These guides explain how to prepare an application. The original vacancy and its recruitment authority decide eligibility, required documents, selection stages and deadlines. Role suggestions use published job titles and simple matching rules; choose another guide when a title is ambiguous.
Your application, step by step
Identify the appointment and entry route
Check whether the post is an open competition, executive search, fixed-term appointment, internal promotion, board role or secondment. Read any required service status, professional qualification or leadership experience carefully.
Quantify your responsibility
Record team size, budget, geographic or service scope and the decisions you owned. Distinguish direct reports from wider influence. Select evidence of delivery, people leadership, change and accountability.
Develop a view of the institution
Read its strategy, public accounts, performance reports and statutory remit. Prepare a reasoned view of priorities, delivery risks and how you would learn before deciding. Use facts from public sources rather than assumptions about internal problems.
Submit the senior appointment dossier
Follow the exact CV, statement and declaration requirements. Arrange referees and any required employer nomination. If a strategy presentation or assessment is announced, prepare to its published length and brief.
Prepare for selection
- Prepare a difficult decision with the options, trade-offs, consultation, outcome and learning.
- Explain a change you led, including staff engagement and how you measured delivery.
- For board roles, distinguish oversight, challenge and assurance from day-to-day executive management.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Describing organisational achievements without your own role and decision authority.
- Presenting an unsupported transformation plan that ignores the institution’s remit and resources.
Official guidance
Check the current instructions from the recruiting organisation before submitting.