How to complete a job application form
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
Most of our vacancies require applicants to complete an application form. The application form comprises of seven sections:
- Personal information
- Referees
- Accreditations
- Education, qualifications and training
- Job history
- Supporting statement
- 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. Accreditations
In this section please supply details of any required accreditations relevant to your application. 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. Job 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.
6. Supporting statement
In this part of the application form you can any additional information in support of your application. You should explain why you feel you would be suitable for the role based on your skills, knowledge and experience
Recruitment monitoring form
NCSL 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 company’s Data Protection Policy.
