HOW TO APPLY:
GUIDANCE FOR APPLICANTS
Faculty Director
(Business, Creative and Service Industries)
Huntingdonshire Regional College
The notes below set out instructions on what to submit to apply. Key dates for the selection procedure can be found on the “key dates and process” page. If you apply please make sure the dates are kept available.
WHAT TO SUBMIT AS YOUR APPLICATION:
Send, fax or email us the following: (fax is the least preferred method)
- Your CV is required (please follow the advice about this below)
- A covering letter is required (a short one please – 1 side of A4) telling us why you are applying
To go to the “key dates & process” page click here
To go to the “where/how to send it” page click here
THE NOTES BELOW ARE INTENDED TO HELP YOU IN DRAWING UP YOUR APPLICATION
Application form (if required):
Please fully complete all the sections on the application form. Please do not enter “see CV” anywhere as this irritates selectors and means that we do not achieve consistency of information across applicants.
Covering letter:
If you are required to add a short covering letter (see above) make sure you stick to the length specified above. Make sure the layout is easy on the eye and uses devices such as bullet points to ensure you get maximum information across in the minimum of space. Remember also the advice that white space on a page makes it easy to read, so small font sizes, close text and small margins do not help. You should consider including:
- The reason you are applying
- An explanation of any obvious questions your CV raises – e.g. if you left one job to take up a more junior job in the recent past why did this occur? Leaving questions like these unexplained can often make selectors feel uneasy about the application, often for no good reason
- How closely your experience meets the selection criteria. Occasionally the selection criteria may be called the person specification as some clients prefer this
- Any other information you believe the selectors need to fairly consider your application
Curriculum Vitae:
Your CV must contain the following:
- Full employment history in reverse order with details of each post you have held, e.g. summary job purpose and achievements. It helps if you can put a single line describing each of the organisations you have worked for (e.g. turnover, sites, students, character).
- All your qualifications especially post 16.
- Your current salary and benefits (unless this is asked for in the application form)
The decision to invite you for an interview will rely heavily on the positions you have held in the past and the seniority of those posts. Please ensure that you give sufficient prominence to job titles, tenure, and responsibilities in the CV you submit, and particularly those jobs you have held over the last 5 – 10 years.
N.B. It is important to keep your CV to about 3 sides of A4 maximum because selectors are nearly always turned off by long CVs that include details like training courses attended, multiple publications that do not bear directly on your qualifications for the post and what you had for lunch the other week! To address the CPD requirements in many person specifications it is enough to say that you regularly update your skills through attending relevant courses, and add a recent example that is relevant to the post you are applying for.
Further information about CVs can be found by clicking this link (which opens in a new window)
HINTS FOR APPLICANTS ON HOW TO
PRESENT PAPERS:
Some do and don’ts:
Do:
- remember that your CV is a professional working document, so use a standard font like Arial 10 or 11 point and avoid fancy fonts, especially informal fonts, which reduce the impact.
- stick to the space suggestions and requirements.
- follow the requirements for letters and CVs as these vary from post to post.
- keep the formatting of any document you have downloaded and that you subsequently complete to email as close to the original as possible and stay within the space allowed by the author.
- when sending paper (i.e. by mail) print single sided papers as they are always photocopied at some stage and this helps the person photocopying!
- keep margins well in from the sides of the paper (about 25-30mm) – set too wide will mean that some printers will not capture the whole text.
Don’t:
- use colour as papers are always photocopied and always in black and white.
- put your CV in a folder – the folder is always ripped off and discarded so that your papers can be bundled and photocopied.
- use small font sizes (like Arial 9pt) to beat the space requirements!
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