Completing your Application

NIJAC provides a fair and transparent process for selecting applicants for judicial office to serve in Northern Ireland’s courts and tribunals.

We are committed to the principle of appointment solely on merit. We encourage and welcome applications from the widest possible range of applicants regardless of gender, ethnic and social background, marital status, sexual orientation, political affiliation, religion or disability.

The Applicant Information Booklet will include all anticipated relevant dates for the scheme, including advance notice of the intended Assessment dates. It is important that you ensure you are available to attend on these dates prior to making an application.

The information below will provide some advice on completing your application:

(Fuller advice is available in the various versions of Guidance to Applicants for Judicial Assessment and Selection.)

Personal Profile

The Personal Profile is a generic document and is a key document for applicants to make reference to when completing their application and in thorough preparation for the assessment and selection process.  

It is important because it sets out the criteria for appointment and is the basis against which applicants will be assessed throughout the short listing and assessment centre stages of the selection process. Applicants should consider how their experience is relevant or transferable to the areas in the Personal Profile, having also considered the Job Description and any other information regarding the office under recruitment.

What does the Personal Profile look like?

Five key areas are included in the Personal Profile. These are:

1. Intellectual Capacity, Knowledge and Expertise
2. Personal Qualities
3. Understanding and Fairness
4. Communication Skills, and
5. Management Skills / Leadership and Management Skills

Within each of these areas there are a number of elements which must be addressed, therefore it is important for you to develop relevant examples.

How is it developed?

It has been developed through consultation and an analysis of judicial offices to determine the necessary skills, qualities, abilities and if specific knowledge is required.

The Personal Profile is:

Based on Ability

Identifying the necessary skills, qualities  and abilities that the ideal appointee should have. Some roles require specific knowledge and skills and through the assessment process you will have an opportunity to demonstrate your potential ability and transferability of skills.

Related to the Job

Reflects the requirements of the office outlined in the job description. On occasion, some specific knowledge or experience may be required e.g. Employment Judges will require knowledge/experience of employment law.

Measured throughout the process

E.g. your application form at shortlisting, an interview complemented by other assessment methods such as a situational judgement test or a role-play.

The STAR approach

Situation
Task
Action
Result

The application form required applicants to provide examples to show how they meet each of the elements in the Personal Profile.

The STAR method is a great way to structure answers for each of the elements in the application form and at the assessment stage. If you can quantify any results or impact you made, even better. Focus mainly upon ‘Action’ and ‘Result’ as this is where to elaborate on your actions and decisions, and the impact they made.

Situation

Explain the situation that you were in. This should be a short description, it could be: ‘during my time as a solicitor, ‘whilst working in private practice’, or ‘whilst working as a GP’

Task

You need to briefly explain what you did and how you met the criteria. If you were working in a group or as a member of a panel, explain the overall objective but focus on your own role.

• What was the objective?
• What were you trying to achieve?
• What is the context of the example?

Action

This is the most substantial part (around 50-70%) of any example and you need to include:

• What you did.
• Why you did it.
• How you did it.
• Which skills you used.

Tip: In this section you really need to focus on your unique contribution to the task at hand. The example scenario need to be written for a lay reader.

Result

There is little point in explaining the situation, task and action if the assessor is left wondering whether what you did made any difference. So be prepared to explain:

• What was the outcome?
• What happened as a result of the actions you took?
• What did you learn?
• Did you achieve the objective?
• What difficulties and challenges did you face?
• Did you have to adapt your approach?
• What would you do differently or improve?
• What impact did the result have on the team task?

Checklist

• Describe the group task but focus on your actions. 
• In the action part of the example, make sure you cover the skills and qualities that are being sought.
• Try to use an example with a positive outcome.
• Be concise.
• Remember that not all questions will be based on examples from your previous work, for example they may also seek your consideration of issues affecting the judicial office for which you are applying, seek you to consider how you would deal with a scenario potentially arising in the role etc. For this reason you should ensure that you familiarise yourself with the role thoroughly.