First of all, I would like to briefly introduce myself. I am not a British but a girl from electronics engineering background originated from Malaysia and is currently in UK holding a Working Holiday Maker(WHM) visa. Due to my background, I believe it would be harder for me to get through the interview even though I am fully prepared with the knowledge in medical equipment.

So, with this post, I urgently need some advise on my upcoming interview for NHS Trainee Clinical Technologist. May I know what are the typical questions? I have been waiting for this vacancy even since I touched down in UK; 6 months ago. So I really need to make a cut in this precious interview chances provided by the hiring manager.

In fact I knew about this web site is through a new British friend who is now served as a Clinical Technologist Lead. And he also shared two more related web sites to assist my preparation for my upcoming interview.

Any advise is very much appreciated! Thanks in advanced! Cheers!

Have a look at this recent forum thread... Tips for interviews

http://www.ebme.co.uk/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/24917#Post24917

And good luck! - John

Thank you!!! Really thanks to your fast reply! In fact with your pointer I found out more stuff which are useful for interview preparation as well!

I really hope John Sandham will be one of my interview panels. Unfortunately no... Oh well, although I am not a newly graduate but the electronics stuff are still fresh in my mind! Phew!

I was told by the hiring manager that I will be brought around the department before my interview so I just hope there will be no written test etc. as described by one of the forum member.

And again, I am really grateful to your advise! Cheers!

I'm sure you'll be fine Lay Lay.
Good luck and please let us know how you get on

I have just received an official invitation letter for the interveiw today although the interview will be held another two more days... Really close... Luckily I e-mailed the hiring manager on the shortlisting process else it will be too late for me to start preparing for the interview on this coming Thurs! Phew!!

From the letter, the interview session will last for 1.5hours; a tour of Clinical Engineering Department and an interview. A practical test will be involved as well and I have a gut feeling it will be related to the tour. Or would it be related to something else? Any advise on this? I could not seem to locate the answer at the link provided by John earlier on.

Any advise would be very much appreciated! Thanks in advanced!

Lucky you then, that the interview is only a couple of days away. Less time to fret about it. Just relax, stay cool, and be yourself. Everything will be fine. We all wish you the best of luck.

And don't forget to tell us how you get on.

Huw and Geoff, thanks for your support!!! In fact I can't really relax myself yet as I have another link to study on. It's on Anesthesia Monitoring, so really have to finish that before Thurs!

Thanks!

Some practical tests we have used at interviews include the following…

1. Wiring a UK 13A Mains Plug.
2. Soldering/De-soldering components in a simple circuit.
3. Using test equipment (oscilloscope, multimeter) to measure voltage, frequency, current, etc.

Hope this helps & good luck!

Yes, they're good practical tests, those, John.

Back in the good old days, when IAL Medical Services were still a source of work for ex-pat biomeds happily roaming the world, there was a guy who used to do a lot of the interviewing for them (and who, sadly, is no longer with us), who used to keep a few electronic components in the top drawer of his desk. He used to open the drawer, and without glancing inside, just fish out any old thing, and toss it on the desk. He would then invite the candidate to talk about it, usually resulting in much waffling, and sweating of palms. Of course, I saw through this technique, and realized that it was definitely a case of "least said, soonest mended"!

I later tried it when meeting people myself. You’d be surprised (or, there again, perhaps you wouldn’t) at the lengths people would go to to "impress". Some would get right down into the realms of free electrons, holes, gates and all the rest, when I would have been quite satisfied with "… oh, that looks like a DIL 74-series chip" (and even more impressed if he had added "yeah, TTL at 5 VDC")!

So, the moral of the story must be:- if you don’t know, say so. Best not to waffle!

Thanks John!!! I suppose you called me this morning but did not manage to talk to me as I was awaken by my mobile vibration! But luckily you did leave a voice mail. I am really grateful to your extensive support!

Based on the 3 items which you listed, I have exprienced them during my university period but for item 1 I did it at the early of year 2006 as well as usage of a voltmeter in my current room as one of the wall socket was broken and I was trying to get it fixed. If only these 3 items are to be tested then I doubt I have problem with them although my past employments was more on computing rather than on hardware! Phew!

Zillion thanks!!!!