{"id":1242,"date":"2019-02-26T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T08:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/?p=1242"},"modified":"2025-10-22T15:17:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:17:21","slug":"application-tips-are-you-applying-to-the-right-roles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/2019\/02\/26\/application-tips-are-you-applying-to-the-right-roles\/","title":{"rendered":"Application tips: Are you applying to the right roles?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I see lots of\u00a0CVs and cover letters that do not demonstrate the skills and strengths necessary for the role applied for. Why is this?<\/p>\n

Most of the time, it\u2019s just that a student is finding it hard to identify and<\/em> articulate their skills and experience well. It is definitely a challenge to write up experience that doesn\u2019t just say what you did, but how you did it (i.e. demonstrating relevant skills for the role).\u00a0 Check out these blogs on writing up your experience effectively<\/a>, and using effective language in your CV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Look before you leap!<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, I also meet students who are applying\u00a0to a certain type of role or organisation because they feel that it is the \u201cdone thing\u201d.<\/em> They are applying because...well, frankly, because lots of their peers are.\u00a0 Or because they feel that the role or organisation is in some way prestigious. \u00a0Often,\u00a0these students haven't really<\/em> thought about whether they would be good at (or enjoy) the role.\u00a0\u00a0For this reason, their CVs and cover letters don't reflect the necessary skills and strengths.\u00a0 And employers - many of whom are now using strengths-based\u00a0recruitment techniques<\/a>\u00a0- can spot this straight away.<\/p>\n

It takes a lot of effort to be successful in a job hunt - your time is precious! So before you apply to a role, we can\u2019t emphasise enough the importance of:<\/p>\n

Reading up on the role<\/strong>.\u00a0 Look carefully at the job specification, but also at sources with job profiles such as Targetjobs.co.uk<\/a>, and prospects.ac.uk<\/a>.\u00a0 Be very clear about what that kind of role involves. What might you like about it, and which elements might you find more challenging?<\/p>\n

Getting a sense of the organisation and its environment. <\/strong>Doing this before you apply to a role is key.\u00a0 Who does that organisation work for or with? What\u2019s changing for them? How does all this this relate to what is expected of employees?\u00a0 You could find out through the University's Alumni network (Bath Connection)<\/a> whether there are any graduates working there\u00a0who might be able to offer you any hints and tips.\u00a0 Read this blog on developing commercial awareness<\/a> (important for public sector roles too!).<\/p>\n

Thinking about your skills and strengths<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0The Careers Service has some great resources and tools\u00a0that help you consider your skills and strengths<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 Do your skills and strengths match well to the role you're thinking of applying to? Do you think you would genuinely<\/em>\u00a0thrive in that organisation?\u00a0 If alarm bells are ringing, then perhaps it's time to talk\u00a0your choices\u00a0through (see below).<\/p>\n

Talk to us!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Talking to our very lovely and experienced Careers Advisors can really help you make sense of the opportunities available.\u00a0 They can help you\u00a0focus on\u00a0what\u2019s important to you, and the kind of role\u00a0and environment you would thrive in.\u00a0\u00a0 If you'd like to do this, you can start by booking a 20-minute Careers Appointment via MyFuture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I see lots of\u00a0CVs and cover letters that do not demonstrate the skills and strengths necessary for the role applied for. Why is this? Most of the time, it\u2019s just that a student is finding it hard to identify and...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[748],"tags":[16,22,324,183,23],"class_list":["post-1242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","tag-applications","tag-cv","tag-cv-tips","tag-strength","tag-strength-based-interview"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}