I knew the contact who was recruiting the role (6 month interim contract) and asked if they would give me some guidance as to whether I would be a match and if it was worth applying to the role. They just told me to apply on line - the application process was arduos and took me about 3 hours to complete with very specific questions about my experience and working style. Having completed it I received a standard rejection email 4 weeks later telling me I wasn't right but because they had too many applicants they couldn't give me any feedback - frankly if you expect people to put that sort of time and effort into an application you should have the good manners to give them more than that!