Fluffed up an interview.

VaderDSL

VaderDSL

VaderDSL

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Had an interview for the NHS the other week, and I fluffed it big time :(

I did my research for the role, practised answering questions around my history and why I wanted it etc. but, and maybe I was completely naive, I froze up when asked a specific question.

Basically, I was asked,

"In terms of equity, equality and diversity, what daily challenges might you expect to encounter"

Now the job role was in a hospital as a clinical coder. And to be perfectly honest, I just completely didn't know how to respond or answer the question correctly, ended up with me waffling for a bit :(

I have never worked anywhere where this has even been an issue, I've never encountered a scenario in daily work life where this is an issue and to be honest I had no real life experience or knowledge on how to answer it.

Should I have simply said that I haven't had any experience in the past of these sorts of issues, or does that imply I am blind to it (even if I genuinely believe I haven't encountered it?)

Or should I have gone down the route of acknowledging that the NHS adheres to the 2010 equality act and works to reduce discrimination, but that doesn't really address the question.

Honestly I had no idea what equality/diversity challenges I might have faced in the role I was applying for :( and I think my indecisiveness and inability to fluently answer the question may have gotten me marked down a bit in the interview.

Cheers.
 
Hey mate, hope you're well.

Have you had any feedback from the interview yet? If not, i'd just hang fire as it's common for people to fear they've not performed well when in reality it's the opposite.

I've done plenty of interviewing in the past, and I wouldn't automatically discard a potential employee on the basis of one answer. Unless of course they said something completely ridiculous that would suggest they are a risk to the company in some way.

If you have had a response that you didn't get the job, ask for specific feedback from their recruitment team. They should be able to give you some pointers for any potential role in the future, always good to know where you can improve.
 
Urgh,

That's literally the worst interview question in the entire world, it sounds like some sort of tickbox question that they HAVE to ask.

I think anyone would make a mess of answering it. I wouldn't worry too much tbh, I doubt you'd not get the job - simply because you messed up a really stupid question, if you did ok in everything else, I think it'd be ok to stay optimistic
 
I got asked a very similar question in an interview a few weeks a go. It was something like "Citizen's Advice promotes diversity and equality throughout its entire business, how do you feel about that and what's your approach to working diversely?"

I just sat there thinking is this a trick question, they said it in a different tone the other questions as well.

Should have just said "I treat every person exactly the same regardless of culture, religious beliefs or disability as I hate all other humans apart from myself."
 
Strange question.

I would have said no challenges as such things don't even enter my head. Who cares about someone's sexuality, skin colour or whatever. Such a question would have turned me off that job so I wouldn't care if that wasn't "the right" answer although I think that's a reasonable and honest answer itself.
 
VaderDSL said:
Had an interview for the NHS the other week, and I fluffed it big time :(

I did my research for the role, practised answering questions around my history and why I wanted it etc. but, and maybe I was completely naive, I froze up when asked a specific question.

Basically, I was asked,

"In terms of equity, equality and diversity, what daily challenges might you expect to encounter"

Now the job role was in a hospital as a clinical coder. And to be perfectly honest, I just completely didn't know how to respond or answer the question correctly, ended up with me waffling for a bit :(

I have never worked anywhere where this has even been an issue, I've never encountered a scenario in daily work life where this is an issue and to be honest I had no real life experience or knowledge on how to answer it.

Should I have simply said that I haven't had any experience in the past of these sorts of issues, or does that imply I am blind to it (even if I genuinely believe I haven't encountered it?)

Or should I have gone down the route of acknowledging that the NHS adheres to the 2010 equality act and works to reduce discrimination, but that doesn't really address the question.

Honestly I had no idea what equality/diversity challenges I might have faced in the role I was applying for :( and I think my indecisiveness and inability to fluently answer the question may have gotten me marked down a bit in the interview.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Sounds like any one of 2000 utterly pointless and generic 'Interviews for Dummies' tick-box questions the interviewer is forced to ask working for a bureaucracy. Probably dreamed up by a 'diversity panel' stacked with all sorts.

And if they want to mark you down for something stupid like that .... well, is that really a place you'd want to work?
 
Had the same issue with my last interview. First round was technical interviewers, second round was supposed to be the same but one of them couldn't make it so the HR recruiter stood in for him.

Queue banal questions like "how do you see yourself contributing to the company", "why do you want to work for us", "what differentiates you from others". They had me waffling a fair bit, but due to experience I knew they weren't important.

Don't worry about it. As said before, they're tick box questions. The NHS is full of sexist xenophobes, they're just trying to cover their asses during the recruitment stage.
 
Surely you wouldn't expect many at all (let alone daily ones) as you'd expect the NHS to be a responsible and progressive employer that doesn't have lots of issues with equality and diversity - certainly not to the point where they'd be described as a 'challenge' and have become a daily occurrence! :)

But of course you would note to the interviewer that you'd have to be aware of cultural and religious sensitivities when working in a multicultural environment, being sensitive around religious holidays, being aware of health and disability issues with your co-workers and taking steps to make sure none of them feel excluded etc..etc.. just waffle a bit and say the nice stuff the box tickers want to hear.
 
dowie said:
Surely you wouldn't expect many at all (let alone daily ones) as you'd expect the NHS to be a responsible and progressive employer that doesn't have lots of issues with equality and diversity - certainly not to the point where they'd be described as a 'challenge' and have become a daily occurrence! :)

But of course you would note to the interviewer that you'd have to be aware of cultural and religious sensitivities when working in a multicultural environment, being sensitive around religious holidays, being aware of health and disability issues with your co-workers and taking steps to make sure none of them feel excluded etc..etc.. just waffle a bit and say the nice stuff the box tickers want to hear.
Click to expand...

Yeah, quoted for truth. While I too am a white male I'm aware these things happening around me. Whether it's bullying from other staff members toward minorities, equality of wages based on genders or missed opertunities from maternity leave - these are real issues to be aware of and you should be able to recognize them happening.

However, I also agree it's the kind of box ticking question from someone that will likely have nothing to do with your job, from start to finish, AND they should provide Equality and Diversity Training in your new role - so not sure on its relevance.
 
McBain said:
Hey mate, hope you're well.

Have you had any feedback from the interview yet? If not, i'd just hang fire as it's common for people to fear they've not performed well when in reality it's the opposite.

I've done plenty of interviewing in the past, and I wouldn't automatically discard a potential employee on the basis of one answer. Unless of course they said something completely ridiculous that would suggest they are a risk to the company in some way.

If you have had a response that you didn't get the job, ask for specific feedback from their recruitment team. They should be able to give you some pointers for any potential role in the future, always good to know where you can improve.
Click to expand...

Hey mate! I'm well cheers, yourself?

From the sounds of it from feedback/and comments on here, I was overthinking it :) I just scored lower than the others on the interview side, no reason, I didn't do anything wrong, just need to work on selling myself better for next time.

Cheers though! :)
 
With stupid questions like that just ask the interviewer to expand on it because you are unsure what it is they are actually asking, especially with such a broad question. Chances are they won't be able to themselves or realise it is a stupid question and ignore it. If they can explain it then it gives you time to think of a response and listen to what they say.
 
"I feel it best to start with how valuable I feel it is to the NHS to that its workforce is diverse. I believe my daily challenges will be to detect and help counter behaviour that is counter to increasing diversity and equality , moreover help support and foster the NHS' publicly stated goals on diversity." #puke
 
Surely you could have just said "let me tell you about this encounter in Thailand I had, I reckon it will tick all three boxes for you ......"
 
Yeah "Equality & Diversity" is a bit of a buzz-phrase lately, and in fact we have an E&D department as well where I work.

The other buzzword seems to be "HRODE".. HR, then organisational development and equality... wtf lol.

Back in my days, it was called Equal Opportunities (or just equal ops dept), where all demographics are treated equally and adjustments made if required. I would probably have answered along those lines.
 
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