Answering application form questions

Application form questions are used to learn more about you. They often ask for basic information, as well as evidence of specific skills and motivations.

How to complete the form

When completing an application form it is important to follow the instructions carefully. This includes adhering to word/character limits and filling the form as fully and accurately as possible. If a section is not applicable to you, write ‘N/A’ (Not applicable) to acknowledge it.

Take your time and write positively about yourself. Provide information that shows you’ve thought about why you’d be good at the job, why you want it and why you’d like to work there

Presenting your basic information

This section is normally designed to get key basic information about you. See below for further information on how you can approach these sections.

Education and qualifications

List all the information asked for (dates, education institutions, qualifications, grades etc) in the order and format specified in the instructions. If the format to use isn’t stated, use reverse chronological order (most recent first). Where appropriate, emphasise subjects, modules, projects and dissertations that are relevant to the employer and the job.

Employment and work experience

Give brief details of each period of employment and work experience including voluntary and unpaid work if you wish. Make good use of the ‘responsibilities’ section to get across your achievements, as well as the skills and qualities you developed and demonstrated in each role. Focus on those the recruiter is looking for.

Don’t leave out what you may perceive to be ‘low-grade’ jobs. For example, shop and restaurant work gives experience of dealing with the public, working under pressure, handling money, etc.

Personal interests and achievements

Employers are looking for clues to your personality as well as your academic and work-related achievements. Give details of leisure interests, explaining your motivation for doing them and what skills you developed as a result. Activities that demonstrate skills such as leadership, team working, organisation and initiative are particularly relevant and likely to be of interest to the employer. If you have a lot of interests and achievements select those which demonstrate skills the employer is seeking.

Equal opportunities and disclosing a disability

Many forms have an Equal Opportunities section which asks for details such as your ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation. This helps employers measure how successful they are at attracting applicants from different sections of the population and your responses are not used for recruitment decisions. Answering such questions is normally optional.

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Motivation-based questions

Motivation questions check your knowledge of the job or course. They also help you to evidence your motivation, and whether your understanding of the opportunity is realistic.

Questions at application stage could include:

• Why do you want the job / course?
• Why do you want to work for our organisation / research group?

Your background research will enable you to answer these questions more effectively. By knowing more about them you will have more to talk about, and will therefore be more effective in specifically evidencing your motivation and your understanding of the opportunity. For example, their projects, values or personal development opportunities may have taken your interest. Whatever captures your attention, try to be as specific and authentic as possible. Generic answers do not tend to work well here.

Competency-based questions

Competency-based questions are common in application forms. These types of questions are designed so that you can effectively evidence the relevant competency (skill) that the recruiter is looking for. Effective research should give you a good idea of what these competencies are.

Examples of such questions are:

• Describe a difficult problem you have solved. How did you analyse and solve it? What did you learn from the experience? (Problem solving)
• Give an example of when you have worked in a team. What was your role and what did you contribute to the team performance? (Team working)
• Describe a project, activity or event you have planned and taken through to a conclusion. Include your objective, what you did, any changes you made to your plan and state how you measured your success. (Planning)

Make sure that you read the question carefully in order to ensure that you are focusing on the correct competencies.

Self-reflection can help you to identify specific situations from past experiences that you could use to evidence the relevant competencies. You then may want to use this specific example to tell a mini-story of how you demonstrated the competency.

The most widely recognised method used to illustrate your example is by using the STAR structure:

• Situation – Provide some brief details about the situation so that the reader can understand the context of the example
• Task – Explain the objective/purpose, i.e. what you were aiming to do
• Action – Describe what you did. Summarise your actions in 4 or 5 individual steps, if possible
• Result – Finish with the outcome. Show that you met your objectives and, if appropriate, comment on what you learnt from the experience

Write as close to any specified word limit as possible without exceeding it. Don’t include repetitious or irrelevant material just to reach the word count - it all has to be meaningful content. Also, try to avoid repeating the same example for each question.

Remember - recruiters are looking for examples that are appropriate to your age, level of experience and opportunities open to you. Often, very ordinary situations can provide excellent examples if you describe them well.

Make clear statements about your relevant skills and experience and present them with a sufficient level of detail. Don’t expect employers to read between the lines of an application form or make assumptions about you.

Key tasks

1. Before writing any responses to questions, make sure you have done your research into the opportunity and reflected on how you meet the requirements. For further information on how to do this, see Preparing to write an application form

2. Try the ‘Question Identifier Tool’ in the Graduates First Aptitude Test Portal*. Here, you can explore different example competency-based questions along with their corresponding response, which uses the STAR structure.

3. Draft your responses in a separate document. This enables you to keep a copy of your responses, which will be important to reflect on should you be invited to an interview. It also enables you to proofread your work to check for spelling and grammar. It is also a good idea to get someone else to check your application for you.

*Register using your University of Sheffield email address. If you are a graduate, you also need to use your University of Sheffield email address and then email us at careers@sheffield.ac.uk to ask us to activate your account. Please supply your name, registration number, department and graduation date.