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Recruitment tips and guidance

Coronavirus update

Subject to the ongoing situation, it's essential that we continue recruiting safely. Therefore, interviews and communication will be virtual wherever possible and this will be communicated to you directly by the hiring manager.

Please also expect that advert closing dates and interview dates may change as required. We still continue to welcome applications for our current roles and wish you the best of luck with your application.

We would welcome applications especially for our most critical roles to ensure we're supporting our residents

Application Guidance

There are thousands of different job roles within Surrey County Council, and if you'd like to apply for a vacancy we would certainly welcome your application. We recognise that for some of you this will be your first job, or maybe the first time you've applied for a role in a long time, and so we are providing here some guidance and advice for applying.

With our roles being so varied, we recommend using the advice below as guidelines only, and applying it where suitable.

The guidance covers different elements of the application journey:

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Every job has a job description and a person specification / selection criteria.

The job description gives information about the duties of the job for which you are applying, who you would report to and where you would work.

The selection criteria outlines the experience, skills and qualifications we are looking for to fulfil the requirements of the job. The information you provide in your application is matched against the selection criteria to determine whether to invite you to interview.

We recommend you carefully read through both the job description and selection criteria to ensure you have a full understanding of what the job entails. This will help you write your application as well as apply for roles that are suitable for you.

Getting Started

Once you've found the job that interests you and have prepared your personal statement, you can apply online. If you register, your information will be stored for this job and future applications.

We encourage applicants to apply on line wherever possible. If you need to apply in another format (e.g. in Braille, on cassette, on paper or using the council's easy read application form) please contact us.

For the application form you will need to have to hand:

  • Full contact details
  • Your personal statement
  • Your employment history with exact dates (dd/mm/yyyy) and reasons for leaving each role
  • Other relevant experience
  • Education and qualifications with exact dates (dd/mm/yyyy)

You will be asked complete an equalities monitoring form to help us monitor that our recruitment processes. Our goal is that our workforce reflects the community we serve.

Disability Confident

Surrey is a Disability Confident employer. If you are a disabled person, the Disability Confident symbol lets you know that:

  • You will be automatically shortlisted for an interview if you meet the essential job criteria
  • We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure that you are considered for a job on an equal basis with other applicants.

Please visit our Disability Confident page to learn more.

Registering online

If you have registered your details and decide to apply online for another job at a later stage, the online application system will automatically complete the following sections from your previous applications to save you time:

  • full contact details
  • education background
  • employment history
  • qualifications
  • equal opportunities information.

Further assistance

For other information and guidance on applying for jobs, browse the links below:

Files available to download

  • CV template (15.9 KB)
    A template to help you to write your CV

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