NHS Clinical Scientist Recruitment

This is exactly the same reply I received. I honestly don't now how they select the exact candidate. well have to wait till March...sigh.!! :s-smilie:

I find it a bit weird they don't ask for references and maybe a personal statement, was hard to summarise everything into 250 word sections!

Reply 4161

anusuraj

Original post by ginger-simon

I find it a bit weird they don't ask for references and maybe a personal statement, was hard to summarise everything into 250 word sections!

essay bit was fine with me...was struggling with numerical reasoning. time was just flying away. logical reasoning was okay except some which gave me a headache. :smile:

Reply 4162

tesco4life

Original post by FID10

Well, I have just calmed down after completing the online tests. How did everyone else get on that has taken them? I thought the practice questions were far simpler than the actual questions. I am usually OK under pressure and would say I have reasonable numerical skills, but the time went so quickly for me. Personally I preferred the reasoning questions to the numerical ones but wish I had found some more practice tests to do first now. Do we find out instantly if we didn't do well enough to pass onto the next stage? After submission I was presented with the statement:

Thank you. We will now correlate all of your scores.

And the email I had immediately after submission said:

Thank you for completing the online tests for the NHS Scientist Training Programme.

We will aim to start contacting candidates in March to inform you on the outcome of your application.

Was this the experience of anyone else?

Yep, I got this too! I found the questions themselves pretty easy, but ran out of time! Good luck everyone :smile:

Reply 4163

sofiaparimehndi

Original post by FID10

Well, I have just calmed down after completing the online tests. How did everyone else get on that has taken them? I thought the practice questions were far simpler than the actual questions. I am usually OK under pressure and would say I have reasonable numerical skills, but the time went so quickly for me. Personally I preferred the reasoning questions to the numerical ones but wish I had found some more practice tests to do first now. Do we find out instantly if we didn't do well enough to pass onto the next stage? After submission I was presented with the statement:

Thank you. We will now correlate all of your scores.

And the email I had immediately after submission said:

Thank you for completing the online tests for the NHS Scientist Training Programme.

We will aim to start contacting candidates in March to inform you on the outcome of your application.

Was this the experience of anyone else?

Reasoning? U mean the patterns or the literature?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 4164

FID10

Original post by sofiaparimehndi

Reasoning? U mean the patterns or the literature?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Sorry, I meant that I found the Logical Reasoning questions better to deal with than the Numerical Reasoning ones which I was not expecting.

Reply 4165

FID10

Original post by ginger-simon

I find it a bit weird they don't ask for references and maybe a personal statement, was hard to summarise everything into 250 word sections!

It is very strange that they don't seem bothered about references and a personal statement. I guess if they receive a lot of applications perhaps they want as little to read as possible? I wasn't keen on the word limits at first because I found them so limiting, but in the end it forced me to really look at what I had written and cut out the rubbish to make more concise points, so have actually come round to the idea now :smile:

I just hope I score well enough on the tests that all the effort I put in was not in vain!

Reply 4166

louisecc

For everyone wondering about babies as well as any other general working conditions, theres some information available in: http://www.nshcs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/NSHCS-Employment-Guidance-for-STP-December-2012.pdf

Basically if you get pregnant whilst in the scheme you will get maternity leave as described in the general NHS agenda for change contracts....but as for returning part time it will need some negotiation (the document says who with).

Ditto for if you get stressed and need to work part time at some point during the course etc.

However, at the moment there are rumours that the final exams for HCPC registration will only be run once a year so this might complicate timings and funding .... but nobody has decided the exact details on the whens and hows of that assessment yet.

Reply 4167

Quixeh

Original post by FID10

It is very strange that they don't seem bothered about references and a personal statement. I guess if they receive a lot of applications perhaps they want as little to read as possible? I wasn't keen on the word limits at first because I found them so limiting, but in the end it forced me to really look at what I had written and cut out the rubbish to make more concise points, so have actually come round to the idea now :smile:

I just hope I score well enough on the tests that all the effort I put in was not in vain!

Not really strange about references, how does a very small school like the NSHCS have time to go through 2 refs each for maybe 7000 applicants?! If you get an appointment, the hospital that you're assigned to will conduct the reference checks and crb checks, as will your uni. Until then, hold them at the ready.

For the online tests, if you fail you are told straight away. If you passed the initial level you continue to short listing and get an email saying wait until march. Congrats to those of you who have that email :smile:

Reply 4168

DoubleInfinity

Can anyone off me a but of advice, I sent my application yesterday and I'm really regretting my back up choice. it wa a close call between cardiac science and haematology, I feel that I would have a better chance of cardiac science as there are more posts and I don't think many people will have the work exp but I put haematology!! Is there anyway to change my preferences once iv sent the app off? I haven't done the online tests yet!

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 4169

tesco4life

Original post by DoubleInfinity

Can anyone off me a but of advice, I sent my application yesterday and I'm really regretting my back up choice. it wa a close call between cardiac science and haematology, I feel that I would have a better chance of cardiac science as there are more posts and I don't think many people will have the work exp but I put haematology!! Is there anyway to change my preferences once iv sent the app off? I haven't done the online tests yet!

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Hey, unfortunately I don't think you can change them :frown:

you could email them or ask on the Facebook page for a definitive answer though!

Reply 4170

Twinkle K

Original post by tesco4life

Yep, I got this too! I found the questions themselves pretty easy, but ran out of time! Good luck everyone :smile:

Hey, just wondering how many questions was there in how much time?
good luck to u too :smile:

Reply 4171

tesco4life

Original post by Twinkle K

Hey, just wondering how many questions was there in how much time?
good luck to u too :smile:

I think it was something like 20 questions in 20 mins for the numerical and 24 questions in 12 mins for the logical reasoning...

I did them a while ago now though so I might be slightly off!

Reply 4172

nimmity

Has anyone worked out how to force a paragraph in the essay question box? I hate seeing it all as one lump of text!

Reply 4173

nanachan86

Is this true? Because I got wait until March. So we are told straight away if we failed?

For the online tests, if you fail you are told straight away. If you passed the initial level you continue to short listing and get an email saying wait until march. Congrats to those of you who have that email :smile:

Reply 4174

nanachan86

Original post by Quixeh

For the online tests, if you fail you are told straight away. If you passed the initial level you continue to short listing and get an email saying wait until march. Congrats to those of you who have that email :smile:

Is this true?

Reply 4175

nimmity

Yes its true. You only get a "result" if you don't make the grade. If they say wait until March then your application is going to be read.

Reply 4176

nanachan86

Original post by nimmity

Yes its true. You only get a "result" if you don't make the grade. If they say wait until March then your application is going to be read.

Thank you very much for the confirmation! I guess I'll have to wait till March then! :smile:

Reply 4177

FID10

Original post by Quixeh

Not really strange about references, how does a very small school like the NSHCS have time to go through 2 refs each for maybe 7000 applicants?! If you get an appointment, the hospital that you're assigned to will conduct the reference checks and crb checks, as will your uni. Until then, hold them at the ready.

For the online tests, if you fail you are told straight away. If you passed the initial level you continue to short listing and get an email saying wait until march. Congrats to those of you who have that email :smile:

Thank you for confirming that we would know if we had failed the tests immediately, that is a huge relief!!

Sorry, I didn't mean that they should take up the references for everyone who applies, it's just in my experience I have always had to provide the names and contact details of two or three references at the application stage. Then they tend to only take up the references for candidates successful at interview like you go on to say. It must quite a mission for them to read through and score all our applications as you would imagine at least half of those 7000 applications are likely to meet the minimum pass mark for the online tests!!

Does anyone have a more detailed breakdown from last year of how many applicants there were per place for each individual specialism? I guess some are more popular than others, and I have noticed that for some of the specialisms there are very few vacancies available.

Reply 4178

wonky

Original post by laura130490

I'm getting really worried now hearing that people have been rejected with ten years lab experience! I only have 1 years worth of experience working as a trainee BMS for my state registration. I don't have a masters degree or anything like that either because I'm currently in my final year at uni studying Applied Biomedical Science. I have to admit, I thought with my experience and references it would be fairly easy to get an interview, how very very wrong I was!