Application guidance

Disability Confident Employer logo_August 2016

All Newport City Council job vacancies are advertised on the council website and can be applied for online. 

Your local Newport library can to help you complete the form if you need it, just get in touch to agree a suitable time to call in. 

Please leave plenty of time before the closing date to complete your application form.

It may be useful to prepare some information before your visit, such as dates of previous employment, qualifications and evidence of why you meet the job criteria.

We welcome applications under the Positive about Disabled People Scheme and will guarantee an interview to a person with disabilities if they satisfy the essential criteria for the post.

As part of our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, the council has adopted a new reservist policy and has a guaranteed interview scheme for members of the armed forces community.

Before you fill in the application form

Read the:

  • Job description: provides information about the job purpose and lists the main duties and responsibilities of the post
  • Job requirement form: every vacancy advertised is based on a job requirement form, which describes the skills/experience and knowledge/qualifications we are looking for

Filling in the application form

Personal information

Fill in your name, address and at least one telephone number.

Enter your National Insurance (NI) number.

 

Education and professional memberships

Give details of secondary schools, further education and training establishments you have attended.

List the examinations you have passed and any courses attended, including awards.

 

Employment information

Provide your complete employment history and include training placements, temporary unpaid or voluntary work experience.

Once you have completed the details for one period of employment, click ‘Add Another’ until you have added all your periods of employment.

Your employment history will automatically be date ordered and you can edit the information as many times as you need to.

 

Supporting statement

The information you provide in this section is important in assessing your application, use it to: 

  1. State your reasons for applying for the post
  2. Relate your skills, experience, personal qualities and training you have received to the requirements of the job which are contained in the job description

This is your opportunity to sell yourself and present your experience in the best light.

A helpful approach to completing your supporting statement (and preparing yourself for an interview) may be to use the STAR model, which helps you layout your examples in a structured way:

  • Situation - set the scene, describe the situation or problem
  • Task - outline the task required to solve the issue or problem
  • Action - describe what you actually did, how and when you did it, the reasoning behind the choices you took and the key things that you did to overcome the issue or problem
  • Result - what the outcome was and the difference it made

 

Additional information

Use this space to state if you have any criminal convictions, are related to any Newport City Council employees or require a permit to work in the UK.

 

References

Provide the names of at least two people who can be asked for references.

The first should be from your last employer (or headteacher if a school leaver).

If you have no work references, provide the names of professional people who know you.

 

Final statement

State any dates that you may not be able to attend an interview – although interview dates cannot always be altered, we will try to be accommodating wherever we can.

 

Equal Opportunities monitoring

The information you provide here will be used by us to monitor the use of our Equal Opportunities and related employment policies in accordance with the Data Protection Act (1998).

We will not use it for any other purpose or disclose it to any other organisations except where we are legally obliged to do so.

This information will not be shared with the hiring manager or short-listing panel.

 

Next steps

We will do our best to keep you informed - usually by email - as your application progresses. 

Please regularly check the email account that you have provided to make sure you do not miss any information.

If your application is short-listed we will email to invite you to interview, with details of what will be required of you and information about the date, time and location.

We will also tell you if your application was not short-listed for interview.

 

Contact

Email [email protected] or contact Newport City Council and ask for the employment team.

 

Privacy notice - Applying for a job (pdf)