Have you ever wondered what measure of weighting employers use to assess a candidate's responses to key selection criteria? In the following post, I will explain how selection criteria responses are weighed and why you. need to know this.
Employers assess against job requirements and role responsibilities.
When an employer reads through a candidate's response to the critical selection criteria, they assess the answers against a set of position requirements.
The employer wants to make sure that you can do the job and do it well. They want to make sure that if they hire you for the job, you'll be able to get started right away and there should be minimal need for training.
Most position descriptions include essential job requirements and responsibilities. As the candidate, you want to make sure that you address what the employer is asking. If you require help with this, please get in touch with our team at Client Centric.
We are very familiar with how to write an effective response pitched against an employer's job requirements.
Examples used in a candidate's response must relate to the selection criteria.
When responding to a specific criterion, we strongly suggest that you include at least one relevant working example to demonstrate how you meet that particular criterion. The example must be appropriate, structured, straight to the point and clearly outline what you did and the result. See About the 'SAO' Approach We Use In Addressing Selection Criteria by Matthew Coppola, Client Centric.
Length and style/manner of writing are essential too.
Make sure that your responses are not too long or too short either.
You don't want your cover letter coming across that you spent little time and effort on your application and at the same time, you don't want to bore the employer either. As a general rule of thumb, stick to around 250-300 words unless otherwise stipulated.
FURTHER READING: The One Thing MOST People Forget To Include In Their Cover Letter
Read through your responses twice over. Make sure that they read well, are clear and grammatically correct. A job application riddled with spelling errors and mistakes can turn off an employer wanting to interview you.