Health visiting
Preparing for your interview
If you are short-listed you will be invited to interview. You need to allow for the whole day to be spent at the university. Read your invitation carefully and bring all the required documentation. If you don’t do this your application may be compromised.
There will be a presentation to all the applicants explaining the course and the expectations of university and practice. You will be asked to work on a scenario of a situation that you might encounter as a student health visitor, and then you will be interviewed. The interview panel will include a tutor from the university, managers from the NHS Trust you have applied to, and a practice teacher.
The interview is the chance to really convince us that you are right for health visiting and for us to be clear that the course is right for you. You need to prepare well for the interview. If you do this you can be more confident that you will be able to answer the questions, and believing that should help you feel less nervous.
Some hints for the interview:
- Think about practicalities and plan what to wear; travel arrangements etc.
- Look back at your application. You may be asked to expand on things that you included, or to explain why you think they are relevant to health visiting.
- Think about how you will explain why you want to become a health visitor and what it is you are bringing to the role. What opportunities does it offer you?
- You will be asked questions about health visiting and public health. Prepare by reading current policy documents, talking to health visitors and looking at research about the impact of health visiting practice. We want to know that you can find relevant information as well as being able to tell us about it.
- You will be asked questions about your previous academic study, and what you think will be required of you from the academic side of the course. There are a range of things you may be asked including detail of how you carry out an electronic literature search, how you manage competing deadlines, how you prefer to learn, how you see your responsibility for your own learning, and what kind of support you think you will need.
- Think about how non-verbal communication can convey positive impressions. Eye contact, body posture, voice, facial expression and appearance all contribute to the level of interest and general impression that you convey.
- The interviewers are not trying to catch you out, they are trying to give you the opportunity to tell them the things they need to know.
- The interview is also an opportunity for you to ask questions, and to give additional information that supports your application, so make sure you have thought about this in advance.
To gain a place on the course you have to be offered a place by both the university and the NHS Trust separately. You will receive a letter from each. If both accept you then you will be offered a place. Any conditions attached to the offer will be identified. In the event that the course is oversubscribed you may be offered a deferred university place or put on a waiting list.
If you are unsuccessful you will be able to gain feedback from either the university, or the Trust, or both, as appropriate, to help you with future applications.
