Article one of three looked at practical tips and guidance in building your experience and helping find the job that you want. If you have not read the previous article, you can view it here. At this point, we hope that you are feeling confident in looking for available roles within the Gastroenterology field. We are now going to give you a step-by-step guide to ensure your application stands out and leads to an interview. Your application is your first and possibly only contact with a possible employer – so you must get it right. 

PART 2

Job Application

Read the Job Description and Person specification

When shortlisting, employers will try first to match job description and person specification to your application, so it is important to read it carefully and reflect: is this a role you consider yourself to be a good candidate for, with your current knowledge, skills and ambition? Would it be a role you are particularly motivated about, for which you would be ready to work hard and invest in developing the required skills, with support? If you have answered “yes” to any of the above questions, then proceed with your application. Read it carefully and complete all the sections.

In your application, you have to demonstrate you have the knowledge, experience and skills required for the role. 

“Copy / paste” of your current Job description shows lack of dedication to the application; you must instead objectively inform on your current duties, link these to the best practice guidelines and subsequent acquisition of knowledge and experience relevant for the role you ambition. Clear and objective examples of how you dealt with common troubleshooting may also be used. When giving examples, you may use the STAR framework, as per HEE (b) advice:

• Situation or Task – what was the context and what were you being asked to do
• Action – what you did to achieve this
• Result – what was the outcome or result, e.g., money or time saved, better customer service, patient care, staff morale etc”

Remember: 

• keep it objective and interesting: there will be many applicants focusing on the most common skills, but only a few know about best practice standards and are able to show how guidelines direct their duties. 
• Keep it honest: an application is a legal document. 
• Never use the same application twice: ask for feedback when your application is not successful. Review it, adapt it and then submit it again – this demonstrates you have learnt with it.

Use bullet points and/or subheadings to present the above, it certainly will make your application easier to read and help the recruiters finding what they are looking for.

Respect any specific instructions given on the job advert and person specification on your application. These may include certain qualifications and/or courses - if this is the case, you should work your way backwards and list them from the most recent to the oldest.

“Supporting Information” section

This section’s aim is to sell yourself: your strongest qualities, your capacity to reflect on your practice and why you are the best candidate. Summarise how you match the person specification and how your experience links to the job description. Keep it brief and interesting – ask a colleague to proofread it and offer some feedback. Your colleague should feel persuaded to invite you to the interview.

In this section, you should also show you are aware of the Trust values and offer information regarding employment gaps, research, education (i.e. courses, conference attendance) and link roles in your department (i.e. infection control). 

References

Your referees should cover a period of 3 years and it should include your current line manager. You should let them know you have given them as referees as they will be sought if your application is successful. You should specify if you would be happy for them to be contacted prior to the interview or only after.  

Submit your application

Read your application once again; remember, you can always save it and come back to it. Do not rush. Check for accuracy, objectivity, dates; ask for feedback of a friend or a senior colleague. Only submit your application once you are pleased that you have given it your best.

If you have not been shortlisted, seek feedback on how to improve your application. Prepare yourself for the next opportunity – do not lose hope! 

If you have been shortlisted… Congratulations. Allow yourself to celebrate!

Interviews

Preparation is key for a successful interview.

Consider an informal visit 

Having learnt about the ambitioned role and your employer (what they do and what sets them apart from the other), it is now time to consider if this potential workplace environment is right for you. An informal visit is thus an opportunity not to be missed.  Details on how to request informal visit may be found on the job advert.

On the informal visit, ask questions about the role, learning opportunities and what support is available. Observe the working environment: the space itself, equipment available and organizational culture (i.e., how patients are greeted, how the professional team interacts with you). Think about your expectations and reflect if you see yourself happy in this environment. 

When interacting with patients and staff, you should be always professional, positive and with a smile.

The above will cause a good first impression in your employer who will see a professional who focus on the patient and knows about the role and how he wishes to develop it.

Speak to colleagues already doing the role and study for the interview

Speaking to colleagues who are already on the role may provide you an insight about what exactly their role entails, gaps in your skills, training availability, current service, and professional development challenges (i.e. backlogs, lack of funding for training…), among others.

Whether you already have the required experience for the ambitioned role or feel you have the potential for it, being up to date with relevant knowledge and guidelines is of particular value for the interview. Ask the colleagues if there is a particular guideline covering the most common complications, practices and/or quality standards. While you will not be able to study them all and/or be able to automatically apply them to your practice, you must know what the role clinically involves in order to answer the interview questions correctly. Showing you are willing to invest personal time for studying purposes and can learn from it, may make the difference against other candidates who, whilst they have experience, they lack knowledge and/or willingness to learn new practices.

Networking with other colleagues may also give you insight into different ways of doing the same role, with subsequent questions. You may ask these to the panel at the end of your interview.

The above steps will put you in a comfortable position to identify gaps between your current capabilities and the requirements for the role - think on how you may address these at your interview. Once again, past examples of how you bridged this gap will help the panel see you are serious about your work.

Think about what questions you may be asked during your interview and consider possible answers. Again, speaking to colleagues already doing the role may provide valuable insight. Practice these interview questions with colleagues and/or friends who can offer senior feedback. Stay truthful to yourself when replying to these questions – overstating skills and experience may work against you.

Before the day of the interview, review the job description, person specification and your application. Make sure you rest well and pack water and biscuits/sweets/chocolates to take with you.

On the day of your interview

First impressions count.

Hence, take care of how you will present yourself. Dress professionally and well groomed, to show you take your work seriously. Your appearance reflects in a way the standards of care you provide. Moreover, your employer will certainly adhere to NHS uniform policy, which demonstrates not only a focus on patient safety and staff comfort, but also improves patient confidence in quality standards of care.

Arrive early to your interview. Check in advance your commute and leave home earlier, to account for any delays and/or yourself getting lost. Switch off your phone.

During the interview, it is only natural to feel nervous - find confidence in knowing the interviewing panel is interested in knowing you better. They have recognised in your application the skills they are looking for, so focus on just giving your best. If you are starting to ramble, make a 3-second pause before each reply to breathe.

Look each panel member in the eye and listen carefully to their questions. Similarly, to your application, be honest and show how your knowledge, skills and experience suit the role and their Trust Values. Take your time in each question and keep your answers brief and concise. 

If you don’t understand a question, don’t panic. Simply ask for further explanation / clarification or repeat the question back to the panel, in your own words, to check that your understanding of it is correct.

If you still don’t know the right answer to it, you may compliment the panel by stating “That is a great question” and ask for a minute to think about it. Silences in interviews are to be respected - one does not have to fill it with lengthy or unclear answers. Use this minute instead to deconstruct the question in your mind (i.e. what they are asking for, what could it mean in terms of practice, what would be the right steps in that context, who would I ask for help…). Reply as honestly as you can. 

This may be even admitting that you do not know the answer to the question, which you can counteract with an explanation of how you would deal with it (i.e. I do not know the answer, but I could find it by seeking advice from my manager, clinical lead, senior nurse, clinical guidelines, HR policies…). This shows problem-solving skills. No one knows everything and humility is to know when to respect your limits and seek advice / help.

Honesty is very important in an interview as the employer is checking if you’d be a good fit for the team – overconfidence and/or overexaggerating experience and skills, rambling instead of not actually replying to the questions, may cost you dear.

At the end of the interview, you may ask questions to the panel. Think about these in advance, based on your informal visit and chat with colleagues already on the role. 

You may also ask when you’d be expecting to hear the outcome of the interview and if any feedback could be provided if you’re not successful. 

If you are chosen for the role, you will receive instructions on the following steps.

If this was not yet your time, learn from the feedback provided and be ready for your next opportunity. 

Author Biography

Sara Santos MSc Advance Nursing

Senior Nurse Endoscopist at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, competent in diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy:

• OGD/TNE
• Colonoscopy
• BRAVO

Collaboration on the 2WW lower GI cancer pathway and training clinical endoscopists.
Member of the BSG Nursing Association and Gastrointestinal Nursing Magazine.