Completing the personal page

Please indicate your preferred method of contact from the telephone and mobile numbers, and email address we've asked you for. This is in case we need to contact you during the day about this vacancy.

Completing the employment page

Please state your current employer's name, address and telephone number in full. If you are not currently in work, please describe your current occupation. You can also describe this in the skills page. Please list your previous employers' or occupation, starting with your most recent job, work experience or occupation first. Include voluntary work, particularly if you haven't been in paid employment before.

You must include all your work experience and account for all of your time since you left school, college or university. Please explain any gaps in employment.

If you want to list more of your previous jobs or experience than can be fitted here, please put this into the relevant skills and experience page.

Completing the relevant skills and experience page

This is the most important part of the application form. It is your chance to explain to the manager why you should get an interview. Write down how you meet the selection criteria. Remember the manager knows nothing about you and you need to give as much information as possible. You need to explain how you meet the selection criteria - give examples of things you have done which show your skills, or if you don't have direct experience, perhaps explain what you have studied, or done which is similar.

• Read through the job description and selection criteria thoroughly so you are familiar with the duties of the job and the skills and abilities needed to do them effectively. Then tell us how you meet each of the selection criteria by giving details of all your relevant experience (paid or unpaid), knowledge, skills and abilities. You may find it helpful to deal with each point in the selection criteria in turn, as this will help you structure this section clearly and coherently. Write in a positive way e.g. "I was responsible for …" or "I organised …".
   
• We are interested in what you did and achieved personally not the work and achievements of the group or organisation in which you worked.
   
• If you have been out of work for a long time, or have never been in work, you may have acquired relevant skills and experience from being involved in community or voluntary work, through school or college activities, or by running your home. Please use examples from here to support your application.
   
• If you are an internal candidate temporarily covering the advertised vacancy, you will still need to meet the criteria. Do not assume that you will be shortlisted, as the panel will not take any personal knowledge of your ability into consideration.

Completing the referees page

Oxfordshire County Council will need references that are satisfactory to us before making the offer of a job. Referees must be able to provide information about your suitability for this post.

If you are (or have recently been) employed, one should be your current or last employer. If you are (or have been) a student, one should be a senior staff member from your place of study. Your referees should not be related to you in any way. For social care jobs, if you have worked in a care organisation, one referee should be from your most recent previous employer in a care organisation. References will be verified with the employing organisation.

References provided by your relatives, friends or people you live with are not acceptable. Instead use someone who knows your capabilities and can comment on your suitability for this post.

If you have been self-employed or employed by an organisation that has ceased trading, you should give the name, business address and telephone number of an official (such as an accountant or bank manager) who can vouch for this period and the information you have provided. If you do not do this, we may not be able to accept your application. We reserve the right to ask you for further referees if we are not satisfied with the ones you have provided.

Make sure that the people you choose are willing to act as referees before you give us their details. Remember to state on the form if you do not want us to contact one or both of them before the interview.

Completing the post page

This page gives us further information about you and when you can start work. Before you are appointed, we are legally required to ensure that you are entitled to work in the UK. You will be required to produce documentary evidence to prove this. We will tell you what you need to bring in.

You must state on the form whether you need a work permit to take up employment. If you are in any doubt about your legal employment status, seek advice from the contact given in the job advert, or from the Home Office

Please let us know where you saw the job advert as this helps us measure the effectiveness of our advertising.

Completing the equality page

Oxfordshire County Council has a statutory duty to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination, promote equal opportunities and good relations between people of different racial groups. We are required to monitor applications for employment by racial group to assist in ensuring that everyone is treated fairly during the selection process. Please help us to do this by completing the monitoring section included in the application form.

The equal opportunity monitoring section of the application form will be detached before the form reaches the selection panel, and this information will not be made available to them before interview. If you have indicated that you have a disability, the recruiting manager will be made aware of this to ensure that you are given an interview if you meet the essential selection criteria.

The county council will not base any part of its recruitment and selection process on your:

• ethnic origin
• sex
• age
• marital or parental status
• religious belief
• sexual orientation
• involvement in a trade union
• any criminal convictions that are "spent"

Any exceptions to this policy will be clearly set out in the application pack.

The information you provide in the equal opportunity monitoring section will be held in confidence by the Recruitment team, and the details logged onto a confidential recruitment database.  

The information will be used for statistical purposes to enable the county council to carry our its equal opportunities monitoring obligations.

Completing the disability page

Oxfordshire County Council welcomes applications from all sectors of the community, including disabled candidates. Many people with long term health issues do not consider themselves to be disabled. The Disability Discrimination Act's definition of disability is very broad: "a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse affect on an individual’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities".

If you feel that you are covered by this definition there is a box to tick on the application form.

Oxfordshire County Council will guarantee you an interview if you meet this definition of disability and show on your application form that you meet the essential criteria. However, this is not a guarantee of a job.

If you feel that you meet the above definition and would like help with your application form, or have a query about the definition, you can contact Oxfordshire Employment Service (part of Oxfordshire County Council) on 01865 791606 fax: 01865 201243.

If you are selected for an interview then please let us know if you will need any special provisions or facilities. If you are appointed to the job then it would also be useful to know if any adjustments will need to be made to the job to help you carry out your duties. This information is confidential and does not form part of your application and it will not be taken into account when making a decision about who will get the job.