HCA job interview advice

[Lubilu02]

Hi, I have a job interview this week as a bank Healthcare Assistant. I'm so excited and nervous as it is something I've been really wanting to do for a long time and,due to children, am finally in a position to pursue.

I just want to go in fully prepared, I have no experience other than life and raising a good few children.

I've just completed a course with them which covers all the basic understanding of care etc which I'm sure will help.

If someone could just give me some pointers on things to focus/ read up on it be incredibly grateful.

Thankyou in advance! X

Safeguarding
Consent
Mental Capacity Act
Person Centred Values
Dignity in care
Confidentiality

These are broad suggestions … there may be more specific ones depending on area you are going into …Good Luck!!!

Thankyou VioletMcRobins for your thoughts. I will certainly go back over and make sure I feel confident about discussing all those topics.

It's going to be in a hospital setting, to begin with I believe.

Think about your answers to "what would you do if a neighbour asked you to look up their medical records"
"What would you do if a nurse handed you a pot of pills and asked you to make sure Mrs X got them?"
(I used to interview HCAs, these were some of the questions.)

Make sure it comes across that you are keen to be helpful but absolutely able to stand up for yourself and know when to say No.

Good luck! A good HCA is very special - they'll be very keen to have you.

Try and throw in deliver person centred care, therapeutic relationships. Escalate any concerns. Your own wellbeing is important and coming up in interview questions, say you would value days off, access supervision, peer supervisions, training to develop your role, to try and avoid burnout x

If you haven't already done it read up about the Care Certificate. We want all of our newly starting HCA to complete it if they haven't already x

I'd echo the comments above. They need to know above all your a safe worker, not over or under confident. That your a good worker, team player but can also work alone. Willing to learn.
Dc had an interview last year and found the best thing was watching some YouTube videos (nhs band 2 hca job interviews) that go through what answers they were looking for. Dc got the job on 18th birthday with no prior experience (and loves it). The questions were mostly scenarios.
Good luck.

All of the above, plus look up the values and behaviours of the organisation and be ready to talk about them and give examples of how you live by them.

These are all wonderful answers to help me! Thankyou to all who have taken the time to reply, it's very much appreciated x

If NHS Google the relevant trust and their behaviours and values - they will always ask a question about how you have / could demonstrate them.

Or look up the values of the organisation. If you Google there are loads of example questions etc. Have a planned answer for them. Questions will often be scenario based. Good luck!

By some miracle I got the job! Despite how nervous I was and was sure I fluffed the answers up as a result!

They said they liked my personality and positive attitude and it must have counted for just as much. I had already shown I had the ability to learn.
Thankyou to all of those who took the time to reply!
Goes to show, if you want things enough and show you are willing to put in the hard work, good things will happen!
Good luck to anyone else who finds themselves in my position, you can do it!

Congratulations @Lubilu02 🎉🎉