Arranging Interviews and Assessment Events
Objective
This guide is intended to show you how to set up and manage interview and assessment centre
events on NHS Jobs.
Introduction
The features on NHS Jobs can be used to support the running of one or more interview or
assessment centre events per vacancy. NHS Jobs treats interviews and assessment events in the
same way, so to keep this document simple we will just use the term ‘Interview’ to cover both types
of event.
On NHS Jobs, setting up an interview event for a vacancy is a separate step from inviting applicants
to the interview. Setting up an interview event is effectively creating a calendar entry, with a date or
dates, with time slots, with a location and with additional information of relevance to applicants.
Applicants still need to be invited to the interview or assessment event after it has been created.
The interview can be set up at any stage from when the vacancy is first created, but applicants
cannot be invited to interview until after they have been shortlisted.
An interview is primarily set up to enable applicants to be invited. Applicants need to know when it
starts, how long they will be there, where it is and what is expected of them.
Interviews can be over more than one day. Each slot within an interview has a date selector to
support this.
Some examples:
You wish to see 30 applicants, with two assessment tests and an interview for each.
 Set up 1 interview event with 1 slot with start and end times to cover the whole day/session
and with 30 spaces.
You wish to see 10 applicants for an assessment and then 5 applicants for interview at a later date.
 Set up 2 interview events. The first event (the assessment) should be 1 slot with 10 spaces,
with start and end times to cover the whole session. The second event (the interview)
should be 5 slots each with 1 space. The applicants to the second event (interview) can be
invited once the first event has been completed. (Note: it is not possible for applicants to be
invited to more than one event for a vacancy at a time.)
You wish to see 30 applicants over three days, with an interview and a test each. You can manage 5
applicants at a time.
 Set up 1 interview event with 6 slots, each with 5 spaces available. The start and end time of
each slot would be the start and end of each morning or afternoon session in the three days.
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Creating an interview event
Where to start
There are three starting points for creating a new interview event. Choose the one most convenient
to you.
To create a new interview event, either:
•
Select ‘Interviews’ on the navigation on the left, then select the ‘Create new interview’
button at the top right of the Interviews page (as shown below).
OR
•
Go to the applications list for the vacancy, select the ‘Actions’ button beside any of the
shortlisted applications, then select ‘Create interview/assessment’ and select the
‘Action’ button.
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OR
•
Go to the vacancies list, select the ‘Actions’ button beside the relevant vacancy, then select
‘Create interview’ and select the ‘Action’ button.
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Overview
Once you’ve selected the option to create an interview you’ll be presented with the following form
to enter key information about the interview including dates and times for the event.
In the ‘vacancy’ field you need to enter the reference number of the vacancy for which the event is
being set up.
The ‘appointment type’ field has two options: ‘Interview’ and ‘Assessment event’. These options
determine how the event is referred to when information is displayed to the applicants (in the
invitation email, for example). Apart from that, NHS Jobs treats the two types of event in exactly the
same way.
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The ‘Appointment name’ box enables you to provide an identifier or name for the appointment. The
‘Appointment name’ appears in your list of interviews and also appears in the interview details
presented to the applicant through their invitation email or when they view the interview details in
their account. This could identify the first and second interviews for a vacancy, for example.
The ‘Scheduling mode’ selection allows you to select how the slot times are allocated to each
applicant.
Each interview event has at least one date and time. Time slots are periods of time in which you can
see one or more applicants. Within each time slot you can see at least one applicant. Spaces
available for a slot are the number of applicants you can see in that time slot. The system provides a
very flexible way to schedule a number of applicants around the available time periods.
How to create an interview
If you start at the vacancy actions or the shortlisted applications actions, the vacancy reference
number will be known by the system and identified at the top of the form.
If you start at the ‘Create interview’ button on the interviews list, then the relevant vacancy can be
selected by starting to enter the job reference number or job title in the ‘Vacancy’ box. The system
will automatically start to provide you with a list of matching vacancies to select from. The system
will try to match on any part of the job reference or job title, not just the first characters.
Select the correct vacancy from the list.
The ‘Appointment name’ box enables you to provide an identifier or name for the appointment. As
each interview will have an identified vacancy and date, there is no need to repeat those here.
However, you may be planning two interviews on a vacancy, for example, so this could be “First
interview” and then “Second interview”.
Select the ‘Scheduling mode’ that suits your process, to select how the slot times are allocated to
each applicant. The options are:
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


Applicant confirms next available slot – applicants will be offered the next available slot and
confirm their attendance for that slot, so all interviews are consecutive.
Applicant picks any available slot – applicants select from any available slots when they
confirm their attendance.
Recruiter picks slot – you offer a specific slot, and the applicant confirms or declines the
given appointment.
Enter the location of the interview event, including room and building identifiers.
Identify the name of the person the applicants should report to when they arrive.
Enter the name of the lead interviewer. Optionally identify other members of the interview panel if
there are any. Do not include the lead interviewer in the ‘Interview Panel’, or their name will appear
twice in the interview information presented to the applicant.
Tick the checkbox for ‘Presentation required?’ and/or ‘Test required?’, where appropriate. For each
of these, when ticked an additional text box is displayed for you to enter the subject of the
presentation or identify the tests to be taken. Each of these additional text boxes is limited to 400
characters.
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In ‘Further information’ enter the relevant information that you wish to include in the invitation
email or letter, make available to applicants and make available to the interview panel through the
interview schedule. This information is added to the bottom of the invitation email or letter and is
limited to 400 characters.
Identify the date(s) and time(s) of slots for the interview, in the ‘Appointment time slots’ panel, with
the number of spaces in each slot.
Enter a date or choose a date from the calendar by clicking on the calendar icon.
Enter a time, using hours and minutes, for the start time and end time of a slot. Enter the number of
applicants that you can manage in each slot in the ‘Spaces available’ box.
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If more than one slot is needed, clicking on the ‘Add slot’ button will produce another slot
automatically, with the system basing it on the parameters entered for the first slot. If the
automatically produced slot does not suit, you can simply change the date or time.
When you have sufficient slots and all the information has been entered, click on the ‘Create’ button
or on the ‘Create and add notes or documents’ button. Clicking on the latter button creates the
interview event and displays a form to enable you to add notes to the interview or upload
documents to the interview. These notes or documents are for the benefit of the recruiting
manager, recruitment officer and interview panel and are not available to applicants.
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When setting up time slots for interview you have the flexibility to:


Set up one slot with a number of spaces available (this may be useful for assessments). For
example you may have a morning slot from 09:00 until 12:00 with five places available so
five interviewees all attend the same 3 hour session that morning.
Set up a number slots each with one space available (this may be useful for individual
interviews). For example you may have 09:00 – 10:00 for one interviewee to attend, then
10:00 – 11:00 for another interviewee to attend etc.
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Changing interview details
You can edit the interview or edit slots within an interview, if some of the details need to change.
Where to start
To edit an interview or assessment centre event:

Select ‘Vacancies’ on the navigation on the left, find the vacancy the interview relates to in
the list and select the ‘Interviews’ link for the vacancy. Select ‘Edit interview’ and select the
‘Action’ button.
•
Select the ‘Actions’ button beside the interview, select ‘Edit interview details’ and select the
‘Action’ button.
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Overview
The ‘Edit Interview’ form enables you to change the details within an interview using a form that is
similar to the ‘Create Interview’ form.
Details of an interview, such as the location or the time of some of the slots, can be changed using
this form, as long as the date of the event is still in the future.
Please note that NHS Jobs will not let you change the date or time of interview slots that have
already been booked by applicants. If you require to make such changes, you will need to remove
the applicants from the slots first. Once the date and/or time change has been made, the applicant
can be confirmed into the revised slot (assuming that the change was made with their agreement).
This is covered in more detail in the Inviting Applicants to Interview document.
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Viewing the Interview Summary
You can view a summary of the interview and the slots available, with or without any applicants
invited to or booked into any of the slots.
Where to start
To view a summary of an interview:
•
Select ‘Vacancies’ on the navigation on the left. Find the vacancy the interview relates to
In the list and select the ‘Interviews’ link for the vacancy.
OR
• Select ‘Interviews’ on the navigation on the left, find the interview in the list
Key information about the interview is displayed in the interviews list.
To view a summary of the interview slots and any bookings or notes@
•
Select the ‘Show Interview Slots and Notes’ link below the interview.
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Overview
The interview summary view displays the dates and times of the interview slots, the application
reference numbers and names of applicants invited into or booked into specific slots, plus an
indication of the response of the applicant.
In this example, the interview has been set up with 3 slots with no applicants invited or booked into
any of the slots yet.
Note that applicants will appear in the slots in this summary view as soon as they have been invited,
because the scheduling mode is ‘Recruiter picks slot’. If the scheduling mode is ‘Applicant confirms
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next available slot’ or ‘Applicant picks any available slot’, then the applicants will only appear in the
summary view when they have booked a slot.
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In this example, the interview has been set up with 3 slots and 3 applicants have been invited, with 1
applicant having confirmed.
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