Application form top tips

Top tip 1: Complete every section within the form

  • Ensure you detail, accurately, all information requested within the form
  • Ensure your contact details are correct – double check this before you submit
  • Save your progress as you go along to ensure you don’t lose what you have completed
  • Take notice of word counts – if it says a minimum and maximum word count, make sure
    you write at least the minimum

Top tip 2: Consider all previous work related experience

Ensure that you detail all your previous employment, starting with the most recent. You can even include work experience and voluntary work as this all counts as employment opportunities and demonstrates your experience. 

  • Job Title – what was your job role when you were in the role?
  • Employer name – what was the name of the organisation or business?
  • Employer address – include a full address
  • Summary of main duties – give some bullet points or short sentences about what your responsibilities were whilst you were in the role
  • Date employment started – the exact date you started in the role 
  • Date employment ended – the exact last date you were in this role
  • Reason for leaving - be honest but ensure the reason is worded appropriately

Top tip 3: Education and qualifications

  • List both educational achievements and other professional development qualifications or certificates you have which are relevant
  • List all your educational qualifications from the most recent (eg degree > A level > GCSE)
  • Read the person specification and make sure you detail any qualifications they’re asking for – particularly in “essential criteria”

Top tip 4: Application form questions 

The questions ask for a max of 2500 characters, which include letters, spaces and punctuation (consider this when writing your application). The minimum you should consider writing for each question is between 2000 and 2500 characters as this is your opportunity to sell yourself for this role. Here are some questions to help get you thinking about what to write – apply these to the questions detailed within the application form: 

Why have you applied for the role?

  1. What is it about the role/organisation that appeals to you?
  2. Are there any specific aspects of the role that have made you apply – refer to the job description and the person specification
  3. What are the 'new things' you’d want to learn or what opportunities does the role present that interest you and how can the role help you achieve this?
  4. What experience do you think this role will give you and how will it help you to develop?
  5. What is your 'Unique Selling Point (USP)' that you can bring to the role?

Why would you be the best candidate for the role?

  1. Refer back to the person specification – what skills and attributes do you have that you could apply to this role and why?
  2. How do you meet the 'ideal' candidate criteria? Give examples from your previous experience
  3. Do you have examples from personal life/school/college/volunteering that you could apply to this question
  4. What attributes/qualities do you have – are you honest, loyal, eager, dependable, personable, kind, caring etc. Consider this in line with the job description and person specification. 

What are the key skills and attributes that you can bring to the role?

  1. Consider the skills you currently have – how could you develop these during the placement?
  2. What type of communication skills do you want to improve – written/verbal/both
  3. What about other skills including – leadership, team work, interpersonal, learning, adaptability, self-management, organisational, technology etc. Link back to the Person Specification and the skills the employer is looking for
  4. Tell us how and why you want to develop these skills. How can the placement help you?
  5. What are your goals for the future (related to the role) – 1 year from now/5 years from now – a good way to finish off this question and application.
  6. What is your selling summary that you can finish off the application form with that would stick in the employers mind and make you a stand out candidate

Remember that throughout your answers, you need to provide work based examples when you are demonstrating your skills – back up what you are saying with evidence.

Top tip 5: Additional questions and referees

If the application form is asking for additional questions, (ie driving license, criminal convictions etc), answer these questions accurately and honestly. When detailing your referees, these cannot be family members or family friends; they must come from a professional background such as previous employers, university lecturers, school or college teachers. You’ll need to ensure you can include accurate contact details and full information about them. 

Top Tip 6: Final Checks

Here are some top tips for your actual interview which might help you…

  • Read through your application and check everything is filled in and completed
  • Spell check! Ensure your spelling and grammar is as accurate as possible. You could always ask someone else to check this for you too
  • No slang, abbreviation or jargon anywhere in your form
  • Re-read your application form question answers and ensure you’ve included everything you need.
  • Save your application form somewhere safe
  • Check that you’ve submitted the application form to the right email address
  • If you haven’t heard back in 5 working days about your application, follow up with the employer
  • If you’re not successful in getting an interview, always ask for feedback
  • If you do get an interview, start to prepare for the interview – see our interview top tips for more information