Job application support

[noobiedoobie]

I'm applying for jobs and not struggling to get interviews but need to make the process quicker.

All the jobs I am going for require personal statements of varying lengths. They usually say outline how you meet the JD and PS. In some cases I've written it as a letter and in other cases I've used headings.

In terms of headings I find this can be confusing. If there can 10-20 items listed under experience and skills, it loses flow. If the order of them doesn't relate to their important to the role, changing the order makes sense, but the using them as headings becomes less helpful to the person ticking it off. So I then think about grouping things together and end up back at the letter format.

So thoughts. Letter format and just picking out key words from the JD/PS?

I usually put a separate paragraph about why I want to work for them, mention their values, but in a short word count I've used up valuable words here. In the one I am doing currently they just asked me to outline my suitability. I do think I'll keep in something about the values. Maybe make it slightly more explicit.

Going demented so any inspiration welcome.

bump

I've only done a couple of these but I didn't do headers or a letter format.
I start with your last bit.. I am applying because blablabla then paragraph how I meet the criteria. If there's loads of criteria then I wouldn't expect them to want every little thing spoken about.

You could paste the Job advert into chat gpt and ask it what it thinks are the key criteria and how to format your application. I used gpt for guidance in job applications. You can't copy but its definitely good for format and content ideas.

It does depend on the culture of the organisation, but in my experience (public sector) headings work better for shortlisting although we are ok with you re-arranging the order of those if it works better for writing. Shortlisting is such a "tick box" exercise that you don't want us to miss something. We are often shortlisting from many applications and in a limited time, and "de-constructing" a wall of text (a letter) to find all the essentials and desirables for each candidate is very time-consuming. I want to give people the best possible chance of getting an interview, and that means that whatever happens it takes absolutely ages to shortlist, and anything you can do to make my job easier gets "brownie points" - the application stands out.

The other thing that I would mention is that if something is in the criteria, don't miss it out as a mention. For example, most will say something in essential criteria about adhering to the organisations values, equal opportunities or something along those lines. Most people see that as a throw away - it must be obvious that they do, mustn't it? But if I can't tick that box - literally - to say that you have stated something along those lines, then you just failed to get an interview even if you ticked every other box! Not my rules, it's often frustrating as hell, but this is the rules and we have to abide by them.

I'm really struggling lol. It's a charity job and the headings are a load of shit. They only want x number of words of course.

Keep it easy for the person reading the application.

Always remember, the first person to read your application does not want to give you the job. So make it hard for them to reject you. Make it obvious how you meet the requirements.

I do get it. Ugh.

Each point in the PS overlaps with another point.
For example you need significant experience of dealing with lots of people (being deliberately vague). Then later on, ability to work with people at all levels.

Also my f'ing printer is broken so I'm trying to flip between tabs on my laptop screen and keep losing my thread. If I write something under each point on the experience and skills...there's like 15 points which will take me over the word count for sure. The first point was the most important so I wrote more for that. Maybe what I will do is headings for experience and then just a summary under skills. Or maybe a summary under experience and headings under skills. So the experience section is more about responsibilities I had and the skills is where I give examples.

It would be helpful if I could visualise what it's meant to look like at the end. I know how many lines of text I can write.

Maybe I need to plug in my larger monitor and start it on a fresh page.

I've got a meeting at the job centre tomorrow on my progress where I might have a breakdown at this rate.

I feel like what I need to do is open a fresh sheet and write down all my examples from my most recent relevant two jobs that demonstrate the types of things these jobs are looking for. At the current rate, I seem to be reinventing the wheel for each application, as some of them want half the information, some just ask for a one page letter, some have already written very specific shortlisting questions. Each one wants something different, yet it's the same information presented in different ways. However I'm under pressure from the job centre to get applications out so don't really know if I have time to write up the examples. It could take like 2 days to write up eight years of work under say 8-10 areas of experience/skills.

I'm also running out of money soon so I actually think I just need to apply to a supermarket. I might just have a look at those now.

Sorry pointless rant! Thanks for the tips.

For example you need significant experience of dealing with lots of people (being deliberately vague). Then later on, ability to work with people at all levels.

But those are actually two very different things - related but different. The first is simply about dealing with different people as part of your role - so customer service type experience, examples of how you make sure that each individual gets the best service they can, balancing demands etc. Ability to work with people at all levels means up and down the organisation and its partners - can you hold a conversation with the CEO, how is that different from a conversation with the apprentice in the office etc. So the first is very "role focussed" and the second very "organisation focussed".

Try using chatgpt- put the job description/ application spec ie word count etc and a copy of your cv- ask it to optimise it for this role.
Then edit it into your language/ style.

Thanks for these replies...got there in the end and now have an interview coming up.