Application form - Dos and Don'ts

For those of you who will be successful in the eligibility stage, there are several more stages to the application process, including online assessments, interviews, practical and physical tests.

While there is a lot of information on the fitness side of being a firefighter, what should you consider when moving forward with the application form?

This application form comprises of two sections:

First section – Application form

The first section captures your personal details, which includes your address and requires you to detail your sickness absence levels in the past 12 months. 

If this exceeds five days you will be asked to provide further details. HR will review the information provided and will make a fair and consistent judgement on whether you pass this section. 

Long-term absences due to operations, injuries, significant illnesses/medical conditions or life events such as bereavement or divorce will be considered in a positive light and it is likely you will pass the sift stage. 

Repeated absences over 5 days in a year due to minor ailments are likely to mean that you will not pass the sickness sift. 

It is essential that firefighters have good levels of health and wellbeing and a strong work ethic. 

Second section - Personal statement

The second section is the personal statement (up to 1,500 words). In this section we are looking for candidates to demonstrate the core skills required to become a Firefighter, these include:

• The ability to work well under pressure
• Good communication skills
• Commitment to continuous development
• Ability to solve problems and possess good practical skills
• Ability to work within a diverse environment and adapt to different needs

Please note that this is not exhaustive. You must include evidence against each of the above and may also wish to also outline other skills and experience you have which you feel would positively contribute to the role of a Firefighter. 

It is important to provide examples as evidence. These can be from your current or previous employment, voluntary work, education or non-work related examples. 

If you make statements such as “I have good communication skills” you will not pass this stage. You must provide an example to evidence this. 

The personal statement also requires you to evidence how you meet Avon Fire & Rescue Service values.  These are:

• Respectful
• Honest
• Courageous
• Ambitious
• Inclusive
• Transparent

We believe it is not just what we do but how we do it that is important. Our values act as the standards of behaviour we expect from our staff. These values can meet different things to different people. 

There will be further blogs coming next week outlining our values in more details, helpful tips on your personal statement and details on shortlisting.