Thinking of applying for a job within the ambulance service? No matter which role you’re going for, these tips will help you complete your application form properly, giving you a better chance of being shortlisted for interview

Before applying

Read all additional documents carefully – you’ll need these to complete the online application form effectively. These documents will include the job description and job specification. The job description details what the job role comprises and the responsibilities attached to the role while the job specification details the skills and knowledge needed to perform the job role efficiently.

Do your research – better understanding of the job role will help you to complete your application more effectively. If you would like a discussion about the role, contact the Recruiting Manager whose details are at the bottom of the job advert.

Equal opportunities –  We encourage applications from all backgrounds to improve the diversity of our workforce and to better reflect the communities we serve to provide the right care, at the right time, in the right place; every time.

Completing the application form

Personal information

Make sure you provide all of the information required.

Educational and professional qualifications

Subject/qualification – provide the full title of the qualification as it is written on the certificate including the awarding body if applicable, ie, GCSE, A-Level, Functional Skills Level 2, etc.

Place of Study – full name of school/college/educational organisation.

Grade/Result – for GCSEs and A-Levels, please do not just put ‘pass’ as we need the actual 9-1; A-E grade. (Grades achieved prior to 2017 – GCSEs/O-Levels – grade A-E; CSEs are graded 1-3). Please detail all other qualifications here, eg, Functional Skills, Key Skills, NVQ, HND etc.

Year obtained – if you are currently studying for a qualification, if possible put pending and the year you are due to achieve that qualification.

Don’t forget, if you are shortlisted you will need to produce originals of all relevant certificates.

Relevant training and qualifications

Use this section to detail any other training or qualifications you have gained that may be relevant to the job role. This can include short courses such as communication skills, health and safety, first aid, etc.

Employment history

Provide a full job history – don’t leave out any job roles, even if you feel they are not applicable to
the role that you are applying for as you might want to refer to them in the Supporting Information section.
Relevant volunteering roles can also be detailed here. If there are any gaps in your employment history, use the section at the end to provide the details, like unemployment, illness, travelling abroad etc.

You are asked to give a brief description of your duties and responsibilities for each role. You may want to
use bullet points to enable easier reading by the shortlisting panel.

Have another read through the job description and person specification so you can use this section to show how your current/previous roles meet some of the criteria for the role you are applying for.

Supporting information

This section provides you with the opportunity to tell us why you are applying and about your talents and
strengths. It is recommended that you use the job specification as guidelines. The job specification is
divided into a number of sections, within which are a number of criteria.

You now need to show how your skills, knowledge and experience meet the criteria detailed in each of the
sections. Describe how you meet each one, using examples of how you have carried these out previously
Examples can be taken from paid employment, voluntary work, hobbies, or your personal life. A good way
to do this is to describe a situation, what the task was, what you did and what was achieved.

Example: “Good written skills and communication skills” – I have excellent communication skills, for example, in my current role I write quarterly reports for the management team detailing activities that I have undertaken – this enables my managers to see the progress of the programme and its outcomes. I attend meetings and conferences and deliver presentations about my work, for example, I recently attended the Northern Challenge Network and delivered a presentation about the programme I co-ordinate – as a result awareness of the programme is raised and encourages more people to become involved in our services.

Example: “Maintain confidentiality” – I understand the importance of maintaining confidentiality, for example, in my role at xxxxxx, I was responsible for maintaining students’ records and I therefore implemented the organisation’s policies and procedures to ensure that students’ personal details were kept secure and remained confidential at all times.

Example: “Able to communicate across wide demographic boundaries in an appropriate manner” – In my role at xxxxxx, I co-ordinated a programme which offered people from diverse communities and cultures the opportunity to apply for funding to establish health and wellbeing programmes to benefit local communities. I delivered one to one support sessions in filling in the forms and how to run the programmes effectively. As a result, 31 new health and wellbeing programmes were set up to benefit local communities.

References

Provide references with full details of how we can contact them if you are shortlisted. Let your
referees know that you have detailed their information on the application form.