NHS Scientist Training Programme (STP) 2014

can anyone who had been to the last year's STP interview, share some interview questions? What kind of questions did they ask you? Many thanks in advance!!!

Sorry if this has been asked or talked about before, but I received an email saying:

"We are pleased to inform you that your application will progress through to the shortlisting stage. The shortlisting process is expected to be completed at the end of February therefore you are unlikely to hear anything further on your application until the beginning of March 2014. There is nothing further we can inform you at this stage suffice to request that you bear with us while the shortlisting process is being conducted.
Kind regards"

I originally misunderstood and thought it was telling me I'd been shortlisted. I'm guessing it's just saying I've passed the minimum requirements and will be considered for shortlisting.

Has anyone else received the email?

Yeah, we were talking about that email a few pages back. It just means you have been longlisted (ie. passed those online tests and met the minimum requirements ie. have a 2:i degree in a relevant subject etc).

Now your application will be looked at, and ranked against everyone else's application and those at the top will be shortlisted for interview. Good luck

Hi Guys....I come from Italy and I applied for NHS Scientist Training Programme.
I deeply read all documents available on the programme website, but I have some questions and I would be grateful if you can give me some clarifications.
I read in “Frequently Asked Questions For Applicants” about the level of English language competency required:
“It is essential that all applicants have the required level of communication skills[..]. Applicants must be able to demonstrate they are able to achieve the standards of proficiency outlined for clinical scientists by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).”
I read these standards and in “1b Professional relationships” I found “1b.3*-be able to demonstrate effective and appropriate skills in communicating information[…] be able to communicate in English to the standard equivalent to level 7 of the International English Language Testing System, with no element below 6.51
1 The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) tests competence in the English language. Applicants who have qualified outside of the UK, whose first language is not English and who are not nationals of a country within the European Economic Area (EEA), must provide evidence that they have reached the necessary standard.
My question is : Italy is a country in the European Economic Area (EEA), must I have an English Certificate or can I demonstrate my communication skills during the interview without a certificate?
Moreover in the “Guidance for applicants” I read about documents applicants have to bring to interview and It is mandatory to bring “ International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examination certificate or alternative evidence of English language proficiency if applicable “.
I would be very grateful if you could give me an answer.
I wrote some emails to them but they give me only other link thank you very much and good luck for everybody!

Well that depends on what specialty you're applying for? I know a bit about what's been asked some of them...

I have applied to biochem and med physics. Any information is welcome!!! Thanks a lot!!!

Well I'm also applying for biochem so I know some stuff about that at least haha. Like has been said before there's 4 stations of about ten minutes with two interviewers on each. One is about yourself and your suitability, there's at least one on specific science related to specialty, one on general science and I think the last one might be on the programme and career as a whole? It's something like that anyway.

As for the science related to biochem they seem to have been asking things like; what tests would you do on a patient with a particular illness or to diagnose one, how you would measure certain analytes, what do some results mean, what would you need to think about when introducing a new test etc, some general biochem knowledge like different pathways and how they work and other more chemistry related stuff like what's the molar mass of a common molecule etc. If there have been any recent developments in related healthcare science or MSC and stuff they often ask about that too. Basically my consultant said if you've worked in a lab at all it should be pretty easy, otherwise best get revising! Hope that helps, the other general stuff is just the kind of things they'd ask in pretty much any interview.

Thanks a lot for the information. I am also reading some of the last year's applicants replies atm. To my surprise, they did not ask us to choose locations during the online application stage. I am pretty sure people chose the regions before they entered for the shortlisting cycle, which makes sense, right? This year, they only ask us to choose 2 themes and that's it. Take biochemistry for example, how will they figure out which region you would like to be in? This year doesn't make any sense to me

You get asked about your location preferences if you get an interview, think they did it like that last time too but I'm not sure, they definitely didn't used to before though

I am pretty sure they were given the choice to choose 3 locations before they even had the interviews. So for example, you choose A, B, C as your 1st,2nd and 3rd location preferences for your specification. And when it comes to interview, you might get rejected for A, reserved for B and get yourself an interview for C, which makes sense to me. Because there might be different populations applying to different regions. Location A might be very popular, so competition is high; whereas C might not be that hot.

This year, we were not given the choice to choose before the interview. So when it comes to shortlisting, you will be given the chance for interview.. based on what? your application only. But then they ask you to choose locations, and someone may ended up with successful shortlisting but no interviews because his locations are very popular and a lot people have applied.

I think they are doing this in the wrong order

Why is that the wrong order? Regardless of where or when you put down your preferences of location it makes no difference to the shortlisting. The shortlisting and interview are the same thing and is based on your application alone (don't think it's ever been anything different), the preferences of location are not considered until after the interviews. If they like your application enough for it to score a mark which gets you an interview then it is my understanding they will contact us somehow and ask our preferences. Then when everyones interview scores are ranked the top person gets there first choice, the second person gets their top choice and so on. If say the top three people all get their first choice and the fourth person also wanted one of those as their primary then they will be offered their second choice etc until all the places are filled. So basically it seems that if you want decent control over where you end up you'll need to be ranked fairly highly after interview. It is kind of unfortunate in some ways yes and everyone has certain places they want to go and probably some where they couldn't but they're looking for people who are committed to the course not the location so to speak.

After your edit; there are only 22 places for biochem at last check, not 50 something, so they will probably interview 60-70 people. Also I see what you mean a bit more now about asking people to choose another place. When they get to the stage where they can't place people in one they want I'm not sure what will happen. They'll either have to contract them and see if they want another one or just randomly assign them. I'm sure they have something worked out otherwise it's quite an oversight on their part, so I assume it'll come together in the end. Some people might just not get to go where they want, but it's like that with a lot of things, such as medical foundation training for example, think that follows a similar allocation system? If someone ends up being offered a place they really don't want and turns it down I don't imagine they'll have too much trouble filling it with someone else.

Why is that the wrong order? Regardless of where or when you put down your preferences of location it makes no difference to the shortlisting. The shortlisting and interview are the same thing and is based on your application alone (don't think it's ever been anything different), the preferences of location are not considered until after the interviews. If they like your application enough for it to score a mark which gets you an interview then it is my understanding they will contact us somehow and ask our preferences. Then when everyones interview scores are ranked the top person gets there first choice, the second person gets their top choice and so on. If say the top three people all get their first choice and the fourth person also wanted one of those as their primary then they will be offered their second choice etc until all the places are filled. So basically it seems that if you want decent control over where you end up you'll need to be ranked fairly highly after interview. It is kind of unfortunate in some ways yes and everyone has certain places they want to go and probably some where they couldn't but they're looking for people who are committed to the course not the location so to speak.

After your edit; there are only 22 places for biochem at last check, not 50 something, so they will probably interview 60-70 people. Also I see what you mean a bit more now about asking people to choose another place. When they get to the stage where they can't place people in one they want I'm not sure what will happen. They'll either have to contract them and see if they want another one or just randomly assign them. I'm sure they have something worked out otherwise it's quite an oversight on their part, so I assume it'll come together in the end. Some people might just not get to go where they want, but it's like that with a lot of things, such as medical foundation training for example, think that follows a similar allocation system? If someone ends up being offered a place they really don't want and turns it down I don't imagine they'll have too much trouble filling it with someone else.

You know what, last year they DID chose the region before the interview! So I was right about last year's programme!
That's the way I think should be! Do not know what happened this year. But anyway.
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=722000&page=175&highlight=clinical+immunology

This is last year's thread, everyone is chatting about their regions of choice before the interview date revealed. And a lot of people get interview for 1 region only, reserved for another and rejected for the 3rd. That is exactly what I am talking about! See for yourself

Yeah but I'm just talking about this year, I wasn't sure how they did the places last year because I haven't talked to anyone from last year about that. I knew they used to do it that way but wasn't sure if this was the first year of change or if it was different last year to. We'll just have to wait and see how it pans out, I'm sure it's going to work out fine in the end, but like I said they're looking for people who are more committed to the specialty than the location to a certain level, so maybe that's got something to do with why they have centralised the applications this year. Just have to try and do well at the interview, could end up working well in those peoples favours then, either way there isn't much anyone can do about it besides try their best. There will definitely be a few locations (near to the uni that does the masters I imagine) that will be a lot more popular with a lot more people putting it as their first choice, but I still suppose there are a lot of disappointed people every year regardless how how they do it. After all would you rather be rejected just because you're 2 or 3 region preferences were taken or at least be given the chance of going somewhere else?
Think I'll ask in work next week about this anyway to see if I can find out any more information on it, I'll let you know if anyone can shed anymore light on it for everyone.

I may be mistaken but I'm pretty sure last year the process was: Interview people (3:1 spaces) regardless of location preference, then if there are say 50 spaces, the people who scored in the top 50 in Interview/application get those spaces. Locations firstly go to people who have circumstances meaning they can't easily move (eg owning a house) and then to people in order of score. So If you got the highest score then you get your preferred location (if it's not been filled yet) and if you scored 50 out of the 50 spaces you'll get offered whatever location space is left and if you don't want to work there then it's kind of tough cause at least you got the job. I don't think the employers get much choice on who gets their jobs.

Last year we chose regions before filling in the application and then before interview they asked for specific hospital preferences, but you didn't interview for a specific location just the job in general.