Interview/Selection Day

It is important that the panel meet at least 30 minutes prior to your first interview to ensure you are prepared for your selection day. You will have already accessed your interview schedule and application forms and given copies of these to your panel members so that they can read them in advance of the interviews. In addition, your recruitment contact will have sent you a blank Interview Assessment form to use for scoring your candidates at interview.

If you are recruiting for a Donor Carer, Team Assistant or Donor Centre Administrator, please see section on Blood Donation Recruitment page.

Candidate ID Checklist

The Candidate ID Checklist document needs to be completed for each candidate to ensure the authenticity of their documentation either before or after their interview. See guidance Guidance document on Checking Documentation for Authenticity.

As a quick reference, the documents required include:

Passport and Eligibility to work in the UK/ current immigration status, where applicable
Drivers licence (always required for driving essential roles)
Proof of address - usually a utility bill (please refer to the guidance for acceptable confirmation of address documents)
Qualifications - certificates for any qualifications stated as essential in the recruitment documents

Please note - if any of the above are not available, there are alternatives that your recruitment contact will be able to advise you on.

The person completing the Checklist must photocopy the original documents and sign and date all photocopies and return these with the Checklist. You may choose to use the Template for certified copy of identity documents when copying, scanning or photographing identity documents such as passports.

TIP: Providing these documents as soon as possible will enable us to be in a position to make a final offer of employment more quickly.

Conducting the Interview

First impressions count so an important part of the interview is to give candidates a positive impression of NHSBT. You can do this by :

Introducing the interview panel and providing an overview of the selection process
Explaining that the panel will be taking notes to help with your assessment of each candidate
Giving each candidate the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the interview
Clearly outlining what will happen next - how and when you will contact the candidates with the outcome

TIP: Don’t commit to contacting candidates on the day of the interview, make sure you set yourself a realistic timescale.

Taking Notes

Taking detailed and objective notes during each interview is important to:

Reassure candidates that you have taken a record of their answers
Help you to remember candidates’ answers after the interview has ended
Help you to complete a score in the Interview Assessment form so that you can be objective in choosing the best candidate for the role
Provide evidence if you are challenged about a selection decision – remember candidates can ask for copies of your notes

TIP: Decide in advance of the interviews how notes will be taken. It is useful to allocate the note taking to the panel members that are not asking the questions so that the candidate can focus on the person asking the questions.

Scoring Candidates

Please complete the Interview Assessment form for scoring candidates and include all the recruitment activities e.g. presentation, test etc. Also available is an Interview assessment form with score calculator. Versions for band 8a and above are also available Interview Assessment form band 8a and above and Interview assessment form with score calculator band 8a and above. Please complete a presentation assessment form for scoring candidates where a presentation is part of the recruitment process. Also available is a presentation assessment form with score calculator.

You should score the candidate against the essential criteria from the recruitment profile and any key desirable criteria. It includes a section for scoring values and behaviours and allows you to record scores for tests, exercises or presentations.

When scoring candidates, consider all of the information candidates provide and not just how they answer individual questions. For example a candidate may give an excellent response to a question on organisational skills but turn up late for interview and do not bring with them the documents you have requested. This contradicts their answer as shows poor organisational skills, which needs to be taken into account for the scoring.

If you are unsure on how to complete the Interview Assessment form, please see Guidance document on how to complete the Interview Assessment Form.

Choosing the Successful Candidate

When choosing your successful candidate, consider the following:-

Make sure that you review your notes
Avoid judging candidates based on your first impression
Discuss all candidates against the criteria detailed in the Recruitment Profile, ensuring that they meet all the essential criteria for the role
Do not reject or select candidates without fair consideration against the selection criteria

The panel should offer the appointment to the candidate with the highest score on the Interview Assessment Form. If necessary the panel can reconvene for a second stage of interviews before reaching their final decision. Where the candidate with the highest score is not appointed, you will need to provide justification to your recruitment contact so that this can be held with the recruitment file.

Candidates with disabilities may require ‘reasonable adjustments’ to enable them to undertake the post. If so they should be considered for appointment on the basis of their abilities with reasonable adjustments in place, against the criteria on the recruitment profile / person specification and in comparison to other candidates.

If the candidates you’ve interviewed are not appointable please discuss the next steps with your recruitment contact.

All information relating to candidates must be kept secure and only shared where there is a genuine need.