NHS analyst job, supporting information, how many words to actually write?

[crunchydatola]

The word limit in their standard form seems to be 1500-1800. Eek! Do most people write that much? Does anyone read that much?!

I don't like reading waffle much less writing it. But is waffle what they expect? How many pages would most applicants write?

Thanks in advance.

You need to write enough to provide evidence of everything they ask for in the essential criteria section of the job description.
When they short list the role you will be scored against this criteria and if the evidence isn’t there you don’t get a score for it.
No one wants to read waffle so if it doesn’t relate to the job description don’t put it in but you do need to evidence why you’re a good fit for the role.

Background- I’m head of information services for an NHS hospital and yes I will read everything you write.

Thanks, that's helpful.

Essential criteria includes certain Uni degrees & previous experience. That information is entered in other boxes, anyway. Should I repeat in the supporting information box what degrees & jobs I had & how they are relevant? Or would that be irritating to be so repetitive?

1800 words . Other jobs would accept 500 max.

I'm not going to be meet all the essential criteria, ha! I've decided to think like a man, and apply for it anyway.

You need to concentrate on demonstrating the skills they are asking for. I advertised for posts requiring being able to demonstrate skills such as communication or improving service quality. When you get 150 applicants someone who writes 100 words across 5 competencies hasn't shown me they are interested in the job or has amything to offer us. i didn't see someone who wrote in every box that they hadn't worked for my organisation so couldn't demonstrate the competency including Communication and keeping their learning up to date??
Not suggesting you would do this but I would look for e.g. of the relevant experience. Particularly along the lines of recognising a problem, identifying a solution and then working to implement it.
.

You don’t need to write about your degrees if they are already listed.
It’s less clear about supporting experience, if it asks for something like 4 years in the NHS and you’ve listed 4 years worth of roles in your work history then don’t add to supporting information but if it’s asked for something like 4 years experience in an numerate orvanalytical role then I would mention the relevant parts of your work history in the supporting statement.
It’s not how many words you write that’s important as long as it covers everything.
Don’t worry about not having all the essential criteria either. If you’ve got more than 70% it’s enough.

Thanks again, super helpful.
I knocked out 1450 words pretty quickly (1500 is actual limit).
Just have a bit of SQL to learn write to prove I can.

Good luck. I found this site really helpful when I was learning SQL.
www.w3schools.com/sql/