Demonstrate you fit the job criteria

A strong application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience match the employer's requirements. This page provides guidance on identifying job criteria, presenting relevant examples, and making the most of your experience.

Throughout the application process, you should aim to demonstrate evidence of the skills and qualities specified in the job description and person specification. If these are not provided, or if you are making a speculative application, then create a list of the skills and qualities you expect the organisation is looking for (based on your wider research about who they are and the type of work they do).

You could create this list from your knowledge of the sector, by reading the skills sections of the sectors and occupations information pages, by networking with professionals, or by reading adverts for similar positions.

Choose examples from your life

Having made the list of job criteria, you should then make a note of examples that demonstrate you have the skills or experience they are looking for.

You can demonstrate these by using examples from your work experience, part-time jobs, extracurricular activities and academic experiences. Try to find examples from a range of activities.

Give specific examples and evidence – don’t generalise
Think of evidence that you can quantify: how much, how many, how often?
Vary your use of examples, and draw from different areas of your life
Don't forget to include weekend, part-time or holiday jobs. These often demonstrate skills recruiters are looking for eg: strong communication skills and the ability to work under pressure, with a wide range of people.
Draw on your most recent relevant experiences and achievements wherever possible.

Further information

Expand all

Sample Job Description: Researcher - The ABC Group Graduate Programme

We are specialist advisers to corporate owners and high net worth individuals. We have built a strong reputation for working with companies and individuals, to enhance their business and personal finances. This has been achieved through the development and design of highly specialised services for our clients.

As a researcher you will work closely with and support our client advisory teams, conducting in-depth research and due diligence to help them provide specialist and comprehensive advice to our clients.

Job Requirements:

Achieved (or predicted) a 2:1 or above in any degree discipline
Very strong written and verbal communication skills
Ability to work well in a team environment
Strong attention to detail
Ability to multi-task and manage workload and responsibilities
Interest in business and finance
Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite

My Evidence

Achieved/Predicted 2:1
- Yes
Communication skills
- Written: Author of college bi-weekly Arts Newsletter; social media manager for college drama society; weekly essays and dissertation
- Verbal: Private tutoring GCSE/A-Level students; school debating team; presentation of 2nd year project
Ability to work well in a team environment
- Member of college drama society, working with cast members and technicians to stage annual summer play
- Vacation job at restaurant, working with team of 6 other waiters to ensure smooth running of food service
- Worked with team of 4 to advise client (local cafe owner) on how to increase number of customers as part of the Insight into Policy programme
Strong attention to detail
- Editing bi-weekly college Arts Newsletter; writing and editing drama society social media posts; vacation job, ensuring customer orders are correct and reconciling till receipts
Ability to multi-task and manage workload and responsibilities
- In vacations, balance restaurant job with private GCSE tutoring; research and write x 2 essays per week alongside college drama society responsibilities and training and competing as member of college 2nd XI Hockey team.
Interest in Business & Finance
- Member of OU Finance Society; managing finances/income from private tutoring.

Include relevant examples of your experience when writing your CV, cover letter, application form and at the interview. At interview, don't be afraid to make reference to examples used in your written application - just make sure you expand on the information and make it relevant to the question.

Structuring responses: the STAR technique

In cover letters, application forms and interviews, you may find the STAR approach (Situation, Task, Action, Result) helps you to frame a clear structure when providing an example experience.

Describe a situation (very brief)
Explain the task you had to do
Set out clearly, specifically and with detail – the actions you took. Make sure it's clear what YOUR specific responsibilities/tasks were
And finally, describe the result - quantify if appropriate eg: increased member attendance numbers by 45%

Action verbs

In written applications, you can convey your relevant skills and experience with impact by using action verbs. These can help make an application stand out, particularly if you start bullet-points with them. Here are some examples:

Accomplished • Achieved • Administered • Advised • Advocated • Analysed • Assembled • Authorised • Awarded • Budgeted • Captained • Chaired • Coached • Completed • Conducted • Co-ordinated • Counselled • Created • Decided • Delivered • Demonstrated • Designed • Determined • Developed • Devised • Directed • Discovered • Earned • Edited • Employed • Enabled • Encouraged • Engineered • Enjoyed • Ensured • Established • Evaluated • Examined • Expanded • Explained • Facilitated • Founded • Gained • Generated • Handled • Identified • Implemented • Improved • Increased • Initiated • Instituted • Instructed • Interviewed • Invented • Launched • Led • Managed • Marketed • Maximised • Mediated • Negotiated • Obtained • Operated • Organised • Oversaw • Performed • Planned • Prepared • Presented • Prioritised • Produced • Promoted • Raised • Ran • Recognised • Recommended • Reconciled • Recruited • Represented • Responsible • Saved • Set up • Simplified • Solved • Supervised • Targeted • Transformed