Essential and desirable criteria: what they mean for shortlisting

At NHS Lothian and HSC Northern Ireland, essential criteria are the lines you must show you meet to be shortlisted. Desirable criteria are the extras: they count in your favour, but they are not the entry ticket. Employers word this differently, so the sections below say who says what. Shortlisters check your application against both lists, so give each essential criterion its own example first, then add examples for the desirable ones you can meet.

Where they come from

Employers list both kinds in the person specification. North Bristol NHS Trust says the bottom of every advert has a section called "Person specification", which gives "a good indication of the criteria that Recruiting Managers will be scoring against when shortlisting candidates". The trust adds that the lines are "split into Essential criteria and Desirable criteria".

Other employers put the person specification in a job pack. NHS Lothian prints its Staff Nurse (Band 5) person specification on the first page of a PDF, with the job description after it. On NHS Jobs the form prints the criteria for you, as a numbered list above each box. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) guide for applicants shows an essential box and a desirable box for each category, with Qualifications and Experience always there. The guide to the NHS Jobs boxes covers them box by box.

How shortlisters use them

Employers word this differently:

• On NHS Jobs, the NHSBSA guide for employers, How to score applications in NHS Jobs, shows the scoring screens. In its example, each screen has an essential section and a desirable section, and the instruction in both is to "select all the boxes they have evidenced". So the shortlister ticks one box for each criterion you show. The guide's score screen counts the ticks: its example reads "You scored this application 2 out of 3", split into "2 out of 3 for essential criteria" and "0 out of 0 for desirable criteria". The guide does not say what score earns a place on the shortlist.
• NHS Lothian's person specification says: "In order to be shortlisted you must demonstrate you meet all the essential criteria and as much of the desirable as possible." It adds that when a large volume of applications arrives and most applicants meet the essential criteria, it uses the desirable criteria to produce the shortlist.
• University Hospital Southampton's application tips say: "We shortlist based on who scored the best against essential criteria. If you also match some of the desirable criteria, make a note of this in your application too."
• HSC Northern Ireland's application guidance tells you to "clearly demonstrate" how you meet "the essential shortlisting criteria", and says that failing to do so "will result in you not being shortlisted for an interview".
• North Bristol NHS Trust calls desirable criteria a "nice to have" for the recruiting managers, and says to explain how you meet them, as they "will help to support your application further".

NHS Lothian and HSC Northern Ireland say you must show the essential criteria to be shortlisted, North Bristol NHS Trust warns of "a high chance" of not being shortlisted without one, and University Hospital Southampton shortlists on who scores best against them. They differ on the desirable ones. The shortlisting guide sets out the scales two trusts, a council and a university use.

In short	Essential	Desirable
What it means	What you must show to be shortlisted (NHS Lothian)	A "nice to have" (North Bristol NHS Trust)
If you do not meet it	North Bristol NHS Trust, on a missing driving licence: "a high chance that you would not be successfully shortlisted"	NHS Lothian uses desirable criteria to produce the shortlist when a large volume of applications arrives and most applicants meet the essentials. None of these sources says a missing one rules you out
What to write	One example per criterion, in the order listed	An example where you have one. On NHS Jobs you can leave the box blank if you have none

What counts as evidence

Evidence means an example of what you did. The NHSBSA guide for applicants shows what the NHS Jobs form asks. In the essential box: "Tell us how you meet each of these criteria. If possible, give an example of how you put each into practice." In the desirable box: "Any examples should explain what you did and what the result was."

Other employers ask for the same thing in their own words:

• North Bristol NHS Trust says that stating you have worked in an admin role "might not be adequate for you to be successfully shortlisted", while explaining your duties and the experience you gained gives "a higher chance of being shortlisted for the role".
• HSC Northern Ireland: "The panel cannot make assumptions and will expect you to evidence how you meet the criteria by providing specific examples to demonstrate this." It adds: "It is not sufficient to answer 'Yes' or to write a general statement."
• University Hospital Southampton: "Don't assume that your job title or the organisation you worked for allows us to score you."

Some criteria have two parts, such as NHS Lothian's "Evidence of professional leadership and team working". HSC Northern Ireland says that where questions have more than one part "you must clearly evidence your response to all elements". Treat a criterion with "and" in it the same way and show both parts.

The shape of one answer

The three lines below are the structure. The lines after "Made up" are invented to show how much one line holds, so replace them with things that happened to you.

Criterion: "Experience of working in an admin role."

• When and where: the setting and the dates. Made up: the front desk of a dental practice, January 2024 to now.
• What you did: one task you handled yourself, in plain words. Made up: booked and moved appointments and sent the reminder texts.
• What happened: what changed for the customer, the team or the service. Made up: fewer missed appointments and a smoother start to the dentist's day.

Use the same three lines for a desirable criterion: the NHS Jobs prompt for that box asks what you did and what the result was.

Criteria not judged from the form

Some person specifications say how each criterion is judged: NHS Lothian's adds a "How assessed" key where A is the application form and I is interview, and every row of its Staff Nurse specification carries both. The person specification guide explains the codes row by row.

Before you submit

• Each essential criterion has its own example, in the order the form lists them.
• Each part of a criterion with "and" in it is covered.
• Each desirable criterion you meet has an example. Leave out the ones you do not meet and do not invent an example; on NHS Jobs the desirable box can stay blank if you have none.
• No line leans on a job title to speak for itself.

You can also check your draft against the person specification to see which criteria still have no example.