The information below aims to help you complete the form and answer some questions that you may have about the application process.
All of our job advertisements contain a link to a job description and person specification.
The job description explains the duties and responsibilities of the role while the person specification highlights the essential criteria and requirements needed to undertake the role, for example level of education or specific qualifications, along with skills, knowledge and experience.
The person specification is the selection criteria used for selecting the most suitable candidate.
The application form is your opportunity to demonstrate how you met the requirements detailed in the person specification and what you can bring to the role.
The application form
The application form comprises of eight sections:
- Personal information
- Referees
- Membership of professional bodies
- Education, qualifications and training
- Other information
- Employment history
- Relevant experience skills and abilities
- Recruitment monitoring form
1. Personal information
In this section please complete the mandatory fields (marked with an asterisk *) and provide your personal and contact details, email and current home address. Your email address will be used to contact you regarding the progress of your application once it has been submitted.
2. Referees
References provided must be from your last two employers. If you have had more than two jobs in the last three years, we may request references from all employers over that period. Please provide all details.
If you have not worked for two employers (ie you are a student), you must supply details of someone who can provide an educational reference in a professional capacity eg lecturer or head teacher.
Self-employed applicants will need to provide an employer’s reference from the past wherever possible, or from a client.
Personal references are not usually acceptable.
3. Membership of professional bodies
In this section please supply details of any required membership of professional bodies relevant to your application, for example membership to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or the Royal Town Planning Institute. If there is not a requirement detailed in the person specification you can leave this section blank.
4. Education, qualifications and training
In this part of the application you are required to detail all qualifications, education and training undertaken. Where the qualification is an essential requirement detailed in the person specification you will be required to bring copies of qualification certificates to your interview if successful in being shortlisted.
5. Other information
As part of the council’s Anti-Fraud and Corruption Policy, we ask applicants to disclose any potential conflict of business/financial interest or relationship to a councillor or employee already working at the council.
6. Employment history
In this section please provide your employment history covering the last ten years, where applicable. If you do not have ten years employment history, then please enter your entire employment history. You should provide your job title, salary/hourly rate, employer address, employment dates and a brief description of your job responsibilities for each position.
7. Relevant experience, knowledge and understanding, skills and abilities
In this part of the application form you can evidence how you meet the criteria detailed in the person specification.
Your application will be scored against each item in the person specification so it is important that you demonstrate each point clearly with examples of how you meet the criteria, statements are not enough. Examples of how to demonstrate you meet the requirements are shown below.
Examples
| Incorrect | Correct |
|---|---|
| I have experience of working in IT at another local council. | I have worked in IT in another local council and was responsible for dealing with regular IT issues involving a number of computer systems, for example Microsoft Outlook, Citrix and Academy. The issues included answering calls and resetting passwords, logging IT issues with the technical team and creating new user accounts for new employees. |
| I have good customer service skills and have worked in customer service roles for the last ten years. | I possess good customer service skills and have extensive experience in customer service roles. This has involved handling customer complaints which required remaining calm under pressure, dealing with incoming phone calls as well as emails. An example of this was in my previous role at name of organisation where I was responsible for customer returns and refunds. Often customers would come into the store unhappy however it was my responsibility to rebuild the relationship in order to for them to leave with a satisfactory resolution. |
8. Employee competencies – The PACE values
In this section of the application form you are required to provide a supporting statement giving examples to demonstrate how your behaviours meet the competencies set out in the council’s competency framework. The four employee competencies are:
Pride (We will take pride in what we do and demonstrate integrity in how we do things) - an example would be showing that you are positive about the council and the services it delivers, handling customer complaints or issues in a positive manner.
Accountability (We will take responsibility, do what we say we will and see things through) – an example would be demonstrating you are able to make balanced and considered decisions having full knowledge of all facts and potential implications.
Collaborative (We will work with others and help people to succeed) – an example might be demonstrating that you help and look after new people in a team and are helpful to colleagues when they’re busy so that work and deadlines are met.
Excellence (We will strive to do things well and look for ways to improve and learn) – an example to evidence this would be showing that you are happy to take on board changes and new ways of working learning from feedback admitting when you get things wrong.
A full copy of the competency framework and example behaviours are available via the link below:
Recruitment monitoring form
Norwich City Council is committed to a policy of equality of opportunities and welcomes applications for employment from all sections of the community. In accordance with our policy, we will provide equal opportunities to any employee or job applicant and will not discriminate either directly or indirectly because of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, age, disability, or pregnancy and maternity.
In order to assess the effectiveness of the equality policy, we monitor applications at applications, short listing and appointment stage. We therefore ask applicants to complete the recruitment monitoring form.
All information will be treated in confidence, does not form part of your application and will not be seen by those directly involved in making selection decisions. The questionnaire will be detached from your application form, stored separately and used only to provide statistics for monitoring purposes.
The information you provide will be handled and stored in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) (EU) 2016 and The Data Protection Act 2018. For further information please read the council’s privacy policy.
