Doing a job application - is anyone a whizz at this and have you any top tips?

[puddle]

I've got an application form to do - a pretty standard one.

I've done the easy bits.

Have now got to the bit where you have to write how your skills and experience are relevant.

They have limited me to two sides of A4.

I now have writers block.

See how I am faffing about here and not starting my form....displacement activity......

Inspire me someone!

What did you think when you saw the advert for the job? was it like love at first sight, was that exactly the job you'd always dreamed of?

try and get a bit of that into it (no pressure)

ok so how are your skills relevant?

what do you do in the average day in your current job? do you spend most of your time carrying heavy loads, exercising creativity (i.e. parenthood), communicating face-to-face, presenting/lecturing, writing documents for communication?

if you spend more time doing one thing than another, do you like it? are you good at it, and can you prove that? woudl you like to carry on with the same proportion of doing whatever-it-was?

what sort of organisation is it?

if its public sector in any way they will porbably have an equal opps policy that means they will score applications against specific item in the person spec/jd - so make sure that you write something about everything they list as essential and as many desirables as you can.

i would write it as though you were writing it to yourself at first - how would you convince yourself that you can do the job? then go through it and clean it up and decorate it with dustings of knowledge about the company and what you think they are looking for.

Yes marym it is public sector. I need to go through the person spec but my worry then is that it will be way too long and I'll then have to condense it down.

Thanks Floos.

I need to get on with it.

too long and condensing is deffo the way to go - better than too short and padding.

If they have supplied you with a personal spec, one way is use those points as headers and write one or two sentences underneath it as to how your experience matches that. I know that i one of the reasons i was selected for interview for my present job was because i did this on the application form. It was direct and relevant (if a little 'tranferable' ;) Two sides of A4 should be enough - i typed it and then attached the sheets to the back of the form and handwrote 'Please see attached sheets' at the top of the space on the form.

Go to it!