With the national exam there is room to think about the job series after registering. Local exams are different. The moment you choose a region, the other sixteen close, because they sit on the same day.

Yet many candidates make this decision last. Trying to settle it within days of the notice appearing means missing things that should have been checked.

1. The residence requirement — by when must you meet it?

Local exams apply a residence requirement. For the region you intend to sit in, you must meet the condition on the basis of your registered address, and the reference point is the closing date for applications.

Mistakes happen here. Moving your address just before the exam is too late. The condition must already be met on the closing date. If you plan to sit in a different region, you have to count backwards from the date you move in.

Some authorities also have provisions recognising a past residence history. That means you may be eligible even if it is not your current address, so it is worth reading that clause in the notice before giving up.

2. The number of places — national figures are meaningless

Local recruitment is announced in separate notices by authority. For the same job series, one region may recruit in double figures while another takes one or two.

Where places are few, the ratio swings widely. A difference of a few people can double it. So for regions and series with small intakes, the previous year's figure cannot simply be trusted.

3. Schedules — Grade 9, Grade 7 and offices of education differ

Schedules diverge even within local recruitment. The Grade 9 and Grade 7 open competitions fall on different days, and posts under an office of education (education administration and so on) have a different registration schedule and a different administering body again.

Without that distinction you either miss an opportunity or, conversely, fail to see that you could prepare for two exams whose dates do not clash.

4. Job series — which ones exist differs by region

Not every authority recruits the same series. Depending on local administrative needs, there are years in which a particular series is not recruited at all.

If your series is settled, the range of regions open to you may be narrower than you think. Conversely, adjusting the series can widen the options.

5. Interviews and bonus points — run differently by region

The stages after the written exam are not standardised either. Interview format and how marks are allocated are designed differently by authority. The scope of bonus points for qualifications also has to be checked in the notice.

As with the national exam, a good written score can still be overturned at interview. The structure of interview assessment is set out in Interview.

When to decide

1. At the point you start preparing, narrow the candidate regions to two or three. Residence requirements make late changes difficult.
2. Look up notices from the last few years to see whether that region recruits your series consistently.
3. Decide whether you need to move address and, if so, count backwards from the application closing date and act.
4. As soon as that year's implementation notice appears, check the places, schedule and eligibility conditions against your plan.

In summary

Local recruitment is an exam with something to decide before you study. The whole country sits on the same day, so you get one card, and that card is tied to a residence requirement. So do not defer the decision while waiting for the notice — narrow the region and the series early. By the time you try to change it, there is no longer time to meet the conditions.