Describe yourself in 50 words or less.

I spent most of last night working on a job application that was four questions long. These questions were obviously written by the same person who prepared this final exam. The question that troubled me most was this:

Outline your written, analytical, and oral communications skills and experiences. Briefly identify and describe the content of one briefing, speech, report, or paper that you have prepared.

Basically, I have to encapsulate 15 years of higher education and professional work on 1/2 page of paper. I understand that this, in itself, is an exercise in effective communication, but really? I struggled with the question of whether they really want a true summary, or whether they want examples. Ultimately, I concluded they want both, but written concisely. Fuckin-A.

I got it done, but when I finally crawled into bed at 1:30 this morning, I wasn't sure whether it was any good. When I woke up this morning at 6:30, I read over my work. I'm still not sure it's any good. Oh well. Perhaps the Seattle City Council will recognize my application as an unpolished gem, hire me, and fire up the old rock tumbler to grind me into shape...