Candidate Information

All candidates will be expected to complete the online application form.  Belfast Met use a recruitment management system called GET GOT.

The GETGOT system has two steps to registration:

Step 1 requires you to enter and confirm a valid email address.

Step 2 requires you to complete the Profile Creation section.  Information required includes:

• First name

• Surname

• Phone Number

• Password (The password must be 8 to 20 characters, at least one uppercase, at least one lowercase, at least one digit and at least one special character !@#$%^&*)

Once a suitable password has been accepted you will receive a screen confirmation that you have created your Profile.  You will then progress to the Profile page.

You have two options:

• Option 1 – Continue to complete Your Profile

You can continue to complete your Profile by clicking on the respective links for Your Saved Answers found on the right-hand side of the webpage.  The advantages of completing the information in this way is that it will be saved to your Profile and will automatically populate these sections of your current and all future application forms, avoiding the need for you to re-enter them repeatedly.  Your answers will also be available if you apply to another organisation who uses the GETGOT system.  All future application forms will only require you to complete the job specific criteria sections and monitoring data.  It is advisable to review the information included in your Profile to ensure it is current.  The best approach is to complete this information before you click on the link to the job application you wish to apply (which can be access via the Dashboard icon on the left-hand menu of the webpage).

• Option 2 – Complete a one-off application

If you decide not to complete the expanded Your Saved Answers in the Profile section you can progress to the application form for the respective job by clicking on the Dashboard icon on the left-hand menu of the webpage.

The Dashboard page will list all current vacancies available at the College.  You can obtain further information on the role by clicking Job Details.  You can start the application process by clicking on Apply/Resume.

Once you click Apply/Resume you will be asked to agree to the College’s GDPR Terms and Conditions and then you can progress to the application form.  

You will be required to complete all sections of the application form (e.g. personal details, employment history, qualifications, references, monitoring data and job specific criteria etc.) before being able to submit your application form.

Incomplete application forms will be removed from the GETGOT system once the closing time/date has passed.  

•For your Profile users: Only completed application forms will be saved under your Profile section for future reference, once the closing date has passed.  HR will not provide copies of previous application forms.  Profile users can access previously submitted application forms via their GETGOT account.

•For Pin Users: Candidates choosing not to create a Profile can only download a copy of their application form at the time of submitting.  HR will not provide copies of previous application forms.

• Word Count: the most common errors that candidates report when completing/trying to submit their application form relate to word count.  Whilst the criteria section of the application form includes clear word count limits, including a count-down function, other sections of the application form also have word counts which are not visible.  These include the Employment History section, in particular Reason for Leaving.  Copying and pasting the same response into each job you have listed in this section can disguise issues until you attempt to save or submit your application.  Check you have not exceeded the word count for these sections.

• Other Information Section: two mandatory questions are contained in the Other Information tab (below the referee section).  The questions relate to ‘prohibition or restriction of employment’ and ‘VES’.  If the post you are applying for is not an academic post (e.g. Lecturer, Curriculum Area Manager etc.) please choose ‘No’ as your answer. Applicants for academic post must complete these questions as appropriate.

• Failure to answer these question by all candidates will result in an error on your form which will prevent you being able to submit.

If you forget your password/PIN number:

•Profile users: the GETGOT system offers a password reset function via the login button.

•PIN users: for one-off users, the system will remember your email as a ‘PIN user’. You can access ‘in progress’ applications using the Apply/Resume button.  Once clicked you will be required to re-enter your email and PIN.  At this stage you can reset your PIN number.

If you get locked out of your account from entering the wrong password/PIN, you can either wait 10 minutes and you can regain access or you can reset your password/PIN.

For further difficulties contact the GETGOT team (contact details below).

If you experience any technical issues whilst completing your application form, please contact the GETGOT Support Team for assistance.  Their contact details can be found online by clicking on the green icon for Support on the left-hand menu on the webpage.  The contact details for the Support Team are:

• Telephone: 028 9081 2618

• Email: support@hallmarksolutions.co.uk  

• Completing the ‘Ask us a Question’ on the Support webpage

All candidates will be expected to complete the online application form unless a candidate requires the form in an alternative format due to a disability.

In such circumstances please contact HRD@belfastmet.ac.uk for further information.

If you need help to complete Belfast Met’s application form, please contact a member of the Human Resources Department (Telephone: 02890 265370).

The advice contained in the following sections address each of the areas required in the application form. Please read this guidance to ensure that you provide the selection panel with the information they need and improve your chances of getting shortlisted to the next stage of the selection process.

Personal details

Please provide accurate contact details, including an email address, telephone and mobile numbers.

Belfast Met conducts the majority of its communication with candidates via email.  It also endeavours to provide candidates with a minimum of 7 calendar days’ email notice on the outcome of each selection stage.  This is to allow candidates time to prepare e.g. submissions for their assessment such as a seen presentation and for their interview.

Please check your inbox and junk mail folders for communication from us.

For internal candidates – it is advisable to provide an external/personal email instead of your College email.

Educational details

Qualifications

You are responsible for giving full details about any qualifications you hold. You must only include details of qualifications which have been conferred (i.e. qualifications for which certificates have been received) prior to the closing date of application.

For academic posts, to ensure you are considered to teach across a range of qualification levels, the College advises that you list all qualifications you possess in the Educational Section of the application form.

Belfast Met compares accredited qualifications against the Regulated Qualifications Framework.  This framework allows Belfast Met to compare accredited qualifications obtained within NI/England & Wales/Scotland e.g. A-levels and NVQs, Scottish Higher for equivalency.

To demonstrate qualification equivalency, you must supply as much information as possible to allow the Selection Panel to make an informed comparison e.g. CSE Mathematics used a numbered grading system, O Level Mathematics used letters.  Including this level of detail is important for allowing equivalency comparisons to be made.

If you acquired your equivalent qualification(s) outside of the UK, please provide as much detail as possible on the examining/awarding body, the name of the qualification (in the native language), be specific about the year the qualification was awarded and include any other pertinent details that you think will aid the Selection Panel to evaluate the qualification equivalency.  It is for the Selection Panel to determine if your qualification is equivalent.

Please be aware that certificates you possess may state e.g. Microsoft Office Specialist Level 5 certificate – this does not necessarily equate to a RQF level 5 qualification.  If in doubt, please contact the awarding body.

If you are offered an appointment with Belfast Met we will commence the pre-employment checks.  As a part of this process you will be required to produce the original copies of the qualification certificates mentioned in your application form.  We would ask that if you do not have the original documents that you order them before/when you apply to hasten this process.  Statement of results is not accepted by the College in lieu of the original qualification certificate.

Membership of professional bodies

If you hold a professional qualification, please ensure you include the level of your membership and date on which you became registered.

Employment history

List first your current or most recent job and work back from there.  Include voluntary work and other experience that you may later rely on for evidence in the application form.

Dates – it is important that all dates given on your form are clear and correct – be specific e.g. 15/07/2015 – 31/03/2016.  You should include periods of voluntary work, career breaks and unemployment.  Selection Panels will count, down to the days, the length of your experience.

Demonstrating Essential Criteria

This section of the form will be used to determine whether or not you are shortlisted for interview. You must demonstrate in the essential criteria boxes how you satisfy each of the essential criterion.

The onus is on you, as the applicant, to fully complete this section. If you do not, the Selection Panel may have insufficient information to shortlist you. Please note that the College uses anonymised application forms during shortlisting where only criteria related information, to be considered for shortlisting purposes, is presented to selection panels.  The use of cross-referencing to direct the selection panel to other sections of your application form is therefore not recommended as the panel may be unable to view this information.  This may result in you failing to fully demonstrate the essential criteria and not being shortlisted to the next stage of the selection process.

The Selection Panel will not make assumptions based on the information you have provided – you must be explicit in your description of your qualifications, work/experience history, skills and knowledge.  No prior knowledge of candidates will be considered.  Shortlisting will be based only on the specific information provided on the application form.

Please note: if a high volume of applications is received, the Selection Panel reserve the right to utilise the desirable criteria.  

Final checks you should complete before submitting your application form include:

• Read through your completed application form carefully

• Check for mistakes or anything you have left out

• Please note that the online application system does not have a spellcheck function – you should complete your own spellcheck by reading your responses.

You are advised to draft your responses in e.g. Notepad and then paste your response into the appropriate Criterion box.  Notepad is preferable to Microsoft Word, since some formatting that is applied in Word does not transfer correctly into the GETGOT system.

You are responsible for making sure that all sections on your application form are fully completed and for ensuring that it is submitted by the closing time/date.

Please note that the closing time of 12:00 noon means “on the strike of midday”.  Once the closing time/date has passed the system prevents an application form being submitted and will remove incomplete and un-submitted applications from your profile.

For incomplete application forms that have been submitted, these will be rejected at the sifting stage, for example, failure to complete one of the essential criteria boxes.

Belfast Met cannot take account of delays over which it has no control and application forms that are late will not be accepted. Don’t leave completing your application to the last minute.  On average, candidates spend 2 hours completing application forms for posts with the College.

Remember: All information contained in your application form will be treated as confidential by HR and the Selection Panel in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679.

The online system will automatically generate notification that your application form has been received.  We always let you know whether or not you have been shortlisted and invited to the next stage of the selection process e.g. assessment, interview, presentation etc. Updates, outcomes and invites will be communicated via phone or email.