Richmond upon Thames College

Please read before completing application form

Guidance Notes for Job Applicants

General
Candidates who have not completed an application form will not be short listed or invited to interview. It is therefore vital that you complete the form as fully and accurately as possible. Please read the job description, Person Specification and other accompanying information before you start. Please note CV’s will not be used by the Recruitment Panel.

Personal Details
This section MUST be completed in full. If you do not know your National Insurance number, it can be obtained from you local benefits agency. Successful candidates will be required to produce either a birth certificate or passport to evidence date of birth.

Qualifications and Job History
Please detail all your qualifications in the relevant box and in the date column put the year in which the qualification was awarded to you. Successful candidates will be required to produce original certificates prior to employment. Please detail all of your past employment using additional sheets if required. It is only necessary to list the month and year you commenced/left your past employment. Please make sure you also include details of your most recent or current employer. Make sure that you include details of any unpaid work and that you do not leave unexplained gaps.

Disclosure of Criminal Record
Any information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be processed appropriately under the Data Protection Act. It will be considered only in relation to the particular post you have applied for on this occasion. If you wish you may enclose the details required in a sealed envelope. From 1st March 2002 all successful candidates will be required to apply for an Enhanced (or standard) disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau prior to their offer of employment being confirmed. The form will be issued by the Personnel and Training Unit at the College who will countersign the application. All regular application fees will be paid by the College. The CRB code of Practice and the College’s policy on the recruitment of people with a criminal record are available on request. This information will not be disclosed to the Recruitment Panel unless there is a substantial impact upon the job role (which must be disclosed). However please note that if there is a substantial impact, the College will contact you prior to short listing.

Person Specification
A full job description and person specification has been sent to you with this application pack. The person specification is used in short listing and during the interview process. Applicants are therefore asked to fully address each aspect of the person specification in the space made available for a Supporting Statement within the application form. Space is also given for you to provide us with any further information you feel is relevant to your application. Ensure that the information you give us is well organised and relevant.

Equality Monitoring
All applicants are expected to complete the monitoring details of the form to assist us in ensuring our policy is working. Our Equal Opportunities Policy is enclosed with your application pack - all successful applicants are expected to actively support the policy.

Disability
Richmond upon Thames College’s policy is to interview disabled applicants who meet all the criteria on the Person Specification. It is important for the college to be able to monitor the number of applicants and employees with a disability. If you believe you have a disability as defined by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 please indicate this in the "EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES MONITORING" section of this form. The definition is: “…a person has a disability as defined under the Act if he/she has a physical impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on his/her ability to carryout normal day-to-day activities.” A long-term effect is one that has lasted 12 months, is likely to last 12 months or, is likely to last the rest of a person’s life.

References
All candidates must supply details for two employer referees. One referee MUST be your current (or where you are not working) most recent employer. Please note that all job offers are subject to receiving a satisfactory reference from your current (or where you are not working) most recent employer.

Personal references will only be accepted where a person has no employment history.

Complaints Procedure
If you feel you have been unfairly treated in relation to your application you should write to the Personnel and Training Manager at the college within 5 days and the matter will be investigated.

Individual rights
No aspect of the College’s policy detracts in any way from a person’s right to refer a case to an employment tribunal or any other body which deals with the enforcement of any of the Discrimination Acts.

Before you submit your completed application form to us please read it over and ensure all sections of the form have been completed fully and legibly and that you have addressed all the criteria in the Person Specification.