CV and Supporting Statement

 

Notice: Your application

Your application will be judged solely on the basis of how you demonstrate that you meet the critieria stated in the job description.

Please note that you will receive an automated email from our e-recruitment system to confirm receipt of your application. Please check your spam/junk email if you do not receive this email.

 

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

  • Check your CV is up-to-date, including dates of employment, please indicate reasons for breaks in your career.
  • For Professional Services roles keep your CV short (1-3 pages). Academics and Researchers will normally have longer CVs.
  • Highlight the skills and experience that are relevant to the role for which you are applying. Avoid sending a generic CV.
  • Provide details of your education, employment history and voluntary experience.
  • Keep details brief for previous jobs with less relevance and focus on transferable skills gained, e.g customer services skills.
  • You may find the advice from our Careers Service on writing a CV useful, but be aware that this material is intended for our students applying for graduate-entry jobs and may therefore not be relevant for all roles.

Supporting Statement

The supporting statement must explain how you meet each requirement of the selection criteria for the post using examples of your skills and experience. This may include experience gained in employment, education, or during career breaks (such as time out to care for dependants). 

  • Structure your supporting statement clearly. For example you may want to list each of the criteria in turn, and explain briefly how your skills and experience match these requirements.
  • As far as possible, give us evidence that you have the skills, knowledge, experience and qualifications that match what is required for the role. Avoid just stating that you can do the tasks, instead give examples of things that you have done that demonstrate this instead. If you do not have the exact experience asked for, be honest about this and explain how you think your other skills are relevant or how you could address this gap.
  • It is fine to use examples from voluntary work or social activities, if relevant, eg 'I keep accounts for my local sports club'.
  • Keep your application honest and supported by evidence. At the same time do not be afraid of selling yourself, even if this feels unnatural. Use positive language and write in the first person, eg 'I demonstrated my excellent attention to detail when I handled all bookings for a national conference of 200 people'.
  • Explain any gaps in your employment history. For example tell us if you took a career break because of caring responsibilitie,s eg 'I took a nine month career break to look after my elderly father who has dementia'. We recognise that people have varied career patterns.
  • Remember to check your spelling and grammar.

Where relevant, such as for research posts, there may also be the need to explain the impact of Covid-19 on your work or research outputs. For example, tell us if you have been unable to complete certain aspects of your research due to lab closures or other restrictions, shielding or caring responsibilities.

Where Covid-19 has resulted in substantial disruption to your work or research outputs, please explain this by providing an additional paragraph in your supporting statement.

 

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Should you experience any difficulties using the online application system, please email:

recruitment.support@admin.ox.ac.uk

 

Further help and support is available from:

https://hrsystems.admin.ox.ac.uk/recruitment-support