Advice For Re-Applying For Own Job

GothicStirling

Last year I worked for one the large heritage organisations on a temporary contract. When I had my review in September, my line manager told me that in 2014 he wanted to make the job from a 14-hour week into a 30-hour (if he could get the funding.) If it had remained 14 hours I would have been made permanent then and there, but because of the way the company is now organised, if they want to increase the hours they have to re-advertise. Which my boss told me to do ASAP.

Anyway, I've just checked on their recruitment page, and the job is there. I'm planning to write the application this weekend and have it submitted. I know not to be too casual with it (it has to get past HR before my line manager gets a short-list), but has anyone else gone through anything similar, and do you have any advice? I'm applying for other positions as well, but ideally I really want my old job.

theoretica

Can you ask your line manager or HR if they are willing to tell you how they score applicants? In my organisation internal and external applications are treated the same and need to explicitly tick all the boxes.

gwynlas

Have they provided you with a job description and person specification?
I had to do this on a number of occasions in the past and the best way to ensure that you have covered everything is to go through it point by point as though you were applying from outside as these are the applicants you might be competing against. The advantage you have is that you can say e.g. In my current role as .... I am already carrying out etc etc. HR are ,meant to be unbiased so you do have to sell yourself in order to be shortlisted you cannot assume that they know what your current duties ,are or how well you, perform them. Good luck

Lieja

I had to go trough this not long ago. My line manager was incredibly helpful, and told me exactly what him and his boss would be looking for. The best advice he gave me was to look at the job description and person spec, and answer as though I was recruiting for someone to fill my boots and I wanted the absolute best person for the job.

The main thing is to have confidence in yourself - it may have been easier in my situation because my temp role was a new one, and so when it was made a 'proper' job there was nobody else who had any experience of it! - but just be totally confident that you know your job and you do it well.

Study the job description and person spec like your life depends on it, because this is what HR will be looking for, and practice some questions before your interview so you've got some good stuff at the front of your mind to talk about. My line manager told me to write some mock questions that I would ask if I was recruiting for my position, and come up with answers for them. This really helped me with confidence, especially when the actual questions turned out to be nowhere near as hard as the questions I'd come up with!

Good luck

GothicStirling

theoretica wrote: »

Can you ask your line manager or HR if they are willing to tell you how they score applicants? In my organisation internal and external applications are treated the same and need to explicitly tick all the boxes.

I can do. My sales manager is probably off for the Christmas now (and don't want to disturb his Christmas with his new baby), but I could talk to the Site Manager. The sales manager probably won't be back until Jan 7th now (day before closing date :eek:)

Thanks.

GothicStirling

gwynlas wrote: »

Have they provided you with a job description and person specification?
I had to do this on a number of occasions in the past and the best way to ensure that you have covered everything is to go through it point by point as though you were applying from outside as these are the applicants you might be competing against. The advantage you have is that you can say e.g. In my current role as .... I am already carrying out etc etc. HR are ,meant to be unbiased so you do have to sell yourself in order to be shortlisted you cannot assume that they know what your current duties ,are or how well you, perform them. Good luck

Yes, they provide both on their recruitment page. I'll make sure to read them again, just in case some things have changed. I do know they're going to expect us to use more IT this year.

GothicStirling

Lieja wrote: »

The main thing is to have confidence in yourself - it may have been easier in my situation because my temp role was a new one, and so when it was made a 'proper' job there was nobody else who had any experience of it! - but just be totally confident that you know your job and you do it well.

Study the job description and person spec like your life depends on it, because this is what HR will be looking for, and practice some questions before your interview so you've got some good stuff at the front of your mind to talk about. My line manager told me to write some mock questions that I would ask if I was recruiting for my position, and come up with answers for them. This really helped me with confidence, especially when the actual questions turned out to be nowhere near as hard as the questions I'd come up with!

Good luck

Good advice.

The company restructured in 2010, and I talked a lot about that in last year's interview. They are restructuring again in 12 months, and I intend to talk about that (I have the consultation paper.)

Cheers:)

Yorkie1

You may be asked to give examples of how you are competent at various things. In your examples, say what you did, why you did it, how you did it, and the outcome.

Person_one

No offence to you OP, its not your fault, but I really hate this practice unless the vacancy is only advertised internally.

Who knows how many people will see the advert, spend ages on an application and maybe even buy a new suit for an interview when they never actually stood a chance? If they know they want you for the job, they should figure out a way to just hire you for it.

Carfal

Don't assume that the people interviewing you know what you have been doing or are capable of doing; make sure you spell it out in your application in the same way you would if you were applying to an organisation that you'd had no previous history with.

Good luck

GothicStirling

Person_one wrote: »

No offence to you OP, its not your fault, but I really hate this practice unless the vacancy is only advertised internally.

Who knows how many people will see the advert, spend ages on an application and maybe even buy a new suit for an interview when they never actually stood a chance? If they know they want you for the job, they should figure out a way to just hire you for it.

The reason they do this is because the organisation is a non-departmental government agency, so every thing has to be absolutely transparent. There is also a chance that if someone could apply for the job, and be hired over myself (hence why I'm applying for other vacancies in the company too.) For example, last year my Site Manager was hired on a temporary contract (the permanent manager had been sent to another site to sort it out), when her contract was up she was told to apply to two other properties in the area, and didn't get either role, and they hired people from outside the organisation. So there's always that chance.