You can tell a lot about an organisation from its recruitment process and this was a wholly negative, disorganised experience with poor communications throughout. * Shortlisted candidates were invited to call a number to arrange to go in and listen to some incoming 999 calls as part of the interview preparation process. Great idea and very worthwhile, but unfortunately the phone was never answered and no-one actioned messages left on the voicemail. One of the managers apologised for this at the interview but it's not really good enough considering another manager had promised to sort out the issue two weeks earlier when this problem was raised at the open day. This system clearly had not been properly thought through. * Candidates were asked to attend an open evening before the interview. This was a useful and interesting event. Although not compulsory, clearly attendance was expected from anyone who wanted their application to be taken seriously. * The interview invitation letter asked candidates to report to reception at the Bristol operations centre. However, there is no staffed reception in the building and no-one was present to greet candidates, which seemed a bit inconsiderate and thoughtless. * The interview started very late, so there was a fair bit of waiting around, which unnecessarily added to pre-interview pressure. * Candidates were asked to perform a 'listening assessment' at the start of the interview. This seemed rather hurried, presumably because the interview schedule was running so late. * The recruiting managers conducting the interview were both pleasant and encouraging. * During the interview it became clear that the position initially only guaranteed 'relief shifts' which means a variable shift pattern planned six weeks in advance. This is despite the fact that candidates were told in the open day and also by the HR department that many different shift patterns were available (the strong implication being that successful candidates could choose a pattern that best suited them from the outset). SWAST would be much better off being upfront with this information as variable shifts make planning childcare a bit of a nightmare. Certainly, I would have withdrawn earlier in the process if SWAST had made this rather important fact clear. * Despite promising that all candidates would be told of their success or failure in the process within an agreed timescale, SWAST failed to inform me of the outcome of the interview putting me in the uncomfortable and embarrassing position of having to chase them for confirmation after about two weeks. Despite one or two plus points, all in all this was a really disappointing process that has left me with a negative view of an organisation that I previously held in high regard. It seemed like the whole process was inadequately resourced and poorly managed. This isn't 'sour grapes' because I was unsuccessful, I'm posting this feedback because I think it's important for people to go in with their eyes open before applying for a job and understand how they might be treated.