Do you have any tips on answering Usborne job application questions?
Yes! Here are some Top Tipswhen you're applying for a role at Usborne:
- Don't use AI for your application
Whilst AI is undoubtedly auseful tool in some instances, we are a company built on Intellectual Property(IP) and our ownership of copyright is fundamental to how we do business. Assuch we need to know that you're able to originate ideas, not just generatethem using a tool. This is especially important for editorial roles, butapplies to all our departments. We use tools to generate our own AI answers,and check yours against them for similarities - so we will know if you've usedAI in your application process, and will score down for this (see our FAQ What to expect when you applyfor a vacancy at Usborne through Applied).
- Make sure you are clear on the working location where you'd be based
We are looking for peoplewho can be physically present to collaborate with colleagues, in our office(s).When we advertise roles we detail the office location you will be based at andyou will need to be able to work from that office base for the majority of theweek. More here: Do you offer remote jobopportunities at Usborne?
- Confirm you have the right to live and work in the UK
Please note that we do notoffer visa sponsorship, and therefore applicants must already have the right tolive and work in the UK at the point of application, or be eligible by theirstart date. You'll be asked to answer a question on this when you begin yourapplication in Applied.
- Read the questions carefully
Make sure you've read andunderstood the question being asked of you and follow the guidance where itsgiven of how we'd like the answer structured and what information we arelooking for (it can impact the score if you don't follow instructions).
- Showcase what you know (not what you don't)
The questions we ask in ourapplication process are designed to help you demonstrate what you do know - notwhat you don't. The hiring team are generally looking for where they can awarda score, not deduct from it.
- Answer questions fully
We are looking for you todemonstrate your competencies or skills, and this is unlikely to bedemonstrated in only one or two sentences (unless that’s what we ask you to do).Clear communication is at the heart of what we do, so it's important to us thatwe can see how you get your point across. This is also important for us tounderstand that you can follow instructions in the questions, for example if weask you in a question as to how you would handle a problem and why you havechosen to do it like that, its really important to us that you explain the‘why’ of your answer. Missing this bit out is going to really impact on yourscore.
- Check and double check before you submit
We care that you care aboutyour application, so do make sure to check your spelling - especially ourcompany name! As a publisher, words, sentence structure, grammar andpunctuation are very important to us, and we pay close attention to these(across all teams, not only for editorial roles). For our writing roles,accurate spelling and sentence structure is even more important - as iscreative flair. We do also in the later stages of the recruitment look at yourCV, so do make sure this is also accurate.
- Key skills for commercial roles
For roles in our commercialteams, we are keen to understand your technical, organisational, administrativeand prioritization skills. For lots of our commercial roles we may not needspecific publishing experience so we will be looking at how you are able toapply skills you have developed elsewhere, whether that be through school,college, university or other paid or unpaid work.
- A note on portfolios, for design roles
For our design vacancies, wescore on the relevance of your portfolio. As Applied is not able to support thedigital upload and storage of portfolios, we are not currently able to use itin quite the way we do for other roles, to anonymise your application. Whenlooking for designers we will either ask for a link to view your portfolioonline, or for you to email us your portfolio as an attachment. We then scoreyour portfolio objectively using a structured review tool to assess yourcreative skills and flair.
Keep an eye on our current vacancies page and follow Usborne on LinkedIn to find out when we're hiring.