experience in job essay

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• Job Application Documents

How to Write a Job Application Essay

Last Updated: April 9, 2024 References

This article was co-authored by Shannon O'Brien, MA, EdM and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD . Shannon O'Brien is the Founder and Principal Advisor of Whole U. (a career and life strategy consultancy based in Boston, MA). Through advising, workshops and e-learning Whole U. empowers people to pursue their life's work and live a balanced, purposeful life. Shannon has been ranked as the #1 Career Coach and #1 Life Coach in Boston, MA by Yelp reviewers. She has been featured on Boston.com, Boldfacers, and the UR Business Network. She received a Master's of Technology, Innovation, & Education from Harvard University. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 195,869 times.

Many employers now require a writing sample, or job application essay , to accompany all applications or résumés — even if writing is not a significant part of the position. The goal of the job application essay is to ensure that applicants have the right communication skills for the position offered. Sometimes, potential employers will provide a specific topic or series of questions for your essay to respond to. However, you may also be asked to provide an essay with no guidance whatsoever. Either way, approach the essay seriously so that it highlights the skills and assets you could bring to the company. [1] X Research source

Outlining Your Essay

• If you don't know much about the company, do a little research on it before you start writing. You might look at their website or do a general internet search with the name of the company to see if any news articles or other reports come up. Go beyond the four corners of the job listing so that you understand who will likely be reading your essay.
• If there's anything in the job listing or essay requirements that you don't understand, contact the employer and ask about them. Employers are often impressed by applicants who clarify the employer's intent rather than making assumptions.

• For example, if you're applying for a position in sales, you might want to write an essay about your ability to tailor your pitch to specific clients and close the deal. If you have the ability to be more creative, you might tailor your essay to "sell" yourself directly to the employer.

• For each of your points, think of a specific example you can relate briefly that illustrates the point. For example, if you've described yourself as a "team player," you might include an example of how you came in on your day off to complete some of the more monotonous tasks that no one else wanted to do so a project could be completed ahead of schedule.
• It's a good idea to have more than one example in your outline for each point, even if you only end up using one. That way, if you start writing something and it ends up not working as well as you thought it would, you'll have a back-up handy.
• Brainstorming can be difficult. If you find yourself churning over the same thoughts, stand up and take a break for a few minutes. Step outside or go for a walk to clear your head, then come back to it.

• For example, if you want to describe how you increased sales in a specific quarter, you would want to state specifically how much you increased sales. Your former employer may have sales figures that you could ask them for. You might also have that information in your records.
• Wherever possible, use specific numbers and dates rather than making general statements. It's okay to estimate, but make sure your estimate is conservative. Saying you led your sales team to the highest sales in a quarter is impressive — but only if it's true.

Completing Your Rough Draft

• Think of this paragraph as telling the hiring manager what you're going to tell them in the essay. Outline the points you're going to elaborate on in the essay that back up your theme or thesis statement.
• Sometimes it's best to go back and write your introduction after you've written the body of your essay. That way, you can make sure the introduction provides an outline that matches the body.

• If the employer listed specifically what should be included in your essay, follow their order, since that's what they'll be looking for when they read the essay.
• Write in the first person and make yourself the star of any anecdote you include as an example. Use action verbs to focus on what you did rather than focusing on what happened and how you reacted to it. [7] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source

• For example, if you're writing about your skills as a team player, you might note that you discuss doing routine work that others found monotonous so they had time to work on other parts of a project. You could use that detail to move on to a section describing how you're detail-oriented.

• For example, you might write "My business school education, skills as a team player, and focus on detail make me the best candidate to lead your sales team."

Finalizing Your Essay

• For example, you might start by looking solely at punctuation, then read through again focusing on spelling.
• If you find that you tend to repeat a particular error, go through your essay looking for that error specifically.
• If your grammar isn't particularly strong or you're writing in a language other than your native language, have someone else read over your essay as well.

• If you find that you stumble over a sentence while reading aloud, that's a sign that your writing could be clearer. Work with your text until you have something that you can read aloud with ease.

• If the prospective employer did not specify a length, try to keep your essay under 2 double-spaced pages. Remember that hiring managers are busy and don't have a lot of time to read a long, rambling essay.
• Eliminate all unnecessary words or sentences that aren't relevant to the subject of your essay. The majority of your sentences should be short, declarative sentences with action verbs.
• Apps such as Hemingway ( http://www.hemingwayapp.com/ ) or Grammarly ( https://app.grammarly.com/ ) can help you identify portions of your essay that are more difficult to read. Both of these apps have a free version that you can use to edit your text.

• Working backward is particularly helpful for noticing spelling mistakes, especially hard-to-catch homophone errors, because you're seeing the word out of context.

• It may also help to print your essay in a different font or font size than what you used to type it. This breaks your brain's familiarity with the text, which can make typos and other errors more noticeable. Just remember to change the font back after you print it.

Job Application Essay

Expert Q&A

• Give yourself plenty of time to work on your essay. Ideally, you should plan to work on it over the course of at least two days, so you have the time to set it aside after writing before you move to the editing and proofreading stage. [15] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Unless you're applying for a position in a political or religious organization, avoid including anything in your essay that identifies your political or religious preferences or beliefs. [16] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Avoid using humor, especially sarcasm or ironic humor, as it can be misconstrued in text. Additionally, humor may lead the hiring manager to believe that you aren't serious about the position. [17] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/writing-sample-job-application
• ↑ https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/04/30/essay-how-write-good-applications-jobs-or-grants
• ↑ Shannon O'Brien, MA, EdM. Life & Career Coach. Expert Interview. 25 May 2021.
• ↑ https://www.govloop.com/community/blog/government-job-application-essays-made-easy/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/application-essays/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/
• ↑ https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/proofreading-tips
• ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/career-transitions/200906/the-dreaded-writing-sample

About This Article

Job application essays can seem scary, but they’re really just an opportunity for you to highlight your skills and explain why you’re suitable for the role. Read the job listing to find out what traits and skills the company is looking for, like time management, working under pressure, and leadership. If you don’t know much about the company, read through its website and do an online search to find articles about its work. In your introduction, you’ll want to to describe yourself and introduce the main points you’ll be making. Then, write a paragraph for each trait or skill. Use real life examples from previous jobs, your recent studies, or extracurricular activities to support your points. For example, you could highlight your leadership skills by talking about a time you led a group project that exceeded your targets. For more tips, including how to write a compelling conclusion for your job application essay, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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My First Work Experience and Knowledge I Gained Essay

When I was a child, my dream was to find the work connected with managing people and resources. The vision persisted until it became time for pursuing a college degree, where I opted for a business course in Human Resource Management (HRM). I intended to be in a position to lead people at the workplace. After graduating from school, luckily, I got an internship program with one of the renowned retail companies called Costco Retailers.

The first working experience was memorable because I finally managed to become independent and earn my first money. When I started working in the corporation, I changed my mentality to adapt to the new system. This paper will discuss the experience during my first job recruitment, skills, and knowledge gathered during this period. During the first working experience, recruits should apply the theoretical knowledge in practice to avoid difficulties in time-management, issue solving, and communication with clients and colleagues.

The time-management appeared to be a fundamental problem that I have faced during my experience. It was a requirement that all the staff report one hour before the opening of the stores. This was necessary to facilitate daily planning and arrangement of the work routine to enhance the efficiency of the operations. It was difficult for me to manage time properly and organize the activities of other people. I had to participate in various events and often failed to perform my duties correctly. There even was a period of time when I was at significant risk of being fired. I had to learn how to be time-conscious to overcome the pressure. I solved this problem thanks to applying some time-management techniques.

Besides the time factor, another issue was working under pressure. During the first few months, I was stationed at the customer care desk to attend to the clients’ queries. At this position, several problems emerged that required immediate attention from the top managers within the department. It was challenging to handle some inquiries because of the large number of customers and the nature of their needs. The intensity to meet their expectation was overwhelming, and it involved many commands from the senior staff.

Another problem that required theoretical knowledge from me was cultural diversity. Shoppers consist of people from different races, gender, culture, and profession. Communicating with customers was a nightmare, especially for those whose cultures tend to diverge at some point. Sometimes you might offend people from different cultures without noticing it. Nonetheless, thanks to their interactive nature and understanding, some clients helped me learn how to communicate appropriately.

Generally, working with customers entails fluctuating motions since they come in different moods with various expectations to be fulfilled. Meeting people from different backgrounds increased my exposure and understanding of individuals behave in relation to their culture. The race-tolerance strategies learned during my education helped me to adjust my communicational style.

I thought handling customers was the main challenge of this position, but there was another significant problem. Being a novice, young, and unfamiliar with the company’s system was another terrifying encounter. At the customer care desk, we had co-workers who had been in the institution for an extended period. These workers used to take advantage of the recruits by assigning complex tasks and overworking them. I became a victim and felt exploited since I could do twice what the other workers were doing. From one point of view, such pressure was rational, aiming to increase my working skills. From the other point, I had moral difficulties coping with a considerable amount of work while experienced colleagues did not offer me any help.

It is also essential to mention which new skills I have gained during my working experience which contribute to my professional development. Thanks to this organization, I gained valuable knowledge and skills helpful for developing in this work industry. First, I gained an understanding of how to communicate with customers and colleagues. Before joining the Costco team, I thought managing people was easy to perform and did not require any special knowledge. Thanks to this working experience, I have learned that communication and management is a whole science that requires profound knowledge and well-developed communicational skills. Therefore, I realized that it is critical to apply the behavioral analysis approach to maintain effective communication.

Moreover, the company made me develop and improve my intrapersonal skills. Working with people having different ages and cultures requires self-understanding (Horak & Matoskova, 2018). To be able to relate effectively with other staff members and even customers, I had to learn how to communicate and listen. Communication is essential in advancing the relationship amongst the business affiliates. The on-the-job experience made it easier to comprehend and apply the skills. Here I also successfully applied the gained during my education knowledge.

Surprisingly, technological knowledge was vital during my working experience. Furthermore, being at the customer care desk exposed me to using the computer system to record, search, monitor, and even communicate with the administration. I developed deep insight into technology, and my computer knowledge increased. Through the period, I could use the system to perform critical tasks like monitoring the level of inventory, tracking customers’ purchasing records, and updating new valuable information for clients. In addition, I was able to analyze the trend of buyers, which was helpful for the administration for updating the stocks.

Another critical skill that I acquired during the period was the ability to solve problems. At the customer care desk, clients came with various issues ranging from sales of defective products to poor service delivery. I have analyzed different literature on the topic of problem-solving. Multiple techniques help the manager build good relationships with the customer and colleagues (Funke et al., 2018). One of them is the culturally-tolerant attitude towards the participants of communication. I developed a profound knowledge of managing different circumstances to generate a proper solution by handling such issues. Seeing and learning how the colleagues were regulating similar situations at work was vital and prompted self-confidence. To make a decision, self-reliance is essential as it allows one to find their own answers to the problem.

Generally, obtaining a job after completing coursework in college is beneficial because you can gain valuable experience. On the job, learning makes the whole perspective different as it comes with arrays of experiences both encouraging and demoralizing. Sometimes changing and adapting to a new routine is difficult for the new employees. Furthermore, interacting with various people at the workplace advance understanding and worldview of individuals.

The exposure also makes people gain the necessary knowledge and skills that are essential for further carrier development. Joining the proper organization could impact the level of experience individual gains. If people are ready to develop their knowledge and skills, asking questions, elaborate new ideas, then the chances of attaining new skills at work are high. It is also vital to implement the theoretical concept learned through education in practice. Thus, applying theoretical concepts and constant development contributed to forming a positive working experience.

Funke, J., Fischer, A., & Holt, D. V. (2018). Competencies for complexity: Problem solving in the twenty-first century. In Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills (pp. 41-53). Springer, Cham. Web.

Horak, M., & Matoskova, J. (2018). Comparison of training programmes and activities for cluster managers in Europe with respect to their focus on skills development. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Knowledge , 6 (1). Web.

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IvyPanda. (2023, October 31). My First Work Experience and Knowledge I Gained. https://ivypanda.com/essays/my-first-work-experience-and-knowledge-i-gained/

"My First Work Experience and Knowledge I Gained." IvyPanda , 31 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/my-first-work-experience-and-knowledge-i-gained/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'My First Work Experience and Knowledge I Gained'. 31 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "My First Work Experience and Knowledge I Gained." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/my-first-work-experience-and-knowledge-i-gained/.

1. IvyPanda . "My First Work Experience and Knowledge I Gained." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/my-first-work-experience-and-knowledge-i-gained/.

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IvyPanda . "My First Work Experience and Knowledge I Gained." October 31, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/my-first-work-experience-and-knowledge-i-gained/.

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Writing a memorable Professional Experience Essay

W hile your MBA application resume will provide a summary of your education, jobs, and community leadership, you will likely have an opportunity to expand on your career in your MBA essays.

However, an essay about your work experience is not merely a list of roles and responsibilities. A Professional Experience Essay is a narrative essay that should bring the accomplishments summarized on your resume to life.

An effective Professional Experience Essay will give the Admissions Committee a sense of the career decisions you’ve made, your most significant achievements in each chapter of your career, and the skills and knowledge you’ve acquired on your career journey. This “walk through your resume” in essay form is your opportunity to provide admissions officers with evidence that you’ve made exceptional career progress and that you have clear potential for future advancement.

This article provides you with the insights and tools you need to build a powerful Professional Experience Essay.

First, we’ll talk about why some MBA application forms ask you to write about your career history, and we’ll share the characteristics of a great answer to this type of essay question.

Second, we’ll provide you with a set of building blocks for crafting a unique and robust essay that summarizes your career history.

Finally, we analyze a sample Professional Experience Essay to illustrate the principles we have taught you throughout this article.

How to Score Top Marks on Professional Experience Essays

You can think of this essay as an executive summary of your career thus far. You are providing the readers in the MBA admissions office with a holistic overview of your work experience, the skills and knowledge you’ve acquired, and how you’ve progressed in your career thus far. So what is the Admissions Committee looking for in an effective Professional Experience Essay?

To score top marks with your essay, you’ll need to provide evidence of distinguished academic and career performance in the top 10% of your peer group and demonstrate your potential for future advancement.

A well-designed essay recounting your professional history accomplishes multiple aims in a minimal amount of space. Your career story must be coherent, concise, and cohesive – it’s not unusual to have to discuss your professional history in 200 words or less as part of a multi-part essay question. If you have a limited number of words to work with, what should you focus on and what should you leave out?

To solve that riddle, we recommend that before trying to draft this essay, you should first define your career goals . Clarity about where you want to go in your career will help you select which elements of your past work experience to showcase in this essay.

That is because a successful Professional Experience Essay will connect the dots between your professional history and your career aspirations. You want your essay to present evidence that you are well-prepared for the post-MBA job you plan to pursue. Demonstrate to the admissions committee you have momentum in the direction of your ultimate career goals.

Of course, you also want to highlight the work experiences and qualities that business schools value , such as leadership, teamwork, and creativity.

Additionally, you want to give the reader a sense that your value to your employers has grown over time. Your overarching goal is to convince the Admissions Committee that you are well-prepared for an MBA and that you have interesting experiences and lessons to contribute to an MBA community.

Finally, let’s not forget that admissions officers will be assessing your “employability” and how well your career story might play with future recruiters.

How can you accomplish all of those goals in a compact and engaging essay? Follow the steps in the next section to construct an effective Professional Experience Essay. To illustrate our guidance, we’ll show you how “Adam,” a private equity analyst applying for an MBA, constructed the content building blocks for his Professional Experience Essay.

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Telling the Story of Your Career

Like a book, your career story should be organized into chapters. Typically a chapter will begin with your decision to take a new job, proceed to the most significant challenges and achievements in that role, and end with a brief recounting of your learning and growth. The bridge to the next chapter summarizes the reasons you decided to take the next step in your career journey.

Your first step in crafting your Professional Experience Essay is to identify the “chapters” of your career.

1. Identify and Outline the Chapters of Your Career Story

Building Block Question: What are the major milestones in your career so far?

Start by asking yourself, “What are the major milestones in my career so far?”. Answering this question will help you to decide how to divide your career into phases. Changing companies is an obvious chapter break, but a step forward inside the same company, such as a promotion, a major increase in responsibility, or a high-profile project, might also mark a new phase in your career. Keep in mind that you won’t have time to detail each stage of your career in an essay – even if a chapter of your career lasted two or three years, you’ll need to summarize the most crucial information in that chapter in a few sentences.

Example: Our fictional applicant, Adam, has two significant chapters to highlight in his Professional Experience Essay.

Chapter 1 was graduating from college and accepting a 2-year analyst position at Deutsche Bank.

In Chapter 2, he took a job as an analyst at a Private Equity shop called Astrix Partners, where he worked for 18 months.

For the rest of this example, we’ll focus only on Chapter 2 of Adam’s Career Story, although Adam would need to write both chapters for his essay.

Once the chapters of your career are clear to you, you should outline each chapter’s contents. Each chapter in your career story should have a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning of one chapter (and possibly the end of the last) is usually denoted by your decision to take or leave a role. This leads us to the next step in building your Professional Experience Essay: explaining the professional decisions you have made in your career.

2. Explain the Reason(s) for Your Career Decision

Building Block Question: Why did you take the job or accept the new assignment?

For outlining purposes, each chapter begins with your career decision: “Why did you leave your old job and take the new one?” Admissions Officers can see what jobs you have had by reviewing your resume. In your Professional Experience Essay, you will explain why you decided to take the job or volunteer for a big assignment.

Ideally, each new chapter in your career was initiated by you and signified a step forward in your career action plan. Even if the career change was unplanned and outside of your control, that’s okay. For example, if you were laid off, focus on the positives instead of hiding the reality of what happened – it’s a chance to show resilience and that you can land on your feet after a setback.

Example: Adam plans to explain that he decided to leave Deutsche Bank and join Astrix because the move fit in with his long-term career plan to become a private equity investor.

3. Discuss Significant Challenges and Accomplishments

Building Block Question: What was the most significant challenge you faced? What did you achieve that you are most proud of?

The next building blocks are the significant challenges and accomplishments during this chapter of your career. Admissions officers enjoy hearing about the difficulties you overcame in this chapter in your career and about some standout moments where you made a real impact on your organization.

Identify the most significant challenge you faced and ask yourself, “What did I achieve that I am most proud of?”. In your outline, jot down quick examples of any standout moments and exceptional achievements at each juncture of your career.

Example: In terms of significant achievements, Adam plans to highlight sourcing a private equity deal, which is quite rare for a young PE analyst.

4. Share Major Areas of Growth

Building Block Question: How did you grow, and what did you learn in this phase of your career? How did you progress?

The fourth building block is your personal and professional growth. You might share knowledge acquired, lessons learned, or skills developed. Often, the most important and interesting things from an Admissions Officer’s point of view are what you’ve learned about yourself in your career so far: a new talent discovered, the emergence of new career interests, or clarity on an existing one.

Your objective is to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experiences from each chapter of your career that will contribute to your future success. By doing so, you ensure that your Professional Experience Essay will provide convincing evidence that you have already made significant progress on your future career path.

Example: Adam’s growth is relatively straightforward. He advanced beyond the transactional activities he performed as an investment banker and is now developing the strategic point of view required of a private equity investor.

After you’ve generated content for all of your career story chapters, take a step back and create a Lead for your story. A Lead is the story’s central message, the executive summary that communicates what your Professional Experience Story is about. If you had to sum up your career in a sentence or two, how would you do it? Some people call the central message of the career story your “elevator speech” – imagine that you had to convey the essence of your career story to an admissions officer during a short elevator ride.

Example: The lead for Adam’s career story is that he’s progressed from a green analyst to experienced private equity professional.

Below you will find an excerpt from the essay that resulted when Adam assembled his content building blocks.

Professional Experience Essay Sample

I was a quantitative economics major at Michigan. Although my education provided me with an excellent analytical foundation, I barely knew an income statement from a balance sheet the day I graduated from college.

(CAREER DECISION) I pursued a position in Deutsche Bank’s leveraged finance group, which provided an excellent foundation for a career in finance.

(CAREER GROWTH) Those two years with Deutsche Bank are where I learned the language of finance and the mechanics of investment banking.

(ACHIEVEMENT) Even amidst lay-offs in other areas of the firm, I was fortunate to be the only one in my start group offered a 3rd-year analyst job

(CAREER DECISION) The 3rd-year offer was tempting. I loved the firm and my team, but I also had an attractive offer with Astrix Partners, a private equity firm with $2.0 billion in assets. I have a real passion for investing. Since junior high, I’ve been trading stocks, and I started my subscription to the Wall Street Journal on my 13th birthday. What’s wild is that I’m now working on the kinds of deals that I used to read about in the Journal.

(ACHIEVEMENT) I really enjoy working on Astrix deals because we have unbelievable access to information and expertise — I talk to industry experts and read phenomenal research reports. I’ve found that I’m good at asking and answering questions like, “What do we have to believe about this company’s position in the marketplace before we would be willing to invest?”

(ACHIEVEMENT) Six months ago, through a family friend, I even helped us source a deal with an optical drive manufacturer in Boston and presented the idea to our investment committee… (example continues)

Final Thoughts

There’s nothing particularly exotic about Adam’s career journey. He has followed a more or less typical path from tier-one investment banking into a private equity shop. Nevertheless, by carefully outlining his professional history, he created a robust Professional Experience Essay for his MBA application.

Although his career path is relatively traditional, he’s managed to connect the dots between his professional experiences and the capabilities he’ll need in the future. By doing so, he’s able to represent his “employability” in the private-equity field post-MBA. Adam’s Professional Experience Story is compelling precisely because it will provide admissions officers with evidence that he’s made significant progress towards his future career goals.

If your Professional Experience Essay indicates professional growth and charts your progress toward your future career goals, then you will instill admissions officers with confidence that you have the skills, knowledge, and relationships necessary to succeed in your career post-MBA.

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How to Describe Your Work Experience Sample

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What is the work experience section for?

What accomplishments should be listed, what skills should be listed, what other details should be included, examples of work experience.

The work experience section is an important aspect of an effective resume because it showcases your skills in action and highlights your professional accomplishments. This section should be descriptive and compelling as it details your previous experience relative to the specific job you’re applying for. Learn how to describe your work experience with sample entries showcasing all the best features required for an effective work experience section.

The work experience section is where you list your most relevant previous roles to show employers your employment history and career development. This section gives hiring managers an idea of where you’ve been and how you got to this point in your career. It also enables you to describe how you performed in your previous roles and what skills and experiences set you apart from other candidates.

For each entry in your work experience section, you should include your official job title, your dates of employment, the employer’s location and a list of the key responsibilities and achievements you had. You can use bullet points when listing your responsibilities and achievements to help prospective employers quickly review and understand each entry. Having an easy-to-read and descriptive work experience section can help employers determine your suitability for the role and see what unique qualifications you have to offer.

Determining what accomplishments you should include in your job descriptions can be a challenge, but it’s best to mention accomplishments that are relevant for the job you’re applying for before other accomplishments. There’s a general rule in resume crafting in which you always want to put the most important information first, and anything that specifically and directly details how well you will fit the job you’re applying for is going to be the most important. 

Imagine you’re applying for a job as a project manager and you already have some experience in the position. To show off your accomplishments, you’ll want to begin with the biggest project you’ve successfully managed along with its results. Generally speaking, your most important accomplishment in any position should take priority within the job description.

In the most popular and useful resume formats, skills are listed in a separate section. Typically, the skills section includes a comprehensive list of all the skills you have that would be relevant to the job. Often, these skills are described using single words or phrases such as ‘leadership’ or ‘critical thinking.’ Be sure to consider all of the relevant hard and soft skills.

Since skills can be listed in their own separate section, it takes a bit of finesse to include them in your work experience section. Just remember that finesse doesn’t mean you have to be overly clever. You can mention skills directly, but you just have to tie them to a relevant accomplishment. 

To get the most out of your work experience section and make your resume stand out from other applicants, there are several factors you’ll want to include in addition to accomplishments and the application of skills. 

Here are some details you’ll want to include in your resume when possible:

• Any awards or special recognition you received as a direct result of your accomplishments or performance in a particular job
• Actual data represented by numbers and figures as demonstrated in the above samples to quantify your accomplishments
• Begin descriptions with strong and varied verbs to make each bullet point in your job experience description unique and powerful
• Use the present tense when describing ongoing responsibilities in your current job and the past tense for everything else

Be sure to include details from the most relevant professional roles you’ve had to show a hiring manager how your experience makes you uniquely suitable for the role. 

To get a better understanding of how to describe work experience, it’s helpful to have effective samples to reference. 

Here are some well-crafted examples of work experience that feature all the necessary accomplishments and skills included:

Project Manager example

Czerka Hospital, May 2014 – March 2019

• Facilitated the implementation of the Quality Training Project for all employees which cut training costs by 28% after six months
• Oversaw Supply Reorganization Project which reduced breakage costs of stockroom supplies by 71%
• Led team of 15+ people in Front End Revamp Project to design and implement a new system that decreased the frequency of reception errors by 48%
• Partnered with local area hospitals to gather data on wait times and patient satisfaction to determine areas for improvement in the Quick and Quality project and improved satisfaction by 41%

Senior Programmer example

Computech, June 2017- October  2019

• Created a tool for test automation that reduced program testing time by 48% increasing productivity across the department
• Interviewed, hired and trained over 12 junior programmers with virtually no turnover as the company increased the size of the department throughout 2018
• Collaborated with data analysis department team members to design project requirements in accordance with company goals and allotted budget
• Met with technical staff, analysts, senior executives and stakeholders in meetings to discuss the state of the company with meticulously crafted presentations featuring relevant quantitative data

Customer Service Representative example

DB Industries, January 2016 – October  2018

• Received and answered 100+ calls daily and helped customers with signing up for services and products, data retrieval, answering questions about products and canceling services
• Earned a favorable customer satisfaction rating from 93% of customers surveyed, which is 11% higher than the overall company average
• Used advanced sales tactics to persuade customers seeking to cancel their services to reconsider, which reduced the overall number of cancellations by 8% over 6 months
• Trained new employees on how to navigate the database to efficiently retrieve relevant customer information and input new data accurately and consistently

Essay on My Work Experience

Students are often asked to write an essay on My Work Experience in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on My Work Experience

Starting my job.

My first job was at a small bookstore. I was excited and nervous. My main tasks were to arrange the books, help customers, and keep the store tidy. I learned about different types of books and authors.

Working With Others

In my job, I had to work with other employees. We shared tasks and helped each other. We also had to deal with different types of customers. Some were nice, and others were not. It taught me patience and teamwork.

Learning New Skills

My work experience helped me learn new skills. I learned how to handle money, how to talk to customers, and how to manage my time. These skills are not only useful at work but also in my daily life.

Overcoming Challenges

At work, I faced many challenges. Sometimes, the store would get very busy, and it was hard to keep up. But I learned to stay calm and focus on my tasks. This helped me to overcome difficulties.

Value of Work

My work experience taught me the value of hard work. I realized that every job is important, no matter how small it seems. It also made me appreciate the effort that people put into their work.

250 Words Essay on My Work Experience

My work journey started when I was just out of college. I got a job as a junior programmer in a small software company. I was very excited and a little scared. But I was ready to learn new things.

Learning New Things

In the beginning, I had to learn a lot. I had to understand how to solve problems using code. I also had to learn how to work with a team. This was a new experience for me. But I was eager to learn and improve.

Challenges in Work

Work was not always easy. There were times when I had to work late to meet deadlines. There were also problems that seemed too hard to solve. But I did not give up. I kept trying and learned from my mistakes.

Growth in My Job

As time went on, I became better at my job. I was able to solve problems faster and work well with my team. I even got a promotion! I was happy to see that my hard work was paying off.

Lessons from Work

Working has taught me many things. I learned that hard work and patience can help you achieve your goals. I also learned that it’s important to keep learning and improving.

In short, my work experience has been a journey of learning and growth. It has been challenging at times, but also rewarding. I am grateful for the lessons I have learned and the skills I have gained.

500 Words Essay on My Work Experience

Starting my career.

My work journey started as a junior assistant in a local library. I was still in high school then. This was my first job and I was very excited. My main task was to arrange books and help visitors find what they were looking for. I also had to keep the library clean and tidy. My time at the library taught me the importance of being organized and helpful to others.

Working as a Tutor

After high school, I began tutoring younger students in their studies. I taught them subjects like English, Math, and Science. This job was more challenging than my library job. I had to prepare lesson plans, grade assignments, and help students understand difficult topics. This job taught me patience and the ability to explain things in a simple way. I also learned how to manage my time well.

Internship Experience

During my college years, I got an internship at a small company. I worked in the marketing department. My job was to help create advertising campaigns for the company’s products. I learned a lot about how businesses work during this time. I also learned how to work in a team and how to present my ideas clearly. This experience was very valuable for my future career.

Starting My Professional Career

After college, I started working as a project manager in a large company. This job was much more demanding than my previous jobs. I had to manage several projects at the same time, make sure they were completed on time, and within the budget. This job taught me how to lead a team, make important decisions, and solve problems quickly.

Learning from My Work Experience

Looking back at my work journey, I can see how each job has helped me grow as a person. I learned important skills like organization, patience, teamwork, and leadership. I also learned how to handle stress and meet deadlines. Each job was a stepping stone that prepared me for the next one.

My work experience has been a journey of learning and growth. Each job I’ve had, from being a library assistant to a project manager, has taught me valuable lessons. I’ve learned to be patient, organized, and a good team player. I’ve also learned how to lead a team and make important decisions. I’m grateful for all these experiences as they have shaped me into the person I am today.

Word Count: 500.

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The Experience of the First Job

Growing up as a shy and self-contained person, I have never thought that I would be able to work with people. When I was offered an internship opportunity at a rehabilitation center, I was so frightened, I thought I would fail. The mere thought of constantly meeting new people and talking to them scared me, and overcoming this fear was the most difficult thing I have done in my life. The experience of the last six months has changed my perception of myself, turning me into a more open, friendly, kind, and confident person. Analyzing my journey, I now feel grateful for this opportunity and willing to share my experience.

When I came to work on my very first day, I felt extremely nervous and anxious. However, I was welcomed kindly and introduced to the staff who happened to be nice and friendly people. My job was to meet patients and answer their questions while they are waiting for their appointment. From the start, I encountered several problems due to my lack of experience. The first was always feeling unsure about what I was doing and saying. The second was communication difficulties that I have experienced for my entire life. As a shy person who had never worked with people, I had trouble finding the common language with patients of different ages and backgrounds. The third issue was the fear of new challenges that I had to encounter every day.

At this job, I learned several important things that changed my perception of my future career: how to deal with stress, how to communicate with people, and how to work in a team. When I overcame the initial anxiety of asking for help and realized that my colleagues are always happy to offer me their advice and support, I started to feel much more self-confident. I learned how to talk with patients, what to say and what to do when I am unable to help them, and I was surprised to see that, day after day, there were fewer and fewer problems that I could not solve. This experience has changed my personality, and I now feel that I have turned into a more confident, friendly, kind, and empathetic person that is not afraid to ask for help and meet new challenges.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Work Experience — The Importance Of Work Experience

The Importance of Work Experience

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Experience Essay

People love talking about their experiences with their family, friends, and loved ones. You can use your love for that to practice and enhance your essay writing skills. Yes, you have read it right. It is like hitting two birds with one stone. Tell your story by composing an experience essay.

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What Is an Experience Essay?

An experience essay is a composition that requires you to narrate an event that you have personally experienced. It is a type of academic essay that most high school, colleges, and post-graduation studies assign their students to write to improve their writing. Most scholarship applications also require you to write this essay. In addition, some people devise this as a part of their resume when applying for work. 

How to Compose a Riveting Experience Essay

Composing various literature essays will also require you to apply different skills. In that sense, this piece of writing will test your storytelling skills. How do you effectively narrate a story on a paper? You can discover that as you go through the process of learning how to devise this document.

1. Choose an Unforgettable Memory

In selecting an experience to tell, you should choose those experiences that considerably impacted your personal life. It can be either be a positive or a negative experience. For example, you can write about your best day or the worst experience you had. Most people would opt for unique topics, but that is not a requirement. The important thing is how to make your unforgettable experience memorable for your readers. 

2. Arrange the Sequence of Events  

Sometimes when people share something, they often tell another story in between and then go back to their original topic. That’s a no-no in writing your experience essay. It needs to be carefully structured. That said, you need to arrange it by properly sequencing the events. There are available blank outline templates online to help you with this task.

3. Devise an Engrossing Introductory Paragraph

An impressive introduction should contain a compelling hook and a powerful thesis statement . The first paragraph of your essay can be a make or break factor for your entire writing. People often start judging the quality of your composition after reading your introductory paragraph. It sets the vibe and gives them the first impression. It is essential to pay a lot of attention to this segment.

4. Craft a Rousing Statement for Your Conclusion

Your conclusion paragraph should provide the gist and the purpose of your experience essay. In this last part, you should restate your thesis statement and summarize the underlying message of your writing. It should include a personal reflection regarding what that particular event made you learn about yourself. A conclusion for an essay should be powerful enough to rouse the emotions of your readers.

How should you describe an experience in your essay?

Writing a personal experience essay does not only require you to provide the order of events that happened in your experience. Instead, you should include describing what you are thinking and feeling at that moment. In addition, you should also mention the activities that are also happening during your experiences. Don’t forget to include the reactions of the people involved in your story.

What are good topics for an experience essay?

One of the most important factors to consider in choosing your topic is the thematic statement it presents. Do you want to write about love, friendship, or family? You can also choose to compose about the defining moments of your life. Such as the time you faced your greatest fears or the day you met your best friend.

What makes an experience essay different from a narrative essay?

An experience essay and a narrative essay are mostly similar. Both of these writings focus on narrating an experience of the writer. Despite that, there is something that sets them apart from each other. An experience essay focuses more on an individual’s discovery about oneself. On the other hand, the latter aims to inform the readers of how the experience made the writer realize things. Particularly the lessons regarding another person or an issue.

The act of composing this type of essay is a formative experience. In the process of writing it, you can learn lessons about yourself as well as on writing essays. Your life experiences are full of lessons. Ensure to capture the message and convey it to your readers. Secure that employment or that award certificate by crafting your experience essay thoroughly.

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My First job interview experience | A life-long memorable one!

For freshers, facing the first interview is nothing less than having bittersweet feelings at its best. Not only are we too excited but also very nervous for those one-on-one interview rounds. The mixed feelings can be overwhelming and it either leaves you speechless or you end up blabbering things you regret later.

Even if you have given many interviews, your first job interview experience would remain as a memorable one forever. For some of you, it would have given a positive experience and for some, a negative experience.

But, for me, it was a turning point experience! It has changed the way I look at interviews.

(Please excuse me for posting a non-finance related article in my Personal finance related blog!)

More than 16 years ago… in 2007, my first job interview was for India’s first organized and modern Retail company– Foodworld .

About Foodworld : The supermarket chain was started nearly two decades ago (1996) as a division of Spencer & Co., part of the RPG Group, but became a separate company in 1999. Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Retail has later bought Foodworld Supermarkets in 2018.

Let me now narrate the entire interview process..!

It was 2003, I was in the final semester of MBA from ICFAI Business School, Chennai. My institute’s placement cell had come to know that Foodworld was looking out for Store Manager-Trainees to manage their upcoming supermarket chains in Andhra, Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Kerla.

For an MBA graduate, getting into an entry level managerial post as the first employment is a decent achievement to kick-start one’s career. I was all excited along with my other Marketing-major batch-mates.

If I remember correctly, around 6 of us (batch mates) went for the interview, which was organized at the Spencer’s corporate office – Spencer Plaza, Anna Salai, Chennai.

The same day, job aspirants from other renowned institutes had also come to attend the interview at Spencers.

We were all briefed on the selection process, which had three rounds – i) written exam, ii) face to face interview with Middle level manager + HR manager & ii) face to face interview with the CEO of Food world.

I was not at all tensed about the interview process but was super excited to give it my best shot.

My First job interview experience

The first round was more about aptitude, marketing, statistics and general management topics. The second round was with middle-level marketing manager and HR manager. They were very impressed with my academic record.

• I was a state-first rank holder in my Intermediate Board Exams.
• Was the University topper in Graduation &
• Was the batch topper in PG.

I had cleared the first two rounds of the selection process without much hassle and was all set for the final showdown with the CEO of the company.

That day, I was very clear in my mind – not to be desperate and be as confident as possible. My much-awaited interview slot (I was the second one to be interviewed) had come and I finally entered the CEO’s spacious room.

• CEO – Hi Sreekanth, good afternoon, be seated.
• Sreekanth – Very good afternoon sir,
• CEO – Hope, you had lunch?
• Sreekanth – Not yet sir
• CEO – Call me Raghu (Raghu Pillai was the then CEO of Food world)
• Sreekanth – Ok sir
• CEO Raghu Pillai – smiled and asked, are you comfortable with me sitting like this and watching cricket (TV was in mute though) ? Do you like cricket?
• Sreekanth – I am comfortable and yes, I like playing and watching cricket!
• CEO Raghu Pillai – Ok Sreekanth, you may leave now!

The total time took by him to interview me was around 2 to 3 minutes. I remember that he took around 15 minutes of time to interview the first job aspirant.

By the time I came out of the Spencer Plaza building, I understood the possible mistake that I had committed on that day! (The very next day, the HR team had informed me that I could not make it to the final list of selected candidates..)

So, what really happened in those 2 minutes? How could he come to a conclusion that I am not the right candidate for the job in just 2 minutes? Why did he ask, was I comfortable or not during the interview?

Let me now narrate it for you..

As soon as I entered the CEO’s room, I saw he was very casually seated on his chair with his legs on top of a desk (the legs were not facing me though, like as in the below picture) . He was watching cricket on tv (it was on mute!).

Though I was really comfortable with his behavior, I should have objected the way he was sitting in an interview. I realized that I am interviewing them just as much as they’re interviewing me. The interview etiquette should be followed by both the parties and its not applicable just for the job aspirant.

This experience has left a long-lasting impression on me! From that day, wherever and whenever I go for an interview, I make sure to ask relevant questions at the end of the interview, say ‘NO’ if I don’t like anything, say ‘don’t know’ if I am not aware of anything, as much as possible to be open and straight-forward and be honest!

Believe me that I have a whopping 90% success rate in clearing the interviews. This strength of mine turned out to be a bane as I ended up being a job hopper (not for money!) .

My gyaan about interviews :

• Always remember that it’s a win-win situation and don’t be desperate.
• Your Aptitude is important in initial rounds of the job selection and in the final rounds its your ATTITUDE which matters the most!
• Your academic achievements may take you till the company door-steps but that alone will not win you the job.
• Do not job hop for Salary hike.
• If you are employed in a wrong industry, switch to the right one as early in your career as possible.
• Don’t ever be over-confident during the interview process.
• Keep acquiring new skill sets relevant to your job.
• Work hard for the interviews but be smart during the interviews!
• A failure in an interview is not the end of the road. “ A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn .”

More about Raghu pillai :

• Raghu Pillai was one of the founders and best known faces of Indian corporate retail.
• He was part of the start-up team of FoodWorld Supermarkets, which heralded organised retail into the country in the mid-nineties.
• He was also part of the team which kick-started Reliance’s retail operations in the country.
• Before joining Reliance, Pillai served as the president and chief executive officer of RPG Enterprises – Retail, where he was responsible for building from inception four Companies that includes Food World Super Markets Ltd, Music World, Health & Glow and Spencer Giant Hyper Markets for seven years.
• Raghu ji was known for his boldness in anything he did, whether in work or life.
• He passed away in 2011 when he was 54 years of age.
• ” Raghu Pillai was one of the founding members of modern retail much before Mr B.S. Nagesh of Shopper’s Stop or myself came on the scene. He was a people’s leader and would be missed for his leadership style which was infectious.” – Kishore Biyani, Chairman – Future Group.

Continue reading :

• Resignation : Employee Benefits & Personal Finances – Checklist
• A Negative Credit Score Can Hurt Your Job Search!
• 13 Strategies / Tips for dealing with Layoffs (or) Job Losses
• 5 Practical ways to increase your Take Home Salary (Pay)!
• 13 FAQs on Gratuity Benefit Amount & Tax Implications
• Leave Encashment & Tax Implications

(Image courtesy of Loveluck at FreeDigitalPhotos.net) (Post first published on : 22-July-2019)

About The Author

Sreekanth Reddy

Hi Man, Its been long time, i took today time to go through Relakhs. Well said Attitude changes everything. The way you narrated your experience it lovely……

Is this my Progeon Mathi??? Thank you for visiting my blog 🙂

Awesome message Sreekanth. Its all about attitude which creates our destiny in life and becoming successful.

Thank you dear Suresh…!

ReLakhs.com is a blog on personal finances. The main aim of this blog is to help you make INFORMED financial decisions by presenting the content on money matters in a simple, unbiased and easy to understand manner.

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Amanda Hoover

Students Are Likely Writing Millions of Papers With AI

Students have submitted more than 22 million papers that may have used generative AI in the past year, new data released by plagiarism detection company Turnitin shows.

A year ago, Turnitin rolled out an AI writing detection tool that was trained on its trove of papers written by students as well as other AI-generated texts. Since then, more than 200 million papers have been reviewed by the detector, predominantly written by high school and college students. Turnitin found that 11 percent may contain AI-written language in 20 percent of its content, with 3 percent of the total papers reviewed getting flagged for having 80 percent or more AI writing. (Turnitin is owned by Advance, which also owns Condé Nast, publisher of WIRED.) Turnitin says its detector has a false positive rate of less than 1 percent when analyzing full documents.

ChatGPT’s launch was met with knee-jerk fears that the English class essay would die . The chatbot can synthesize information and distill it near-instantly—but that doesn’t mean it always gets it right. Generative AI has been known to hallucinate , creating its own facts and citing academic references that don’t actually exist. Generative AI chatbots have also been caught spitting out biased text on gender and race . Despite those flaws, students have used chatbots for research, organizing ideas, and as a ghostwriter . Traces of chatbots have even been found in peer-reviewed, published academic writing .

Teachers understandably want to hold students accountable for using generative AI without permission or disclosure. But that requires a reliable way to prove AI was used in a given assignment. Instructors have tried at times to find their own solutions to detecting AI in writing, using messy, untested methods to enforce rules , and distressing students. Further complicating the issue, some teachers are even using generative AI in their grading processes.

Detecting the use of gen AI is tricky. It’s not as easy as flagging plagiarism, because generated text is still original text. Plus, there’s nuance to how students use gen AI; some may ask chatbots to write their papers for them in large chunks or in full, while others may use the tools as an aid or a brainstorm partner.

Students also aren't tempted by only ChatGPT and similar large language models. So-called word spinners are another type of AI software that rewrites text, and may make it less obvious to a teacher that work was plagiarized or generated by AI. Turnitin’s AI detector has also been updated to detect word spinners, says Annie Chechitelli, the company’s chief product officer. It can also flag work that was rewritten by services like spell checker Grammarly, which now has its own generative AI tool . As familiar software increasingly adds generative AI components, what students can and can’t use becomes more muddled.

Detection tools themselves have a risk of bias. English language learners may be more likely to set them off; a 2023 study found a 61.3 percent false positive rate when evaluating Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exams with seven different AI detectors. The study did not examine Turnitin’s version. The company says it has trained its detector on writing from English language learners as well as native English speakers. A study published in October found that Turnitin was among the most accurate of 16 AI language detectors in a test that had the tool examine undergraduate papers and AI-generated papers.

Julian Chokkattu

Schools that use Turnitin had access to the AI detection software for a free pilot period, which ended at the start of this year. Chechitelli says a majority of the service’s clients have opted to purchase the AI detection. But the risks of false positives and bias against English learners have led some universities to ditch the tools for now. Montclair State University in New Jersey announced in November that it would pause use of Turnitin’s AI detector. Vanderbilt University and Northwestern University did the same last summer.

“This is hard. I understand why people want a tool,” says Emily Isaacs, executive director of the Office of Faculty Excellence at Montclair State. But Isaacs says the university is concerned about potentially biased results from AI detectors, as well as the fact that the tools can’t provide confirmation the way they can with plagiarism. Plus, Montclair State doesn’t want to put a blanket ban on AI, which will have some place in academia. With time and more trust in the tools, the policies could change. “It’s not a forever decision, it’s a now decision,” Isaacs says.

Chechitelli says the Turnitin tool shouldn’t be the only consideration in passing or failing a student. Instead, it’s a chance for teachers to start conversations with students that touch on all of the nuance in using generative AI. “People don’t really know where that line should be,” she says.

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What to Do When Your Team Blames You

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• Ron Carucci

Fair or not, you need to work through the experience while keeping important relationships intact.

When you’re a manager, at some point, regardless of how the circumstances arise, your team will blame you for something that’s making them unhappy, whether you have control over it or not. Being accused by your team of failing them in some way induces a threat state in your brain, impairing your ability to think clearly and triggering a variety of cognitive distortions and defensive behaviors. The authors offer several strategies to help you work through the experience while keeping important relationships intact.

Paul, an executive coaching client, reached out distraught, asking for guidance after a painful team meeting. During a routine project review, his employee, Elena, expressed concerns about the team’s heavy workload, exclaiming: “Six months ago we laid off more than half of the team, but you never reduced the workload the way you promised. We’re all working day and night, and you don’t seem to care.”

• Dina Denham Smith is an executive coach to senior leaders at world-leading brands such as Adobe, Netflix, PwC, Dropbox, Stripe, and numerous high-growth companies. A former business executive herself, she is the founder and CEO of Cognitas , and helps leaders and their teams reach new heights of success. Connect with her on LinkedIn .
• Ron Carucci is co-founder and managing partner at  Navalent , working with CEOs and executives pursuing transformational change. He is the bestselling author of eight books, including To Be Honest and Rising to Power . Connect with him on Linked In at  RonCarucci , and download his free “How Honest is My Team?” assessment.

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Solar eclipse 2024: Follow the path of totality

Solar eclipse, how to follow today's solar eclipse, even if you're not near totality.

Emily Alfin Johnson

A person uses a pair of binoculars to watch the moon pass infront of the Earth's star marking a total eclipse in Vigo, northwestern Spain on March 20, 2015. MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A person uses a pair of binoculars to watch the moon pass infront of the Earth's star marking a total eclipse in Vigo, northwestern Spain on March 20, 2015.

Totality in the U.S. starts today around 1:30 p.m. CT/2:30 ET and continues until 2:30 p.m. CT/3:30 p.m. ET lasting for a few minutes in each location.

But if you're not within the path, you can enjoy totality vicariously thanks to our incredible network of Member stations (mouse over the map below to see them all!) You can find a livestream of totality from multiple locations here , as well as specific feeds to make sure you get the best view, regardless of the weather in your region! Plus, NPR will be sharing highlights from across the NPR Network throughout the day Monday if you're unable to get out and see it in real time.

More resources to enjoy the eclipse

• Sharing the eclipse with tiny humans?  Check out these  kid-friendly total solar eclipse learning guides  from Vermont Public's  But Why,  and this great explainer from KERA Kids on  the difference between a solar and a lunar eclipse .
• Feeling whimsical?  Here are three ways to  sprinkle a little magic into your eclipse experience .
• Plan to wander into the wild for the best view?   Here are some tips from outdoor experts.
• Tips from Bill Nye  on the best ways to enjoy the eclipse.

What is the difference between a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse?

It almost time! Millions of Americans across the country Monday are preparing to witness the once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse as it passes over portions of Mexico, the United States and Canada.

It's a sight to behold and people have now long been eagerly awaiting what will be their only chance until 2044 to witness totality, whereby the moon will completely block the sun's disc, ushering in uncharacteristic darkness.

That being said, many are curious on what makes the solar eclipse special and how is it different from a lunar eclipse.

The total solar eclipse is today: Get the latest forecast and everything you need to know

What is an eclipse?

An eclipse occurs when any celestial object like a moon or a planet passes between two other bodies, obscuring the view of objects like the sun, according to NASA .

What is a solar eclipse?

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon comes in between the Earth and the sun, blocking its light from reaching our planet, leading to a period of darkness lasting several minutes. The resulting "totality," whereby observers can see the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere, known as the corona, presents a spectacular sight for viewers and confuses animals – causing nocturnal creatures to stir and bird and insects to fall silent.

Partial eclipses, when some part of the sun remains visible, are the most common, making total eclipses a rare sight.

What is a lunar eclipse?

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon and the sun are on exact opposite sides of Earth. When this happens, Earth blocks the sunlight that normally reaches the moon. Instead of that sunlight hitting the moon’s surface, Earth's shadow falls on it.

Lunar eclipses are often also referred to the "blood moon" because when the Earth's shadow covers the moon, it often produces a red color. The coloration happens because a bit of reddish sunlight still reaches the moon's surface, even though it's in Earth's shadow.

Difference between lunar eclipse and solar eclipse

The major difference between the two eclipses is in the positioning of the sun, the moon and the Earth and the longevity of the phenomenon, according to NASA.

A lunar eclipse can last for a few hours, while a solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes. Solar eclipses also rarely occur, while lunar eclipses are comparatively more frequent. While at least two partial lunar eclipses happen every year, total lunar eclipses are still rare, says NASA.

Another major difference between the two is that for lunar eclipses, no special glasses or gizmos are needed to view the spectacle and one can directly stare at the moon. However, for solar eclipses, it is pertinent to wear proper viewing glasses and take the necessary safety precautions because the powerful rays of the sun can burn and damage your retinas.

Contributing: Eric Lagatta, Doyle Rice, USA TODAY

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Guest Essay

You Don’t Just See a Total Solar Eclipse. You Feel It Completely.

By Ryan Milligan

Dr. Milligan is a senior lecturer in astrophysics at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Almost one year ago, in the middle of the night, I drove from my hometown, Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Dublin to catch an early morning flight to Munich. From there I caught another plane to Bangkok, another to Singapore and yet another to Perth in Western Australia. There, I rented a camper van and began a drive of more than 750 miles north to the town of Exmouth on a remote peninsula on the northwest coast of the continent.

This was the only reasonably accessible location on the planet with decent weather prospects from which to view the total solar eclipse on April 20, 2023. The entire event lasted 62 seconds. It was the 10th total solar eclipse I’d traveled to witness.

Even as a professional solar physicist, I find it difficult to convey why eclipse chasers like me go to such extraordinary lengths to witness such a fleeting phenomenon, again and again. I was extra determined to make the pilgrimage last year after I was thwarted by clouds in Chile in December 2020, and I couldn’t afford the eye-watering cost of traveling to Antarctica in 2021. I needed to whet my appetite before embarking on another expedition to see the totality of the April 8 eclipse in Mazatlán, Mexico.

It may sound absurd, but there is no other celestial event that anyone I know would devote so much time and effort to seeing. If you wish to see the northern lights, you can hop on a plane to Iceland or Norway and have a fairly decent chance of seeing them in the winter months. If you are on the nightside of the planet during a lunar eclipse and the skies are clear, you just need to go outside and look up to see it happening. But unless you are fortunate enough to live within or close to the path of totality, witnessing a total solar eclipse will probably require meticulous planning and marshaling time and money to get you to an optimal location and a bit of luck to make sure the weather forecasts you’ve pored over hold true.

Believe me, it is worth the effort.

A total solar eclipse is not something that you see — it’s something that you experience. You can feel the temperature around you begin to drop by as much as 15 degrees over the five to 10 minutes that lead up to the eclipse. The birds and other animals go silent. The light becomes eerie and morphs into a dusky, muted twilight, and you begin to see stark, misplaced shadows abound. A column of darkness in the sky hurtles toward you at over 1,000 miles per hour as the moon’s shadow falls neatly over the sun, turning day into temporary night — nothing like the calming sunset we take for granted every day. Sometimes, a few stars or planets begin to appear faintly in the sky as your eyes get used to the new darkness.

The hairs stand up on the back of your neck and the adrenaline kicks in as your brain tries to make sense of what is going on. But it cannot. It has no other point of reference to compare these sensations to. A total eclipse elicits a unique, visceral, primeval feeling that cannot be evoked by a photograph or a video or a newspaper article, and that can be experienced only within the path of totality when the moon completely obscures the disk of the sun.

And then of course there is the crowning glory: the sun’s corona, the pearly white outer atmosphere of our nearest star that we can otherwise see only using a fleet of dedicated solar-observing spacecraft. It has an ethereal beauty that is challenging to articulate.

For those brief few moments when the corona appears bright in the sky, all the effort made to experience the totality becomes worth it. You want to soak up every second of it and process every feeling, because it is over all too soon. Once the moon’s shadow has passed you feel both exhilarated and deflated because the next opportunity to experience this sensation again could be years away and on the other side of the world. And it is something that you will crave.

There is also, of course, the professional motivation for me to gaze upon the subject of my research with my own eyes. Most other astrophysicists only get to look at exploding stars or distant comets through gargantuan telescopes, where they appear as mere pixels on a computer screen or a squiggle on a graph. It’s easy to get detached from the beauty of astronomy when your job becomes more focused on securing grant funding, teaching, administrative duties and bureaucracy. Eclipse chasing reminds me why I chose this field of work in the first place and reignites my passion — and I want to inspire my students with that same passion.

Each eclipse is different. The shape and structure of the solar corona varies over the course of each solar cycle. The longer the duration of the eclipse, the darker one’s surroundings are likely to seem. And sandwiched between the sun’s “surface” and the corona is the crimson red chromosphere, the layer of the sun’s atmosphere that I have been researching for almost 20 years to understand its relationship to solar flares. In Australia the briefness of totality meant that this region was exceptionally bright and distinguished, and one could even spot some solar prominences (clouds of hydrogen gas suspended above the chromosphere) with the naked eye. That may also be the case on Monday.

People mistakenly think that a partial eclipse is good enough. It is not. When outside the path of totality, the visibility of even 1 percent of the sun’s disk is enough to outshine the entire corona. The buzz around this year’s eclipse through North America has reached a fever pitch not seen since the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017. The duration of totality will be almost twice as long — almost four and a half minutes. (Whether the weather will cooperate is still an open question .)

This is far from the first time I’ve tried to cajole people into experiencing the totality in full. In 2017, I persuaded several of my friends in the United States to join me in Nebraska to enjoy the spectacle without forcing them to traipse halfway across the globe. They later told me that they at first thought I may have been somewhat exaggerating the experience because of my professional bias, but when the eclipse was over, I knew that they finally got it. Their faces were overcome with emotion and they struggled to articulate how they were feeling. Because it wasn’t just about what they had seen — it was about what they had experienced.

Ryan Milligan is a solar physicist at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He has held research fellowships at NASA and the Science and Technology Facilities Council in Britain and was affiliated with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for over a decade.

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