can try doing most of these night before. You’re still clean if you think of it, you’re washing off the dirt from outside off your body and getting in bed.

However, I will advise you do some sort of activity before bed, to get your body temperature up and not use cold water so you wouldn’t get a cold.

6. Draw up your daily routine and a to do list.

Finally, the last thing is to draw up your daily routine / timetable after..

1. Comparing the amount of work you have and the time you have

2. Deciding to be a morning or evening bath person

3. Having it in mind to make mealtimes important, have siesta and most importantly, seeing if you can fix physically and mentally strenuous activities in the morning.

Your daily routine / timetable does not have to be very detailed, you can have room for flexibility. For instance, you might want to put a 10–20 minutes break after each activity.

I can’t stress how to do lists are so useful. They help you stay focused to finish up stuff you need to do. They help you keep in track. So, drawing up a to do list helps you notice things you do everyday and designate time to it.

Essential Tips on self branding

So you are a media consultant, a social media manager, influencer, entrepreneur, a human being or simply a content creator and interested in knowing how to brand yourself, I’ve got you.

Your brand is all about what you want your customers or your audience to feel or take from your persona. This includes you and your products. Personal branding is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands. It’s a process of developing and managing a reputation or an impression, as a person, a group or an organisation (according to Wikipedia).

Essential Tips on self branding - hopeasfro.blog

As a customer and you too, there are things you expect from a supplier or producer. For instance, a fashion consultant. You expect them to be welcoming, you expect a level of expertise, knowledge, nice and reliable.

These are the 5 things I (and every other person) expect from who I’m working with. As you are trying to build a reputation through self branding, all these need to be in place. Your self branding should try to meet up with these qualities.

Here’s a reminder, customers are more likely to go for people who deliver.

Now without much ado, let’s dive in with my…

Tips on self branding

1. Know about yourself, improve that

Work on what you want your audience to feel about you. What you say should be how you act. If you promote being ‘reliable’, work on things like your customer service or work on how you answer customer questions. Here’s a reminder, customers are more likely to go for people who deliver.

Want to learn more on how to get set for a productive new year? Here’s how

2.Do you know about your field?

This is a question for you to answer. Do you know much about your field? People want some level of expertise and you need to know most basic facts concerning your field to improve your personal brand. There are few sites out there to learn from. YouTube is a start. Personally, I’ve learnt some content creating hacks from YouTube and online classes.

3. Consistency

To build a good personal brand, consistency is key. Do your plans and content go with your motto? It helps to be consistent in how much you put out there, social media feed, brand voice and brand design & colours (even in things that seem unimportant like your Pinterest pins’ design).

Do your plans and content go with your motto?

4. Pick 2 or 3 social media platforms to concentrate on

As a young blogger, I wanted to have as many social media platforms as possible because, it promotes the popularity of the blog,, right? Well that didn’t really workout. I ended deleting some unnecessary accounts because I hated some platforms and my content just didn’t fit. So, one of my tips is to pick few media platforms to be active in.

Pick 2 or 3 social media platforms to concentrate on - essential tips on self branding - hopeasfro.blog

These social media platforms can be categorised in two ways.

1. Long interaction & short interaction platforms.

For example, long interaction platforms include YouTube. With YouTube, brands or content creators are able to express themselves or give long answers to questions (Like a review of a gadget, asked by audience).

Getting set for the new year? See 18 stuffs to do

A short interaction platform on the other hand, is Twitter. This is because it only allows you to express your self in few words as tweets. This is good for bloggers or influencers that want to keep close contact with their audience.

2. Picture based or word based

Social media platforms can be categorised in this form. Picture based platforms include Pinterest, Instagram. Word based platforms on the other hand, includes Twitter. YouTube is a mix of both.

That’s it! These are my tips for successful self branding. I hope it’s helpful. Please remember consistency is key (we hear that a lot but it’s true), also improving your skills and knowing more about what you do goes a long way.

18 Things you can do to get set for the new year

Happy new year! It’s 2020 and we are going in well prepared and ready to be productive. This is the year to unveil that hidden talent and use it for good.

In this post, I share things I did and things you can do, to prepare you for the new year. You aren’t late if you do them now anyway , we are in the beginning of January.

Get set for the new year, things to do

1. Email detox

2. Wardrobe detox

3. Bank statement check

4. Social media detox (This is unfollowing accounts that add no value to you and following one’s that do. I hope I do😉).

Music detox- 18 Things you can do to get set for the new year - hopeasfro.blog

5. Music playlist detox (Remove songs that you can’t dance to on a good day and fill up your playlist with uplifting music).

6. Create a calendar for the new year and set reminders. This can include events or dates.

7. Find and try out new food (try foreign foods🍜).

hopeasfro.blog 18 Things you can do to get set for the new year

8. Make a diet plan🥗

9. Experiment on daily routines to see which one helps you be productive.

This is the year to unveil that hidden talent and use it for good.

10. Get more (better) stationary

11. Check your skincare routine 🥑

12. Detox your cosmetic bag

13. Research natural remedies (some berries 🍓reduce phlegm and mucus, shea butter for hair prone to sun bleaching, aloe Vera for skin burns)

14. Make a list of books to read📚

15. Draw up a list of places to visit🏖️

18 Things you can do to get set for the new year

16. Make a list of activities to take part in in the new year 🎨(including new hobbies).

17. List of online courses to apply for

You aren’t late if you do them now anyway , we are in the beginning of January.

18. Set goals in aspects

– Spiritual goals (more closer to God, faith, trust)

– saving goals

– work goals

– attitude goals🤗

– hair goals

– hydrate goals🥤

So these are stuff I did just to prepare for the new year. It helps to draw out plans and mind maps to help visualise your goals.

This is going to be a productive year for us, I prayed for this and I can just smell it already!

Remember to take time to spoil yourself (wisely) and celebrate the wins little and big.

5 Reasons I started a Gratitude journal

The mind can sometimes get clogged with everyday life and forget the blessings. It’s easy for most people to not remember, at those times where they question if God answers their prayers or they’re just tripping. Try writing down your blessings and you’ll see how one – two – three will run over pages.

I started a gratitude book mid 2019. Apart from seeing it somewhere and being advised to do so, I also felt I didn’t really pay attention to the little blessings —sometimes I wouldn’t even regard them as blessings or things I should be grateful for. Thus, some months ago and led by the Holy Spirit, I started a gratitude book (or journal). I started putting down a lot and was surprised…like wow! I’m not really used to keeping journals so I don’t write in it as often as I should, but I try to push myself to and find time.

With that,

Let’s cut to the chase!

Reasons why I started a gratitude book

Record of blessings

This is basically why I started it. It’s a gratitude journal, where I put down all the things I’m grateful to GOD for, day to day.

The mind can sometimes get clogged with everyday life and forget the blessings.

Makes me more conscious of GOD’S work in my life

The best thing you can dare to do, is to be conscious of God’s hand in the workings of your life (most especially if you give it all to him).
Like I wrote earlier, sometimes the mind gets clogged up with daily activities and one might forget. Journalling and referring back keeps one grounded. I need to say, being conscious of GOD and the Holy Spirit makes all the difference. It gives hope 😀.

To look back at things I’ve overcome by His grace

Ah, ever prayed “Lord help me love” then you get pissed but immediately remember not to cuss out or kiss your teeth, but respond with a smile? Yess. That’s the Lord’s doing and worth being grateful for.

Reference

A gratitude journal is simply used to refer back. I can’t stress this enough.

Ignoring the liar

    “Am I tripping”
    _ when you pray but it’s just bueh😛

      What do you do? You pick up your Bible and speak God’s promise, then you go on to your journal and see what HE has been doing for you.You cannot write down everything, there’s a lot of things we people ignore or just look over — if we plan to, it wouldn’t contain the biggest books on the planet.

   However, it’s best to write down things you remember and are dear to you.If you can’t find any, being a able to crease your lips into a smile is one of them..being able to read or listen to the Bible is a blessing 😊.

Have you started a gratitude book?

How is it going?
What are your reasons for a gratitude book/ journal?

Please share with us in the comment section.

Where to find and buy art in Nigeria

We sometimes want to invest in our places, gadgets and refrigerator surfaces, with beautiful and eye-catching art but things like delivery period and getting it at a good price can be a problem.If you stay in Nigeria, you might think finding artworks to buy is hard or only available at a particular location, (e.g Lagos) so you opt for nonlocal artists —which is ok, but for finding local art is hard, I’m here to debunk that.

1. Artyrama

Where to find and buy art in Nigeria hopeasfro.blog hopeasfro

Artyrama is an art gallery located in Lagos, but apart from showcasing artworks of artists from all over the country, they are also on sale on their online store. You are sure to find really good art from different art mediums. That is, oil paintings, acrylic on canvas, ballpoint, digital art, e.t.c. You also find a variety of art forms like surrealism, hyperrealism, abstract and so on ready to buy and as for a digital product, print out (and even as desktop wallpapers!)

2. Printivo store

It’s safe to say this is one of Nigeria’s leading print stores. Apart from being able to print your illustrations and designs on available items, there is an option to pick designs by designers and illustrators from the store, for the not so arty ones. You can see items like
•square and round stickers (lovely for the refrigerator Hahn😜?)•Notepads
•Mugs
•Postcards
•Business cards
•T-shirts
•Phone cases & much more• Plus art on canvases.And one good thing is that, some designs are customisable.

3. Red bubble

Where to find and buy art in Nigeria– hopeasfro.blog

I haven’t personally bought artistic
products from here, but being a large online sales market, you have access to different forms of visual art on a range of products.
Red bubble is not based in Nigeria but ships to Nigeria.

Where to find and buy art in Nigeria

4. The local souvenir market

Tourists can’t resist getting souvenirs and you shouldn’t too. There are nice paintings, beadwork and woodcarvings (not fetish) you can get from your local market. Sometimes, it might be a bit pricy ’cause you might be mistaken for a foreigner. Show them who you really are and you’ll be fine😜.
If you’re non-Nigerian, try to get the best deal. Also, some of these things are actually expensive due to materials used. Put it in mind, these artists need the money.

5. Auction sites

Another good place to get artworks are auction sites. Arthouse.ng is an example of auction sites in Nigeria. They deal with contemporary art from across Africa.

6. Art galleries

See the art you like? Buy it! Apart from showcasing art, some galleries also allow you purchase them. Also, it’s a good opportunity to meet with the artist one on one and understand the inspiration behind the artwork you are getting.
These are some of the good galleries in Nigeria according to TripAdvisor here.

7. The Artist’s website

Most artists have a ‘shop’ segment or a link to a ‘shop’ page on their website. If you see an artist’s ( painter, sculpture artist, digital artist’s, etc) work on perhaps social media, and want to purchase from them, it’s best to check their websites. Most professionals make their sites easy to navigate, you’ll be fine.I hope with these few examples will help.Comment down below if you’ve tried any of these art purchase sites and what was your experience.

Process shots : village in the forest + brushes used

Hi! Welcome to the blog. On this post I will be sharing how I finished this artwork through process shorts and also some techniques and brushes I used to achieve texture and shapes. I hope you find it helpful and enjoy how art is made 😄

About the artwork.

Also check it out on Instagram

Sketching this, I pictured a cliff in the forest. Two cliffs opposite each other, thick forests at the yonder, a sunset and it’s reflection on the trees and the huts built around the cliff, Civilisation to add more noise in the artwork.

Process shot 1

I start my artworks on digital platform using a grey background. Not dark grey nor White, something in between. This is to help me pick the right colours and not something too light or dark because I see it next to a white background.

Next, I drew the cliffs first as they are the centre of the artwork.

Process shot 2

On this next shot, I drew more on the left cliff to create an illusion of distance. This is where other objects will go on. These additions were done on another layer because I wanted to reduce their opacity initially but it was ok this way, so there wasn’t any need.

Process shot 3

Now more on the background. Using Autodesk sketch book, the trees were done on the layer before the rest. This way, whatever I draw on this layer will not affect the ones I have already drawn. I decided to draw the trees first rather than the sunset because I already had an idea where the Sun’s reflection will be.

Process shot 4

Next is the painting of sunset. There’s not too much colours with the sky because there’s a lot of colours lately (😁) so a basic blue sky with orange and yellow lights if the sun will do.

Process shot 5

After painting in the huts, next was to add more texture into the art. The tree is one of the objects used to achieve this. It appears in quite a distance and also has the Sun’s reflection on a part of it and the rest, a dark shade. The power of lighting in texture!

Painting trees

Painting trees can be tricky especially when you are going for something quite realistic. I love the fact Autodesk sketchbook has a series of brush shapes to choose from. They also have tutorials and help tips on their website here.

For trees, I used the wet frayed bristle brush to get that look.

I hope you found this helpful or perhaps just like to see process shots.

If you have any questions, please let me know and do you want to see more of this? Let me know in the comment section.

While your here, check out the Instagram page.

The Spider King’s Daughter | book review

The Spider King’s Daughter by Chibundu Onuzo is a work of fiction that tells the story of two young people from different social classes.

Abike is a rich, seemingly spoilt brat and runner G, a boy who fell in hard times and into the slum parts of the industrial city of Lagos. Both find each other and develop a romance.

It can be identified as a coming of age story – a bildungsroman, that takes the reader into the lives of these two, their hopes, their dreams and what led to their current point as these lovers navigate each other’s life.

Favourite scene

One thing I love about this book is its storyline. It’s simply pleasant. I love the author’s style of describing the different settings, one can picture the scenes well. As for scenes, one of my favourite scenes was one at the earlier part of the novel where Abike made her driver intentionally cause the car to breakdown, just to meet with runner G. It made me curious on why a girl from such background has a sudden interest with an ice cream hawker.

Another interesting scene was when the two went out into the city of Lagos and Abike kept making excuses to have to not eat in a food shack located at one of the suburban parts.
“Uhm, I need to wash my hands”, girl really?

Theme

The novel exposes the ongoing class struggle in west African cities. And class division as this is distinct in the lives of these two major characters and also significantly portrayed in the novel’s settings.

Sometimes I’d wondered what would happen if the rich girl climbed from her car to speak to me instead of sticking her head out of the window.
— Runner G

Secondly, the novel highlights corruption as a deterring element in countries like Nigeria and its citizens. Eventually, we see corruption linked in the relationship of Abike’s father and runner G’s, Aunty Precious and Mr T.

As the love between Abike and runner G grows, runner G finds out shocking truths about the person of Abike.

The girl is not who she seems

Overall thoughts

       However, I felt there could be more. Apart from some unnecessary dialogues and taking the reader on the different point of views of some characters which do not differ significantly, and seems like plain repetition;

I felt there could have been more to Abike. It felt static, her views didn’t change and why? Did nothing change in her through the course of everything, still a brat? I wished the book had shown more light on the workings of her mind.
     There was some effort to really make the reader understand runner G but it was like Abike was forgotten even when she is one of the main characters.

     It was pleasant and quite good for an author’s first novel. Her second novel ‘Welcome to Lagos’, was really good and was the first book I read from the author.

I’ll rate this book 6/10

Hey, y’all have you read the book before, how did you see it?