My interview went " okay" but didn't get the job.

[malificent7]

NHS band 5 here. Desperate to get training post for band 7.
I didn't get the job. Apparently my interview went "okay." The other candidates were exceptional.
This is the 2nd such interview i have been rejected for.
It has knocked my confidence as 3 of my peers have cruised straight into their band 7 training from a band 5.
I got a first, I have great practical skills but I suck at interviews and was bullied badly in my first post graduate post.

Any words of advice? Would career mentoring help?

Have you asked for feedback from the interview? Was there anything specific the panel raised that you could improve?

Can you ask your peers who were successful how they answered the interview questions, see where you may be going wrong. Ask for proper feedback from the interviewers. Saying your interview went okay and that others were exceptional doesn’t help you to develop and improve on your answers next time. What is the role you are applying for?

What role is this? I’ve never heard of a band 5 jumping to band 7. Do you need specific skills for this that you may be lacking. Did they give you any realistic feedback with areas you need to work on?

Sonographer from radiographer

I did. I had years of experience and had taken on some ‘band 6’ responsibilities in my band 5 role ( I offered). There were no band 6 s available at that time in my area of work. Perhaps this is something you could put yourself forward to do op? It may help with the interview for a band 7 next time.

I'm gutted as it's what I really want to do

Unfortunately if interviewing is part of their recruitment processes you're just going to have to get really good at interviewing.

Plenty of Youtube resources, and you could seek out a real life mentor who has been successful or who interviews people themselves.

Ask for a specific feedback on the things you could improve. And practise, practise, practise. Record yourself, do it in the mirror, keep going until you're a natural!

Ask for feedback, ask for help, ask what you can do to bridge the gap.

Enthusiasm and commitment can count for a lot

Asked for specific feedback but no answer yet.
On reflection I was a bit gutted that the lovely resources I prepared for them to look at to back up the set question answers were not even acknowledged let alone looked at. I presented them with a file with xarefully researched posters that back up my answer and they didn't say anything.
One of the interviewers was a bit sneery too so I reckon I've dodged a bullet.

I presented them with a file with xarefully researched posters that back up my answer

Is this part of the interview requirements?

If not, this would actually raise a concern for me. In a recent interview I conducted, the applicant mentioned their MA thesis in an answer (fine). They then wanted to talk at length about it & attempted to show it to us.

He wasn't doing well anyway but he certainly wasn't getting the role after that.

It's really important that you prepare for the interview based on what you are asked to do, and meet those thresholds.

Feedback should be helpful to see if this might be an issue.

It was to support my set answers. So for example , I said, bold, bright posters should be used and made an example and talked through it but i guess that was superfluous as they asked for notes but not example posters.

Just out of interest,why does it raise concern? Is it just a time time wasting exercise?

In this context that sounds fine, I think.

With your update, that sounds reasonable.

In my example, it was completely off the brief for the interview & it spoke to someone who couldn't appraise a situations & who would be unmanageable in a team.

But if you were asked about posters & to give details, what you did sounds relevant. (Seems a strange focus for the role but you'll know best about that).

I think just getting scores & going from there with feedback should help.

OP, how do you prepare for interviews? Do you record yourself answering questions? That can be a really helpful way to gauge how you sound/come across - when I did it I noticed how many times I said ‘um’ and ‘er’ and realised it made me sound a bit uncertain, so I made an effort to try and cut these down in my answers. Also a mock interview with a friend (or even better, colleague in similar field) can be really helpful in identifying things which might be affecting the outcome.