How do I apply for a job?

All of our vacancies are listed on this page of our website above

You will be required for all roles to submit a CV and a cover letter. This letter should be no more than one page, explaining relevant experience and examples of how you meet the skills and competencies detailed for the role.

For some roles you may be asked to complete a further application form, or to complete assessment tasks in advance of shortlisting. Details will be provided on the job advertisement.

What should I do if I can’t complete an online application?

If you would like to apply in a different format, please contact us by email at pmapplications@keenoxford.org for further information or support. In your email please provide details of your requirements or suggestions about how we might best support you.

How can I maximise my chance of being shortlisted and being successful at interview?

It is important that you complete all sections of the covering letter, any required forms and answers at interview to ensure that the recruiting panel understand your interests, skills, behaviours, knowledge and experience. Support your statements with specific examples that show how you meet each of the person specification points. We ask you to use the STAR approach:

S or T - Situation or Task

Describe the situation or the task that you had to complete. It could be something from your previous employment or personal experience – just make sure it’s relevant. Given enough detail for the person shortlisting to understand what was involved.

A - Action

Describe the action you personally took to resolve the situation or task. Explain the process/steps you took. Even if you are describing a group project, describe what you did rather than what the team did as a whole.

R - Result

This is the crucial part of the answer. Explain how your actions resulted in a successful outcome or how you would approach a task differently next time. Talk about what you achieved, the benefits and what you learned.

We want to see how you think, how you learn and how you could grow in one of our roles.

A strong application will also be in line with our values.

The person specification requires a particular qualification or experience that I do not have. Is it still worth me applying?

The person specification has the key knowledge, skills, experience or behaviours needed to carry out the job successfully and you will be scored based on any information you provide.

If you don’t quite meet the criteria, for example if you have an understanding of something rather than experience of doing it yourself, you may still pick up points for explaining your understanding or how you might approach it.

However, some of the person specification points, for example specific qualifications, are critical to the role so if you don’t meet those requirements, you are unlikely to be shortlisted.

How quickly will I know if I have been shortlisted?

Every recruitment campaign will be different depending on how quickly the shortlisting panel can review applications but if you have not been shortlisted, you will receive an email from us confirming that. Generally, we seek to have reviewed all applications and shortlisted within a week of the application closing date.

If I am not shortlisted, can I get feedback on my application?

Unfortunately, apart from in exceptional circumstances we are not able to offer feedback on your application if you are not shortlisted for interview.

Can I get feedback after my interview?

We appreciate that information about where you did well or less well can be useful, so if you are not successful following interview we are able to provide feedback.

I recently applied for a role and was not successful, but have seen the role re-advertised. Is it worth me applying again?

If the gap between advertising has been short, we would normally advise that candidates need not apply again, unless you have re-written and enhanced your application. Some examples might be that you have strengthened your examples using the STAR technique above or put in responses against all the person specification points where previously you hadn’t.