Applying for a job in a university

[flamingnoravera]

I'm applying for a job and I have to write a statement against the person spec. The Statememt must be less than 2 pages of A4 but the PS runs over 3 pages. I am struggling to address everything in the space they've set. Any hints?

It's just a scoring sheet system. Get the words in there but briefly. 2 pages of A4 is a lot for anyone to read!

The PS from the uni runs over three pages- that's what I'm struggling with- how to respond when their own document is longer than my response is supposed to be but I'm supposed to address each element!

Isn't the personal specification (I guess that's what PS is) in double spaced bullet points, whereas you can write in single spaced sentences?

That's a very female thing, isn't it, thinking you truly have to meet all the specs in order to get interview/the job. Actually, talk up self as much as you can. Keep in mind, very often people interviewed don't tick all the possible boxes. Men are noted for applying for (& getting) jobs when they only meet about 40% of the things on the person spec.

.. .but keep in mind too that Uni admin jobs are very competitive to get, so application can be excellent & still not get to interview.

The thing is that I do meet all the criteria, so I want all the points available. I've done selection myself so know exactly what they'll do with the statement, I'm just struggling with how I can address "demonstrated experience of managing people through change" without writing more than a sentence.

So far I have made the margins nearly non-existent, reduced the font to 10 and used the thinnest font I can find, kept my responses as brief as possible and it still runs to three pages. Gah

It's no an admin job btw, it's a directorship.

Director of what, A research institute? Do you have a research background?

Don't make the font really small. Can you summarise the person spec in one or two sides? I'd imagine it's quite a detailed spec but you should be able to abbreviate it. Then one or two sentences for each point. The more substantial the experience the better.

So 'demonstrated experience of managing people through change' becomes 'managed people through change' and you might summarise your experience as 'project managed implementation of new procurement system across whole company at Apex ltd' or similar

At my previous institutions, you couldn't be short-listed if you didn't meet all the 'essential' criteria on the spec: according to HR, this is because a) it's not fair as some people will not have applied because they did not meet the essentials and b) it's not essential if you can do the job without it. What larks I had there

Can you bullet point, OP? Or leave the ones addressed in your cv to speak for themselves so that you can draw out the less obvious ones?

Use bullet points, a small font and consider presenting it in table format ....my DH did this recently for a director role and it was the only way we could make sure he addressed all the points.

It will be a points based scoring system so you need to make sure you address all the essential criteria.

The table format took up even more space so I've reverted to bullet points under each element of the PS and I've taken out the desirables that I don't meet and left in those I do. It's down to two sides but only because it's in point 10 with no breaks between paragraphs so it looks dreadful.

@lljkk I'm not getting why you seem to think I don't understand what's required for a directorship, I'm already a director in another institution. And to tell you what role would be massively outing so clearly I am not going to do that.

@titchy thanks for the idea of summarising the criteria, I reckon I can free up a few lines with that.

I've had many interesting discussions with HR about not bothering to wade through applications that do not meet all the essential criteria- when I write a PS if it's not essential it goes into desirable, but it appears that others list things as essential and then argue post hoc that it's not actually essential. It drives me nuts.

Are you applying directly to the university or is it through a headhunter?
My DH found the 2 page thing really difficult and wasn't happy with how it looked but it didn't matter. You just need to show you meet the person specification. He got the job btw.

Seems to be my job to ask the "dumb" questions.

But you were too dumb to figure out how to compress your info into 2 pages so not incapable of own ill-informed Qs.

Did you mean to be so rude @lljkk ?

lljkk have you mistaken this for AIBU?

Op it is tricky....be safe I. The knowledge that everyone else applying will be thinking the same thing!

*in the knowledge

@CostanzaG Thanks, yes that is reassuring!

@lljkk how on earth can oh know it is easy to condense her application if you can't see the spec? Ridiculous stop being purposefully aggressive

Good luck (though I am certain you won't need it), OP

I heard today that I got an interview- so I managed that hurdle :) Thanks for the ideas folks.