Notes on Completing Your Application Form
The Application Form
All job applicants are expected to complete a standard job application form each time they apply for employment with the City Council. This enables us to gather a standard set of information from applicants, which is required during the recruitment and selection process. Your completed application form will also be used to decide whether you should be invited for an interview (or test), so it is vital that you take the time to complete it fully and accurately. It is important that you tailor your application form to the job related criteria that are to be measured from the person specification. Please refer to the essential criteria and those which are desirable as well as the job description and advertisement, which you will have received with your application form.
We cannot accept one application form from you for a number of different vacancies because each vacant post has a different set of criteria that will be used to assess your application. We ask that you complete all parts of the application form (unless otherwise indicated). If you think some parts do not apply to you, please indicate this in the spaces provided for your answer.
Additional Sheets
These should be securely attached to the application form and marked clearly with your name and the post number that you are applying for, along with the section of the application form they relate to.
Late Applications
Application forms received after the closing date will not normally be considered.
CVs
Curriculum vitaes (CVs) are not accepted.
The Council collects equality monitoring information for a number of reasons broadly related to its statutory duties and to monitor and promote its Equal Opportunities Policy. Equality monitoring is the process we use to collect, store and analyse data about people’s diversity. It is useful to highlight possible inequalities, investigate their underlying causes and to remove any unfairness or disadvantage. Appointments are not based on the information you give in this section but simply based on merit. The monitoring information responses will not be revealed to the shortlisting or interview panel, with the exception of the disability section responses. This is to assist us in identifying disabled applicants for shortlisting purposes. If you are a disabled person and you meet all the essential criteria for the post you are applying for, you will be guaranteed a test/interview.
We would like to assure you that the information you provide will be treated with the strictest confidence and will only be used as permitted under the Data Protection Act. The completion of this section is voluntary. If you decide not to provide the information requested, however, the Council is permitted to, and may make an estimate, to enable it to fulfil its requirements under its Equal Opportunities Policy and to meet its statutory responsibilities.
Consent to process Equality Monitoring Information
The Data Protection Act requires us to obtain your consent to process equality monitoring information. Please complete this section in order that we may process the equality monitoring information you provide in the monitoring information section of the application form.
Declaration
‘Canvassing’ in this context is defined as a deliberate act(s) to gain advantage in the recruitment and selection process by attempting to obtain relevant information from key individuals and/or attempting to persuade those who may be involved in decision making.
Submissions
Occasionally we ask applicants to prepare and send in a piece of work with their application form. This will be assessed and will form part of the recruitment selection process.
Acknowledgements
If you do not hear from the Council within 2 weeks of the closing date, you should assume that your application has been unsuccessful. The Council believes in being environmentally friendly. It has a commitment to ‘EMAS’ (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme), which includes limited use of paper, resulting in promotion of recycling and reduction in costs. Hence we do not automatically acknowledge receipt of completed application forms. If, however, you do wish to receive acknowledgment of your form, please send a stamped self-addressed envelope with your completed form (see also, Recruitment Philosophy – Your right to feedback)
Enquiries
Telephone/Textphone Users: Any enquiries about your application can be made by telephoning the Job Shop on 0116 252 7010. If you are a Textphone user please dial 18001 before calling this number so that you can be connected to RNID Text Direct.
E-mail: Enquiries can also be e-mailed to
jobshop@leicester.gov.uk
Feedback
The City Council is continuously looking at ways to improve its recruitment and selection processes and materials. Your comments in this respect are very welcome.
Please write to the Service Director (Business
Improvement), Resources Department, New Walk
Centre,Welford Place, Leicester LE1 6ZG
Remember:
Make sure the information you provide is clear, precise and easily understood, and is aimed at the job you are applying for;
- If you do not tell us, we will not know!
- We will not make any assumptions about you or your abilities – even if you already work for the Council;
- Keep free any interview date that is mentioned in the advertisement or other information sent to you – remember we cannot promise to re-arrange;
- Check with your referees that they are happy for us to contact them before you name them;
- Take a photocopy of your application form, if you can, before you return it to us;
- Do not refer us to your current Job Description;
- Do not say something to the effect of ‘I can do the job and will give details at the interview’ – we need to know on the application form precisely what you have done and when you did it. Give examples;
- Do not leave out any relevant skills, knowledge and experience gained - for example, voluntary or unpaid work can still be relevant;
- Include any qualifications gained overseas. We will check to see whether they are relevant and, if they are, we will take them into account.
KEY WORDS EXPLAINED
When we ask for:
Clerical/Admin
We mean handling paperwork; please include examples such as filing, photocopying, dealing with incoming and outgoing post, etc.
Managerial/Supervisory
This means responsibility for people or an area of work, planning/decision making, organising etc. Please tell us, for example, what your responsibilities are, how many people you manage, what aspects of their work do you manage and how often do you have to do this?
Financial/Budgetary
- Working with money including managing a budget, dealing with invoices, accounts, petty cash etc.
- Please tell us in your examples how much money and how often you have this responsibility.
Numeracy
- Dealing with figures – simple, complex, calculator.
Literacy
- Dealing with words – letters, memos, reports – drafts of final version, standard or composed by self?
New Technology or Information Technology or Information Systems
- Word Processors, computers, VDUs etc – what for? How? How often/ languages?
Communication/Interpersonal
- Writing, talking, presenting, persuading, negotiating, counselling, selling, non-English language skills.
- Dealing with people, one to one or in groups and at different levels.
Merit
Under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, all appointments made by Leicester City Council will be ‘on merit’ i.e. based solely on the information we gather from your application form, the results from any tests you undertake and your performance at the job interview, subject to pre-employment checks. All recruitment decisions taken by the Council will comply with this requirement, and the processes we use to recruit people are designed to help us do this.
We will ensure all employees involved in recruiting are trained and competent in our policies, procedures and rigorous processes. Your application will be considered by at least two authorised recruiters at every stage of the process. We aim to ensure that our recruitment panels are representative in respect of race and gender.
Your Right to Feedback
The Council’s Code of Ethics states that all applicants have a right to full and accurate information about the job they are applying for and the right to know the outcome of their application, the decisions taken and reasons why.
You may therefore wish to contact the HR/Personnel section of the Department where the vacancy was/is held. They will arrange to provide you with helpful and constructive verbal feedback (Disabled applicants may request a suitable alternative method).
The information you provide in your application form and any subsequent information gathered in respect of your application will be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The information you provide will be used in the following ways:
- To assess your suitability for the post you are applying for.
- To confirm information you have supplied, with third parties, as considered appropriate.
- To promote, monitor, and take action to ensure our recruitment policies, procedures and processes comply with our Employment Equality Policy Statement and associated employment equality strategies and plans.
- To monitor and review the profile of job applicants at each stage of the recruitment process and publish figures on the diversity of our workforce for statutory purposes and to promote the Council as an Equal Opportunities Employer. When we do this, we will ensure that the information is anonymised so that individual applicants and employees are not identifiable.
- To promote positive action initiatives and to monitor their effectiveness.
- To promote and raise awareness of employee support groups.
- To monitor the take up of training and development opportunities.
We will undertake to do the following to ensure your application is processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, by:
- Ensuring the information you provide is held securely and in confidence
- Ensuring only those employees that are involved in the recruitment process have access to your application form and associated records
- Only holding your information for 6 months then ensuring it is discarded securely if you are not appointed
- Ensuring your application form and associated records are kept in secure personal files and other manual and electronic systems where you are appointed.