Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Interview Questions
& Process

I was supposed to have a physical interview, but I ended up doing it virtually since I was out of the country. The interview lasted about 30-40 minutes and was with my direct manager, who is a pharmacist technician, and also the pharmacist-in-charge.

I got to the interview 30 minutes early. I checked in at the reception and was asked to wait in an empty room. After 15 minutes, someone came, introduced herself, and gave me a tour of the department. Then, I was sent to the staff room to wait for the interview. Right on time, another person called my name and said she was part of the interview panel. When I got to the interview room, there were only two interviewers, not the three I was expecting based on the confirmation email. The interview was value-based, not very engaging, and quite short.

I applied for an Information Analyst position (Band 6) at St John Radcliffe hospital. The entire process took about 5 weeks and had 2 main stages. First was the online application where I had to input personal details, work history, and qualifications. The biggest part of this was using examples to show how I matched the person specification, which had 5 areas: personal attributes, communication, IT skills, experience, and education, covering both essential and desirable criteria. After applying on 29/01/17, I got an interview invite on 20/02/2017. The interview itself was quite long, about 2.5 hours in total. It was split into two parts: a 45-minute test on MS Access and Excel, followed by a 105-minute interview. For the test, they gave me a laptop with an Access database (4 tables) and an Excel sheet. I had to create links between the Access tables, run queries to get a specific output related to patient data, and then use the Excel data to answer questions about departmental costs. I also had to plan a dashboard, but not actually build it. The interviewers, two friendly people, had a list of questions ready. They started by asking what I could bring to the role, then spent about 15 minutes asking about the NHS and its structure, followed by competency questions focused on things like compromise, problem-solving, and managing priorities. They asked for an example of a mistake I made and how I handled it, and what my manager would say my weakness is. I didn't get an offer in the end, but I've asked for feedback to help others.

The whole hiring process is quite long, mainly due to regulations that require waiting for the ad closing date, then shortlisting, and then scheduling interviews, which usually takes about a month. The interview itself is very friendly and personal, with clear answers to your questions. You get to meet the team and see the workspace either before or after the interview. If you receive a conditional offer, there's still a waiting period of a few months before your start date because of security clearances, reference checks, and aligning induction schedules.