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band 5 nhs interview

13 replies

megrob · 08/07/2022 09:43

really nervous for job interview i have for band 5 nhs role in admin.

any advice on what questions i could be asked and examples/answers i could give. i am in a administrator role now

OP posts:
maxelly · 08/07/2022 10:29

Have a bit of a search, questions about NHS interviews do come up quite regularly. My advice would be read back over the advert and the person spec for the job (should be saved on your NHS jobs account), this should give you plenty of clues about what they are likely to ask you about. Usually there will be some introductory questions about you, your career history, why you want the role, your strengths and weaknesses/developmental points. There may be some technical questions about the software or systems they use in the role and your experience of using these or similar systems, about your experience/knowledge of relevant things like governance, meeting administration, budget management, HR or line management if required, safeguarding, equality and diversity. And there will probably be some more 'competency'/aptitude type questions on things like team-working, organisation and prioritization skills, customer service, problem solving, identifying and making improvements. When preparing for an interview, as well as thinking of well structured answers to questions like why I want the job and why I'd be a good fit for the role, I read through the person spec and make a list of what seem to be their top 5 - 10 qualities/competencies/skills they want and come up with a list of examples from my experience that demonstrate those - it doesn't have to be exactly one for one, e.g. an example about performance managing a difficult team member could be an answer for questions about line management, conflict resolution, leadership, problem solving etc. So if I haven't guessed exactly correctly what they'll ask I still have all my examples ready to go - I write each one out in a STAR format (situation, task, action, result) as this helps structure the answer and minimise nervous waffling or losing my train of thought.

Finally make sure to prepare some intelligent, interesting questions for the 'Any questions for us?' section, I always think that's a bit of a trick as it's not really the appropriate time to be asking the practical questions you want answers to like 'when will I hear back?', 'is there scope for salary/hours/flexible working negotiation' and so on, and more an additional chance to sell yourself as an enthusiastic and knowledgeable candidate - I tend to ask one question about the organisation such as asking about a new initiative or change programme I've seen on their website and then one more about the job itself or the team - e.g. whether it's a new role or existing and why is it vacant, is the team well-established or newly formed, that sort of thing.

Good luck!

maxelly · 08/07/2022 10:36

The other thing I'd say particularly if you suffer with interview nerves is a bit of fake it til you make it is required, act like a confident, relaxed person as far as you can even if that's not how you are feeling inside, so walk into the interview room with your head up, smile as you greet the interviewers, maintain good eye contact, don't twiddle with your pen or hair. Take a deep breath before answering each question and don't be afraid to take some time to think about your answer, don't feel obliged to leap straight in. I often use taking a sip of water or asking them to repeat the question to buy myself time to think about an answer to an unexpected question, it's OK also if you haven't understood to ask them to clarify or rephrase, NHS people are terrible for slipping into acronyms or jargon without even realizing it so it's totally fine to ask them what they mean by a certain term.

Everyone gets nervous for interviews (even the interviewers!) so do try not to worry too much, IMO it's much better if your answers are slightly stilted but clearly expressed and well structured than garbling out a really quick and detailed answer that's all over the place and hard to follow. That being said they likely do already believe you are capable of doing the role or they wouldn't have called you to interview so a large part of the rick is to convince them you would be a good colleague to work with and have a good attitude, a bit of nerves don't actually go amiss here as it shows you care (I much prefer that to an arrogant/cocky approach for sure!), just don't let it go so far you don't actually sell yourself to them!

Applesonstairs · 08/07/2022 12:28

@maxelly great advice there!!

megrob · 08/07/2022 14:30

@megrob what star you have been this is really helpful! thank you :-)

OP posts:
Rita2016 · 15/05/2023 23:13

Hi

just saw this old post hopefully you can help, how did your interview go? What questions did they ask I have an interview this week.

megrob · 16/05/2023 20:55

@Rita2016 Hi well i got the job and i am still doing it now. i thank @maxelly on here for the help and support they gave me. read through some of @maxelly responses on here :)

From memory as it was 6 months ago, they asked

what personal attributes do you have?
what skills can you bring to the role?
whats your knowledge on the network?
when have you had to deal with a difficult situation or person and how did you deal with this?
can you tell us of a time when you have contributed to a successful outcome and what was this and what was your imvolvement in this?
what new ideas/skills can you bring?
why shoukd we hire you?
If a patient requested to know the outcome of their results from recent tests etc how woukd you deal with this call?

there was couple of others but thats alls i can remember.

whats your interview for and when? best of luck - youll have to let me know how you get on.

I found mumsnet for advice extremely helpful!!!

OP posts:
Rita2016 · 16/05/2023 21:12

Thank you so much for your response much appreciated! I have an idea as I’ve been looking through old threads on here..it’s for a systems administrator band 5…
I really need this job as I have been made redundant 😞😞

megrob · 17/05/2023 23:13

awe im wishing you the best of luck. sorry to hear about the reduntancy. i have my fingers crossed for you. when is the interview?

OP posts:
Rita2016 · 18/05/2023 09:44

This morning and I’m freaking out lol.. over thinking things what they going to ask am I going to answer properly lol..

thank you xx

megrob · 03/07/2023 20:26

hi just wondered if you got the job or not? x

OP posts:
Rita2016 · 03/07/2023 20:32

Hello- how are you?

I didn’t unfortunately- I failed on the excel test lol the actually interview went really well from the feedback that was given was just the excel test that let me down- I’ve never really used it that much before so just kind of went with it and guessed lol..
even though I didn’t get a job with them they were happy to find me something else within there team but I decided not to go for it as it would of been a band 4 position but i have actually secured myself a job somewhere else which I start this Thursday..
thank you for your help and advice really appreciated it xx

Mohana95 · 13/09/2023 22:49

Hi, i got an interview on this 18th for band 5 administrator manager role in nhs, can you guys please help me what questions can be asked for in tray test and excel test? I asked them and they said its for 30 minutes.. I have seen this thread ..i am nervous and i really want this job..can anyone help me out??

chazbomb · 30/09/2023 11:14

@Mohana95 Hi, how did your interview go? I have an interview next week for a similar position and wondered if you could tell me what questions they asked? Feeling a bit nervous so just wanting to try and prepare myself as best I can.

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