I spent an evening this week looking through applications for a vacancy in my team at work. Two things struck me. Firstly, that there was a depressing number of people who listed ‘redundancy’ as the reason for leaving their most recent job. The other thing that I quickly became aware of is that there are a few basic rules to follow when you hope to get yourself an interview.

These are:

– Try to spell the name of your current employer correctly. This helps to create the impression that you have actually been paying attention to the people paying your wages for the last few years.

– It is also beneficial to check the spelling of your prospective employer as well. I know it can be tricky to remember how to spell ‘children’ but a dictionary should be consulted if you are unsure.

– It is a good tactic to write more than two short paragraphs when answering the question: “please explain how your experience gives you the skills necessary to undertake the post as described in the job description”.

– Check your application for basic errors. Telling me you started with your current employer in 2010 leaves me confused. I wasn’t expecting Doctor Who to apply for this post.

– Finally, if you have a really embarrassing e-mail address, consider setting up a more neutrally titled yahoo account before completing the form. A few pointers might be avoiding addresses with the words ‘sexy’, ‘big’ or any ridiculous nickname you may have found yourself adopting.

And of course, stapling a few twenty pound notes to the covering letter is never a bad idea.