Application forms for jobs and work experience
Most job application forms are online or are downloadable documents that you send back by email. Application forms may include:
- Questions about the company and or role and your motivation for applying, commercial awareness and skills based or competency questions.
- Personal statements or open ended questions.
Preparation: Do your research
- Employers will have a checklist of skills, experience and qualities they need for each role. Use the job description or advert to make a list. You need to provide strong evidence of your competence in as many of these areas as possible.
- Research on the company and the role will help you to provide well-informed answers to questions such as, ‘Why do you want to be a Project Manager with our company?’
- Check the employer’s recruitment website to find out about the culture of the organisation, additional information about the role, training and career development opportunities.
- Go to employer led events, presentations and fairs to speak to company representatives to ask them questions.
Before you start - check
- Check how the application saves and submits - can you return to a question to edit it before submitting?
- Can you see all the questions or only 1 at a time. It can help you to formulate your answers if you know what else you will be asked.
- Prepare your answers offline in word before you paste them in. ( you may find formatting like bold or underlining is stripped out so keep your structure simple)
- Check the word / character limit for each answer.
- Keep a record of your application to help you prepare for interview.
- Have a tailored CV ready, in some cases you maye have to upload one as a final step on top of the application form.
Next: Answering different types of application form questions and writing a personal statement for a job
