You are reflecting today. You already researched a job role and banked notes. Now you hold that role beside your personal statement and ask a blunt question: does the person on the page look like someone who could do this work?

Open two files if you have them: your ALT 1 personal statement (Strand 1.1) and your job-role research notes. If those research notes are missing, use the sample role on the case step (Retail Sales Assistant) so you still finish PS to Job Role today. Fit is not flattery. A mismatch is useful. It either means the role is wrong for you right now, or the statement has fallen behind who you are.

Three ideas you will use for the rest of the period:

Before you open your own files, work through five common claims about personal statements and job-role fit. For each beat, decide true or false from instinct before you read the explanation. You will test these instincts against Aoife’s map, then your own files, so honesty beats guessing the “right” school answer.

Study Aoife’s map in the worked example. She holds her personal-statement claims beside a role she researched from CareersPortal reading and clinic-style job notes: Occupational Therapy Assistant support work in a community primary-care team. Watch how she picks three aligned aspects, names one dead claim, and decides what to revise.

If you have no job-role research notes, map your own statement today against this fallback role instead:

Fallback role: Retail Sales Assistant (high-street store)

• Reliable timekeeping for opening and closing shifts
• Calm, clear communication with customers under pressure
• Accuracy with simple stock or till notes
• Willingness to finish checklists without being reminded
• No requirement for elite sports knowledge or match-analysis hobby detail

Your turn in the portfolio: open or create PS to Job Role (Strand 1.2). Name your job role (researched or the Retail Sales Assistant fallback), and start listing three statement aspects with the role demand each supports. You will finish the note after the annotate practice.

Practise the labelling move on a sample before you finish your own portfolio note. Tag each marked phrase as aligned to the role, neutral (true but not useful here), or mismatch (does not help this role). When the model annotation is revealed, note where you differed. Spend about eight minutes on the sample.

Then use the rest of this step for your own work. Finish PS to Job Role (Strand 1.2): half a page that names your role, three aligned aspects with the role demand each supports, any mismatch or dead claim you will cut or rewrite, and the exact change you will make in your ALT 1 personal-statement file (or “no change” with a one-line reason). Open the live ALT 1 file and make that edit now if you can; if the period is tight, record the intended edit in PS to Job Role and complete the file change before the next lesson. This is your first scheduled personal-statement revisit.