Decoding nursing job adverts: how to tell if you are a good fit

So on to our topic for today.

So if you look at a typical job advert on a site such as NHS Jobs, you'll see the job summary, the main duties of the job and often an about us section where you'll find information about the trust or employing organisation.

Then you've got your job description and person specification sections.

Now, it must be tempting to go straight into the job description and person specification parts as this is where you'll find out what is required for the role.

But if I can just ask you, Julie, how important is it to read through all of the information provided first?

Great question.

It is very important to go through everything first.

And it can be tempting to jump straight into that job description, the person spec, where you will probably find you meet the criteria, but you'll also miss the bigger picture.

So sometimes if you're not reading the job advert, the job summary, a little bit more around the organisation, you're not going to be able to tailor or target your application as well as you possibly can.

So you perhaps could have a technically very good application that meets the criteria, but miss the overall purpose of the role.

So that's where definitely read that information and it can help you to understand what the employer is really looking for and how you fit in to that organisation and the trust as well.

So if I can just ask you, Charlotte, in the about us section, this is where you get information about the organisation that you're applying to.

So what can this tell you about the values and behaviours of that organisation and why does this matter?

So that about us section is actually really quite valuable because it gives you an outline of what the organisation's values and culture are like.

And it's really important because actually a lot of interviews are now values based, which is drawing on those organisational values to identify how candidates might meet and align to them.

But equally, it's so that you're aware and that you feel you do align to those cultures and values that the hospital or other organisation you're applying for present.

So it helps you to figure out essentially whether or not you feel that you would belong and feel part of that organisation and that you could develop within it.

Yeah, very, very important, I think, isn't it, that your values and behaviours as your own values and behaviours match those of the organisation that you're applying for, because it's a two way street, isn't it? so if we then move on to the job description this is where you'll find the responsibilities of the role now this can be quite an extensive list depending on the role you're applying for and it often includes things like excellent communication and documentation skills or things like the ability to demonstrate strong clinical judgment and critical thinking skills so if you're looking at a job adverse advertisement and it says that the job requires excellent communication and documentation skills for example What does this actually mean? So if I can just ask you, Julie, what are employers really looking for when they say this?