What to expect when applying for a job in dietetics

In case you don’t follow my Instagram page (@kaegoskitchen), I’ve finished university!! I had my final exams in the beginning of June and will graduate next month. The next step for me is to get a band 5 (entry level) job working in the NHS.

 

I look and apply for jobs on the NHS jobs website but there are other websites too such as Trac Jobs or Dietitian Jobs run by the BDA. I did apply for a band 5 job and unfortunately didn’t get it, but they offered me a dietetic assistant role which I’ll be taking in the mean time. 

In this blog post, I’ll be giving some tips to help you with your job applications.

First, write a personal statement

The first thing to do before applying for jobs is to write a personal statement.

This a statement that basically says why you have the skills for the job and why you’d be a good fit. 

I wrote a generic statement that listed skills like communication, team working, being proactive, being flexible, organisation skills, and being able to reflect. It’s important to provide examples of each of these, whether it’s an example from placement or from another job you’ve had. I actually used my blog as an example of my written communication skills!

When applying on NHS jobs, you don’t need a CV, you fill in your personal details, references, and submit a personal statement. By writing a statement with all your skills and examples of them, you can then tailor your personal statement to each job description and tweak it as needed. 

It’s handy to put the skills in your personal statement in the same order as the skills in the job description. This makes it easier for the people reviewing your personal statement against the job description as they don’t have to look all over the place for things.

Remember, an interview is a blank slate

One thing to remember is that the interview is a blank slate. You have to go into the interview with the thought that the interviewer hasn’t seen your personal statement and knows nothing about you. Your personal statement can get you to an interview, but the interviewers read lots of statements, so the interview is your real chance to shine.

Questions at interview are scored and each question is worth a number of points. Your total number of points determines whether you'll get the job. The points depend on whether you say all the things they’re looking for for that specific question. 

Also, points can't be carried over from other questions. For example, if there's a question about team working skills and you don't answer it well, but you mention your team working in a later question, you won't get the points for it. So answering the question as best you can, in detail is useful to get all the points.

Interview tips:

• Give examples of any skills you mention. Giving examples with what you say can help back up your point and explain yourself
• Take some time to think. You're allowed to have a minute to think about the question to make sure you heard it properly and can formulate a suitable answer. You can say you need a minute to gather your thoughts
• Have notepad at the ready. You're allowed to have a notepad to write things down during the interview, this can also help gather your thoughts and jot ideas down.
• Research a bit about the employer. I always look at the NHS trusts' values and ensure I have an example of how I meet them as a values based question usually comes up!
• Try not to stress! It’s easier said than done but I’ve been told that the people interviewing are also nervous as they want to find the best person for the job. If you try not to think of it as an interview and more of a two way conversation, then you might feel a bit better.
• You can ask for feedback after an interview. This is whether you get the job or not! It can be helpful to know where to improve and it’s also nice to hear what you did well. This feedback can help with future interviews too.

Possible interview questions:

• Why do you want to work here? – you’ll definitely get this question in some shape or form so prepare an answer for it beforehand. Is it the location, the different specialisms the hospital offers, or do you already have a connection to the hospital? Try to think of a few reasons why you’d like the job.
• Scenario based questions – you’ll also likely get a question about a common condition and the dietetic management. An example of a question could be, ‘you’re seeing an obese patient with pressure sores, what do you need to consider?’ Or ‘there is a patient that has just been fitted with an NG tube, what do you do?’ In this type of question, you can go through the ABCDE assessment process and then form a plan.
• Prioritisation questions – these are also common and allow you to demonstrate your clinical reasoning and how you use resources available to you. For example, ‘it’s a Friday afternoon and there’s 3 patients to see. 1 patient has just had an NG tube inserted, another patient is an elderly woman with poor oral intake and the third is a patient with a BMI of 15kg/m2. What do you do?’ You have to be able to justify yourself with your answer, so take your time to think it through.
• Can you give an example of how you meet our trust values? - this question can come up so it’s helpful to have a look at the hospital’s values before the interview and think of a few examples of how you’ve demonstrated them.
• Have you had any difficulties when working with patients, and how did you over come them? - this question may be worded differently but it’s aiming to find out about your resilience, your ability to reflect on situations and to show you’re willing to learn. There's nothing wrong with explaining a situation where something didn't go well as long as you say what you'd do to improve and how you learned from it.
• Can you describe a day on placement that you were proud of? – or something along these lines can also be asked. This question gives you a chance to show off! You can provide any example of something you achieved on placement and how it’ll affect your future practice.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list of all the possible interview questions but they are common ones that are likely to come up in some way so it helps to be prepared.

I hope this blog post was helpful! If you have any questions feel free to ask me.

I've got blog posts on the working life of a dietitian here:

What do dietitians do?

Weight management dietitian

Band 5 dietitian

Band 6 gastro/surgical dietitian

Bye for now! 👋