I'm needing help with application question...

PurpleGoldFish

Afternoon One and All

I'm applying for a job as a collections advisor (call centre) for my local council housing organisation and I'm having difficultly in answering the questions to the fullest and to try and ensure an interview I'd like to sound as competent as I can.

P.s this is the longest application form I've ever filled in 18 pages!

The Questions/Sections Are -

Personal Competence – this is assessing you against drive for achievement and planning and organising your work.

People Competence – this is assessing you against customer focus, communication and team working.

Business Competence – this is assessing you against being change positive and achieving value for money.

Technical Competence – in this section, please outline experiences that demonstrate your technical ability to carry out the role which you are applying for. (Please use no more than 500 words.)

Here's the job description

To work as part of a team in a performance and target driven environment. You will be required to contact customers to collect outstanding debts. These will include former tenant arrears, re-chargeable works, service charges, heating charges and major works invoices.

This contact may be by telephone, in writing, face to face including office or home visits.

Technical Competence:

• advanced communication and negotiation skills both verbally and in writing
• use own initiative to negotiate effectively whilst following designated processes and procedures
• experience of using IT systems including Microsoft packages or equivalent
• ability to interpret information from a variety of sources including verbal written and numeric

• All employees are expected to be flexible within the scope of the role
  The following 3 areas of competence are generic to all roles within the organisation and every member of staff are expected to demonstrate them.

The organisation’s Core Values are identified by the [FONT=&quot]V [/FONT]symbol



Personal Competence:
This area is about yourself as an individual and your responsibilities for the way you operate at work.



Accountability – acts openly and takes responsibility [FONT=&quot]V[/FONT]
Integrity – acts fairly and honestly [FONT=&quot]V[/FONT]
Passion – works positively and with enthusiasm [FONT=&quot]V[/FONT]
Drive for Achievement – actively contributes to achieving personal and organisational targets and objectives
Planning and Organising your work – uses time efficiently and works in a well structured way

People Competence:
This area focuses on the responsibilities each person has in dealing with others.
Respect – treats everyone with care and professionalism [FONT=&quot]V[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
Customer Focus – knows who their customers are and understands their needs and expectations
Communication – communicates accurately and clearly using the most appropriate method
Team Working – supports effective team working in all teams operated within


Business Competence:
This area focuses on how each individual contributes to the success of the business.
Change positive – embraces change and supports the effective implementation of changes
Value for Money – recognises the financial implications of decisions and actions
Forward-thinking – proactively seeks improvements and solutions [FONT=&quot]V[/FONT]

Can anyone help?

PurpleGoldFish

Anyone any advice?

Jarndyce

I think the general consensus on these type of requests is that if you need to ask for help on something so basic then you're not going to get the job, or if you do, you'd be getting it under false pretences. Sorry.

Mara69

Those applications are hideous. The only advice I can give is make sure you complete all of the application or you won't even get shortlisted for interview. Secondly, make sure you give examples of how you have met their criteria in your application, for example: "In my current role as *****, I have used advanced communication and negotiation skills both verbally and in writing. TFor example, part of my role demanded that I respond to complex queries in respect of...etc etc.

agrinnall

I'm not sure what you think anyone can say, you are the one who knows whether you can match your previous experience to the competencies. I haven't looked at them in detail but basically you need to work out what each competency actually means then think about what you have done at work or in some other capacity that can be used to illustrate how you meet that competency. Only you can do that I'm afraid.

PurpleGoldFish

Jarndyce wrote: »

I think the general consensus on these type of requests is that if you need to ask for help on something so basic then you're not going to get the job, or if you do, you'd be getting it under false pretences. Sorry.

I wasn't asking for people to write the answers for me, I've written a few paragraphs for each I was just wanting to know whether or not anyone had any advise as to what-not-to-forget etc...

Who are you to lambast someone for asking for help? There are people out there who struggle to 'sell themselves' and have trouble putting everything down on paper, do you think your comment is conducive? Forums like this are for helping people to find employment or help with employment related issues not for you to put people down.

Jarndyce

PurpleGoldFish wrote: »

I wasn't asking for people to write the answers for me, I've written a few paragraphs for each I was just wanting to know whether or not anyone had any advise as to what-not-to-forget etc...

Who are you to lambast someone for asking for help? There are people out there who struggle to 'sell themselves' and have trouble putting everything down on paper, do you think your comment is conducive? Forums like this are for helping people to find employment or help with employment related issues not for you to put people down.

I was just trying to explain why you had had no response, that's all.

Good luck with your application for your call centre job.

dizzyrascal

Good luck with this. They are awful and the questions are often very similar. Still, if they ask a lot of questions they should expect a lot of answers