Recruitment Support

Please choose the relevant heading below or read through the full information provided:

  1. Introduction
  2. What is Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and why is it important for us at EEAST? 
  3. What happens after applying for a vacancy? 
  4. What happens if your application is successful at the shortlisting stage?
  5. Interview tips 
  6. What happens after being interviewed? 
  7. What happens if my situation changes, and I am no longer interested in the role? 
  8. Further support 
  9. Signposting to further education for apprenticeship roles 

Introduction

This page is designed to help you in your preparation to apply for a position within the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST), or to support your understanding as to why you have not been successful at a particular stage.

The application process often has numerous stages. All roles will involve an initial application either by Trac Jobs or NHS Jobs followed by a shortlisting process. Once shortlisted, you may be invited to book an interview which maybe a face to face, or virtually delivered. Depending on the role you may also be required to carry out an assessment of some kind before you are formally advised if you have or have not been successful. Slight adaptations can be in place such as holding interviews prior to assessments so we are not putting our applicants through unnecessary stress if we know that they have not been successful in an earlier stage.

Upon vacancy closure on NHS Jobs, all applications will be merged with Trac Jobs and managed on Trac thereafter. This may therefore affect your ability to access submitted applications via NHS Jobs. Please always check your junk/spam folders for messages relating to your application progress if you have not heard anything.

What is Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and why is it important for us at EEAST?

We want our staff to represent our communities, therefore at EEAST we are committed to providing an equal opportunity of employment for all. We encourage people from all backgrounds and ethnic groups to apply for our jobs.

We recognise the benefits of a diverse workforce and the positive impact this has on our staff and our service users. We welcome and actively encourage applications from those who would otherwise feel excluded based on age, gender, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, marriage/civil partnership status, pregnancy, gender reassignment or socio-economic background.

What happens after applying for a vacancy? 

When you click to apply for a role, you may be asked a small number of pre application questions. These are designed to ensure you are only able to apply for a position that is right for you. An example of this would be our
“Qualified Paramedic” vacancy which will ask you to confirm that you are indeed a qualified paramedic before you can begin your application. If you are not able to proceed, it will be because you do not meet a fundamental requirement for the position and you should look for other vacancies that you may be more suited to.

Your application will ask for personal details, qualifications, employment history, references, equality monitoring information and an opportunity for you to write a supporting statement. It is important that you complete all these fields. Failure to complete, could result in the application being rejected at shortlisting. Equality monitoring information is not mandatory, but it does help us to understand our staff and applicants to ensure we continue to be a diverse employer and equal opportunities are given to all who wish to apply. This information is not visible upon shortlisting and is therefore not taken into account during your application.

Upon submitting your application, it will be held until the vacancy closes and is moved to the shortlisting stage. Your application will be shortlisted by a minimum of two staff members, all applicant identifiable information is removed and each part of the application is considered against set criteria for that role and scored accordingly. Please do not include person identifiable information (such as your name) in your supporting statement.

It can take a couple of weeks for a vacancy to be shortlisted once closed, particularly if we receive a high number of applications. Please note the closing date and expect to hear from us soon after the vacancy closes. If you have not heard anything after a couple of weeks following closure, please email recruitment@eastamb.nhs.uk.

Examples of shortlisting rejection:

Qualifications

An apprenticeship or qualified application must clearly document core education to be mapped across to the person specification. Apprenticeships require GCSE education or equivalent (for example, Functional Skills Level 2 or a CSE at Level 1). If the applicant fails to document their full education, the staff member shortlisting will be unable to guarantee that the applicant will meet the education criteria. Do not summarise; stating “GCSEs x8 A-E” will not be clear enough for shortlisting. Any equivalent vocational, pre-GCSE or international courses that have been documented will have been checked against a conversion chart to confirm official recognition.

A declaration of a higher form of education such as a diploma for example, does not necessarily mean that the applicant has the required GCSEs in Maths and English to enter an apprenticeship. Therefore, if this is all that is listed in qualifications, the application will be rejected. Any education or qualification mandated for the role will need to be evidenced as part of your pre-employment checks.

International qualifications must go through a formal conversion process and certificates issued by the organisation will be required.

We have a signposting section further down the page to help with any education requirements you may have. Some providers are now delivering Functional Skills courses virtually.

Other common causes applications are not shortlisted

Duplicate application – the applicant has applied for the same vacancy in multiple sectors within the same recruitment period.

Greater than 3 points declared on a driving licence or no driving licence documented when required.

Employment history shows significant employment gaps, which are not then declared or elaborated on further on in the application.

A vague application – minimal supporting information mapped against the person specification and job description or a very standardised supporting document which does not seem to have been tailored to the role being applied to. Not enough detail on roles and responsibilities within employment history.

If we receive a large number of applications, the shortlisting scores that we take forward for interview may need to be higher than a previous round. This explains why you may have been successful at this stage before, but unsuccessful with the same application when you re apply.

Always check that you have addressed the key attributes in the person specification within your application and supporting information. Never assume that simply stating what you are currently employed as, will result in being shortlisted. 

Finally, if you are rejected at shortlisting, use it as an opportunity to review your application before re submitting it if the opportunity comes back out to advert. 

What happens if your application is successful at the shortlisting stage?

If your application is successful and has been shortlisted for interview, you will be notified via Trac Jobs and invited to confirm your interview offer. This could be a set date, or you may be given a range of dates and times to choose from. Either way, please let us know if you cannot attend before withdrawing your application by visiting Trac jobs. Doing this promptly may then allow us to allocate your ‘interview slot’ to another applicant. In some circumstances there may be some flexibility on these dates and times.

If you are invited to attend a virtual interview, a diary invite including a link to the meeting should be sent to you before the day of interview.

If you are attending a face-to-face interview, you should be sent detailed information on where to go, what to bring with you and what to expect on the day.

Virtual interviews are likely to be hosted by Microsoft Teams. If you have an eastamb.nhs.uk email account (you are an existing staff member) then you will be admitted straight into the meeting. If you are joining with a personal email address, you will be in a lobby area awaiting the panel to admit you. Some interviews may be late to start, so please continue to hold yourself in the lobby. If you have any concerns, please contact the recruiting manager or the recruitment office on 01234 243 200 who can investigate the cause of any significant delay. 

Interview tips 

We know interviews can be very stressful and often not what you expect. Questions may be completely different to previous interviews and sometimes you may feel that you have not had the opportunity to talk about certain subjects you had hoped for. Preparation is key.

Research - Make sure the panel are aware of your preparation efforts by fully understanding what it is you are applying for. You may be asked questions about our organisation and the role, so read our website, navigate through both corporate and role pages. 

Listen carefully to the question, write it down if you wish. If you are not sure your answer was particularly relevant, ask the panel to repeat the question before you move on to the next.

Interview questions should be open to generate discussion. If you have answered your question within a couple of sentences it is likely you have not gone into enough detail.

Include your past employment experience if you think it is valuable within your answer. Although the panel will have seen your application, it is good practice to answer your questions as if they have not. That way your experience comes across in both your interview as well as your application.

A question may start “Tell us about a time when…” or “Give us an example of when…”. Take a moment to think about what skill the question is based on (for example, communication, teamwork etc) and think of an example when you have really demonstrated that. Consider using the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result) or other tools for example based answers.

You may be asked to provide examples of experiences. Try not to spend too long on telling the panel about what happened step by step, but elaborate on the key elements that link back to the theme of the question.

Use the interview as an opportunity to ask questions about the role or organisation, consider questions that are not necessarily ones you could easily answer by conducting prior research. Many people ask, “should I ask questions at the end of my interview?”. It’s unlikely that these will affect the result of your interview, so it’s neither good or bad practice to ask questions.

Once you have finished your interview, it maybe beneficial to take a few moments to reflect and make some notes on what you felt went well and any areas you feel you could improve on; should you need to repeat the interview in future.

Do not assume that if you are being interviewed a second time after reapplying that you will be given the same interview questions! 

What happens after being interviewed? 

If you are not successful… the recruiting manager will contact you by telephone to inform you of their decision and provide you with feedback. Some vacancies can interview over several days before conclusion. If there are lots of positions to fill, the recruiting manager will advise when you can expect to receive the outcome of your interview. Please ensure that interview panel has the correct number for you.

If you are successful... the recruiting manager will contact you by telephone to verbally offer you the post, or you will receive Trac notification. The offer at this stage will be conditional and is subject to receiving the following satisfactory pre-employment checks: 

  • Employment history check via references
  • Occupational health
  • Identity and Right to work in the UK
  • Professional Registration (if applicable)
  • DBS, formally known as CRB check (if applicable)
  • Qualifications (if listed as essential in the Person Specification)

Please note that it is important to read through this carefully and check the details are what you expected, such as your base station and salary. Please contact the recruiting manager or recruitment department about any alterations needed to this document. Use this opportunity to evidence any ongoing NHS employment or pay queries so this can be all reflected in your contract. Upon receipt of evidence, we will honour continuous NHS employment in relation to annual leave entitlement and NHS employment start date.

We may need to refer your application to a separate panel once all the above are complete. This will be explained to you in advance if this process is required.

Upon completing your employment checks you will be sent an “Unconditional Offer” and a contract will be issued prior to your start date. If you are applying for a clinical position it may only be at this stage, we can finally confirm your start date and course details. A letter from Training & Education will then provide you with specific course information such as venue, date, times, what you will need with you etc.

The importance of Pre-Employment checks

All NHS organisations are required to ensure they have robust recruitment and employment practices in place to ascertain a person’s fitness and suitability for the role they have been conditionally offered and to ensure safe recruitment.

EEAST employers must demonstrate that they are meeting the relevant regulatory requirements in this regard, by evidencing compliance with the NHS Employment Check Standards. 

Pre-Employment checks are important because: 

  • They are a condition of the employment offer
  • They apply to all successful applicants, which includes internal staff already employed or engaged by an external agency
  • They ensure NHS organisations are recruiting safely and appropriately.

What happens if my situation changes, and I am no longer interested in the role? 

If at any point of your application your circumstances change, or you decide not to proceed, it is vital you inform us. You can either speak to the recruiting manager or recruitment, send an email, or simply withdraw your application from Trac. You do not have to even give a reason, but we do ask that you formally withdraw rather than just not attend an interview or discontinue communication with our recruitment team. 

Further support 

Should you have any questions during your recruitment journey, please email the recruitment team or recruiting manager. Our internal and external website features a lot of the information the recruitment team are often asked to provide. If you are unable to find the information you require please call the recruitment team on 01234 243 200 or email recruitment@eastamb.nhs.uk. Information on vacancies, C1 licences (including the reimbursement scheme) and the recruitment process for internal/bank/agency staff is available on EAST24 and on www.eastamb.nhs.uk.

If you would like further support on education, we have a dedicated apprenticeship email address: apprenticehsips@eastamb.nhs.uk. 

Signposting to further education for apprenticeship roles 

If you have not been able to meet our English and maths qualification entry requirements (see job specification), to support you with future applications, below is guidance on opportunities for accessing English and Maths training which lead to accredited qualifications that meet our entry requirements.

Across the East of England, Further Education Institutes have fully funded courses for adult learners to attended and achieve fully funded Level 2 Functional Skills in English and Maths. Below are links to FE colleges who deliver these courses: 

There are also national providers that deliver on-line Level 2 Functional Skills in English and Maths courses, below are some examples: