Its that time of the year when our Placements team at Bath are busy organising careers talks and events for our Pharmacy students as the deadlines for pre-reg applications start looming. So, I thought I would share some tips to make impactful applications.
- If you are applying for a particular sector, then we can assume that you are keen to work there. If this is the case, then enthusiasm counts for a lot. Try to get this across in your statement. What is it that attracts you to this sector? What experiences have you had in the past?
- Your CV should be a maximum of 2-pages, succinct and mistake-free. It is always good to have a few people review it before you start applying. After you’ve seen it time and again, the tendency is to gloss over typos or grammatical errors that a fresh pair of eyes might catch. So, run it past your tutors or book an appointment with one of our careers advisers.
- For set application forms, make sure that you read the question carefully. Think about what information is being asked for. Most application forms are electronic these days and in some cases, free text answers may have limited space, so try to be concise with your answer and make sure you are answering the question asked.
- Prioritise relevant experience and consider ways you can differentiate your experience from your peers. For example, you have all done some amount of clinical activity and gained pharmacy experience. The key to a unique application is to highlight activities that other candidates may not have experienced. For example, in a community setting did you experience working in a travel clinic, were you involved in the management of asthma or did blood pressure testing? Within a hospital, were you involved in drug manufacturing or any specialist work for example in mental health or pediatrics.
- Don't forget to highlight any research you were involved in or extra-curricular activities such as being a student rep for your year group.
- Tailor your cover letter to the company or hospital trust you are applying to. You really want to convey your motivation for the role and demonstrate an understanding of what you'll be doing day-to-day. So, if you are applying to a particular NHS trust you may want to look at their annual report, have an understanding of their specialism and also the patient demographics. The 'about us' section on the Trust website is usually a good starting point.That said, do not just copy and paste information from the relevant websites. You need to try and interpret the information you have read and why this is important to you.
Check in next week when we will share our tips for pre-reg interviews!
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