Applicant guidelines

Completed application forms

Job description and person specification

Interviews

Job share

References

Conditions of appointment

Eligibility to work in the UK

Criminal Record Checks and checks with the Vetting and Barring Scheme

Assistance for people with disabilities

Information, lobbying and disqualification

Completed application forms

Completed application forms should be returned to:

ContinYou
Personnel Department
Unit C1
Grovelands Estate
Longford Road
Exhall
Coventry CV7 9NE

by the stated closing date. Applications received after this date will not be considered. Emailed or faxed applications will be considered as long as an original signed copy is subsequently received. Email to: sharon.barker@continyou.org.uk and fax to 024 7658 8441.

Job description and person specification

• In filling out the application form you should be careful to indicate how your experience and skills meet each of the essential criteria we are looking for, as described in the person specification.
• The application form is the only means by which the short-listing panel can assess your abilities so it is important that you demonstrate that you have the essential skills, knowledge and experience listed in the person specification.
• Avoid making general statements.
• Give details of how and why you meet each of the criteria giving examples from paid and unpaid work.
• Only candidates who show how they meet all of the essential criteria will be short-listed.
• If you need further space you should use no more than three continuation sheets for all answers.
• Please note you are not required to respond on the application form to the desirable criteria (if any) listed on the person specification. These criteria are used if necessary to ‘separate’ candidates at interview.
• If you are unable to type your answers please write clearly using black ink to enable the form to be copied clearly.
• ContinYou does not accept a CV in lieu of sections of the application form.

Interviews

Short-listed candidates will be notified of interview arrangements as soon as possible after the closing date. You may be asked to complete a written or computer test and/or make a presentation as well as being interviewed.

The short-listing process is normally completed within two weeks of the closing date for applications. If you have not heard from us within that time you should assume that unfortunately your application was not short-listed on this occasion.

Job share

All full-time posts can be job-shared (the default position) unless agreed otherwise in terms of the practicalities of a particular post (eg needs overview/continuity, too much time would be wasted on liaison/travel). If a full-time post is not available to job-sharing this will be stated. Job sharing will normally be entertained both from people applying individually and as 'packaged' job-share partners, except in the situation of ContinYou needing to fill a post urgently, in which case only the former will be permitted. Only 50/50 (ie two at eighteen hours) splits will be permitted, although these could be worked as eg two days one week, three the next. Where people apply as a package and are short-listed, they will be interviewed individually but the practicalities clarified collectively. Where people apply as a package, ContinYou reserves the right to offer a post to one but not both prospective partners. Where people apply as a package in the case of urgency, both prospective partners need to be the best (collective) application in order to be appointed.

References

ContinYou will normally take up two references for the successful candidate only after the conditional offer of the post, but reserves the right to do so at the interview stage. One of the references must be from your current, or if unemployed, most recent employer. School or college leavers should use their headteacher/other senior academic staff, complemented by another from eg temporary job, placement, voluntary work etc. ContinYou reserves the right to insist on an alternative or additional referee. Employer’s references may contain information about your health, days absent from work and any disciplinary action taken against you. References are sought and received by ContinYou in confidence. Acceptance of a reference as satisfactory is entirely at ContinYou’s discretion.

Conditions of appointment

All appointments made are subject to:

• the receipt of references satisfactory to ContinYou
• demonstration of eligibility to work in the UK (see below)
• (where appropriate) evidence of any required qualification
• the appointee confirming their acceptance of the post in writing within two weeks of the conditional offer
• finding a mutually agreed start date.
• plus sometimes a Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) check to ContinYou’s satisfaction may need to be carried out.

Normally a conditional offer is succeeded by an unconditional one once the above has been met.  But in the event of the conditions not being met or unsatisfactory delays, ContinYou reserves the right to withdraw the offer.

Eligibility to work in the UK

All appointees must demonstrate their eligibility to work in the UK. To do so, they must have one document from list A or two from list B.

List A includes a UK passport, a passport or other travel document showing the person has the right to remain and work in the UK, a passport or national identity card showing the person is a national of a European Economic Area country or Switzerland, or a resident permit issued by the UK to a national of an EEA country or Switzerland.

List B itself has two sets of combinations. One is based on an official document (P45, P60, national insurance card or letter from a government department) giving a permanent national insurance number, plus another document such as a UK birth certificate or naturalisation certificate or certain documents from the Home Office. The other combination is based on a work permit issued by Work Permits UK, plus a passport or Home Office letter showing the person can remain in the UK and take the employment in question.

Criminal Record Checks and checks with the Vetting and Barring Scheme

ContinYou will undertake a Criminal Record Bureau check and a check with the Vetting and Barring Scheme on appointees whose work might involve them with children or vulnerable adults, in delivering any part of their service in a school, children's centre or other specified setting, or in handling confidential information about individual children or parents. It is therefore essential that you fully disclose all convictions, spent and unspent, when completing your application form.  Please note that a criminal record may not necessarily result in automatic disqualification for a post.

Assistance for people with disabilities

You are asked to state whether you have a disability in Section 3 of the application form to enable ContinYou to provide appropriate assistance to candidates with a disability.

Information, lobbying and disqualification

ContinYou makes every effort to supply the same accurate information to all potential applicants but if anything is unclear, you may wish to contact the line manager for the post to clarify matters. However, any attempt to gather information from ContinYou that might put you at an unfair advantage or any attempt at lobbying members of the appointment panel (directly or indirectly) is likely to lead to disqualification.