 I got the job! Yes I got the job! Hi everyone and welcome if you're new to this channel my name is Claire Carmichael I'm a final year nursing student UK based and I've got six months left OMG so I don't think I can go into actual questions that they asked me but I'm just gonna give you some little things to look around because they might ask you out there in the community but I think I'm allowed to share what sort of questions around the topics but just not the actual question I think. So this vlog is all about your band 5 community nurse interview so if you are looking to apply into the community if you've already got that interview and you're wondering what to do, what to research, what to look up all of that jazz don't worry I'm gonna give you as much help and advice hopefully as possible to make sure you smash that interview and get an amazing career ahead of you. So firstly just as I like a little ice breaker this particular trust asked me to write down the six seas of nursing and how I would apply those into the community setting which I thought was a really nice way to sort of break the ice and get you talking about those sort of things so I did print it out I put my six seas I put a little description of what I would do and how I would achieve this out in the community setting and then when I went into the interview they said okay have you got your six seas ready I said yes I have had it in my folder and I said you know what no I'm not even gonna look at it I said I'm just gonna keep it there I'm not gonna open it if my mind goes blank then I've got it for reference but it's the six siege I should know the six seas off by heart by now and how I'm gonna do that every day out there whilst I'm working as a qualified nurse. So I did that I literally closed my book I said I've got this hopefully and I reeled off my six seas went into detail about how I would do that so that started off well I think I think that was just my little edge I think just to give me that little bit of a confidence boost and to get me going without having to worry or overthink things I think that that just really helped me personally whether you'll get that sort of situation in your interview who knows it depends on the trust and what they have in place for their interviews I suppose but you might get a question on the six seas or how you will apply those six seas to your role wherever you are. You might be asked about safeguarding and what the term sort of vulnerable patient means or vulnerable person means so just have a look at safeguarding look at safeguarding in the trust that you're applying to and if they've got any guidelines or policies just have a quick look at those but just mainly know the sort of risks around safeguarding what you would do in any situation that you discovered a safeguarding incident and how you would sort of implement that into your nurse and role as well because safeguarding is massive at the minute it does I don't think this is just for community I think this is probably for quite a lot of roles out there as nurses we have to be aware of it especially with the recent panorama program that was on recently with the the horrible abuse that's happened it's massive at the minute so just look around safeguarding and vulnerable adults on what that means to you and you're gonna be okay so I was asked a few questions actually on assessment tools which was the only question I think that stumped me because I thought is it the same as when the assessment tools we use on the wards and the acute setting as community I know in GP they use a lot on mental health assessment tools things like that but I was trying to think oh my god okay what's assessment tools would they use so I just literally had to just go through every assessment tool I could possibly think of and just give every answer possible I think but just look around what assessment tools are used in the community for patients and just know a little bit about them just in case that is one question that they ask you because I had that question and luckily I was okay I think but just to make you aware they might ask you assessment tools and it's always better to be prepared pressure areas so I had quite a few questions actually more than I expected around pressure areas and pressure ulcers and how to prevent these and how to do so in the community and luckily for me I love pressure areas and wounds and I've had some training recently so I was okay those questions I think and I was actually chuffed when they asked me yes I know this I know this come on so yeah so look up pressure areas look up pressure wounds look up pressure ulcers look up prevention of pressure areas out in the community especially and just have a look into that more and the sort of assessment tools you would use and what you would do if you discovered a pressure area just look around those sort of things because that's more than likely going to be a question you might get I also had a question all about loan working and it's something that you have to be aware of in the community how to protect yourself and maintain your own safety because we're so concerned about patient safety and making the patient better we never think about ourselves and actually we are alone in the community we are going out to patients we don't know what's behind that door so what are we going to do to make sure that we are safe and that is quite a really good question that sort of threw me and I was like actually that's a really good question I think some trusts have alarms so you as a community nurse will have an alarm on you that you can press and never ever thought about something like that I just thought well all patients are lovely but actually sometimes you might be at risk out there and you have to make sure that you're safe so just have a look into loan working what you're going to do to protect yourself not just the patient another question that's quite a common one again for not just this role but any role in nursing and even as a health care assistant I've always had this question thrown at me so it's more than likely you might get this question so they will want to know what skills you have got that you can bring to the team what your best qualities are your strengths your weaknesses that sort of question so just make sure you know and get your best skills out there and sell yourself on this question along with the skills you want to know why you want to work in the community what is it about community nursing you really love and just make sure you shine and show that passion for community nursing why do you want community over the acute board tell them tell them how much you love community and how much you're going to be the best nurse possible for them and yeah again just sell yourself but they'll want to know why community and they'll want to know your skills what do you think your biggest challenge is going to be going from student nurse to qualified nurse in your first 12 months they might ask what you sort of foresee and this is a question that I actually got asked in my university interview as well so I think this is quite a common one that people use because they want to see that you're actually thinking ahead and you're recognizing your weaknesses as well as what challenges you might have but whatever answer you give always always always back it up with your solution don't just say I'm going to have this challenge and end it you have to say I recognize that this is going to be a challenge and this is how I'm going to achieve it and just get over the challenge and have an amazing career and tackle those challenges you need to always give a solution no matter what your answer is and lastly you might also get some questions around infection control because out in the community it's a completely different sort of area you're in the person's home so it's going to be quite hard to do things like aseptic technique you know your sharps if you're taking bloods if you're doing diabetic checks the sharps bins and things like that orange bags we have to really think okay what am I going to do out in the community if I've got a wound that needs aseptic technique and just make sure that you can you know around that sort of infection prevention and infection control in the community and what you're going to do give an example as well I gave quite a few examples I think because I was really started to think about it and I was like okay this oh actually what about this and yeah this I went off on a tangent I think up with that one I was in my interview for an hour might I add but I think I've got everything in there that I needed to so just make sure you use all examples give a good explanation and a bit of detail on how you're going to prevent infection and how you're going to maintain infection control just have a look at the trust there should be some guidelines and policies around infection control as well I know out in the community you will have like your own sharps bins you will have your own orange bags you'll have your own wipes you'll have your own alcohol gel those little things you'll have your own dressing packs to put out on the table so you're just going to have to do the best you can basically out in the community and with the equipment that you have on you which you will take and not forget to maintain that infection control and my final final tip of the day relax and smile because this is the hardest thing to do when you've got an interview and you're nervous trust me I hate interviews and they make me really nervous mine goes blank and I start shaking and stuttering but you know what you just have to take a deep breath and think do you know what out of all those people that have applied for this position they've chosen you for this interview they've seen something in your application and they want to speak to you and you need to sell yourself just make sure that you do that and sell yourself and just try and relax even despite the nerves and you know what never is a good thing because what I find is if I'm nervous about something it means I care if I get emotional about something it means a care so I think they they're expecting to see those nerves because it does show that you actually care about the role and getting the job basically sorry on an actual last note now I've got another thing to add sorry and so at the end of your interview they might ask okay have you got any questions for us and this is something that I always struggle with so we think what shall I ask them it's because sometimes they cover everything in the interview like this interview that I just had they actually covered quite a lot they talked about the development so I was gonna ask about progression and what I can do within the trust and that was one of my questions but they'd actually answered that already just from talking to them so I was thinking oh god what can I ask now so some questions that you might want to ask if they don't cover it in the interview is ask about progression ask about sort of development opportunities training opportunities they have you can ask about CPD because re-evalidation you need CPD in training so you can interlink those you could ask about their perceptorship program if they have one if they don't what have they got in place to make your transition from student nurse to qualified nurse more smooth and sort of ease you in what sort of induction programs they have little things like that and lastly this is something I actually googled was this question and one of the results that came up is my personal personal favourite so one of your questions you might ask is what they love about the trust and why they love their role that they're in just thought this was an amazing question I thought actually I've never thought to ask them this never thought to ask someone actually what do you love about this job and I just thought it was great so that's a really good question ask them why they love their job and just remember they're just people as well they're not scary they're there to interview you and hopefully give you a job just try and relax if you're getting stuck on a question just take a minute to relax it's not a race nobody's timing you in this interview like I said mine took an hour because I just talked and talked and talked forever but I think that's because I did actually feel comfortable in this interview and I really wanted it and there was nothing stopping me from getting this job let me tell you I've waited too long so that's it from me I hope I've given you some good advice good tips hopefully if you need any more information you know you can always message me comment below inbox me on Instagram Twitter any of those Facebook let me know if you've had an interview let me know if you're going to an interview let me know if you've got the job oh my god if you've been to an interview comment below for some advice and tips that haven't already given for other people to see help each other out come on we need each other guys it's teamwork so yeah so that's it from me as I said I shall see you all next week and anyone that's applying for jobs out there anyone that's got an interview massive massive massive good luck you're gonna smash it