Need help with local authority application

[andweallsingalong]

Can anyone help me understand how to score highly enough to successfully get a Local Authority job?

Really struggling with the format in terms of the way it's scored....

I know I'm improving as I'm now to the interview stage (previously I did fairly well with private sector applications and no where with local authority), but I'm just not managing to pull it off and score the points when I'm in there. Post interview feedback has been that I just didn't match my answers well enough with the criteria.

Thanks

I’m not sure exactly what scores you are talking about and every local authority will have different recruitment methods.

In general, read the person spec and the job spec very closely. Do you have all the desirable attributes? Do you have experience of the core job description. This is what they will be looking for. Are your qualifications at the level they want? You must tailor your answers to the questions and amplify what your skills are that meet the job requirements. Think about what they are looking for and answer concisely and positively. Always say you are willing to train for any gaps in knowledge. It’s often a case of selling yourself and never say you cannot do something. They are looking for the person who is the best fit. You have to persuade them it’s you.

Keep trying and good luck.

Thanks @Bubbles I'm not really sure what I'm talking about either :-S

I was under the impression that when you answer the questions they have a sheet of criteria that they expect candidates answers to fit and score you on how well you match up, might be wrong though....

The jobs I'm applying for at the moment are the same sort of jobs at the same level as I was doing years ago, but previously I worked in the voluntary sector which I found easier to interview for (but lower paid).

Usually have all the essential and desirable criteria, although sometimes just most of the desirable.

Do you mind if I ask you if I'd need to do equally well on interview and application to get the job or if they put both together to see if together they meet the criteria. I have some memory problems which make interviews particularly tricky.

Thanks

From my experience of working for a local authority, which was a while ago now, we did look at an application and take a view who was the best fit. We would expect that to be confirmed at interview but, it’s not a totally precise science. You may find a candidate just doesn’t fit as well as you thought they would at interview and someone else might not have written the best application, but at interview they show they can do a better job than the one with the “better” application form. You don’t discard the application but you work with it and sometimes what someone has written can be used as a follow up to a question. You need to explore the whole picture the candidate has to offer, not just the application.

When I have been involved in interviewing for senior school staff, we did ask the same questions to all candidates and would follow up on any answers that required further clarification so we understood what the candidate was saying. So we might drill down a bit further into how they might amend the curriculum of a school to meet the needs of the children, for example. Candidates had different ideas so there is a need to explore a bit further. Obviously interviewers have criteria they are measuring against and will score performance against the criteria. It’s the application that’s got the candidate to interview but they do have to show their ability at interview and put the flesh on the application.

In our debriefs, we didn’t reveal scores but would have given much more nuanced feedback so the candidate could learn and change how they perform in the future, if they wish to. I didn’t do the debrief but we did discuss what we would like to say to the unsuccessful candidates. For example, I remember one candidate being exceptionally long winded in every answer. The person spec didn’t expressly say we didn’t want someone who took 100 words to say what others could express in 25, but the interview was tedious and that personality trait would have been a disaster for the school. Therefore part of the feedback was exploring how the candidate could enthuse the audience about his ideas. We didn’t say 2/10 for personality and 10/10 for boring us. Feedback should be constructive, not just a score.

I suggest you try and ask for constructive feedback. What could you do to be successful in future? How can you improve your interview skills? That sort of thing. They should be able to give more details than just “you didn’t score enough”.