First NHS Interview Didn’t Go Well…

[Lemonpie10489]

On Tuesday, I had my first interview for an NHS role as a newly qualified nurse. I’d spent several days preparing, but I completely stumbled on a couple of questions. They were really specialist, and I honestly had no idea what they were asking about - they felt well above NQN abilities/knowledge. I went in feeling relatively confident, but the interview ended up feeling more like a humiliation ritual. It’s really knocked my confidence.

I know I’m solid on the core nursing skills and the areas I’ve worked in, but some of the questions seemed so specific that I don’t think you could reasonably answer them unless you’d already worked in that particular specialist setting.

I won’t hear back until the end of the week, but to be honest, I’m not holding my breath, it’s likely a no. I did give good, detailed answers where I could, but with the questions I struggled on, I felt like I was floundering and probably came across as completely clueless and incompetent. Every time I think about the interview I cringe.

Just wondering if anyone else has had an experience like this, or if anyone has any words of encouragement?

I work in NHS recruitment. Interviewers really like interviewees to use the STAR technique for answers as it develops your answer. Use the JD/PS as your guide for what they will ask you in interview and build your answers in advance. Have a really strong answer for EDI, confidentiality, record keeping, prioritising your work, conflict management. Always ring up the hiring manager to have a conversation with them before you apply, and if you can visit the ward/team/service.

Really importantly, don’t judge yourself too harshly. Band 5 Nurse posts are a bit scarce at the minute due to NHS funding cuts, so there are 100’s of applicants for 1 job and often 20+ people are being interviewed.

https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/interview-advice/the-star-method

No wonder the NHS is a disastrous money pit if they interview 20 people for a role. That is woefully inefficient.

It’s based on recruitment done in a fair and equitable way. Where there are many applicants who have written excellent applications, there is a need to interview them. On the other hand, if you applied for a job and didn’t get an interview as no one read your application despite being well qualified and suitable, how would you feel?

I revised STAR and had a few examples ready which I used when I could - but some of the questions were just very specialist scenario based questions which I just did not have the right knowledge to answer well

Thanks for this! I had questions about confidentiality, safeguarding, and ones regarding patients struggling with diagnosis and how to support them appropriately - those ones I feel I answered with a good amount of depth, but a few just totally tripped up.

Yes I do understand the need to interview - but the questions were just out of my depth. I attended RCN and my universities interview prep sessions and learnt a lot, but it didn’t seem applicable to this interview and what they were asking.

Other NQN friends who have had interviews for roles and have all had similar questions which were covered by our training - managing conflict, safeguarding, strengths and weaknesses etc - but the questions I got were totally different. Maybe it just isn’t the right sort of role for me.

@Lemonpie10489hopefully you will find out tomorrow. If you aren’t successful, please ask for some formal feedback, as this may help you to look at which, if any areas, could be improved apon. Whatever happens, it’s so important to recognise that you got an interview, so you are writing decent applications. I have seen some very senior staff fall apart in interviews, and no one is judging, especially if this is your first qualified post.

Thanks, I appreciate this! Will keep applying for different roles and chalk it up to experience. They mentioned hearing back by the end of this week so will be nice to have some closure either way.

@Lemonpie10489it may also be the skill of the interviewer here, as it may be that their questions were too specific to area. In that case, it’s unlikely that anyone scored highly unless they were already working on the ward/had a student placement in that area.

Yeah, it did feel like it was set up more for someone who had a lot of experience working in the area. One of the questions was about medication interactions between two specialist medications - neither of which I’ve seen being used in placement yet. So I didn’t have much to say of value on that.