NHS Ward Admin interview

[Lisaaas1]

I'm hoping someone may be able to help me prepare for a ward administrator interview I have next Wednesday at band 3. A couple of former colleagues who worked for the nhs previously mentioned I may be asked about managing priorities and workload and scenario based questions. Can I ask what are they really looking for with the answers given? organisational skills? calm under pressure? Often I find it's very difficult to define what they're looking for in these jobs. It's been years since I've interviewed and I understand the STAR method? is used as well. Can anyone help? please 🙏

I don’t work for the NHS, but when asked about prioritising, I say that I find I understand how to prioritise once I’ve been in the job a while, but early on I would ask if I wasn’t sure. If no one available to ask, I would use logic based on “what are the consequences if this isn’t done now”.

STAR is Situation Task Action Result....so basically they will ask you to tell them about a time something happened, you identified you needed to do something (and what you did) and what the (positive) outcome was.
It helps to tell it like a story with a beginning, middle and end, then you naturally give enough info without wandering off track

Thank you for your replies! What are employers really looking for from administrative staff in terms of prioritisation/deadlines/work conflicts/judgement to solve difficult tasks?

I guess it depends on the job, I work as an Administrator for the NHS but my job is probably totally different to the job you'd be doing! I'd say look at the job description and see if you can determine what kind of questions they would ask, IE what are the essentials and desirable strengths for the job? Put yourself in the position of actually doing the job too.

But what I WOULD say is that calm under pressure and putting the patient first are two attributes which will always be important.

Take the time to read through the person specification and JD a few times. NHS admin interviews are very ‘tick boxey’ and by mirroring their language and having their narrative in mind you will boost your overall interview score.

Oh and also learn/read that particular trusts mission statement.