How to Ace Your Dream SBM Application

You’ve made the decision to apply for your dream SBM role – how do you put together a good application? Val Andrew has some advice to help you secure the job you want

Start by scanning the job ads and decide how far you are prepared to travel to work. Understanding your own geographical range is critical.

Once you’ve identified a potential role, scrutinise the language and detail used in the ad very closely. You can learn a lot about a school from the way it presents itself as a potential employer. The language used will explain whether the school comes across as a caring employer, interested in their staff and what their core values are. How do those values align with your own? To get further information, check out the school website which should provide extra detail to add perspective to your own first impressions.

Getting a First Impression

I’d also advise trying to arrange a visit to look around the school before starting your application. Walking into a school and making your own judgements based on first impressions and the quality of the welcome could be critical to your decision to proceed with your application or not, and if you do get the right feel from an initial visit then this can also provide useful information you could use in the application process linked to the school’s priorities.

Having decided to proceed, the next step is putting together your application. Employers use application forms as a selection tool. You will usually be asked to provide evidence of skills and ability (to test you can do the job), motivation (why you want this job) and values (will you be a good fit).

Putting Your Best Foot Forward

Your application is a means to being invited for interview, where you will have the opportunity to showcase your skills, knowledge and experience as well as your own personality and how that aligns with the school’s values and vision. The application is how you show the school that you meet their core criteria for the role but also giving them brief insights into your experience to date.

The two important documents that should underpin your application – the job description and person specification. The job description explains the range and extent of the role’s responsibilities whereas the person specification provides the structure for your application and sets the criteria against which all applications will be assessed and short listed for interview. This document sets out exactly WHO the school are looking to recruit based on skills, qualifications and experience usually ordered based on essential/desirable elements. Check very closely how your own skills, qualifications and experience measure up against the person specification.

Some pitfalls to be aware of as you prepare to write your application are: –

• Don’t write your life story or a full career history
• Don’t use too many buzz words or acronyms
• Don’t copy and paste comments from a previous application – make this specific to this role and this school
• Don’t make assumptions – especially if you are an internal candidate, write your application as though the school know nothing about you

To avoid these pitfalls: –

• Read and follow any instructions provided
• Don’t send a CV and/or a covering letter unless specified
• If there are word counts – stick to them
• Complete every section
• If there are employment gaps – explain them
• Make sure you align with the person specification – this is the criteria used for shortlisting
• Proofread for mistakes such as spelling, grammar, punctuation or formatting. Ask someone to double check this for you
• Keep a copy

A few additional tips: –

If you feel you might exceed specific word counts, consider using bullet points. Don’t write long paragraphs – break these up into shorter sections with relevant headings and link back to the person specification.

If you are asked to explain your skills, experience and/or values, try to avoid being too generic and communicate “how” you’ve achieved specific skills, and experience. In terms of values talk about “who” you are, what are your principles, how do these align with the school’s values and vision that you’ve gleaned from their literature and website and what about you is non-negotiable. When referring to your own experience(s) make sure these are relatively recent, explain how are these relevant to the role and the person specification, can you demonstrate specific skills e.g. problem solving, communication etc. but above all remember to explain the impact of what you’ve done and where possible link this to the overall aims and goals of the school.

Hopefully this will achieve its aim and result in an invitation to interview – next time I’ll look at some interview techniques.