These typically look at your interest in the company, the role, the sector or combination of the three. It’s important you convey genuine and specific reasons based on thorough research, a clear understanding of the role and a strong matching process.

Think about:

Recruiters can spot generic answers that could be applied to any competitors, or text that’s simply been copied and pasted, including directly from their website. This simply won’t get you through to the next stage. It’s important to demonstrate your research and understanding, to personalise your answer and to be specific. Select your top three or four key reasons and describe them succinctly and persuasively.

Designed to assess your skills, competency questions look for evidence of certain behaviours through the situational examples you give. It’s important to provide a specific example based on previous experience and show not only what you did but how you did it. Use examples from across the breadth of your experience – education, extra-curricular activities including volunteering as well as work experience.

Competency questions may take the following forms:

The STAR method gives a useful structure for answering skills based or competency type questions.

Outline the Situation, describe the Task, talk through the Action you took, then share the Result and any learning you gained from the situation.

Think of it like telling a story with a beginning, middle and end. The beginning – what you had to do – should take up around 10 to 15% of your answer. The middle – what you, as an individual, did should take around 70 to 80% of your answer. The end –what the outcome was – should take the final 10 to 15%.

Example answer – working as part of a team.

You might be asked to provide a personal statement in support of your application, outline your motivation for the organisation, set out why you want to work for them and the skills and experience you bring. As ever, it’s important to read the question very carefully and follow any instructions, for example in relation to word count, to the letter.

As with a cover letter, a personal statement should have a clear structure. Think about starting with a strong opening statement, provide detail of your motivation for the role and organisation, provide evidence of your relevant skills and experience, and end with a reiteration of your interest.

Often used by organisations that provide a detailed person specification and job description, personal statements can be long and detailed, and require you to show how you meet all the criteria for the role. Headings mirroring the key criteria and bullet points can sometimes be appropriate to break up your answer. Remember it’s important to cover all aspects of the specification, providing evidence for each the skills and other criteria the employer is looking for.

Many online applications include a section where you can provide additional information. Use this space to highlight any information to support your application not covered elsewhere on the form. This might include additional courses or qualifications, memberships and extra-curricular activities or personal circumstances that you feel demonstrates relevant skills or traits.

Employers will occasionally include the type of question which focuses on personality:

There aren’t necessarily right or wrong answers to these specific questions. Think about why the question is being asked, what skill, knowledge or personality trait the employer is looking for.

Hypothetical questions can be used to probe how you would respond in a specific situation and are essentially an opportunity for you to show you have a good grasp of the role and the organisation and understand what appropriate behaviours are in their context.

Some sectors will ask role-specific questions. It would be typical, for example, for a marketing, PR or media firms to ask you to critically evaluate a campaign, answer a short opinion question or share a new idea for a programme.

If you require reasonable adjustments in order to complete an application form to the best of your ability, an employer must, by law, make those adjustments for you.

If you would like to discuss this or gain advice you can speak to our dedicated careers consultant for disabled students. You can email for an appointment or advice.

You can also find further information about adjustments throughout the application and recruitment process.

If you have any questions about qualifications from another country or grade conversions reach out directly to the organisation’s recruitment or HR team.

Employers are willing to take into consideration mitigating circumstances that may have impacted your ability to achieve certain grades or work experience. These can include difficult family situations, living and accommodation challenges and financial issues. Inclusive employers recognise that these factors may affect any individual’s ability to build a ‘typical’ CV. In these situations, contact the recruiter to discuss your application.