Advice for job seekers
At Coventry City Council, we’re working to build an inclusive environment where everyone feels able to be their whole self. To demonstrate our commitment to inclusion, we created position statements so all potential applicants understand our values and what we believe in. We’re proud to showcase we are a Disability Confident Employer.
Support and reasonable adjustments
Visit our accessibility page for information regarding support and/or reasonable adjustments to assist you in applying for our jobs.
Find out more about our Workforce Diversity and Inclusion commitment
Anonymised recruitment
As a Council who is committed to Diversity & Inclusion and Anti-Racism, we are keen to ensure that we use a values-based recruitment process to recruit, select and retain the very best candidates from a range of diverse backgrounds to deliver key services to the citizens of Coventry. As part of this commitment Coventry City Council has adopted an anonymous recruitment process, which means all of your personal details, name, gender, ethnicity, age, employment dates are removed before your application is viewed by our hiring managers. The goal of anonymous recruitment is to reduce unconscious bias in the hiring process and ensure all applications are evaluated solely on the basis of your transferable skills and “suitability for the post personal statement”. It is therefore essential that you demonstrate your suitability and transferrable skills within the “suitability for the post personal statement” and refrain from including any distinguishing information within this.
Your application
Applying for a new job can be stressful, here at Coventry we want to help you understand our application process and how we shortlist. We want all our applicants to have the best chance at showcasing what they can do, what skills they have and really sell themselves so we’ve put together some tips on how to get shortlisted to help you with your application. You can also find out more about our application and selection methods we might use in our recruitment and selection process.
Find your job
Visit our job vacancies website.
When you find a job you'd like to apply for, don't start filling in the application form straight away. Take some time to prepare, as this will make the task much easier.
On the right-hand side of our adverts, you will see a summary of the location, salary, hours, contract and working pattern of the role. Make sure these fit in with what you are looking for.
Make sure you read the full advert and the job description and person specification attached- this will help you decide if this is the right job for you based on your skills and experience.
Creating your profile
When you find a job you'd like to apply for, take some time to prepare, as this will make the task much easier.
Gather together all the information that you'll need, including details of your academic achievements, employment history and any registrations you may need to make note of in the application.
Once you click ‘Apply’ you will be asked to create an account on our careers page, as part of the process you will need to create a profile. Creating your profile is a crucial step in your application process. This is where you will be able to showcase all your experience, knowledge and expertise related to the role you are applying for. When creating your profile you will be asked to complete the career history section in which you will detail your past roles and responsibilities. We would like to see career history covering your last 3-5 positions or up to 10 years (whichever is most relevant). If you haven’t previously been employed then please state this in the boxes that are required to be completed in the career history section of the application. The information you include on your profile will form part of your full application. This information can be reused for future applications.
All Coventry City Council’s recruitment is anonymised so managers will not be able to see your personal details. As part of our Workforce Diversity and Inclusion strategy, all applications to Coventry City Council jobs are automatically anonymised by our recruitment system. This is with the aim of realising our ambition to have a workforce which is reflective of the community we serve and eliminating unconscious bias, allowing employees to be appointed based on their talent, skills and experiences regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic.
Our hiring managers will not have access to your name, age, gender, address, dates of education and employment or any other diversity information until after shortlisting has taken place and interviews confirmed. This detail will become visible once interview invitations have been sent to allow managers to prepare.
Once you have created your profile and pressed ‘continue’ you will be asked to answer a required question. You will likely be asked to provide a personal statement explaining your suitability for the post or respond directly to several application questions. Please ensure you have reviewed the Person Specification to complete the “Suitability for the Post Personal Statement” and provide examples of your experience and transferrable skills in relation to this. This is the detail that our hiring managers use to shortlist so it is important that you demonstrate your suitability for the post within this section. Hiring managers will be looking for responses to be comprehensive yet succinct, with relevance to the role that is being applied for. We would suggest using the STAR model (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure your responses. We will not be able to shortlist against answers which are too short in response e.g. “please see CV”.
Our hiring managers will use the details and examples provided within your “Suitability for the Post Personal Statement” to score and shortlist and will only look at past experience to provide context. It is therefore essential that you review the Person Specification and detail your past knowledge and experience against the person specification, providing examples and outlining your transferrable skills.
Please ensure you do not include any distinguishing information within your “Suitability for the Post Personal Statement” to ensure your application is aligned with our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy and commitment to anonymous recruitment.
