Please someone help me understand why I'm not getting interviews?!

[246810k]

I've been in my nhs role for 18 ywars as a supervisor position, non clinical. I also volunteer as a governor and hold a senior role within this. I have been applying for various council jobs over the past year with no interview so decided to try another NHS role. I applied for a job 1 band down and didn't get an interview so then applied for a role 2 bands down and again no interview. Now this one I'm pretty annoyed about, I noted all the person spec in my ss and showed where I do this. I asked for feedback but was told I didn't go into detail on meeting minute taking despite saying this is something I do regularly in both my roles?! Does this seem fair or are they expecting me to go into detail about how to minute meetings?! I have a vast amount of experience in all parts of the person spec and as was able to show this?

@CandidFinch not even an interview though? This was a big step down in jobs and I've provided lots of examples where I meet all the person spec. I would have thought even if others I would have still got an interview. I'm really finding it hard after so long to not take it personally

Do you tailor it to the specific role to make your interest in the post clear. And if it's a step down I'd also include something on your reason for applying. It's possible you look overqualified so explaining your reasons for applying are important.

It sounds like you are approaching the applications well. I would say that putting in extra detail can really help though, even if it seems self-explanatory e.g. "Regular responsibility for minute-taking in complex, multidisciplinary meetings, taking care to adhere to predetermined structure and accurately note discussions on topics such as X and highlight actions..." etc.

If there are a lot of applicants they may not interview absolutely everyone that meets the spec, they could be there for days.
They may do a first sift of all the people that could be interviewed and select say 6 or 7 candidates that look the best.
If its competitive you have to really sell yourself.

If it's obviously a backwards step, that can make some people nervous. Most people are looking for promotions, not "demotions".

If a lot of people hit the person spec, we do sometimes weed out those with "generic statements" - so "I regularly minute at a range of meetings" might get cut, whereas "I regularly minute meetings, including complex clinical meetings, the joint partnership meetings and ...." makes the cut! Anyone can say they minute meetings, but it can mean not a lot if they do rubbish minutes for the tea fund!

Thanks all. There's lots of great tips here! Yes it's a step back, personal reasons, maybe I should try pop them in!

Sometimes we get 130+ applications for a role.

We have 6-7 interview slots.

We have to pick the best candidates. Often we will have applications from people who have already been in a very similar role, or people in the same or adjacent team who already perform parts of this role. Internal candidates often have lots of experience of our systems.

Sometimes we get 20 odd candidates in this group of internals.

If you do so positively, that can work. But much as everyone will really want to know. they can't and won't ask! So if you want to stop doing shifts, for example, most people will get that, but you still need to spin a positive - I am finding it harder to manage a good work/life balance due to the range of shifts that I currently operate, so I am looking for a more stable daytime role / normal work pattern where I can ... (then tell them how you can be flexible around business needs, think that doing XYZ will be a new challenge, enable you to gain new skills etc etc). If that makes sense. Turn your explanation about taking a step back into a positive for them and you - their concerns and curiousity can be satisfied and you can still tell them something they want to hear.

When people apply for a lesser job than the one they have, I think there's an assumption that they will get bored and won't stay in it very long.