Gofal Recruitment Process Key Points

Thank you for your interest in working for Gofal and in particular for your interest in this specific role. This document is intended to provide you with information on our recruitment processes and also to provide some guidance on how to complete your application form.

Gofal recruitment processes are designed to ensure that we recruit the best person for the role, someone who has the skills, knowledge, experience and values to fulfil the requirements of the role and to help delivery high quality services and achieve our goals identified through our vision and mission.

Gofal Recruitment process – key points

Application pack letter –This outlines the information that you should have to enable you to complete your application and the key dates in the recruitment process. If you do not have all the information listed then please do contact our HR department on 01656 647722.

There should be three dates contained in the letter:

 The Closing Date – please ensure that you return your application form to us by the date and time noted as we will not consider applications received after this.

 The Shortlisting Date – this is the date we will go through all applications to determine who is invited to interview. You will hear the outcome of our shortlisting process as soon as possible after this date and we do respond to all applicants.

 The Interview Date – we provide this date so that applicants can make arrangement to be available on this day if successful at the shortlisting stage. These dates are planned around panel availability and while we will consider requests for alternative interview dates it may not always be possible to arrange due to availability and service requirements.

Application Form – We require all applicants to complete the application forms. This ensures that all information is presented in the same way for shortlisting purposes.

Please note: we do not accept CVs unless specifically requested. CV’s supplied in place of an application form will be disregarded from the application process.

Criminal Convictions – Gofal works with vulnerable adults and families and its activities are subject to the requirement of the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

While we need to comply with all necessary legal and regulatory requirements, a criminal conviction is not necessarily a bar to employment and each case will be decided on an individual basis.

You will be asked to voluntarily disclose any convictions, reprimands, cautions and warnings at interview stage and any offer of employment made will be subject to receipt of a DBS check at enhanced level (where relevant for this the post), the result of which must be satisfactory for Gofal.

References – At least two written references are taken up prior to appointment. At least one of your references should be a present or most recent employer or tutor, volunteer work supervisor etc. If your most recent employer is not in a similar field but you have worked with a vulnerable client group within the last 5 years then we will also require a reference from this organisation.

References will be requested after interview and Gofal reserves the right to contact any previous employer.

Shortlisting – We select candidates for interview based purely on merits and abilities as demonstrated on the application form. We compare the information you have provided in the main body of the application form against the criteria outlined in the person specification and competency framework. Applicants should demonstrate evidence of the competencies at the levels specific to the role they are applying.

The person specification has both essential and desirable criteria and the recruitment panel will assess which applicants meet the essential criteria listed. If there are a lot of people who are assessed as meeting all the essential criteria and this is too many to interview then we will assess against the desired criteria.

Please note that we also work to the commitments of The Disability Symbol and as such if applicants meet all the essential requirements for the post and have declared a disability we will offer an interview.

If you do not meet all the essential criteria then it may still be worthwhile applying as we may not have enough applicants who meet all essential criteria, so we may interview applicants who meet most of them.

Interviews

Interviews are conducted by the panel involved in the shortlisting process and this will be a minimum of two people comprising of managers of the services and a member of the human resources department. We do try to involve our service users in interviewing wherever possible as well.

If you are invited to interview you will be given 15 minutes prior to meeting the interview panel to complete a skill assessment test. Following this the panel will ask you questions relevant to the job role. You will have the opportunity to ask the panel questions during the interview.

Presentations will be required for all management positions and also for posts where the ability to deliver presentations are part of the role.

Case studies, scenarios or IT tests will be conducted for other roles.

Guidance for completing the application form

Front sheet

This sheet is removed prior to shortlisting but does contain important information and all sections should be completed.

This page also contains a declaration which you should sign, or print name if returning by e-mail. This confirms that all the information you have provided is true and correct to the best of your knowledge. If you are subsequently employed by Gofal and this information proves not to be correct then your employment may be affected.

Education and Training

Please list the qualifications you obtained and also the training courses you have been on. If there are numerous courses it may be best to ensure that you highlight those that are most relevant to the job role in this section.

Please also ensure that you note any relevant NVQs in this section especially where they are noted on the person specification.

Where a qualification is essential or desirable for the role you will be asked to provide your certificate prior to confirmation of employment.

Supporting Statement

This is probably the most important part of the application forms and is the key area we consider through the shortlisting process. This is therefore the section that you should spend the most time on and you might find it useful to complete a draft version before submitting your final application.

You will need to demonstrate to the shortlisting panel how you meet the criteria specified in the person specification and competency framework, and you might want to think about this before you start to write your statement. You might find it helpful to use the STAR model to structure your answers both at shortlisting and at interview stage.

Situation or
Task / Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish. Make sure it is a specific event or situation, not a generalised description of what you have done in the past. Be sure to give enough detail for the panel to understand. This situation can be from a previous job, from a volunteer experience, or any relevant event.
Action you took / Describe the action you took and be sure to keep the focus on you. Even if you are discussing a group project or effort, describe what you did - not the efforts of the team. Don't tell what you might do, tell what you did.
Results you achieved / What happened? How did the event end? What did you accomplish? What did you learn?

Before you write anything, please ensure you read the person specification for the role carefully. This will identify those areas that we consider essential for the role and those that are desirable. Also indicated on the form will be a reference to whether these criteria will be assessed through your application form, your interview or both.

Equal Opportunities

Within all packs an equal opportunities form is included. This is not seen by the recruitment panel but is used for statistical purposes. It is not essential that you complete this but it does help inform our recruitment strategies and practices.

Updated January 2015Page 1 of 3