Hints & Tips

Application Hints and Tips

Your CV is your chance to show Sellafield Ltd you’re the right person for the job. It’s about selling your skills and experience. If you haven’t written a CV before, we recommend using the following sections as a guideline:

• Your personal details – you should include your name, address and contact details.
• Your personal profile – your personal profile is a way for you to sell yourself, summarise yourself and your career goals.
• Employment history and work experience – include as much detail as possible regarding your employment history and work experience.
• Education and training – aim to start with your recent qualifications working back towards your school days, including any training details that may be relevant to the job.
• Interests and achievements – this is a chance for you to include any hobbies, interests and achievements.
• Additional information – anything else that’s relevant to your application can be added towards the end.
• References – at least one referee should be a previous manager or colleague. If you haven’t worked for some time, another responsible person should be used.

Interview Hints and Tips

In the interview you will be ‘selling’ yourself. You not only need the right qualifications or experience but you will need to demonstrate you have the skills and competencies required and the enthusiasm and commitment to succeed in the job.

It’s all about the 3 Ps: Prepare, Practise and Perform on the day. Many interviewees don’t succeed because they have not put enough time into their preparation and practise so that their performance on the day is not what it could be.

Prepare

Usually, in order to demonstrate that you are not only interested in the job on offer but also in the department and the organisation, you need to carry out some research about all of them.

Prepare for your interview by conducting research to understand Sellafield Ltd and the role you are being interviewed for. A lack of preparation in these areas is one of the main reasons that interviewees are not successful.

Practise

The purpose of the interview is to test how close a match you are to the requirements of the vacancy. Your interviewers will be trying to match the skills, competences and personal qualities you can bring to the job with what the job requires. Always try to bring out the positive points about yourself when answering questions, and show your enthusiasm for the challenges the new role will bring.

There will be a number of behavioural competencies or qualities – e.g. positive team working or ability to meet tight deadlines – which are a requirement of the job. Interviewers will ask questions to find out when you demonstrated the competency in the past. Competency interviews work on the basis that what you have done in the past is a good indicator of how you will behave in the future.

Questions tend to focus on the following areas:

You'll need the enthusiasm and commitment to succeed.

• Your career and experience to date
• Your career direction
• Previous responsibilities, accountabilities and jobs held
• Achievements and successes to date
• Technical skills and knowledge.

Preparing for the different types of question that could be asked at the interview is critical to your success. Some of the questions could be prompted by your CV or what you have written on your application form – so be prepared to explain or expand on both when asked.

If you are successfully selected for an interview you will receive an email giving you more information.

Perform

The most important thing is to relax on the day so you can put your preparation into practice. It is impossible to plan for every question, but try to appear relaxed and in control. Ask the interviewer to repeat the question if necessary, but do not evade it. Try to connect with your interviewer and enjoy the conversation.