Ace your next move.
Bring clarity to your application and confidence to the conversation.
Show the experience behind your ambition.
Start with a role you want. Identify its key requirements, then choose concrete examples that demonstrate your relevant skills.
Your starting plan
- Pick a job description and highlight its three most important requirements.
- Write one specific example for each, including your action and its outcome.
- Practise a concise answer aloud and remove details that distract from the point.
Support we’re developing
- CV and LinkedIn review frameworks
- Interview preparation exercises
- Assessment centre planning and reflection tools
These are proposed services. Availability and scope will be agreed before any paid work. Acing does not guarantee interviews, offers or hiring outcomes.
Making your LinkedIn profile work for you
A LinkedIn profile lets employers find you before you apply. The National Careers Service gives these practical steps:
- Headline: You get 120 characters. Say who you are, what you do and what you want next. It may be the only text people see when you comment on a post.
- Photo: Use a recent, sharp picture of you alone with a plain background. (This is separate from your CV, where photos are not normal in the UK.)
- Summary: Write in the first person, use keywords from your sector and finish by inviting contact.
- Skills: Add at least five so you can appear in searches. Around ten relevant skills is a good start, and you can use job profiles to choose them.
- Connections: Start with friends, family and people from school, college or university. Ask for endorsements of your skills.
Keep the profile consistent with your CV: same dates, same job titles. Add your profile link to your CV contact line, as university careers advice suggests.
Finding the right roles to apply for
Applying widely is not the same as applying well. Start by deciding what you want, then search with that in mind.
- Use Find a job. The government's Find a job service covers England, Scotland and Wales, and you can search without an account. Filters include location, remote or hybrid working, date posted, salary, contract type and hours.
- Create email alerts. With an account you can get daily or weekly emails for a saved search, and you can save individual jobs.
- Apply promptly. Jobs on the service stay posted for 30 days and can come down sooner.
- Expect silence. Many employers only contact shortlisted candidates, so keep a record of what you sent. Your account shows jobs applied for over the last 60 days.
Stay safe while searching
Never put bank details, your National Insurance number or your date of birth on an application. Be wary of any role that asks you to pay money, contacts you only by email, or offers pay that seems unrealistic. The Find a job team says it never contacts people through WhatsApp. Use the "Report a job" link if a listing looks wrong.
Check before you apply
- Do you meet most of the essential criteria?
- Can you point to an example for each one?
- Do the location, hours and pay work for you?
- Is the closing date realistic for a tailored application?
Following up after an interview
What you do in the days after an interview matters. The National Careers Service suggests asking at the end of the interview when you will hear back. If that date passes, or no date was given, follow up by email or phone.
- Keep the message short: thank them, restate your interest in one sentence and ask about timing.
- Wait until the promised date has passed before chasing.
- If you receive an offer, ask for it in writing before you accept. Confirm the start date, any notice you need to give, working pattern and, if not yet discussed, salary.
If the answer is no
Disappointment is normal, and it is common to go to several interviews before an offer. Ask the interviewer for feedback on your performance and development areas. Then write down the toughest questions while they are fresh, and rework those answers before your next interview.
Keep going with our guides
Use these three guides to cover the rest of the process:
Free careers tools
- CV checker — Score, missing keywords and fixes for your CV against a UK job advert.
- Cover letter generator — A one-page UK cover letter from the role and three of your achievements.
- STAR answer builder — Rough notes in, a clear Situation-Task-Action-Result answer out.
- Interview question generator — Likely questions for your job, what each one tests and how to answer.