FAQs

To apply for a job at WMCA, you will first need to create a careers account. To do this, follow these steps:

• Click on the 'Apply' button. Doing this will take you to a 'Welcome Page' where you can register for a new account. If you already have an account, simply go ahead and log in.
• Add your first name, last name, and email address (please make sure that your email address is correct). Finally, create a password as prompted.
• You can upload your CV here. Doing this will help to build your profile by automatically populating your career and education details.

Once you have created an account, we recommend taking a few minutes to format your profile so that the details are correct.

Our application process is anonymised. This means that your uploaded CV isn't visible once you have applied. Our shortlisting decisions will be based on what you tell us in your profile - so be thorough in completing each section, providing comprehensive information. Accuracy here is key to ensuring your application stands out.

You will be asked to provide a supporting statement. You can choose to free type your statement or copy and paste something that you have prepared earlier.

Once you've completed these steps, you'll be able to submit your application.

If you would like to speak with us about an alternative application method, as a reasonable adjustment, please email the Recruitment Team (careers@wmca.org.uk) and we will be in touch.

You can upload your CV when you are creating an account. This will automatically fill in the career and education history sections of your profile.

Our application process is designed to ensure anonymity. Our recruiting teams will not have access to your CV. Our shortlisting decisions will be based purely on what you tell us in your profile and supporting statement. Therefore, we recommend investing time in tailoring your profile before completing your application. 

Incomplete applications will not be shortlisted.

We’re glad you ask! Your supporting statement should evidence, using examples, how your skills and experience match the essential criteria of the role that you are applying for. It is the evidence we will use to make decisions about whether you are suitable for the role and whether you will be invited to an interview.

The essential criteria can be found in the ‘What’s essential’ section of the job advert and on the person specification page of the job description.

Lay your supporting statement out in the same order as the person specification, this will make it easier for our recruiting teams to find the examples you have given that line up to the criteria you are aiming to meet. Structure your examples and ensure you are evidencing how you meet the criteria clearly. If you know you have the potential to do the job, but your experience does not straightforwardly sell you as the ‘perfect candidate’, try focusing on your skills instead and highlight those that are transferable.

You will be asked to type your statement into the portal directly. If you have already prepared a supporting statement, then you can simply copy and paste this directly into the application form. Avoid going into too much detail. While we don’t specify a word limit, your supporting statement should be concise and to the point – if it is longer than 1 to 2 pages, try to shorten some of your points.

Tell us what you are looking for. If you're interested in applying for the role on a part-time basis or require flexible start and finish times to better balance work and personal commitments, please let us know.

And finally, before clicking submit, make sure you double check your supporting statement for spelling or grammar mistakes.

When you apply, your application will be assessed by the recruitment partner managing the vacancy. We will look at whether you meet the essential criteria for the role and if you are eligible to apply.

If your application meets the essential criteria, it will be sent to the recruiting manager who will assess it against the job description and person specification.  

Your Supporting Statement is an essential part of the application and selection process, and so make sure that this highlights your experience and how it matches what we have said we are looking for in the job description. 

AI tools are being used more and more for creative or administrative tasks, and it may be tempting to use them to help in applying for a job. They can help to draft your CV, write a supporting statement or to help answer application questions. But any assistance from AI tools should be used with caution.

Use with caution

While it appears that AI can generate impressive content quickly and easily, the answers it produces are never personal to you. It doesn’t tell us why you are applying for the job, nor does it tell us what motivates you, how your skills and experience align with the role, or how the job meets your career aspirations.

You might think that using AI will make you stand out from the crowd, but it may be for the wrong reasons. Except for a few minor changes, AI tends to generate very similar content, whatever information you put into the machine. It also tends to include some obvious giveaways. Thousands of people use AI each day to apply for jobs - that’s a lot of applications that look the same.

WMCA does not use AI to help with hiring decisions

Some organisations use AI to sift through job applications but at WMCA, all applications at every stage are reviewed by humans. Some parts of the process are made easier with support from AI – for example, drafting parts of job adverts or interview questions - but all of the application process and interviews are carried out by our staff.

Don’t get lost in the bots

We cannot stop anyone from using AI – used right, it can be a great tool. If you choose to use AI to help write application content, or to support with a presentation, then use it as a helper rather than relying on it wholly to write your application.

Put the effort in to your application - focus on ensuring it matches the criteria required for the job, and is tailored carefully to match your skills, experience, and motivation. After all, if you get invited to an interview, it’ll be you in the room, not a bot.

No, we do not offer salaries beyond the advertised range. Our salary ranges are determined through careful job evaluation and reflect our commitment to fairness and equity.

They are set to ensure consistency across similar roles within our organisation and to align with industry standards.

We encourage candidates to consider the full compensation package, including benefits and potential growth opportunities, when considering making an application.

Absolutely! If you believe that your experience and abilities match more than one vacancy, then we would encourage you to apply for any vacancy where you think there is a good fit.

If you are thinking about applying for a job that you have previously applied for, but were unsuccessful, we would just ask that you consider how your experience has changed since you last applied, and how this now more closely matches the needs of the job.

If you have registered for an account and uploaded your CV, but this hasn't auto-populated your profile, it could be that your CV contains images (for example, employer logos). 

If it does, please remove these and try again.

If you are still experiencing problems, please get in touch with the Recruitment Team (careers@wmca.org.uk) and we will be happy to help. 

Absolutely. In the 'Personal Information' section of your profile, you will be able to upload your CV by clicking on the 'Upload CV' icon. 

Upload your CV and select 'Upload the file and use it to override my existing profile'. This will update the career and education sections of your profile.

Remember, take a few minutes to check the details are correct and that you are happy with the formatting. 

Unfortunately no. Once an application has been submitted, it cannot be updated or edited. We strongly recommend that you double check your application before clicking submit.

With that said, we understand that mistakes can happen. If you realise that you made a significant error or omission in your application, you can get in touch with the recruitment partner handling the vacancy. The easiest way to do this is email careers@wmca.org.uk.

In very general terms, it supports WMCA’s vision of being a better connected, more prosperous, fairer, greener and healthier region, with the emphasis on being fairer with respect to recruitment, retention and development. 

When you disclose your diversity data, you entrust us to monitor, analyse and report on whether the range of applicants for our vacancies reflects that of the West Midlands region. If the evidence shows that we are not attracting a reflection of the West Midlands population, we will take further steps to address this in future recruitment campaigns. Our aim is to recruit the best person for the job from a diverse pool of candidates.

Being transparent about our processes to support workforce diversity is an important step towards applicants having the confidence in the Combined Authority’s drive to deliver meaningful and inclusive change in our commitment to promote equity and address inequalities.

It is used by our recruitment team to monitor, analyse and report on the range of applicants with protected characteristics as defined by the Equality Act 2010 that apply for our vacancies. Names, addresses and other personal information that is shared as part of the application process are not used.

Diversity information falls within the scope of ‘sensitive personal data’ under GDPR 2018. The Data Protection Action 2018, which supplements the provisions of the GDPR, includes a limited provision that specifically allows these types of special category data to be processed for the purpose of monitoring equality of opportunity or treatment between different groups.

No. We can’t guarantee this, but we can guarantee that you will be treated fairly and without prejudice for doing so. We are a ‘Disability Confident’ employer and as part of our commitment to improve how we recruit, retain, and develop disabled people, we will interview people, who disclose as disabled, where they have evidenced in their application that they have met all the essential criteria required for the job.

If your application has been unsuccessful, we will let you know, usually by email.

Due to the volume of applications received, we are sorry to say that we cannot commit to providing detailed feedback to everyone who applies for a job with us.

However, if you have been interviewed for a role, we will do our best to ensure we feedback to you on your performance.

Once you select an interview slot, you will be sent an email confirming the details – who you will be meeting, the time and date. If your interview is over MS Teams, we’ll send you a calendar invite direct to the email address used when you applied. In most cases, invites will show in your calendar app on your iPhone or Android device.

Some email providers (Google/Gmail) have advanced filtering algorithms which occasionally filter out emails as spam. If you haven't received your invite within 24 hours of your interview date and time, please check your Junk or Spam folder. If you need to get in touch with us, please email careers@wmca.org.uk and someone from the team will be in touch.

MS Teams works best over a strong and reliable internet connection. Most issues are caused if a network is too busy (too many people trying to use a limited amount of bandwidth), or the signals used for Wi-Fi or 4G are poor. We recommend testing your connection ahead of your interview.

When you apply, our system will send an automated acknowledgement email to you using the email address that you provided when you created your career account. 

You can log in to your WMCA careers account to check all correspondence that we have sent to you. This will be in the 'email sent to you' section. 

We use this email address throughout the selection process, including sending out interview invitations – and so it is important to make sure you are receiving these.

If you are still experiencing problems, please get in touch with the Recruitment Team by email: careers@wmca.org.uk. 

Send an email to careers@wmca.org.uk. Just because we're online doesn't mean we don't like to speak to people.

If you're getting in touch about a specific job, then let us know which one and the Recruitment Partner handling the role will be in touch. 

The beauty of being based in Birmingham city centre means that we are well connected with great transport links, including bus and rail. 

Parking is available at Summer Lane, although limited at busy times. Parking is free for those visiting the office (for example, if attending an interview) and is charged at £3 per day for employees.  

Please note: if you are attending an interview, and would like to reserve a parking space at Summer Lane, please email the Recruitment Team (careers@wmca.org.uk) with details of your interview, and the make, model and registration of your vehicle.

There is no parking at our Midlands Connect office but there are plenty of car parks nearby – although not free of charge. The nearest is Q-Park at the Mailbox. 

There is bike storage available at Summer Lane and ramp access to both buildings for those with reduced and limited mobility.

At WMCA, interviews can take place either in-person, at one of our offices, or virtually (over MS Teams).

You will be given further information and guidance should you be successful in securing an interview with us.

For most roles, the standard working hours are 36.5 hours over 5 days (Monday to Friday). However, there are some roles which involve working on a shift basis that could include weekends. These roles will be advertised as such. If you have any questions about hours of work, please email us at careers@wmca.org.uk and we will be in touch.

If you would like to apply for one of our roles on a part-time basis, please let us know this in your Supporting Statement and we’ll consider this as part of your application.

We understand that Hybrid working will mean different things to different people, and will vary depending on the needs of the role.

For some, it offers flexibility to split their time between working remotely and having essential face-to-face time in the office. For others, for example those working in customer facing roles, it may mean working on site all the time.

We're unable to support fully remote working and everyone who joins the WMCA must be able to get to and from their place of work without restriction.

Please note that reasonable adjustments will be considered for those with mobility problems.

It is always a good idea to be clear on what is meant by ‘flexible working.’ When you apply for a job, we ask that you tell us what you are looking for so that can look to accommodate your needs as best as we can. If you are looking to work on a part-time basis, let us know.

We run a hybrid working model. This means some of us splitting our time between working remotely and using our office space to come together to share ideas and learn from each other.

Sadly, not all our people are able to work in a hybrid way. Those roles which are customer facing (for example, positions in our bus stations) often work on a shift basis and are required to present on site during each shift.

WMCA will make reasonable adjustments to remove or reduce a disadvantage or barrier related to someone’s disclosed disability at all stages of the recruitment and selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be made for your specific disability or impairment where practicable. In the recruitment and selection process, examples of a reasonable adjustments could be:

• Allow an extension to the job application deadline due to an applicants declared temporary or permanent health condition.
• As requested by a wheelchair user who has been invited to interview, ensure that they have a reserved accessible parking space and that the interview takes place on the ground floor where there is an accessible toilet.
• At the request of a diabetic employee, allow fixed and regular break times and/or longer break times to check their blood sugar levels.

WMCA understands that an individual’s disability status can change over time and therefore, the nature of the reasonable adjustment for an employee may change accordingly. In making the adjustment, WMCA will carefully consider if the adjustment will remove or reduce the disadvantage or barrier, is practical to make, is affordable, and whether by making the adjustment could harm the health and safety of others.

WMCA can only employ those who have the legal right to work in the UK.

Your right to work in the UK depends on your immigration status - this is also called your ‘leave’. If you don’t have the right to work, you might be able to apply for it.

You automatically have the right to work in the UK if:

• you’re a British or Irish citizen
• you have pre-settled or settled status from the EU Settlement Scheme - or you’ve applied and you’re waiting for a decision
• you have a family permit from the EU Settlement Scheme
• you have indefinite leave to enter or remain in the UK
• you have right of abode in the UK

You might have a right to work in the UK if you have a visa with a time limit. This is called having 'limited leave to enter or remain’. You’ll have limited leave to enter or remain if you have a visa with a time limit.

You’ll usually have a document which says if you have the right to work - for example, a biometric residence permit.

If you have limited time to remain, you might have restrictions on the type of job or work you can do, or the number of hours you can work. This may also impact the type of employment contract that we can offer you.

Once we make you an offer, we will ask you for up references that cover the last 3 years which must include your current or most recent employer/education institute. 

For some roles, a DBS check may be required. We’ll let you know if this applies to the role you are applying for.

Employees joining West Midlands Combined Authority who are moving from, or have previously worked for, another local authority or other government body may be entitled to retain their previous service for the purpose of continuity of some contractual entitlements.

This will apply where the previous organisation is included within the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment in Local Government etc) (Modification) Order 1999, generally referred to as the Modification Order.

More information can be found here: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/2277/contents/made