Employment advise by Andy Harland

A NHS recruiting manager told me recently ‘We had over 400 applications for the two administrative posts that we advertised for, yet we could only realistically shortlist 30 due to the vast quantity of poorly written and badly constructed applications’, when asked about the quality of recent applications for two clerical posts in a London hospital trust.

I have recently discussed the same issue with a recruitment manager responsible for a national Housing Association’s customer contact centre. ‘We had to bin at least seventy percent of all applications because they were either too generic, full of bad grammar and spelling, or they simply did not answer the person specification that we had clearly set our candidates to respond to’.

Competition for job roles is becoming increasingly fierce and presents additional challenges to jobs seekers. However, there are very simple ways of ensuring that your application is not “binned” at the first stage of short listing.

Follow the instructions written in the application pack: If there is a person specification (often found in local government, education, NHS, charity recruitment, the third sector and a range of private sector organisations), write your supporting statement, specifically addressing the points that they have set out.

This sounds very simple but it is the main source of frustration for the short listing panel when you haven’t answered all of the set questions.

I often compare this technique to that of a job interview: The panel have a set of questions for every candidate; if you answer all of the questions and the next person doesn’t then you have a greater chance of success. Often a short listing panel will score your application, so the more points you score, the higher you chances of securing the interview. Answer all of the questions with relevant examples and you could score higher!

Please, please, please spell check! (English not American). The simple fact is that if you cannot spell check, then you do not demonstrate the administrative ability, the presentation and communication skills or the basic Microsoft Word competency required to work in a number of organisations.

Grammar! “In my role with x I done”. Examples such as this are being read even as you read this. Immediate “no” pile for poor grammar in applications. There is often the temptation to write in the style of your thinking voice. Try to get a second person to review what you have written before submitting your application.

Make it relevant! Even if you have had a career break, or had limited experience of a particular role that you are applying for, try to use relevant examples when answering the person specification. These do not have to be work specific, but must relate to the point made in the person specification.

Generic applications stand out! If you are applying for a job role, please try not to “cut and paste” from previous applications. There will be some exceptions, perhaps when answering about your IT skills. But generic applications do not answer specific points that the short listing panel are looking for.

This is not a definitive list of how to impress at application stage, but from consistent feedback from recruiting managers across different sectors, hopefully these tips could help secure your next interview.