“Everyone prepared, everyone valued” - piloting inclusive interviews from Monday 3 November.
From Monday 3 November, we’re piloting a new approach to recruitment - sharing interview questions with candidates in advance.
The pilot, called ‘Everyone prepared, everyone valued’, is part of our commitment to making Berkshire Healthcare a fairer, more inclusive place to work. It supports our People Strategy, Neurodiversity Strategy and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Framework, and aims to remove barriers for people who may be neurodivergent, have English as a second language, or prefer more time to plan and reflect before an interview.
Making interviews fairer for everyone
We know that traditional interviews can sometimes feel like memory tests, which don’t always give candidates the best opportunity to demonstrate their skills and experience. By giving people the interview questions in advance, we aim to:
- Reduce anxiety and build confidence
- Encourage more thoughtful, evidence-based responses
- Level the playing field for candidates with different needs and backgrounds
- Attract a broader and more diverse pool of applicants
Supporting candidates to show their best
Having time to prepare helps people present their skills and experiences more effectively. It can be beneficial for:
- Neurodivergent candidates who may experience anxiety or working memory challenges
- People with English as a second language who benefit from extra time to interpret questions and prepare examples
- People who perform better when given space to plan and organise their thoughts
By giving everyone an equal chance to prepare, we hope candidates will feel more confident and able to show their true strengths during interviews.
“We want everyone who applies to Berkshire Healthcare to feel valued and supported from the very first interaction,” said Jane Nicholson, Director of People. “By sharing interview questions in advance, we’re helping people focus on what really matters - their skills, experience and potential - not how well they cope under pressure.”
This is a pilot project, and we’ll be gathering feedback from both candidates and interviewers to help us understand what works well and what can be improved. The results will shape how we design our recruitment process in future.
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