Reducing personal statement word-count for Civil Service job application - AIBU to ask for guidance?

[ComingUpTrumps]

Hi all,

I’m applying for a Civil Service role at HEO level that asks for candidates to submit a personal statement.

There are 5 pieces of criteria the application form has asked for and the personal statement has to be 1000 words or less.

I’ve approached the personal statement by separately mentioning each of the 5 pieces of criteria, using the STAR method to write about each one. However, my personal statement is 1099 words and I’m struggling to reduce it to 1000 words.

Any tips on how I can further cut down the word count please?

Thanks! :)

Losing 99 words should be doable. You have to go through it and delete every unnecessary word.

For example the sentences I’ve just typed should become: Losing 99 words is doable. Delete every unnecessary word.

Civil service applications are not scored on the beauty of your writing, it really is about ticking the box with the examples.

change verbs from past perfect to simple past tense
are you sure you didn't repeat yourself?

Read it aloud to hear where you can condense;
Use hyphenation so two words count as one; and finally
You'll need to cut the least value-adding statements until you hit the word count.

Good luck.

Feel free to post a paragraph if you need a rewrite to illustrate the advice.

For a similar document I used wordcounter.net to help me see the places I could safely cut words.

Its not perfect ad there are similar tools available but it might get you to the right word count a bit more easily.

One way to do this is to take each of your 5 x STAR examples and reduce each to

I agree with Inmybackyard, remove every unnecessary word. Forgot about writing beautifully, write concisely and tick those boxes.
Make sure you’re writing is active rather than passive. Active language uses less words

I am a Master at reducing word length so itching to tell OP what to do, but really, you can do this. Lots good ideas here.

Thanks everyone! Really appreciate your help :)

also use acronyms where possible if you use the name of something repeatedly. The first time write it in full if it will be unfamiliar, but the next times you can use the acronym.

so writing National Health Service (NHS) first, then just NHS every time after. It costs you one word more to start with, but can save a lot more depending on how long it is and how often you have to say it.

Even if something doesn't have an 'official' acronym maybe you can make one up for the purposes of the application.

Also look at where you can use a contraction instead of 2 words.

I’ve now reduced it to 999 words - really grateful for your tips!

Would anyone mind looking over my personal statement please? It’s for an HEO Civil Service role.

Hi ComingUpTrumps

I'm an ex civil servant (AD) - I am willing to take a look.

I don’t mind taking a quick look (am SCS)