Pre-Registration Trainee Pharmacist Recruitment

A hugely successful centralised recruitment process for pre-registration pharmacist trainee posts in The London Collaboration (TLC) (114 out of 201 posts within London) and Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (KSS/HIOW) (65 posts) took place in September 2016 for the 2017-18 training year.

A total of 1,173 applicants applied to the whole region (15 trusts in London recruited in the traditional way). There were 671 applicants for TLC and 362 applicants for KSS/HIOW. Of the total 1033 applicants applying for TLC and KSS/H&IOW 208 of these had applied to both.

The selection process consisted of two stages with stage one involving a written assessment taken by 764 students on 7th September and stage two involving face to face interviews. A total of 225 students were interviewed on 21st and 22nd September at Gatwick and 314 students in London on the 27th, 28th and 29th September. Three students attended a separate day on 8th September due to university placements abroad. They sat both part one and part two of the recruitment process. Students who applied to both TLC and KSS/HIoW all attended interviews at Gatwick.

Interview panels were made up of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from trusts within TLC and KSS/HIOW together with members of the HEE LaSE Pharmacy team. At least one Chief Pharmacist from the region was involved in interviewing candidates. Students were made offers of pre-registration training posts based on their performance during the assessment and interview stages and their preference for the posts available within TLC and KSS/HIOW.

All posts across the region were filled without the need for a clearing round.

The process is currently being formally evaluated by both employers and students however early feedback indicates that despite the recruitment process being different to previous years, it was robust and fair.

This project marked the culmination of months of planning and preparation by a London and South East recruitment group, Stephen Parr the project manager and staff from the HEE recruitment team. The results demonstrate that recruitment into pre-registration training posts at scale can be successfully achieved.

For further information please contact Rachel Stretch or Marc Miell.