So I'm filling in an application form, deadline Wednesday but I want to get it in today, and one of the questions is "why do you want to work here".

Is this really cheesy and ass-kissy? I think the first sentence is a giant cheeseball and the last sentence possibly not getting across the point very well? Thoughts?

EDIT - removing the text before locking on the slim chance that they google passages of it! One never knows. *covers tv in tin foil*

It's excellent, Louise and just the right amount of cheese.

Probably the only feedback I can give is to take out the bracketed part about the number of clients - it sounds & looks a bit amateurish compared to the rest of the paragraphs. Also, when you are talking to a Headmaster that looks after, say 400 students (clients), 18 seems pretty underwhelming in comparison - remember, it's about what they are using as context.

Otherwise, brilliant - you've got the job!!!

The very best of luck with it.

Cheers
Di

(PS - do you think it would be weird if you popped something on there about you being a nice person, and you've got more than 5000 karma points to show for it? )

Thank you Di and excellent point - that figure's impressive to a PR agency but not a bloke who has 80 odd staff and over 2000 pupils. Cheers!

Perhaps DDN could issue diplomas?

You may already know all or some of what i've got to say, so if that's the case then sorry, but i've done a fair bit of applying to work at schools in my time, and if the application process for schools in my county is the same as it is in yours then you may be missing certain things.

I noticed you put something about assimilating information, that was the exact phrase that I saw in the person specification of an admin job I went for at a school a few years ago. If I'm right, you need to use this section of the form to directly and specifically address how you meet each criterion listed in the person spec - simply saying that you've done it is unlikely to do any good because these kinds of application are marked by a person with a tick sheet who will skim read your application and look for hard evidence of how you meet the criteria - if they mark it harshly (if they have a large number of applicants they will) you probably won't get a tick in the box for assimilating information because you're just saying that you've done it without giving a precise example.

Re: the bit about working at the school after being a former pupil - this didn't work for me when I applied to my former college, but I think that was more down to the fact that I had literally no employment history. As long as you don't omit evidence relating to the person specification criteria in order to fit it in if there's a word limit then I don't see any harm in including it.

Good luck!

^ Good points. I've been ticking off the job description and person spec as I go, and I've got most of them covered so far in this section and the employment history section. I've also got to write a letter of application to the chair of governors in addition to the application form, where I'm asked to set out skills/qualifications/experience as well as what I hope to have achieved after 12 months. I was thinking of putting the examples of relevant projects in the letter, as this can be up to two sides of A4 and will give me plenty of room to discuss. Does that sound ok?

Sounds fine, I never had to write a letter as part of an application to a school, so I'm used to the "why do you want to work here" section being a massive wall of text with examples in it.

So as long as you've got something relating to each of the points somewhere in your application I think you'll be fine. You could also make references to your letter in your application form if you're going to elaborate on certain points in it, because you never know which one is going to get read first, or as happened to me my letter was never read for one job (and yes, this particular job did ask for a letter specifically, seems stupid that they didn't read it).

Agreed, that's a bit rude. I've just checked and "assimilating information" isn't on any of the documents they've supplied me with so I've just pulled it out of my arse

On to the letter!