How to write a supporting statement

Take time to understand the job description, paying close attention to the person specification section which lists all the experience, skills and knowledge required to do the role successfully.

Highlight specific skills that you possess and how they relate to the person specification. A well-crafted supporting statement enhances your CV.

Try to give some real-life examples from your work experience, education or any volunteering you may have done. For example, for communication skills you may want to reference a particular project or task where you had to give members of your team information in an effective and timely manner and briefly explain how you went about it.

If you are a school leaver or graduate, or you are applying for your first job, you can use examples that will demonstrate skills you have learnt along the way.  For example, you may have worked on a group project where your focus should be on your role within that group.

To help frame the examples in your statement, you could try using the STAR method. STAR stands for:

• Situation: describe the situation you were faced with
• Task: describe the task you had to complete
• Action: describe the actions that you took to complete the task and why you approached it in the way you did
• Result: describe the outcome, and you may also want to include some reflections.

We recommend you focus your answer on the action and results section. For example, if you say you 'communicated effectively', we want to know how you went about doing that, and why you did it in that way.

Check that your examples are specific to a particular competency. For example, if a competency states 'Ability to prioritise work and meet competing deadlines' you may wish to structure part of your supporting statement in a similar way to the following example: 

"I am required to proactively prioritise my work and meet competing deadlines in my current role. To prioritise my work, I use my Outlook calendar, using flags to indicate what is of greater priority. This is based on what the most important and pressing tasks are at that particular time. I review this on a regular basis. I am regularly required to meet competing deadlines and ensure I have regular communication with all my stakeholders to keep managing expectations."

It’s important to note that there’s normally a word-count limit to your supporting statement, so it’s important to be concise. This will be clearly shown in the application form.