I applied through other source. I interviewed at Optima Health (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
Interview
Had 1 informal interview so far, relaxed and casual phone call. Mainly asking about my experience and how this would translate to the OHA role. Then they explained more about the role, pay, job description. I'm waiting for the 2nd stage of interview, which is more formal and structured.
I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Optima Health (Edington, Somerset, South West England, England) in Jan 2025
Interview
Conversation with a pleasant man and then an interview with quite a stern lady who did not make it seem that the patients are a priority. Case study section quite easy
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
About a man who had injured himself at work and how we would support him back to work
I applied online. I interviewed at Optima Health (Birmingham, England) in Aug 2025
Interview
3 Stages. 1) Informal chat about the job 2) Role play of assessing a new-caller and 3) a virtual interview. This took 3-4 weeks in total. A lot of time for a strange experience.
Unfortunately the virtual interview turned out to be the strangest and most informal chat I've ever experienced from an EAP place. It was extremely unclear how to answer well and, I can't believe I'm saying this but, I would've preferred a structured interview style.
The main fella interviewing me was absolutely sound but, again, it was extremely difficult to gauge where I should be selling myself and where to tailor my answers. We had another individual taking notes off-camera and this individual spoke fluent corporate jargon. I noticed they intervened when I asked a difficult question to them and they essentially decided to word-salad their way out of answering. There was a distinct lack of warmth from that individual. For example, turns out the job was 'up to £35k', which was not in the original posting. It was £32k in actuality and there was some confusion about the qualifications and requirements that they needed to check over post-interview. It was suggested that 'Senior accredited' level would enable a candidate for the full £35k but this was also unclear. I could also be wrong here. In any case, after this little mishap, I received a rather intimidating stare from the corporate individual, which I ignored. Candidates at this stage of interview are within their rights to ask about the salary at the end.
It was not made clear beforehand about the nature of this virtual interview so naturally one would overprepare, practice scenario questions and competency questions - only to be met with rather suspiciously basic questions which seemed to have only one simple answer: yes or no.
Upon apparently failing this interview, which was of course disappointing for a counsellor who hasn't been able to find salaried work for over a year, I was met with a copy and paste email stating: "Unfortunately, on this occasion you have been unsuccessful and we will not be taking you forward. We appreciate the time you took to apply and wish you every success in your career." with no attempt at giving any feedback.
Overall very bad experience. But I enjoyed the realism of the role play. Very well done there.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
"What's the difference between a client and a customer?"