Job applications - putting a spin on things…

[Guest23]

I tend to emphasise the relevant parts of my job to the detriment of the no-so-relevant parts, e.g. going on about challenging behaviour but not mentioning the personal care part of the job which took but about 95% of my time as a care assistant…

Those doing the recruiting will in all likelihood expect you to reframe your experiences in order to relate them favourably/show how they are relevant to the job in question, after all you are essentially ‘selling yourself’ to prospective employers. (Tailoring your application to the job spec is a skill in itself, so how you actually go about this is crucial.) Very important though is not to list what you have done, but how you reflect on and show what you have learnt from your previous experience. So if your current job involves a lot of ‘carework’ – don’t unnecessarily dismiss this; what did you learn from it, how has this changed the way you relate to people/other professionals, what are the advantages having seen things from this perspective rather than another? And so on…

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