Recruitment Frequently Asked Questions

You can find out more about the job from the job description and person specification, which we include on each job page.

The job description and person specification describes what you will be required to deliver and what qualities, skills, knowledge and experience you need to have to deliver the key accountabilities. This will be the basis of the criteria we assess your suitability for the role against. All criteria listed will be essential unless otherwise stated.

We will only contact candidates who have been shortlisted for interview.  If you have not heard from us within 10 days of the closing date for the vacancy you have applied for this means you have not been successful on this occasion.

Please ensure that you confirm your attendance for interview and that you know where the interview is to be held and arrive in plenty of time. 

If there are any special arrangements needed for you to attend for and participate in the interview please ensure that you contact us as soon as possible so that suitable arrangements can be made. 

If you decide to withdraw your application at any point or not attend your interview, please let us know in advance. 

Following your interview, you will be contacted by us to advise you of the outcome. This will be done as soon as possible after the final interview has taken place. 

We only ask the successful candidate to provide ID documents and copies of certificates, so there is no need to bring these with you. 

You may wish to prepare some questions to ask at interview and also a memory jogger of skills and experiences you wish to bring to the interview panels attention.

Ordinarily we will continue with the interviews on the given day. However, we may contact you again should we not fill the vacancy from the first round of interviews. 

Please let us know as soon as you know you are unavailable so we can discuss options with you.

Before you attend your interview

When it comes to interviews, preparation is key. Your interview is your chance to show how suitable you are for the job. Here are some tips regarding preparation for your interview: 

• Research the role, the Practice, and the area you will be working in before your interview.
• It also worth reviewing our social media presence in addition to our website, as it tends to show a different side of our ‘personality’.
• Start to think about the key skills your interviewers might be looking for and the sort of questions they may ask you.
• Think about your key experiences as well, and about examples of when you have demonstrated the skills you want us to know about.
• This is also the perfect time to think about a personal pitch, and to practice and perfect a quick summary about you, and what you offer. You can use your personal statement as a useful platform for this.

At the interview

The following are some useful tips regarding the interview process, which will hopefully be helpful to you: 

• Use positive communication – both through your words and your body language – to begin to build rapport with your interviewer and put both of you at ease.
• Make sure you greet the interviewers with a handshake and smile.
• Sit forward in your chair rather than slouch; show that you’re listening and that you understand; and use eye contact – but not too much – to engage.
• Almost everyone feels at least a little nervous in an interview, and more than a few of us get serious nerves. Using positive body language and behaviour can be a great shortcut to help you feel and appear more comfortable and confident. 

Answering the questions

Think about the following when answering questions in your interview:

• Be honest. Focus on what you’ve done, and let your experience speak for itself – we chose to speak to you, so remember that you have something we’re looking for.
• Take your time to answer the questions, and let your interviewer know if you need to take a moment to think through your answer.
• If you feel yourself talking too quickly, make a conscious effort to take a deep breath to try and slow your speech down.
• If your hands are shaking, try pressing them against each other.

No two interviews are the same, and there are a number of different styles and approaches in common use by organisations to explore if you have the right skills and aptitude to join them. At Frome Medical Practice we often use competency based interview questions - that is, questions where we ask you to tell us about a real time when you were in a specific kind of situation, and what you did to resolve it.

When you’re facing this type of question, make sure you build your answer around one particular occasion that you experienced, and focus on what action you personally took. You could use the STAR technique to structure your answers:

• Situation: Briefly set the scene so that your interviewer understands the context
• Task: What did you need to achieve?
• Action: What did you actually do? This should make up the meat of your answer
• Result: What was the outcome? Make sure it’s appropriate to the question

The chair of the recruiting panel will let you know, at interview, when they expect to make a decision. If you haven’t heard by that time, unfortunately this means you have been unsuccessful. If you would like feedback on your interview please let us know.

If you are successful in the selection process, we’ll make you an offer, subject to pre- employment checks, and discuss a provisional start date with you. 

Clearly at this stage we are expressing our wish for you to join our team - however we want this to be the right move for you as well as for us.  So take the time you need to consider whether the role and our organisation is the right one for you before you commit.

What are pre-employment checks?

These will always include verification of right to work in the UK, verification of employment history including references covering a minimum of three years, satisfactory medical clearance, and where appropriate verification of relevant qualifications and a satisfactory criminal record check. 

Your first referee should be your line manager, supervisor, director or HR lead from your current or most recent employer. Your second referee should be from a previous employer, business associate or organiser of a voluntary organisation. 

If you have periods of self-employment, education or voluntary work, you should enter details of a main contractor/user of services, supervisor or tutor. 

We do not normally accept references from friends, relatives or colleagues.

References are obtained to verify your suitability for employment but only after we have made a conditional offer of employment.

This section of the Application Form will only be viewed by those who need to see it as part of the recruitment process. Any information disclosed will be treated as strictly confidential. The presence of a criminal record will not necessarily prevent employment with the Practice.

If the post involves access to some of our sensitive systems and data, then we will carry out a basic check.

If the post you are offered is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (i.e. involves working with children or vulnerable adults, or is in the healthcare profession, legal profession, law enforcement or accountancy profession), then we will carry out a standard or enhanced check using the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Where the position meets the criteria for an enhanced criminal record check and involves ‘regulated’ activity, the disclosure will include information held against the barred lists for working with children and/or working with adults and any restrictions to that barring. 

If your conviction is recent or relevant to the job, then you may be asked to explain the surrounding circumstances to address any concerns. The practice will not deny an otherwise qualified applicant employment because of a criminal conviction that may be old or not relevant to the job or may have occurred in particular circumstances.

All applications include questions to support diversity, equity and inclusion. This information is not used during the recruitment process but used for reporting purposes. All applications are anonymised as part of the shortlisting process so no unconcious bias can be applied by the hiring managers.

If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please ensure that you contact us as soon as possible.

We are a Disability Confident employer. As part of our committment to this we will automatically interview applicants with a disability, if they meet all the essential criteria on the person specification.

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