What is a supporting statement?
Increasingly job application processes require candidates to complete a section which can outline both their motivation to apply and their suitability for the role. This might appear as an open text box on an online application form where you can populate your response to a specific instruction or question. For example, “Tell us about your experience and how you meet the requirements of the role”. Alternatively, the employer might offer you the opportunity to upload a separate document.
Regardless of the format, you will need to make sure you are confident and clear about what they want you to address through your content. It is therefore essential to thoroughly review and understand what the role involves and the criteria outlined as part of the person specification before developing your content. You will need to present your statement in a convincing and compelling way.
How to get started
Step 1 – Check what is required by the employer.
Re-read any instructions and ensure you follow them. For instance, have they specified a structure or asked you to include specific information? What is the indicative word count, if any? Also, have the role description and person specification to hand to help inform your ideas.
Step 2 – Consider your style.
An employer will want to get a sense of both your experience, but also your potential enthusiasm. A professional tone to your writing is important, but you need to write in a style that is true to yourself. The supporting statement offers an opportunity to convey key information from your experience that is relevant to the role, and evidence will be key to convincing them to invite you to the next stage of the recruitment process.
Step 3 – Determine your structure.
You need to develop a strong opening paragraph that encourages the reviewer to read on. You could look to draw on your own research about the employer and the role itself to make a connection with those assessing your application. A top tip is to present your content in a structure that makes it easy for the employer or recruiter to find the information relevant to them.
You have the opportunity to use sub-headings, ideally linked to those used in the person specification, to organise your writing, allowing the reader to cross-reference your evidence against their criteria with ease. By using the information provided you can be confident that your application is tailored to the specific role. Avoid being tempted to copy and paste content from previous applications – whilst there will be some examples you can consistently draw on, aim to reference the specific role within your content.
Step 4 – Develop your examples and evidence.
Whilst it can be tempting to outline and discuss your experience more broadly, what the employer will be looking for in your content is specific details of where you have previously developed certain knowledge, demonstrated particular skills, and can evidence behaviours that make you a strong “fit” for the role and their organisation.
It is crucial to back up any of your claims with evidence to ensure your statements – across applications – are meaningful. The STAR technique can offer a helpful writing framework to assist you in developing your examples when needing to evidence competencies required as part of the person specification.
STAR stands for:
- S – situation – what is the context of the example you are offering? What was your role? What was the organisation you were working with?
- T – task – what was the specific task or project you were working on? Were you working on a specific brief? Was it an individual or group task?
- A – action – focus on you and the action you took in the given example. Make sure you address the skill you have identified as part of the person specification.
- R – result – what was the outcome of the action you took in this scenario? Link this back to the ability or competency they are looking for.
Step 5 – Proofread.
There is no doubt that putting together tailored, high-quality supporting statements for each application is time-consuming, but factoring in time to proofread your content for any spelling and grammar mistakes could make all the difference to your application being taken seriously. Also revisit the structure and flow of your content to ensure that these are effective.
Final top tips
If there is scope to do so, incorporate some information about your career aspirations. You could outline how the position relates to your longer-term career plans, especially if the organisation is committed to training and development, including professional accreditation. Make sure any goals you outline are aligned with what the organisation can offer. This will also be a key consideration for future interview preparation.
You may also have the opportunity to demonstrate your motivation for applying to the role by discussing what appeals to you about working in the sector/industry and/or the company you are applying to. You can also refer to aspects of the job outlined in the role description that you find interesting. This content may be suited to a concluding paragraph.
Finally, whilst it may be tempting to work directly online to populate a text box, we would always encourage you to develop your content in a separate document, which you regularly save to avoid any disappointment should you experience any technical issues.
Access our 10-step checklist before you send future applications for more ways to produce a high-quality application overall.
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