Virtual interviews

All interviews in this year's recruitment round will take place using Microsoft Teams.

Booking an interview 

If you are invited to attend an interview, you will need to book an interview time slot in Oriel.

Interviews are offered on a first come first served basis.

You must book your interview slot by the deadline stated in the invite email.

Please refer to the Oriel Applicant User Guide for instructions on booking your interview slot. You can download a copy of the Oriel Applicant Guide from the Oriel Resource Bank. 

You should receive an automatic confirmation email once you have booked your interview.

If you do not receive this email within 2 hours of booking, please check your Oriel account to ensure that you did successfully book an interview. 

If you experience problems booking your interview please contact [email protected] for assistance. 

Interview dates and venue 

The interviews for Special Care Dentistry will take place online on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 May 2024. 

You will be sent a link and joining instructions after booking your interview and in advance of the interview date. 

Technical requirements for the online interview 

All interviews in 2024 will be held online via Microsoft Teams. Full details of the system, and instructions for attending an interview will be provided to you once the interview booking process has concluded. 

When undertaking your online interview, you must ensure you're in a location with a stable and reliable internet connection and use a device that's suitable for a video interview with a camera and microphone. The administration staff from NHS England and panel members will be unable to assist you with any technical issues.  

In the event of technical difficulties during the interview, we'll attempt to resume the interview once the issue has been resolved.

However, if we're unable to resume the interview at the scheduled time we will, where possible, aim to rearrange the remainder of the interview at a later date or time however we cannot guarantee this will always be possible.

Where the interview has been partially completed, only the sections that were disrupted will be rescheduled; scores from interview questions that are completed without disruption will stand. 

Technical issues that happen outside of the interview itself must be reported to the Recruitment Team, with details of the issues experienced, providing screenshots where possible, within 1 hour of the allocated interview time. Technical issues reported outside of this timeframe cannot be considered. 

Your interview will not be recorded by NHS England or panel members. You are also not permitted to record the interview. If it is found that you have recorded any part of the interview process a probity panel will be convened to investigate.

Interview structure and content

Interviews will comprise of a single station comprising of one clinical scenario and one patient factor case. You will be provided with dedicated reading time for each, followed by related questioning by the Panel. Interviews are anticipated to be approximately 30 minutes in duration (subject to change).

 There will be 2 assessors which will be scoring your interview but there may also be a Lay Representative present and other reserve panel member and/or observers, which will not be directly involved in the scoring process. 

Interview timings

Details of specific question timings, including any dedicated reading time plus overall total interview time will be provided here later in the recruitment process.

Scoring

The 2 panellists will have access to our Digital Scoring System (Qpercom), which they will use throughout the interview to provide scoring to each question, together with associated feedback. These scores and feedback will be released to you following the conclusion of the interview process and when initial Offers are released.

Scores will be collated from the self-assessment verified process together with the interview to create a total raw score per applicant. This score will then be weighted in accordance with each element to provide a final weighted total score, which will be used to rank applicants ahead of Offers being made. Offers will be made in rank order (highest to lowest – with highest being first ranked).

Percentage each element will count towards total score.

Virtual interview scores

Element	Maximum raw score	Pecentage of total score	Maximum weighed score
Element Self-Assessment	Maximum raw score 42	Pecentage of total score 25%	Maximum weighed score 25
Element Clinical Scenario	Maximum raw score 32	Pecentage of total score 50%	Maximum weighed score 50
Element Patient Factor Case	Maximum raw score 24	Pecentage of total score 25%	Maximum weighed score 25
Element Total	Maximum raw score 98	Pecentage of total score 100%	Maximum weighed score 100

Appointability

You will be deemed appointable if you achieve the minimum benchmark score following interview. This score will be published following the interviews. Only if you achieve the minimum benchmark score or above will you be eligible to receive an Offer. For academic applicants, achieving the minimum benchmark score or above will mean that you have passed clinical benchmarking.

Details of the Probity Panel procedure can be found on the self assessment page.

Lay representation

A lay representative may be present during your interview to observe the process.

The lay representative will not score or assess your performance in the station. They're there to ensure the process is fair and consistent. 

Documentation

You will be required to prove your identity at the start of the interview by showing your passport or driving license. You'll be notified of all requirements on the invite to interview sent through Oriel.

Failure to bring the specified documents may result in you not being interviewed.

If you have any concerns over your ability to bring the required documents, please contact [email protected] in advance of the virtual interview.   

Confidentiality 

You should ensure that the content of the interview assessments remains confidential and must not be discussed with other applicants or published where they can be accessed by other applicants. This includes on websites, online forums or discussion groups and all other forms of social media. 

Remember, this is a competitive process, and you may reduce your own chances of appointment by giving an unfair advantage to other applicants. 

Reporting issues during your interview 

The vast majority of interviews are conducted without issue. However, if there are any issues during your interview which may affect your assessment, it is vital that you report them to a member of the NHS England's Recruitment Administration Team by emailing [email protected].

Any issues must be reported as soon as possible and ideally within 1 hour of the completion of your interview. This will give us the best possible chance to investigate and, if necessary, take action to remedy the issue.

It is not usually possible to investigate issues or take remedial action once the interviews have concluded. 

Scoring and ranking 

Your performance in each domain will be scored using a structured scoring system. The scores from your interview will be combined with your verified self assessment score to produce your overall interview total score. Scoring from each section of the recruitment process (self assessment and interview questions) will be weighted prior to calculation of your overall score. Further details of this will be published prior to the interview stage.

Your ranking will be based upon your overall weighted total score.