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Tips for completing your application


Before you Start Completing your Application Form

It is essential that you read the Job Description and Personnel Specification carefully to allow you to demonstrate in your application how you meet the essential criteria.

What is the Purpose of the Application?

The application is designed to ensure that applicants provide the necessary information to determine how they meet the essential shortlisting criteria. It also provides additional information required at the various stages of the recruitment process. The HSC will only accept applications completed on the HSC Template. CVs are not accepted.

In completing your application you are encouraged to read the following information which provides some useful tips on the information to include.

Some Advice on each Section of the Application Form

1. Personal Data

The first page of the application is where you provide your Personal Data such as your name and contact details.

At various stages of the recruitment process, we will need to contact you – most often by email or SMS. It is vitally important that you provide us with the correct email address and mobile phone number, otherwise we may not be able to contact you about your application.

2. Work Experience

This section allows the panel to understand your work history. Ensure that full details are provided.

  • Be specific about all the dates that you provide, these should be stated in the format DD.MM.YYYY.
  • Explain any gaps between periods of employment and include reasons for leaving each post.
  • Provide a list of key duties that you have been responsible for in current post/previous posts.

3. Questionnaires

There are multiple tabs in his section. Please be sure to complete them all. The key elements will be:

Personal Declaration

This asks you to confirm that the information is true, complete and accurate as well as your understanding as to how the information will be used. You should be aware that giving wrong information or intentionally leaving information out could lead to the withdrawal of an offer of employment, or dismissal if you take up a post.

Statements Relating to you

In this section you will be asked about Disability needs, planned holiday arrangements as well as confirming you understand a number of statements relating to criminal record checks and health checks should you be successful.

For Disabled Applicants - Please tell us if you require any reasonable adjustment for reasons related to a disability to allow you to attend an interview/assessment process.

If you have any planned holidays, it is useful to tell us about this by detailing it in this section. However please note that the selection panel are under no obligation to take these into account when arranging interview dates.

Equal Opportunities Monitoring

Please note that this information is regarded as part of your application and you are strongly encouraged to complete this section. This information is treated in the strictest confidence and is for monitoring /statistical purposes only. Selection panels do not have any access to this information at any stage of the recruitment process.

Job Specific Questions – How you meet the criteria

Take time in this section to answer the questions very specifically. You must clearly demonstrate in this section how you meet the essential shortlisting criteria as detailed in the personnel specification. Failure to do so will result in you not being shortlisted for an interview.

The panel cannot make assumptions and will expect you to evidence how you meet the criteria by providing specific examples to demonstrate this. You are expected to provide sufficient detail to allow the panel to easily understand your qualifications and experience and how this meets the stated criteria. Where questions have more than one part you must clearly evidence your response to all elements. It is not sufficient to answer ‘Yes’ or to write a general statement.

4. Residency / Immigration Details

In this section, you will be asked information about your nationality. This is to ensure that you have the right to live and work in the UK.

5. Professional Registration

Many of our jobs require you to be registered. It is important that you state clearly the information relating to any professional registration you hold.

6. Referee Details

We will want to seek references that demonstrate your reliability and good standing with particular reference to your current/previous employment/ training/education and attendance record.

You should always ensure you have sought permission from the referees you provide and ask them to respond as soon as possible upon receipt of a reference request form. You should ensure all details provided are accurate, particularly email addresses and contact telephone numbers so as not to delay the recruitment process.

The following is a useful guide when completing this section:

Applicant Employment Position

Who is a suitable Referee?

I am Currently employed

You must provide a referee from your current employment who has a managerial / supervisory responsibility for your post / employment. If you hold more than one post you will be expected to nominate your manager from your main employment. Your second referee could be another from your current or previous employment.

Not currently employed

You must provide a referee from your most recent employment who had a managerial / supervisory responsibility for your post / employment. Y

our second referee could be another from your most recent or previous employment.

Self Employed

Character reference

From previous employer/relevant Academic reference/Other

Never been employed

Character reference/relevant Academic reference/Other


Please note, if you have previously been employed in the HSC/NHS you must provide a referee from that employment who held a supervisory/ management role in relation to your employment