I get quite a few questions about the format of applications - although there seem to be fewer now that we have amalgamated the Responsibilities and Personal Achievements sections in CM that seemed to cause endless confusion on what went where.  A method that I recommend - and most of my candidates like - is to list the key responsibilities of the particular role at the start of the Responsibilities and Personal Achievement section (I think the latter might have been better in the plural - but I digress!) as bullets, but then to "tell the story" in prose, so very similar to your technique, Andy. 


So far as the length of application is concerned, I completely support the 12-page limit, although this does get a bit corrupted at times by the amount of white space that the PDF compiler creates, and I tend to counsel applicants to take this into account if they need to.  Quite a few of my applicants come in one of two flavours - either a) They produce an application that barely makes 6 pages total (one recent application had an employment section that didn't even make one page!) or b) they have trouble getting under the 12-page limit.  Unlike you, Andy, I get quite a few applications that are desperately short.  Having coached quite a few applicants through requests for further evidence of UK&U/full evidence statements, etc., (none of whom were given advice by me originally, I hasten to add!!), the page/word limits on these are quite tough and I encourage all of my applicants to make as full an application as possible, to try to avoid these requests.  I tend to advise that an Employment section for someone with an exemplifying qualification and several years of experience should span at least 4 pages, to ensure that they are providing evidence of all competencies.  For the more mature candidates with a lot of experience, I normally recommend 5-6 pages - giving an application length of around 10-11 pages depending on training details, etc.. For those without an exemplifying qualification, I suggest that they also try to include some evidence of mathematical/engineering methodologies that equate to the exemplifying level, to demonstrate their UK&U, so I expect these applications to be somewhat longer.


To those who have difficulties getting under the page limit, I have one piece of advice - remember that D competencies are aimed at demonstrating clear, concise communication!  This overlaps to something Roy said earlier.  There are few things more daunting to a reader than to see a whole page of text without a single paragraph break - I've had several of these recently and from my viewpoint, this does not give an impression of a clear communicator.

I get quite a few questions about the format of applications - although there seem to be fewer now that we have amalgamated the Responsibilities and Personal Achievements sections in CM that seemed to cause endless confusion on what went where.  A method that I recommend - and most of my candidates like - is to list the key responsibilities of the particular role at the start of the Responsibilities and Personal Achievement section (I think the latter might have been better in the plural - but I digress!) as bullets, but then to "tell the story" in prose, so very similar to your technique, Andy. 


So far as the length of application is concerned, I completely support the 12-page limit, although this does get a bit corrupted at times by the amount of white space that the PDF compiler creates, and I tend to counsel applicants to take this into account if they need to.  Quite a few of my applicants come in one of two flavours - either a) They produce an application that barely makes 6 pages total (one recent application had an employment section that didn't even make one page!) or b) they have trouble getting under the 12-page limit.  Unlike you, Andy, I get quite a few applications that are desperately short.  Having coached quite a few applicants through requests for further evidence of UK&U/full evidence statements, etc., (none of whom were given advice by me originally, I hasten to add!!), the page/word limits on these are quite tough and I encourage all of my applicants to make as full an application as possible, to try to avoid these requests.  I tend to advise that an Employment section for someone with an exemplifying qualification and several years of experience should span at least 4 pages, to ensure that they are providing evidence of all competencies.  For the more mature candidates with a lot of experience, I normally recommend 5-6 pages - giving an application length of around 10-11 pages depending on training details, etc.. For those without an exemplifying qualification, I suggest that they also try to include some evidence of mathematical/engineering methodologies that equate to the exemplifying level, to demonstrate their UK&U, so I expect these applications to be somewhat longer.


To those who have difficulties getting under the page limit, I have one piece of advice - remember that D competencies are aimed at demonstrating clear, concise communication!  This overlaps to something Roy said earlier.  There are few things more daunting to a reader than to see a whole page of text without a single paragraph break - I've had several of these recently and from my viewpoint, this does not give an impression of a clear communicator.