Application Form

First and most importantly see if you can get an Electronic copy of the application form. Filling in the application form takes a lot of time and if you have to do it for a number of jobs you’ll soon get despondent.  Having it electronically means that you can normally copy and paste the information over and if you’re applying repeatedly within the same authority you can use the same application form.

Think carefully about the CPD you’ve had – particularly those courses that are relevant to leadership and management (the courses that your Headteacher normally goes on!). Also think about awards and certificates you’ve have had – your NPQH, DP training, First Aid etc

Person Specification

First look carefully at the Person Specification – write your letter so that each point is covered. I’ve been interviewing this week and I can tell you that if you’ve not written to the person specification you can’t expect to be shortlisted. The specification is there for a reason – it’s what the Governors / Authority want in their Headteacher.

Letter of Application

?The letter of application is the hardest part but the most important part of your application. This is where you become unique, where you are able to sell yourself over the other candidates and where you can get your vision, values and philosophy across to your potential employees. Make sure that you use leadership examples, not classroom examples – you are going to be a leader in school and although excellent classroom practice is important I’m afraid that being a head means a lot less time in the classroom.

To me another common no-no is using the same letter for every job – every school and job is different! Yes you can use a similar structure but make it unique to the school – have a look at the schools website and latest OfSTED.   There’s nothing better than seeing that the applicant has taken time to find out about the school and nothing more off putting than reading a letter for another school especially when it has that school mentioned!

So what do you put into your Letter of Application?

Here is a breakdown of my most successful letter of Application paragraph by paragraph:

  • Where I am now and a quote from OfSTED about leadership in the school I am part of
  • Educational Philosophy / Vision
  • Previous schools and experience I have gained from them that support my leadership ambitions
  • Experience in articulating the schools vision / School Development Plans / Improvement Plans and SEF experience
  • Experience of Governors and valuable they are (Remember that the Governors will be reading your letter!)
  • Financial Experience
  • Evidence of outstanding teaching skills
  • Thinking skills / planning experience and knowledge
  • Performance Management including how to deal with those not meeting their performance management targets
  • Experience of Data Analysis
  • Community Cohesion – the importance of
  • What I like to do in my spare time

Note that I don’t just write what I will do – I provide examples. These examples are Leadership examples not teaching ones.  Take for example the following person specification statement:

To have an impact on raising standards across the school.

There are two ways you can answer this.  First as a teacher:

Over the last year I have been involved in introducing a thinking skills curriculum as part of a whole school initiative.

The second as a Headteacher / Leader.

I was recently involved in the recruitment of a new Assessment Leader in school. I was part of the advertising, shortlisting and interviewing panel. The successful candidate has ensured that standards within school had continued to improve and tracking of individual pupils is robust and accurate.

To me the second example shows your leadership better than the first.

Finally

So your letter of application is written, you application form is completed. Before you post it off two things:

  1. Read your application carefully and check for mistakes.  Then pass it to someone you trust and ask them to do the same.
  2. Make a copy of your form.  If you get the interview the last thing you want to be doing is scrambling around trying to find what you wrote for the job!

It’s done – Post it off with a covering letter and wait for the interview.

The Interview

I’ll post more about the interview in a few weeks. Until then let me know your thoughts about what I’ve posted and any advice you have for completing the application form.   In the meantime have a look at Doug Belshaw’s excellent #getthatjob ebook.

Note: The views expressed in this post are mine and mine only. They are not necessarily correct and do not reflect those on my employer.