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Use the person specification to plan your supporting information
Work through the criteria assessed at the application stage and note the evidence you will use for each. Include the desirable criteria you meet as well as the essential ones. Where the form has dedicated fields for qualifications, registration or employment history, complete those first.
If you have a single supporting-information box, short headings drawn from the specification can help organise the statement. Where the employer provides separate questions, answer those in the order given.
Choose evidence that answers the criterion
“Excellent communication skills” gives the panel little to assess. A family meeting you led, a change you made to handover or a complaint you handled provides something more specific. Describe your contribution and what happened, including an outcome where you can substantiate it.
Match the detail to what is being asked. For teaching, give the audience, subject and frequency of sessions. For audit or QI, describe what you personally did, particularly where the criterion asks for experience of leading a project. Our audit and QI guide gives examples.
There is no need for a separate story for every criterion. One project may provide evidence of teaching, leadership and improvement work. Make the relevant contributions clear rather than repeating the whole account under several headings.
Example: teaching junior colleagues
Fictional example. Use details from your own experience.
Criterion: Experience of teaching junior colleagues.
Weak wording: “I am passionate about teaching and have excellent presentation skills.”
More useful evidence: “During my general medicine post, I prepared and delivered four case-based sessions on assessing an acutely unwell patient for junior colleagues. I used anonymised cases and discussed escalation with the supervising consultant.”
Add feedback if you collected it. If the specification asks for teaching qualifications or experience of designing a programme, address those separately.
Adapt the statement for each NHS vacancy
An example from an earlier application may still be useful, but check it against the new specification before reusing it. The same clinical post can support different applications; the detail you select will depend on the responsibilities of the vacancy.
Where a criterion specifically requires NHS experience, name the relevant NHS posts. For overseas work, our IMG medical CV guide covers how to describe your seniority and clinical responsibility.
Keep dates and descriptions consistent with the employment-history section and your CV. Explain breaks in the fields provided; our employment gap guide gives examples of suitable wording.
Work within the word or character limit
Check the limit before drafting. Give most space to evidence that needs explanation, such as clinical responsibility, project leadership or teaching. Qualifications and registration details can usually be stated briefly in the appropriate fields.
Before submitting, read your saved statement in NHS Jobs or Trac. Check that headings and paragraph breaks have survived pasting and that the text remains clear without bold formatting or indentation.
Check the evidence before you submit
Read the finished application alongside the person specification. Check that you have addressed each criterion assessed from the application, including those covered in separate fields.
If you have not addressed a criterion, check whether you left out relevant evidence or do not meet the requirement.
You can see how this review works in our illustrative supporting-information review. For comments on a finished draft or help editing it for one vacancy, compare our NHS and Trac application support.
Official application guidance
NHS Jobs: making successful applications recommends using clear examples to show how your skills and experience meet the person specification. Follow the instructions and limits for the individual vacancy.