Application forms

Competency-based questions

The employer wants to find out if you have the suitable skillset for the role they are advertising, so competency based questions are an important part of any application form. These questions focus on how and when you have demonstrated the skills they require and how you would approach specific challenges and tasks in the workplace.

When answering these questions it's important to mirror the job description, and ensure that you have linked your skills and experience to the requirements they have outlined. By specifically mentioning skills from the job description, you make it easier for the employer to match your answers to their requirements.

Structuring your answers can feel difficult, so it can be useful to incorporate the STAR technique when answering competency based questions. Read more about the STAR technique below.

STAR technique

The STAR technique is a method of structuring your answer to competency based questions, to demonstrate your competence and skills in a range of scenarios. So what does STAR stand for?

Situation

• Describe the situation and when it took place

Task

• Explain the task and what the goal was

Action

• Provide details about the action you took to attain this

Result

• Conclude with the result of your action

Motivational questions

Some of the questions in an application form are used to find out your motivations for the job. This includes describing what attracts you to the role and the overall company, as well as your personal motivation and why the job would be a good fit for you.

You should describe why you are motivated to work for that company, organisation or university in particular, and be specific about why you feel you'd be a good match. 

It could be a good idea to outline the top three skills you feel you have which closely match those required by the employer. 

When describing your own motivations for the role, you can include why you believe it is the next step for you and your progression, and which skills or qualifications you are looking to gain in the role.

Personal statement

If you are asked to submit a personal statement as part of your application, you can use this to give further details about the skills you outlined in the application form. Additionally you can expand on skills you have which were not covered in the application form questions, which you feel would be valuable for the role and therefore strengthen your application.

In some cases, a personal statement will be similar to a cover letter, and even be used in its place, so take the time to make sure you understand what the employer is asking of you.

Check if the employer has outlined how long they'd like your personal statement to be as this can vary between roles and sectors. However if they have not specified, you are usually expected to use one side of A4 for roles outside of academia, and two sides of A4 for roles within academia.

If possible, it can be useful to reference your skills in the same order as outlined in the job specification. However, if one of your strongest skills is lower on the list consider moving this higher, or if there are a series of questions rather than a flexible statement you must stick to the order they have used.

Mirroring the job description

To ensure your application clearly demonstrates your suitability to the role, it can be a good idea to mirror the language and phrasing used in the job description.

The employer will have many applications to decide between, and if yours clearly shows that you fit the criteria without them having to search for key words or phrases, this will give you an advantage. It might not feel natural, but even mentioning skills in the order they're listed in the job description can be useful.

Spelling and grammar

Ensuring that your spelling and grammar are correct can be the difference between a successful application and a rejection. Ask a friend, colleague or supervisor to proofread your application so you can be confident about the quality of your writing.

If you are an international student, resources such as CELE (Centre for English Language Education) can be helpful to make sure your writing is free of errors, although it is important to ensure that the application is largely representative of your writing and comprehension level, as this may be part of the application at a later stage.

For years employers have been using AI systems to screen candidate applications, highlighting keywords to make it easier to shortlist on mass. But now systems like ChatGPT are available to candidates too, so should you use them?

There is no doubt it has its uses, helping with structure, or initial ideas for you to think through and include. But always remember the answers it gives are only as good as the questions you ask. These systems have no contextual awareness, they can’t think critically or assess the reliability of information.  

Employers want to know you as an individual to ensure your skills, strengths and values align with their company and the role requirements. So, you may do yourself a disservice if you rely on these systems to write about a very personal topic – you.

You are best placed to sell yourself to an employer, doing this during the application stage will help enormously when you come to interview. People hire candidates they want to work with, so if you remove the personal touch from your application you will end up sounding just like everyone else. 

For more information read our blog on ChatGPT and job applications.  

For most academic jobs, the application form may contain separate sections for teaching and research.

In the teaching statement section, you can include any experience you have with teaching, demonstrating, volunteering, and mentoring.

In the research section, you will need to outline your specific research area, and detail your relevant skills which match those required by the employer. You will need to be specific about the types of research skills you have developed, whether these are qualitative, quantitative, lab-based, field-based, science communication based and so on.

Teaching and research split

It's a good idea to match the job description when deciding how much of your statement to focus on teaching and how much on research. If the job description appears to have equal focus on both teaching and research, then aim to have an equal amount written for both in your application. If the job description is leaning heavily towards one or the other, make sure you reflect that balance.

Teaching statement

This statement will demonstrate your teaching experience to date. This may be made up from work undertaken during your PhD, outreach work and/or volunteering. You can include module and curriculum development, assessment procedures, communication skills, pastoral care and so on.

Once you have written your teaching statement, a careers adviser can review it and provide you with feedback to strengthen your application.

Research statement

As research statements are typically highly specialised, it is not standard practice for careers advisers to provide feedback on this section of applications. It would be more beneficial to have a co-worker or supervisor check this for you.

Length of statement

The required length of your statement for an academic job can vary greatly, and is typically longer than that for a job outside academia.

This is to allow for more detail within both the teaching and research sections. Sometimes the length of the statement is set by the institution, and might be defined by word count or page count.

However if you have not been provided with a guide length, two sides of A4 is usually preferred.

Explore more

Download Building Academic Job Applications: A Quick and Practical Guide for Early Career Researchers 

Vitae  - writing a statement of research interests  

Knowledge of the sector

It's important to demonstrate to your potential employer that you understand the sector they are operating within.

Make sure you know what products or services are available within the sector and how they contribute to the industry as a whole. Familiarise yourself with sector-specific terms and jargon, and keep an eye on news about the sector online and on social media. Check related professional bodies or respected journal websites.

Understanding of the organisation and its competitors

The employer will have more confidence in your application if you've made it clear you have researched the organisation and their competitors.

This shows that you have taken the time to understand their position in the market, their values, and what challenges they may face in upcoming years. There are many ways to find out more about an organisation, including viewing their website, social media pages, and LinkedIn.

Tailor your application to job and company

When you're filling in your application or writing your cover letter, you will need to tailor it to the specific job and company you are applying to. The more specific you can be about why your skills and motivations match their role and organisation, the more confidence the employer will have in your application.

This is especially important in the motivational questions on an application form, where you should outline explicitly why you are motivated to secure the role and work for the company.

In general, you should aim to be so specific that the application would no longer make sense if you swapped out the job or company for a different one.

Reference your transferable skills

When moving from an academic role or postgraduate degree into a role outside of academia, it's vital that you communicate how your skills transfer to their requirements.

The skills you are gaining during your academic role might be different to those developed by a role outside of academia, so you need to describe how the skills are transferable.

For example, presenting a research poster at a conference will develop many of the same skills required to communicate with clients in a marketing role.

Using the employer's language

A useful tip when writing your application is to use the language that the employer has used in their job description.

If there are multiple terms or words used to describe a product, concept or method and the employer uses one in particular, make sure you use the same one in your application.

For example, if the job description mentions 'liaising with colleagues' in their description, outline how you have experience liaising with colleagues, rather than 'communicating with co-workers' or 'collaborating with peers'.