The PASS Formula

To help structure your answer, use the PASS formula as follows:

1. PROFILE: Who am I?

  • Introduce yourself by starting with a brief Personal Profile, a powerful statement where you sell yourself in one or two sentences summarising who you are.

  • Include your name, profession, qualifications, current job title, and the number of years of experience.

  • Mention the health and care specialities or organisations you have worked in to quickly give the interviewer an understanding of your current career point.

  • Mention qualifications you have gained or training you have undertaken.

2. ACHIEVEMENTS: What have I done?

Split this into two areas of focus:

  • Career

    • Briefly expand on your successful career to date, including your current role, previous roles, responsibilities and experience.

    • Include the job title, how long you have held the post, the organisation and if necessary, a brief description of the employer.

  • Successes

    • Having outlined your career path now is the point to highlight your key successes. Mention a maximum of three and ensure these are most RELEVANT to the role, are complex and are exciting.

3. SKILLS: What will I bring?

  • Detail the core skills and strengths that you are bringing. 

  • Review the job description and the required competencies; your answer should include some of these, making sure you use the same terminology in the job description.

4. SELL: What are my Unique Selling Points?

This is your chance to really stand out from the other applicants and sell yourself. This part of your answer could be the clincher in terms of getting a leap on the competition, so it is vitally important.

  • Ask yourself what it is that makes you better than the other applicants.

  • What gives you the edge?

  • Do you have some additional helpful experience or skills?

  • Maybe you do something in your spare time, such as volunteering or a valuable hobby in this role?

  • Perhaps you have won prizes, published papers or completed an important non-work-related task.

Whatever you speak about, it must be relevant, it must be helpful to the employer, and it must be real.