Course description

NHS applications follow their own pattern. Adverts come with a job description and a person specification, the application form asks for supporting information within a character limit, shortlisters score your evidence against each criterion, and interviews mix values-based, experience and scenario questions. This course explains each part in plain words and shows you, step by step, how to put together an honest application that gives you a better chance at every stage.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons. You follow a senior care assistant applying for her first NHS job as a healthcare support worker: from a first application that wasn't shortlisted, through reading the person specification properly, rewriting her supporting information and practising with her aunt, a retired ward nurse, to a values-based interview, a conditional offer and her pre-employment checks. Every section has a worksheet, answers, a cheat sheet and ready-made templates and workbooks.

What you'll learn

• How NHS recruitment works: employers and job websites in all four nations, Agenda for Change bands, bank work and the NHS values.
• Reading the advert: the job description, the person specification, essential and desirable criteria, eligibility, guaranteed interviews and reasonable adjustments.
• The application form: employment history and gaps, qualifications, references and declarations.
• Supporting information: mapping every criterion, finding honest evidence, writing it clearly within the character limit and keeping patients and colleagues anonymous.
• Shortlisting: how applications are scored, asking for feedback and turning it into a stronger application.
• Interviews: values-based questions, scenario questions, motivation questions, assessment days and short written exercises.
• After the interview: conditional offers, the six NHS pre-employment checks, criminal record checks, occupational health and your first weeks.

Who it's for

Anyone applying for NHS jobs that don't need a professional registration, including healthcare support worker, admin and clerical, porter, domestic and catering roles, and people going for their next band. It suits first-time applicants, career changers, people returning to work and anyone moving from social care. The course doesn't teach clinical care. It ends with a final project: a decoded advert, a criteria map, your own supporting information and an interview plan with a timed mock.

What will I learn?

• Understand how NHS recruitment works in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Read an NHS advert, job description and person specification and plan your application
• Fill in the application form, including employment history, gaps, references and declarations
• Map the person specification and find honest evidence for every criterion
• Write supporting information that answers each criterion within the character limit
• Understand shortlisting and turn feedback into a stronger application
• Answer values-based, scenario and motivation questions at interview
• Understand conditional offers, pre-employment checks and your first weeks

Frequently asked questions