Guide to the Consultant application form (NHS jobs)

Filling an application form for a consultant post on the NHS jobs website can be daunting process. Writing one application form can take several hours and if you want to do it properly you will need to do so over several days. The fact that you may have to complete several application forms, each for jobs which have different requirements complicates matters.

In this free guide to the NHS consultant application form, we explain how you can approach the process and demystify some of the questions that candidates find the hardest to answer.

Before you do any work ...

Before you do any work, it is worth spending 15 minute clarifying for yourself what the job is about and whether the unit to which you are applying is looking for specific skills or experience, as this will strongly dictate the nature of the information that you should present in your answers and the examples that you should use.  

To help you in this task, there are three sources of information that you can use:

• the person specification;
   
• the job description;
   
• pre-shortlisting visits.

Obviously, most departments will be looking for people with general skills such as team playing, communication skills, probity etc. We will discuss later how you can best present these. But, to start with, see if they are looking for specific experience or skills. Ask yourself questions such as:

• Are they looking for a special interest?
   
• Aside from general research, teaching or audit experience, are they looking for anything more specific e.g. experience of setting up research projects, research governance, leading audits, involvement in risk management etc?
   
• Is the job a primarily a service provision job or does it also involve specific responsibilities such as service development, taking a lead in a particular area or having to deal with specific challenges? (This will be particularly important when answering the question on teamwork).

If you can build an accurate picture of the job, the environment, the responsibilities that you will be required to take and the challenges that you are likely to face, then you are more likely to write answers which appeal to those who will be be involved in the shortlisting process.

Employment History section

The Employment History section of the consultant application form is fairly straight forward but you should avoid the temptation to rush the answers that you provide in the box "Brief description of your duties and responsibilities".