Recruitment Process

How to Apply

Read the full job description and person specification for the role before applying. Our application form is an online form that you must complete in one sitting, so we suggest collecting any material prior, and writing or recording your responses in a document first, then copy and paste into the application form. 

For ‘Section C: Employment History’, we suggest copying and pasting from your CV. 

All our applications are scored on how they meet the person specification, so we suggest giving examples of your experience and skills for each point of the criteria in ‘Section D: Application’. This section can be written or uploaded as an audio file in ZIP format. For any information unavailable to you, but required in the form, please write ‘N/A’ in the relevant boxes.  

Once submitted, candidates will receive a confirmation email and a copy of their application form in PDF. 

In order to monitor the demographic of our candidates, we ask all applicants to complete the equal opportunities monitoring form. 

For any queries or access requirements, please contact recruitment@bowarts.com or phone 020 8980 7774. 

Why We Can’t Accept CVs

Our application process automatically anonymises and redacts identifying information at the shortlisting stage to address possibility of unconscious bias. The shortlisting panel will only be able to see your Notice Period, Position Applied (Section A), Employment History (Section C not including ‘Organisation’), Your Application (Section D) and Supporting Documents (Section E). This system can’t redact CVs to make it a fair recruitment process. We ask that you do not include any identifying information in ‘Section D: Application’ e.g. your name, ethnicity, age, organisations you’ve worked for etc. 

Shortlisting Process

All redacted applications are reviewed by HR, then sent to a shortlisting panel of at least two members of staff to score each application. Each application is scored 1-5 against the person specification criteria. The shortlisting panel then compare results and invite the highest scoring candidates to interview. 

Once the candidates have been selected for interview, the application forms will be unredacted to reveal all information except for the question: ‘Do you consider yourself to be from a community underrepresented in the arts?’. 

Invite to Interview

We invite candidates to interview on-site at our wheelchair accessible office to get a feel for the environment but understand that this may not be possible for everyone, so ask for any access requirements at this time. Examples of access requirements or reasonable adjustments are holding the interview online, changing the interview environment (e.g. lighting) and allowing extra time for your interview. These are just a few examples – we warmly welcome applicants to contact us to discuss access requirements in further detail (recruitment@bowarts.com or 020 8980 7774). 

At interview invite stage, each candidate will be informed of: 

  • Location (including its physical accessibility) 
  • Date and Time 
  • Interview panel members 
  • Format of the interview (e.g. question and answer, or whether there will be a task to complete) 

Interview Process

Interviews are usually about 45 minutes – 1 hour long. At interview, the panel will introduce themselves, give a brief background of Bow Arts, introduce the role, and explain the interview format. Throughout the interview, the panel will be taking notes so that they can remember your answers. At the end of each interview, we allow time for candidates to ask questions to the panel and will confirm a time frame of when candidates can expect to hear the interview outcome. 

If the interview involves a task, this will usually be desk based at a computer or laptop, and a member of staff will explain the task to you and set a time limit. A member of staff will let you know when your time is up and will show you to the exit. 

Selection

The interview panel will score the candidate 1-5 for each question and will compare their answers. If there is a mutual high scorer, this person will be offered the role. However, if at this point there are 2 equally high scoring candidates, the answer to the question ‘Do you consider yourself to be from a community underrepresented in the arts?’ will be unredacted, and a positive action decision will be made from this answer. 

The successful candidate will be contacted by phone to offer the role, which will then be followed up by email to confirm in writing. Unsuccessful candidates will be contacted by email and offered feedback.