Once your application has been accepted you will most likely be invited for an interview. However, there may also be some other tests/ type of assessment you need to complete which we will also cover below.
The interview remains to most common way for employers to evaluate your suitability for the role and their organisation.
Many organisations still use a traditional interview. This means you can expect anything from:
Standard
There are plenty of standard interview questions still in use. These may cover areas such as:
How do I answer a “Tell me about yourself” question at a job interview?
Our answer:
It’s a good idea to find out before the interview what the employer is looking for. The job advert, job description or any other info they send you will give you some insights into this.
Some departments have a ‘person specification’ which will help you make sure tell them things which make it clear you fit with what they are looking for.
You can tell them about your most recent or current job with this awareness in mind. For instance, if you work in a hospital but have applied for a community based midwife role, emphasise the parts of your current job which make you suitable for the new one.
If the job information tells you they are looking for someone who is proactive about supporting women in the community or someone who is passionate about facilitating individual choice then make sure you can provide them with evidence of having done these things within your current role.
These questions may cover specific aspects of
The best way to be prepared for these types of questions is to make sure you are up to date with latest professional and political developments (e.g. reports, white papers etc), remain current with journals and industry publications, keep an eye on the news and the Trust/ Organisation’s website.
Our Midwifery Selection E-book covers everything you need to know about the interview stage, including Types of Questions to expect and Interview Do’s and Dont’s
Hypothetical questions will be along the lines of ‘what would you do if?’-
These questions are tricky because you have to think on your feet and speculate on what you might do in the situation described.
Another variation on this is the scenario based question. Here, you may be described a scenario or even given one in writing to read through. You are then asked to describe how you might deal with the situation. It’s very similar to the hypothetical style of questioning juts in more depth.
For more information on potential scenarios, and other types of interview question (and how to get the most out of your answers!) look here (link to product sign up to pre-order or register interest/ coming soon page)
You may not be told if this type of question will be included in your interview or not. It may form the bulk of your questions, or may not feature at all. All the same, it’s best to be prepared. You can do this quite easily by putting some time and effort into planning a few responses in advance.
What are these questions like?
You’ll be able to spot these questions because they will be phased like:
The thing these questions all have in common is that they are asking you to review your own experience and provide an example of when you did something in the past, which will form the bulk of your answer.
As it isn’t always easy to think about what you have done yourself when sat before an interview panel, having a few examples of times you have performed really well or made a difference at work can be useful to have up your sleeve!
