Submitting your application

In this section we ask you to provide your name, address and contact details. If you've used the online system recently, your address should be shown below the blank fields. Please check this and if necessary, update your details by selecting 'edit'. Once you’ve finished, select 'save and summary'. You only need to select 'add' if you want to add an additional address.

In this section we also ask you to confirm whether or not you’re currently studying at the University of Plymouth and if so, what year you’re due to graduate. If you’re not a student with the University, please answer no and leave the 'year due to graduate'field blank. This field will only accept a yyyy numerical figure, or no entry at all.

Personal information on your application will be populated automatically from our HR system. Log in to Employee Self-Service (ESS) to check and/or update your personal details before you begin an application. You can return to the online application system search screen via a link on the ESS homepage.

You can indicate your home address as the mailing address by putting a tick in the mailing address box, on the home address details. Your University email address will be your user email address and the one we use to contact you.

You’re free to provide other contact details in the contact details section of this page, but remember that the email address you’ve registered with will be the one we use to contact you.

If you’ve used the online system recently, your employment history details should be shown below the blank fields. Any information previously recorded in the 'brief duties and responsibilities' field will not be saved from previous entries, so you’ll need to re-enter relevant information here.

For start and end dates of your previous jobs, all dates must be entered in the following format: dd/mm/yyyy. Alternatively you can use the calendar icon to select the relevant dates. If you can't remember the exact start/end dates, please put the date as the 1st of the relevant month.

If you don’t have any previous employment history, put n/a in the mandatory text fields and 01/01/1900 in the mandatory date fields.

If you can’t remember your exact salary from previous roles, enter an approximate figure. Any currency symbols you enter will be converted into the appropriate abbreviation of that currency.

Tip for changing the order of your employment history:When you edit a record, it will appear at the top of the list when saved. You can use this to change the order of your employment history, if necessary.

If you are applying for a professorial role, please note you will be expected to attach an academic CV, the template for which is available here.

To ensure equality of opportunity you can highlight where you believe your volume of output may have been limited by maternity, adoption or carer’s leave, part-time working etc.

In this section you should provide details of any qualifications you hold that are relevant to your application. On typing you’ll be presented with possible matching qualifications. You can either select from this list or enter your own free text. You’ll need to select the relevant qualification level from the list in the 'qualification level' field.

If you don’t have any qualifications, please put n/a in the subject field and select 'not applicable' from the 'qualification level' field, as both these fields are mandatory. If you want to include more qualifications, please use the 'additional qualification information' section to provide a brief summary. Use this space to mention any other qualifications you have which aren’t in the list provided.

If you are applying for an academic role, you will be expected to indicate any teaching qualifications you hold from options available.

If you’ve undertaken any professional training that is relevant to the role you’re applying for, tell us about it here. You can also include any memberships you have to relevant professional bodies, or any letters you’re entitled to use after your name. Also list any courses you’ve attended which are relevant to the role.

Tell us about your skills and experience. Use the space provided to give examples of how you meet the job description and person specification. These don’t all have to be work-based – we’re interested in any relevant situations and examples that demonstrate your suitability for the role.

Warning: the supporting statement page will time-out after 30 minutes and any unsaved work will be lost. Remember to save your work regularly by selecting the 'save and summary' button at the bottom of the screen. If you are copying and pasting from another source such as Microsoft Word, please copy and paste from Word/the source into a notepad type application first, such as Notepad (Windows OS) or TextEdit (Mac OS) and then copy and paste from that into the form. Please note, some formatting may be lost and may need to be re-done. 

Attachments are only applicable for academic and research positions. You can submit details of research publication, grants and a CV. The maximum number of attachments accepted is two and the maximum file size is 5MB. Please make sure each attachment is clearly labelled with your name, e.g. JSmithCV.doc

Documents need to be attached separately by selecting the'browse' button. Attach the first document and select 'save and summary'. This returns you to the summary page, where you can navigate back to the supporting statement and select 'browse' again to attach your second document. Check the documents have been successfully attached by viewing the summary page.

Anyone applying for a job with us must provide details of at least two referees covering at least three years’ employment history. One of your referees should be your current/most recent employer. If you’ve only had one employer, you must provide details of at least one other referee (who isn't related to you), who’s prepared to support your application.

If you’re applying for an academic post, you must provide contact details for an academic referee.

If you are a student or school leaver, you should provide an alternative educational referee such as your Tutor or Head of School.

If you are self-employed you can provide alternative referees such as a Business Partner; Accountant; Supplier; a professional individual working in the same industry or a long-term customer.

We won’t contact referees unless you’re being considered for interview.

If you’ve used the online system recently, your referees' details should be saved below the blank fields. Please check and if necessary, update these details by selecting 'edit'. Once you’ve finished, click on 'save and summary'. The information entered in the 'permission to contact referees' field won’t have been saved, so you'll need to re-enter this information.

As well as the usual employment references, if you are applying for a professorial role you will need to be prepared to provide the details of three academic references, two of which must be international, by the specified deadline if you are shortlisted.

As a University we appoint people based on merit regardless of ethnic origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, race, colour, nationality (within current legislation), marital status, caring or parental responsibilities, age, or beliefs on matters such as religion or politics.

You must answer every question on this page by selecting the appropriate option in each drop-down list. If you advise us that you have a disability, we will work with you to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process and your workplace where applicable. Please note, ahead of coming for an interview with us you may find it helpful to check our campus accessibility guides hosted by AccessAble.

Any information you provide on the equality and diversity page will be treated in strictest confidence. Please see notes in our important legal information for further details on this.

To submit your application, you must tick the box agreeing to the terms of the declaration on this page. Select 'save and summary' to save the details you’ve entered and return to the summary page.

When you’re happy with your application and have checked thoroughly that all the details are correct, make sure all the icons on the summary page are green to show that you’ve filled in all the mandatory fields. You can then select the 'submit application' button. Remember to check the closing date before you submit your application, applications received after the closing date won’t be considered.

Once you’ve submitted the form, you won’t be able to make any further changes. If you’re unhappy with your submitted application for any reason, you should contact Recruitment Services, who’ll delete your submitted application. You’ll need to start your application again by creating a new application to submit before the closing date.

If you wish to see the application you’ve submitted, click on 'my applications' on the left-hand menu, where you’ll be able to request a PDF of the document. This will be emailed to your registered email address.