To find NHS interviews very difficult

[Irecan]

Hi,

I am looking for a new job within the NHS, I have had two interviews already for two different jobs and have been unsuccessful. First one was a hard no but got great feedback. Second one, I tried to do better and it seems I did because the feed back I got was I was ‘appoint-able but didn’t score high enough.’ Apparently I only scored 2-3 out of 4 for most questions. There was a lot of questions and they told me how much time I had at the beginning (45 for the first and 30 for the second) so I was keeping this in mind and knew I had about 4-5 minutes to answer each question but as they were looking for more in depth answers it seems near impossible to give high score answers in this space of time. I have another interview coming up and really want the job…

Anyone have any advice? It’s for a band 5 role and will working directly with patients face to face in a healthcare setting. I find it difficult to structure on the spot even using the STAR method.

Sounds frustrating for you. Is it a myth then the NHS cannot find enough staff for all the thousands of vacancies? Surely if you are qualified for the role, come across as a reasonable person and don't have 2 heads, that should be it?
I expect there are too many HR staff trying to justify their existence. Is there usually a lot of competition for this role?

Problem is its not based on your personality or work ethic, it is about the points you score and how many buzz words you can mention.

Worth looking up what areas they would like mentioned?

This! Have the job description and person spec, make sure you understand what the role really entails (might be worth ringing first for informal chat), use the right words and reflect the trust values

YANBU. I've given up even trying to get an interview for an NHS role (fit everything on job spec). Too many times ive done the ridiculously long application process to hear nothing... then I always hear how there's thousands of vacancies and they're struggling and feel a bit like meh 🤷‍♀️

It's a nightmare. And their references are even worse!! I abandoned my job offer. It was impossible to jump through all the hurdles as I had a 6 month employment gap.

My friend is going through it right now. She's just about given up on the entire thing x

Yes! absolutely the same experience!

They need Jezebel Hunt to sort it out 😂 he'd be fuming.

If you're already in the NHS ask a senior colleague to look over your application and do a mock interview with you. There are often questions that come up time and again, maybe phrased slightly differently but they'll be assessing the same things. Also look up the 6Cs and ensure you demonstrate them in your answers.

It's silly rubbishing the NHS staffing crisis because someone got beaten to a job... If you apply for one vacancy and there are 3 appointable candidates, there's still only money for one member of staff!

It can be difficult. I interviewed this week and only one person had read the job specifications and knew that the job involved. Three people with Masters turned up and told me that “they were confident they could do the job” with no proof they understand what the job entailed. They were massively over qualified on paper but really underwhelming in interview. My advice would be to carefully research what the job entails and give really good examples of how you already do that. Also, mention patients often, how the job benefits patients and families. It’s really important to come across as empathetic towards patients, relatives and your team. The people I rejected talked a great deal about their Microsoft skills but nothing about patient safety which was at the heart of this job. Good luck.

The thing with interviews is, you only know how you performed.
You may, or in my case, may not, come out feeling you did well, but, you have no idea how the other candidates did.
And if just one of them did better than you, they'll get the job.
The most senior NHS post that I ever applied for, I had a terrible interview.
I was rubbish (though interviews were never my strength).
I did get the job - but only because there were no other applicants!
On the positive side - I was very good at my job.

Another thing. Our trust spend half the questions making sure to your values and behaviours are aligned with the the trusts. Make sure you go on the website and read them thoroughly. When we ask about handling difficult situations we don’t want your first instinct to be to report someone to management. We want you to approach it with empathy and understand what the other person might be going through. To talk to them calmly and privately. This all sounds obvious but I had three candidates this week who would all just report issues to a superior and they all lost marks on that.

Ex NHS HR Director.

You need a portfolio of examples, in STAR format, that you can draw upon from memory. This takes preparation and practice. If you’re leaving it till the interview to decide what you’re going to say you’ll not get full marks in any competency based interview.

The JD and person spec tell you everything they are likely to ask you. How are you preparing?

Are you focussing on “I” in your responses or are you “we”ing a lot?

The nhs has to advertise for roles even if they have someone in mind for the job. I once spent ages preparing for an interview to find out afterwards they already had someone perfect for the job (a promotion for someone already working in department.) The advertisement and interviews of other candidates were just box ticking to show fair process.

What kind of role is it, OP?

Nursing, AHP?

Basically- sometimes don’t take it personally!

Not true. Very very often the internal person doesn’t get it. Causes chaos as a result. They usually assume they are going to get it and do less prep than external candidates which isn’t clever when it’s the interview performance that determines the outcome.

@OnceAgainWithFeeling a colleague of mine once interviewed whilst feeding her baby and was totally unprofessional. Because she was great friends with the interviewers and already worked with them she thought it was a done deal.

it wasn't!

Ah glad I’m not the only one, the funny thing is in both interviews they said they knew I was genuinely passionate and interested in the job and they said normally that’s harder to come by, they also said I knew the role inside out. It’s such a long and tiring process to even get to interview stage, I had to write a long personal statement (1000 words or so) and then the interviews are just so rigid.

Yes, I've recently joined the NHS and there's been loads of roles recently where they've hired externally instead of internal applicants. Has not gone down well with our workforce.

@ProseccoOnIce an assistant Psychologist job

I've just secured a band 5 admin job and started in December after several knock backs. I would say you need to really prepare, write down questions and think of answers, practice and practice the answers so that on the day nothing is being guessed. Really look at the job and person spec and align your answers to it along with their trust values. Don't ever give generic examples, give specifics and tell the story. Good luck! Don't be disheartened just yet

Assistant psychologist posts are notoriously difficult to get afaik. I don't think that's particular to NHS roles though??
If you want to work in the NHS, you have to play their interview game though 🤷

And don't assume someone internal will get it, I got this job over an internal applicant (someone on bank already doing the role) it caused an awkward conversation with a few people but only briefly. Go in assuming your the best person!

I have had that before where they ask lots of questions and you have to give a sizeable answer (well, one containing at least four points worth of stuff) to each, but they haven't allocated enough time to the interview to allow this. E.g. 6 questions in a 30 minute interview where often all the interviewers like to chip in on each question and their intro alone takes at least 5 minutes.

Now I just answer in full and let them worry about the time. I don't mean ramble, but I mean - let them manage the timing of the interview. Sometimes the interview has overrun by 5 or 10 minutes but (honestly as someone who has planned interviews) that's often expected/built in, and I've never missed out on getting a job because of it.

I'm not in the NHS but have had a similar points system - here usually that 4th point is answering with something "extra". So if they said something like "what do you think is positive/negative about using X" then the 3 points would be gettable by answering the question well, but perhaps the 4th point would be for saying something like "but that's assuming that X is the right way to do it in the first place, as you know many trusts are now running trials of Y instead and that might be of benefit to some of our patients" etc etc. If that makes sense. Doesn't help those of us who try hard to "please" the interviewers by sticking rigidly to answering the question asked, but if you know it's a thing then you can do it perfectly well.

If you want to work in the NHS, you have to play their interview game though 🤷

And the referencing game....