General Chat

I am hoping that somebody who actually knows the answer may be looking in. Although opinions also welcome.

If you were a mature student applying for a uni place re midwifery, would you expect your first question to be -'Were you born in this country?'

Background to the question. My Great niece has passed midwifery exams etc and now has to apply for a uni place, this will be in the London area. She has had several, the latest on Friday. I don't know which uni this was.

My Gt niece is a lovely quiet, intelligent girl of 24, mother of two lovely little girls. Now, she has a white Morroccan father and a fair skinned English Mother. her father is the only white person in his family which is quite common in Morrocco. She herself is obviously not white, darkish skin and dark hair. She is married to a muslim and herself wears a head scarf.

In front of the interviewer there was her application form, her passport, her driving licence and her birth certificate. So was the interviewer justified in asking this question which unsettled her and made her feel very uncomfortable. As she said she had already been accepted as elligible to be called for interview. :-S

I would suspect that all the questions are a "standard format" put together so as to includes all applicants regardless of where they originated from, I see nothing wrong in that, the alternative is to have different questions for every applicant specific to them personally

Roy

Logically, Ann, if the interviewer had read the birth certificate properly( assuming its a normal GRO type cert with all the info,)
then the answer to that question should have been obvious!!

Bob

Roy, that is why I asked the question hoping that somebody familiar with these interviews would know if it is a usual question.

As said before probably all interviewers will have a set of standard questions
and this one is probably part of the 'inclusive' of all ethnic minorities type.

As for reading the certs, my sil some time ago had to take her son for an update on his DLA/Mobility and one of the questions on the form must have been
'how long has ............ had this illness' and the interviewer asked how long her son had had Downs Syndrome!!!

It is just a case of ticking boxes and they do it so much that the cease to think for themselves.
;-)

Well we can't know the answer to whether all interviewees had the same question I suppose. And you may be right about the inclusive of all ethnic minorities. I just hope in that case that she made all interviewees feel as uncomfortable as she did my niece through the whole interview with her attitude. And my niece is not the sort to be 'prickly' in that situation, she is used to attitude living in London and in the past in Hampshire.

Some interviewers can be quite combative. Also, if it is a panel interview, one of them is often given the job of winding up the interviewee.

I remember talking to a young lady who was applying for a job in a supermarket. I asked her where she lived and how her journey had been. Then her name was called out to be interviewd by a colleague. Interview started with "I have to ask you first, have you ever been in trouble with the police?"

Seems wrong to me, Ann - but I expect your niece will continue to learn from prickly situations like that and she will continue to be a bridge that will conquer insensitivity. I know Universities make a lot more money out of foreign students, so it may have been she was checking if she was paying right fees.

Thanks John. She is such a lovely gentle girl and a wonderful mother, and has had quite a traumatic childhood that has made her strong so I am sure that she will be ok.

It could be a government head count to assertain how many from outside the UK were taking up this role,

Possibly because she wore a headcovering or her surname maide the interviewer ask the question?

Yes her surname is definitely not English but her passport and birth certificate were in front of the interviewer and also this is her third interview, she has not been asked the question by the others. Wouldn't they all have the same criteria?