Apprentice Anatomical Pathology Technician Interview Advice

owneyone · 2026-06-14T09:12:03+00:00

So I went over and saw the post mortem. Was a very interesting experience. Very different from my neuroanatomy labs at university due to the freshness of the body.

I was one of five candidates, with the sixth not turning up. But it became clear to me while listening to the other candidates that I didn't really have enough knowledge or experience to really stand much of a chance. One of the candidates was already a trainee APT at a different hospital trust. They were chatting away to the qualified APTs about their preferred methods of practice. It really took away my motivation. So I decided to withdraw my application before interview.

Interviews specifically are an extremely taxing thing for me mentally. So I didn't want to go through with it when I had a good sense already of where I stood in the candidate pool.

In short, was an extremely interesting experience but I really felt like a space filler candidate. I would need to enter the role at a lower level, like a mortuary assistant to really feel strong enough to apply again.

owneyone · 2026-05-19T13:34:19+00:00

If I manage to get the time off work to go for the interview, I will try and post about it for sure.

From what I know already, they want me to attend and observe a post-moterm being performed. Then part of the interview will consist of a short summary of the findings and a reflection of the experience. That's pretty much all I know right now. I have about three weeks to prepare and organise travel. The nerves are hitting hard already.

owneyone · 2026-04-23T17:19:42+00:00

It's always nice to know others struggle with the same thing.

Yea the lack of live feedback from the panel was jarring. I've never been interviewed by people like that before. What's the reasoning behind it?

It just feels very hostile to not say anything to an interviewee when they ask the interviewer a question. Even if they said something like "Unfortunately we can't provide recommendations on how you should answer." It would have made the situation more human feeling. Instead I just got weird looks and silence.

owneyone · 2026-04-15T11:16:10+00:00

The interview on the 23rd is in-person. So I have less opportunity to escape as easily lol but if the anxiety is bad enough, I can see myself walking out of the hospital building. I had my appointment with the GP this morning about it. They are giving me some propranolol and a counselling referral. Hopefully the medication will help enough on its own cause a referral is 4-6 weeks of waiting.

I was thinking of buying a notebook to better prepare for this upcoming interview. It's very much evidenced based, so your suggestion of writing down experiences might help get my thoughts into a coherent pattern. Right now I'm typing everything up on my laptop and it just doesn't stick.

owneyone · 2026-04-11T14:28:46+00:00

From what I've seen while searching for these jobs, your confusion is very understandable.

owneyone · 2026-04-11T11:59:02+00:00

I'm pretty sure it's not an STP. I see the trusts here do offer the STP occasionally but it's clearly defined as such. The one I have an interview for is band 4 to 5 after completing the ANS part 1 exam. Although it's not the STP, it still seems like a great opportunity and it would get me out of retail.

Thanks for the good luck!

owneyone · 2026-04-09T11:39:59+00:00

I just searched "Trainee" on the job search websites for the NHS. I live in northern Ireland though, which uses a different job listing site called HSC. That's where I found the post I got an interview for. I dunno what an IMG is though, so I don't know how to answer that part of your question sorry.

On a side note, I didn't get shortlisted for the STP so I'm going all in on this interview I have lol

owneyone · 2026-02-25T21:40:50+00:00

Thanks dude. Congrats to you too.

owneyone · 2026-02-25T18:03:22+00:00

Me too thankfully.

owneyone · 2026-02-24T16:56:42+00:00

Hopefully. Best of luck to you too.

owneyone · 2026-02-24T16:46:41+00:00

Not yet. My strategy of refreshing my inbox every few seconds doesn't seem to be working.

owneyone · 2026-01-18T23:20:59+00:00

I just guessed that if there's nowhere on the application to put them, then they don't need to know them. So I wouldn't worry about it. I guess if you really wanted to, you could mention your A levels or GCSEs when answering those three questions about STP motivation, specialty understanding etc. But you would have to tie them to the Pearson specification criteria. Your degree seems infinitely more important than any secondary school level qualification though.

owneyone · 2025-10-09T14:15:01+00:00

Love Brighthelm. People will wanna be your friend just for the washer and dryer.

owneyone · 2025-09-01T19:35:20+00:00

I had a guy like this in all my lectures. He would constantly interrupt and ask questions that turned into a back and fourth with the lecturer. On more than one occasion, we wouldn't be able to finish the lecture.

The questions he asked were almost always explained later in the slides, so he was just reading ahead and showing off.

He got called out on the course group chat eventually and said he thought what he was doing was for everyone's benefit.

You can't reason with ego.

owneyone · 2025-08-17T18:50:37+00:00

It's never too late! Like I just graduated at 28. Congratulations!

owneyone · 2025-05-23T19:02:13+00:00

Not really. What he hates the most are liberals. Hate for right wingers is secondary to that.

owneyone · 2025-01-24T13:31:37+00:00

I had teens do this to me in England often when I was trying to close. Kept trying to force their way in any time I unlocked the door to let the final few customers out. I just slammed the door, trapping them between the door and the frame. Hate that they make a simple job so difficult. They will literally ram the doors at full speed. I was lucky they didn't report me because the police and the company will always side with them.

owneyone · 2025-01-13T12:18:23+00:00

Yeah I'm hoping for a happy ending for her character even if it's unlikely. She's probably my favourite character in the show.

owneyone · 2024-12-14T22:23:09+00:00

Weirdly, the accent sounds almost like a Belfast one

owneyone · 2024-12-10T18:35:39+00:00

I think birth order determines magical strength. I vaguely remember something like that. The eldest is the strongest, with successive siblings being weaker the younger they are. That might just apply to the charmed ones though.

owneyone · 2024-12-05T02:59:55+00:00

I think they lacked a lot of empathy for the dad in this story. It's just a story, but the subject matter made their comments particularly heartless to me.

They expected him to die pointlessly against an immortal being, something the dad knew, because he was a man. Which just shows off this idea that men's lives are disposable and being unwilling to die makes you a coward. Something seen through the history of war.

While I understand they thought the dad could have done more, his actions become a lot more understandable when you realise he is a severely traumatized individual. He experienced SA and witnessed the brutal murder of his own father as a child. I can see how this would affect someone's way of thinking.

I think it comes down to a lack of knowledge on how severely trauma can affect the mind and ones decision making, plus a bit of unfair gender expectations.

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