Job doctor

Once a month, the Housing Today Job Doctor panel will answer your career-related questions. The panel includes Richard Stroud, chief executive of the Pensions Trust; Pete Jeffery, director of human resources at Anglia Housing Group; and Hamish Davidson, chairman of Veredus Executive Consulting. To ask the Job Doctor a question, email james_hughes@buildergroup.

co.uk or call 020 7560 4409

I've seen my dream job advertised. How can I prepare the best possible application?

First, do all the research on the job and the organisation – web, mystery shopping, regulators, anybody you know there, users or customers, the lot.

Then, when writing your application letter, talk about what it is that so attracts you to the role and why you might be prepared to move from your current role.

Talk about where you can engage and enthuse with what they have in mind for the role and organisation. Let some of your emotion, passion and energy come through. Don't be too boring – show some of your personality.

Address the appointment criteria point by point; assume that this is going to be a "tick in the box" exercise and do your best to provide evidence of experience against each of the criteria mentioned in the ad. Don't panic if you don't meet every criteria – few people do and it doesn't mean you won't get the job.

Complete any forms they want you to fill in, however ridiculous and bureaucratic they seem.

Next, rewrite your CV to align with all the above. All the parts of your application must support each other, not tell different tales. Remember that if they ask for referees, you can offer more than two if you think it would be helpful to your case.

Don't get obsessed with the length of your application. Obviously, this is no time to write a book, but layout and readability are the most important things. Get someone else to read it for grammar, spelling and general "sense". You are probably too close to it to spot the mistakes.