Interview
NB - For ease of use, within this page it will be assumed that the reader has been invited to an ST3 interview, hence the use of 'you', 'your', etc. However, it should of course not be taken as read that all candidates will receive an invitation.
The second part of your application to ST3 is the interview - sometimes referred to as 'assessment/selection centre'. Here you will be asked a series of questions by clinicians at different interview stations, and will have your documentation verified and assessed to confirm your eligibility and the achievements noted on your application.
The content of the interview is designed to review in full your skills and experience, and to give as accurate as possible a picture of your suitability for the ST3 post to which you have applied. Here, you will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their strengths to a greater degree than that afforded by the application form.
The various stages of the interview process are as below:
‹ Qualifying for interview ›
Once submitted, applications will be assessed for eligibility ('long-listed'), and eligible applications will then be scored in more detail ('short-listed').
Depending on the particular model of recruitment being used by each specialty, applications may then be cascaded across deaneries - please visit the recruitment models page of this website for more information.
Within each deanery/UoA, all eligible applications to that specialty will be ranked from highest-scoring to lowest. Candidates will be invited to interview in order of ranking (highest-ranking first, then second-highest, and so on); the number of candidates invited will be constrained by deanery/UoA interview capacity.
In the event that your application does not score highly enough for you to be interviewed at, it will not progress to the interview stage.
As suggested elsewhere, all applications submitted to participating ST3 specialties in 2012 are regarded as entirely independent of each other - so the chances that one of your applications will result in you being invited to interview will not be affected by any other applications you may have made.
‹ Invitation to interview ›
If your application is found to be eligible, and subsequently scores highly enough within a particular deanery/UoA for you to be invited to interview, they will email you to invite you to interview. To view the different deanery/UoA interview dates for each specialty, please visit the interview dates page of this website.
Each deanery/UoA will circulate invitations once they have completed long- and short-listing; but please do be aware that the speed with which invitations are sent can vary between, and even within deaneries, for a number of factors (such as deanery/specialty size, how soon interviews are scheduled, etc.)
Where possible, all candidates will be given a minimum of five days' notice before their interview date; although in some instances, if an interview slot becomes available at short notice, then invitations will still be sent to candidates. Please be aware that upon receiving an invitation to interview, there will be a stated deadline by which you must book your interview slot, otherwise the place may be offered to another candidate.
‹ Booking interview slots ›
Once you have received an invitation to interview, you will be able to book into an interview slot via your candidate portal. Once you have logged in, the available (remaining) timeslots will be presented on your portal; to select a slot, click the one you wish to book and then click on 'Submit Choice'. Following this, you will receive an email confirming your booking.
If you encounter any difficulty booking your interview online, please contact the deanery/UoA at which you are trying to book your interview, as they will be able to schedule the interview slot on your behalf.
In the event that you are not able to attend your interview at the scheduled date/time, you should contact the hosting deanery/UoA as soon as you are aware of this - be it for ill health, other commitments, a wish to withdraw your application, etc.
‹ Preparing for interview (inc evidence & eligibility folders) ›
At interview, you will be required to take a sizable amount of documentation with you to support your application. This will fall into two distinct categories - 'eligibility' and 'evidence' documentation - and you must take two separate 'folders' to keep the two types of documentation distinct.
If possible, please use lever-arch folders for these - or some form of folder which will allows interviewers to quickly view the contents within.
In addition, where you can please mark out your folders with dividers to allow interviewers to locate particular items more quickly - eg if you wish to refer to a particular achievement/qualification/etc., it will help both you and the interview panel if they can view the relevant item more swiftly.
While this may seem unimportant, in previous years interviewers have noted that in many cases, the checking of candidate documentation has been difficult and time-consuming in some cases where folders have been badly organised.
As time at each interview station is very short (relatively), the less time spent searching for documentation and the more spent in discussion between you and the interviewers, the better your chance of picking up marks at the station.
‹ Eligibility Folder ›
Eligibility documents are those which demonstrate your eligibility to take up an ST3 post, in line with the essential criteria laid down in the person specification.
We advise you to place these into a folder, so as to keep this type of documentation separate from others; this will be referred to as the 'Eligibility Folder'.
The necessary documentation is listed below; in each case, it is necessary to include an original version of the document where possible, along with two photocopies of each document, which the deanery/UoA will retain.
‹ Confirmation email ›
Once you have been invited to interview and subsequently booked your interview slot, the deanery/UoA at which you will be interviewed will send you an email to confirm your booking and interview times etc.
You should print out that email, and use this to confirm your application ID number(s). Also, please take two photocopies/further print-outs of that email in your folder for the deanery/UoA to retain.
‹ Passport photographs ›
Please take with you to interview two standard, 'passport' photographs (approx size = 35mm x 45mm); both of these will be retained by the deanery.
‹ Personal identification documents ›
You will also need to provide either two forms of photographic identification (not including the passport photographs above), such as passport, photocard driving licence, national ID card, etc. and one document showing proof of address - such as a recent utility bill, bank/building society statement;
Or: one form of photo ID and two proof-of-address documents.
Candidates should also provide two photocopies of each document used, again for the deanery/UoA to retain.
‹ Evidence of eligibility to take up UK employment ›
If you are a candidate of UK/EEA nationality, you should provide your passport or birth certificate - plus, if relevant, any naturalisation papers.
If you are a non-UK/EEA candidate, you should provide your passport, containing evidence of your current visa status with dates, as well as any other appropriate documentation.
Again, it is necessary for all candidates to provide two photocopies of any documents used here, for the deanery/UoA to retain.
Photocopying passports
Please note that when photocopying a passport, the relevant pages you need to photocopy are the details page at the back (which includes your photo, passport number and other details); and the front outer cover - displaying the word 'passport' and the name of the issuing country.
Should there be any additional pages of relevance within the passport - eg giving information on immigration status - please copy these as well.
As with all other items, please include two copies of each page you will provide here.
Using passports as personal ID
Following on from the item above, if you are using your passport as both a form of personal ID and also evidence of your eligibility for UK employment, you need only make one set of copies in total - not two sets for personal ID and a further two sets for UK eligibility.
‹ GMC documentation ›
If you are (or will be at time of interview) registered with and licensed by the GMC, please bring your original current GMC certificate and licence.
If you will not be formally registered & licensed at the time of interview, please take a current letter from the GMC confirming that you are eligible for GMC registration & licensing without restriction.
For further information on this, please visit the GMC website.
As with other items, please take with you two photocopies of whichever GMC documents you take, as well as the original versions.
‹ Medical degree & other qualifications ›
Please take the original 'version' of your medical degree certificate and any other qualifications you have listed on your application form, along with two photocopies of each for the deanery/UoA to retain.
‹ Proof of English language skills (if applicable) ›
The most common methods candidates use to demonstrate their English language skills are either IELTS certificate or a letter from a supervisor attesting to their satisfactory English. Whichever type of documentation is used, candidates should, as ever, bring the original document along with two photocopies for the deanery/UoA to retain.
As noted elsewhere, any candidate who took their undergraduate training in English does not need to provide any evidence of English language skills.
‹ Training competence ›
Core competence
The necessary documentation which can be used to demonstrate your achievement of core competences will depend on your past training and particular circumstances - for more information on this, please see the eligibility criteria page of this website.
Whichever documentation you are required to bring (if any), please bring the original versions - signed and stamped, where appropriate - as well as two photocopies for the deanery/UoA to retain.
Foundation competence
As noted elsewhere, it is only necessary for you to demonstrate your achievement of core competences when applying to ST3; it will be taken as read that any candidate who has achieved core competence will have also achieved competence at foundation level (or equivalent).
‹ Other eligibility documentation ›
The above items are the main documents which deaneries/UoAs will require you to provide to demonstrate their eligibility; however, if further documentation is required, you will be notified of this in advance of the interview.
For more specific information on the eligibility criteria themselves, please visit the eligibility criteria page of our website.
‹ Evidence Folder ›
In addition to demonstrating that you are eligible for an ST3 post, you will also be required to take documentation to interview which backs up the various claims made in your application form - such as achievements, qualifications, publications, etc.
Again, we advise you to keep these documents in a specific folder, so as to keep them separate from any other information - this will be referred to as your 'Evidence Folder'.
Please note that, unlike with eligibility documentation, it is not necessary for you to provide more than one copy of each document in your Evidence Folder. Here, interviewers will review the documents in the folder, and then return it to you. The only piece of documentation from your Evidence Folder which will be retained by the deanery/UoA is your 'Evidence Summary Form' (see below).
Please bear in mind the GMC's Good Medical Practice guidelines on probity (Point 64), as below (original text is on the GMC website at this Link:
"You must always be honest about your experience, qualifications and position, particularly when applying for posts."
‹ Completed Evidence Summary Form (ESF) ›
The ESF is a list detailing all documents included within your Evidence Folder, and their location therein. The ESF acts as a contents page, allowing recruiters to find and view each document quickly and easily. This must be the first page included in the folder, and must reference every document you have included in the Evidence Folder. When adding documents to your evidence folder, documents must be added in the order in which they appear in your application form.
The ESF also acts as a checklist. When reviewing the Evidence Folder, recruiters will tick off each item on the ESF as it is found and viewed. Once this is complete, the recruiter doing the checking will sign the ESF to confirm all documentation is present, and retain the ESF as a record that your Evidence Folder was acceptable.
We have produced an ESF template which can be used here - this can be viewed/downloaded from the documents section of this website.
‹ Application evidence ›
All claims made on your application form must be supported by a piece of evidence that can be verified by recruiters at interview. So any claim made - such as, you have had an article published, you have been awarded a prize, etc. - needs to be backed up by a piece of documentation that you can include in your Evidence Folder.
You must put each piece of evidence into your folder in the order in which the corresponding items appear in your application form. If you have gained further achievements, not mentioned on your application form, you may add these to your Evidence Folder but you must index these documents on the ESF and file them in the appropriate section.
Any claims made on an application form that are not backed up by documentation in the evidence folder will be raised in discussion by the interviewers. If the claim is found to be false, your application may be rejected. To receive full reward for a claim made on an application form, it has to be supported by a piece evidence provided at interview.
Evidence Folders which do not fulfil the criteria above may be rejected, and this could lead to your whole application being rejected. You must abide by the rules because interviewers will not able to adequately review folders which do not follow the guidance.
‹ Any other documentation requested ›
Deaneries/UoAs may have other requests for evidence to be provided. If this is the case, they will notify you in advance of the interview.
‹ Other preparation & references ›
Certain questions at the interview will involve discussion of particular (brief) scenarios, but information on these will be provided to you on the day.
When you book into your interview slot, the deanery hosting your interview will provide details of the interview venue. As it is essential that you arrive on time, we advise that you plan travel to the venue in advance, with plenty of time allowed for travelling, parking (if applicable) and contingency (in case of any difficulties en route).
'Hosted' interviews
In some instances, interviews may not be held in the deanery/UoA in which the ST3 post will be held. For example, there are a number of CPT posts in different deaneries/UoAs across the country; but all ST3 CPT interviews will take place in the Mersey Deanery in this recruitment round. Similarly, while GUM posts are available in several different locations, interviews are held in two 'clusters' - a northern cluster, held in Yorkshire, and a southern, held in London.
Information on this will be made available with your invitation; please visit the specialties section of this website for more details.
References
Some deaneries/UoAs may request that candidates provide their references at the interview stage.
We have added information on how each deanery/UoA wishes its candidates to provide references to the references page of this website.
If you are attending interview, it may also be wise to check the website of the deanery/UoA at which you are to be interviewed, in case they have made any announcement on this - web addresses can be found on the deanery/UoA contacts page of this website.
Should you have any queries on this, we would advise contacting the deanery/UoA at which you are to be interviewed, as they can give confirmation on their particular requirements. As ever, more general queries can be sent to our office here at st3recruitment@rcplondon.ac.uk.
‹ The interview - structure and content ›
In 2011, within each SRO-hosted specialty, interview structure and content will be consistent across all participating deaneries; that is, if you make an application to (eg) respiratory medicine, then regardless of whether you are interviewed in Northern, West Midlands or Wessex, the makeup of the interview will be the same.
The format/structure of interview will obviously differ slightly between specialties, to take account of differing requirements, but these are all based upon a similar format: six different aspects of your candidature will be assessed, with each assessed by two consultant interviewers independently, and this will take place over two-three separate, independent interview stations.
More specific information for the interview setup within each specialty will be added to the specialties section of this website nearer the time.
Interview preparation
In most cases, the amount of pre-interview 'homework' required will not extend beyond preparing the relevant documentation outlined elsewhere on this page; but please note that some specialties will require candidates to carry out some preparatory work in advance of their interview - some specialties may require a candidates to prepare a short presentation. .
As noted, information on this will be added to the specialties section well in advance of interviews.
‹ After the interview ›
It may be the case that deaneries/UoAs request that candidates provide further documentation - such as CRB checks, references, etc. - that were not requested prior to the interview. If this is the case, you may be required to supply this information after the interview has been completed; but you will be notified of this as necessary.
As suggested above, each of six aspects of your candidature will be assessed by two independent clinicians - to give 12 scores altogether. These scores will then be added together, then combined with your short-listing score to give the final, overall assessment score.
All candidates applying to a specialty within the deanery/UoA will then be ranked according to this overall score, and post offers will then be made to appointable candidates according to this score. For more information on the offers process, please see the offers page of this website.
Travel expenses
In some cases, candidates are eligible to claim reasonable expenses for their (UK) travel to ST3 interviews, based on the cheapest mode of transport available; however, please be aware that unreasonable expenses will not be reimbursed.
For more information on the provision of expenses - handled by the interviewing deanery/UoA - please visit the deanery/UoA's website. Links can be found on both the deanery/UoA contacts and deaneries/UoAs sections of this website.
Northern Ireland
Please note - Northern Ireland Deanery is not able to reimburse candidates for the cost of travel to their interviews.
