The application form

Completing the application form is the first step in the recruitment process which may lead to an interview and the possible offer of a job.

It is therefore most important that you complete ALL sections of the online application form which are relevant to you as clearly and fully as possible.

Register yourself on the Council's Recruitment system I-Grasp.

If you complete the application online, you will need to have an email address to register. If you do not have one, it is easy to get a free email address from any number of internet providers (e.g. Google, YAHOO, Tiscali, etc). You enter your email address and a password, and then you will receive an email confirming that you have registered successfully. You may also register for job alerts where the role you are looking for my not be available at the current time.


MAIN DETAILS

The first asks for your personal details and your preferred mode of contact. Anything marked with a red asterix (*) must be completed. You will not be able to progress to the next step if these are left blank.

We also ask for your national insurance number in this section. This is used to ensure that you have a right to work in the UK. We also ask for a payroll number if you are currently a Newham employee.

EDUCATION

Please enter the names of any schools, colleges and/or universities you have attended. Your are asked to provide dates of attendance. If you are unsure of exact dates you are advised to add 01 for the day and month and then add in the actual year of attendance.

QUALIFICATIONS

Please input all the exams you have taken from GCSE upwards and the grades you were awarded, including fails and resits. For non-UK qualifications please give the original results, not the UK equivalents.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY (MOST RECENT FIRST)

We require information on present employment. If you have recently left school or college, or a training programme and have not yet had a full time or permanent job, please give details of any other employment that you may have had such as work.

APPLICATION QUESTIONS

Where necessary we will ask specific questions relating to the post you have expressed and interest in. These will be essential and responding is mandatory where you will not be able to progress to the next stage without answering the questions.

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

This is the most important part of your application.

It is best to complete this in Microsoft Word first and then upload the word document

First think about how you can draw upon your skills and experience, and demonstrate how these meet the criteria set out on the personnel specification.

You should avoid bland statement such as "I have all the skills and abilities mentioned in the person specification". You should include examples for the criteria on the person specification that require further evidence. You should fully explain how you meet the requirement, e.g. If the person specification asked for "experience of working with elderly people", you need to explain when, where and what was involved e.g. I worked in a residential care home for 50 frail elderly residents. Working as part of a team of highly-qualified and attentive staff we focused on the individual needs of our residents with person-centered care. This involved 24 hour personal care. Our role was also to provide cooking support, hospitality and organising activities for our residents. Our home was rated 'Good' by the Commission of Social Care Inspection (CSCI).

If you do not have much past job experience, you can mention any experience gained at school or college, at home, in voluntary work, on work experience or through hobbies. e.g. "I helped to care for my grandmother for 3 years. She lived in the family home and I helped her to wash and dress each morning. I also helped with personal care including…"

Some applicants paste in their experience part of their CV here. However, as stated above if it does not meet the criteria in the person specification you will not get invited to interview. Please remember that managers when sifting applications have a checklist of the criteria with scores for how each candidate meets them.

EQUALITIES AND DIVERSITY MONITORING INFORMATION

As part of the Council's Equal Opportunity Policy we must monitor all applicants by age, gender, ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation. We then track candidates through the selection process to interview, and then those appointed. This highlights to us if discrimination is occurring at any point in the process, and how we can target these groups more if they are under-represented in our workforce.

Newham Council is a member of the Two Ticks symbol. Although employers are bound by the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) to treat you fairly, some have demonstrated that they are particularly positive about employing disabled people by signing up to this.

Newham Council is also a member of Stonewalls Diversity Champions Programme. This scheme, run by Stonewall, aims to promote best practice in the management of equalities in employment, with regard to sexual orientation. Therefore we also ask you a question about this as well.

Please remember that this part of the application form is not seen by the recruiting manager, and is only used to monitor applicants

REFERENCES

You will be asked if your application is progressed to the next stage to provide details of two referees. If you are employed or have been employed in the past, the first referee should be your present or most recent employer.

If you are unable to provide an employer reference for reason of unemployment or where your employer no longer exists, you are asked to name referees who are able to verify your good character. School or college leavers should give a head teacher or their college principal as the first referee.

"Job Title" (if applicable) refers to the referee, e.g. Manager, Head Teacher. "Relationship to you" refers to how they know you, e.g. immediate supervisor, neighbour etc. If you have changed your name, e.g. by marriage, deed poll or are known by a nickname, please indicate the name by which your referee(s) know(s) you by.

If you have worked as a temporary agency worker you can also use the recruitment agency as a reference, rather than the organisation you worked for.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• We ask you about any past Criminal Convictions. Please refer to recruitment pack 2 for further information about what is considered "spent" under the terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974).
• We only need to know if you have a driving licence if this is a requirement for the job.
• If you are related to a Councillor or an employee of the Council we ask you to tell us so that we can make sure all applications are treated fairly. Canvassing any Councillor or employee of the Council (i.e. seeking to gain an unfair advantage through personal contacts) will disqualify your application.