Unlock the secret of winning at medical job interviews AISNEroles. The health service selection panels comprise of a panel of senior staff including 1. Director/ Deputy Director of the Department 2. Medical Director/ Clinical Director of the hospital 3. Supervisor of Training for the department 4. Other senior consultants within the Department 5, Non-medical staff e.g. Human Resource Managers A similar health service panel is used for interviewing candidates for new consultant positions. This is where the similarity between registrar and consultant interviews stops. Registrar interviews focus on assessing whether the candidate is a safe, compliant, motivated trainee who is academically equipped sufficiently to pass the exams. Consultant interviews have a greater focus on reviewing potential non-clinical contributions that the candidate can offer the overall department: ‘+ Non-medical managerial sills ~ leadership, organisation, ethics, conflict resolution ‘+ Ability to increase the department's status - research, education, audits, committee work ‘+ Areas of ‘Unique Expertise’ ~ areas of non clinical knowledge such as extensive medico-legal experience ‘+ Interpersonal skills and personality Many people believe the subject matter and questions asked In interviews are vastly diverse, however this incorrect, The majority of medical interviews are based on a standard format. Basic Anatomy of a Medical Job Interview ‘Most medical interviews will last between twenty minutes to ‘an hour and will generally consist of questions asked on four topics. The exception to this rule is where there is a Structured Interviews format, such as the RACS SET interviews, where. the questions are not necessarily in the same order but the content is often still similar. Your suitability for a particular career path is likely to be selected on the basis of approximately ten questions. The importance of having practiced answering questions on all these topics can not be overemphasised. General Interview Advice 1. Listen carefully to the question. Don’t make them ask it, ‘more than once 2. Make eye contact with the interviewer before speaking, Initially address the panel member who asked the question land then glance around to also engage the entire panel 3. Adopt a relaxed posture and sit squarely in the chair 4, Keep to the point and aim to be precise; give 2 full answer land do not waffle. A good method is to give a framework to ‘your answer e.g, ‘There are three aspects to this; one..” 5. Structure your answer; it should be logical and clearly understood 6. Do not speak too quickly. Try to speak about 20% slower than your normally would 7. Ensure you are professional and demonstrate controlled enthusiasm and drive 8, At the end of the interview take your leave as smoothly and politely as possible. Thank the panel for their time through the Chairman How to answer “Do you have any questions?” ‘You should always come to an interview armed with some questions. Saying that you don’t have any questions isa sign of disinterest and apathy. Ask sensible, leading questions that give you an opportunity to ‘promote’ your suitability if the ‘answer provided by the interviewer shows an opportunity. Some examples of this include: What are you looking for in a new consultant? Are there any major service reforms planned? What are the teaching and research opportunities? ‘What are the links with the medical school? What is the relationship between clinicians and management 54 PHYSICIANLifelike? What is the scope for service development? How to Answer Individual Questions In essence, the decision about your suitability for a particular position is going to be decided on a series of 5-15 open-ended questions, Here are some simple rules in providing excellent answers for every question: 1. Never answer the question directly 2. Make sure your answers are structured and illustrated with 3 reallife example 3. Always conclude your answer to create an ‘obvious endpoint’ 4, Make the interview panel ‘ike you’ The most common mistake made in interviews is that candidates answer questions defensively to try and avoid saying something silly. You should try to do the exact opposite. You should be providing confident answers demonstrating your knowledge and experience. Most candidates focus on demonstrating knowledge and forget to illustrate this with a real life example. ‘Typical question: Tell me about the Audit Cycle? ‘A common basic response would be: Audits are a method of comparing the current standard of clinical care to a gold standard or an industry set standard Ideally, the results are measured, evaluated and ted back to, the relevant entities to complete the audit cycle, careers Many people believe the subject matter and questions asked in interviews are vastly diverse, however, this is incorrect. ay ‘ A better and more structured answer would be: The audit cycle is a continuous process where existing practice is judged against set standards. Step one is for the standard to be set, Step two involves judging existing practice against those set standards. Step three is about presenting and discussing the data comparing existing practice against the set standards and step four involves changing current practice to ‘move nearer to the standards of best practice. Practice is then re-evaluated in a cyclical process to further enhance clinical, practice in an ongoing, ever-improving system. This answer demonstrates great knowledge but zero experience. ‘An outstanding answer would be: The above knowledgeable answer followed by an illustration demonstrating application of knowledge “..n my last audit fon the discharge process at XY hospital we decided to set our standards by looking at the policies set.” Structuring your answers Your goals in every answer should be to: 1. Give the interview panel the idea that you have organised thinking 2. Make your answers as easy as possible to listen to 3. Effectively get your message across to the interview panel 4, Demonstrate experience by illustrating your theoretical answers with personal situations n 7 PHYSICIANLife 5felts ‘Arecommended structure to use when answering interview questions is: What makes you a good team player? Introduction start the answer with a "Motherhood Statement” and describe what structure you will answer the ‘question with. Conclusion — Final sentence linking the question asked, any examples quoted, the skill learnt and the position you applied for. ‘Motherhood statement ~ “Most medical processes involve teamwork and the ability to safely and frarmoniously work 1s part of a diverse team is mandatory in every medical profession.” Describe structure ~ “!!m going to identify some key skills which make a good team member and illustrate how these contribute to effective teamwork” “In summary, teamwork relies on o number of key facets of which | identified clear communication, effective decision ‘making and commitment to a shared goal as being the most important.” that lam interviewing for, great Similarly, in the post as a leadership, excellent followership and good team working are Important in... where interaction with... is on everyday part ofthe job.” PHYSICIANLife 57List of the most common questions asked in Medical interviews for Consultants and Registrars: Toke us through your CV Why do you want to join this department? ‘what ean you afer to this department? How does your traning meet the needs ofthe post? ‘What makes you thnk that you are fit to become a consultant? What are the advantages and disadvantages of temaloying locum consultants? Where do you see yourself in 5/10/20 yeas’ sie? How do you see your career developing over the next 20 years? Looking back at your taining, what aid you like the most and the least? Ifyou had the chance, what would you change in your training? ‘Why should we give you thi ob? ‘what was your greatest professional challenge inthe past 5 years? ‘wnat do you like the most and the least about this specialty? How do you identity your weaknesses? ‘What do you thirk wil be your biggest challenge inthis post? How do you measure success? How would you describe your communication skills? ‘What makes you a good communicator? ‘what is more important: good communication ‘0 g000 lineal sls? {Give an exarnpe ofa situation where You {alle to communicate appropriatly. Give an example ofa non-clinical stuation where your communication skils made a dliference to the outcome of a projet. How can you show empathy through an imerpreter? ‘What makes you a good tear player? Give an example ofa situation where you made a diference #0 a team, Give an example of 2 dysfunctional tear in \which you worked. How did you deal witht ‘and what did you learn from that experience? Tell us about Your management experience. What isthe diference between management rasership? CCan ya learn management by going to rmanegement courses? (De doctors need management sis? What does leadership mean to you and when do you exercise it? 1 Hom eed ete ee HOR: Hoo by hist Bay Mei gba May Lien 205m reeprepovanco yr homWevomi Ie unfree ay 205) {Ncvt'han‘ou theodore ry ty Pes Nes han 6 Oe! What makes you a good leader? Give an example ofa situation where you showed leadership. ‘re eaders born leaders or can you learn to become’ leader? what type oF fader are you? Are you a leader ora follower? ‘What makes a good team? How do you deal with stress? Give an example ofa situation where you showed initiative. How do you implement change in unit? How do you go about Fighting sistance from ‘others when you want ro change something? In what eeumstanees have you had to Influence others and how eld you achieve your objectives? How possible [sit to motivate and develop Junior doctors in the current ciate? How do you motivate others? How would your bss motivate you? How do you go about resolving a conflict? Tellus about a conflict which you hae with 3 colleague? Tellus about a time when you had to deal wth a conflict within your team? ‘What skills have you got which make you a good consultant? ‘would you be happy being an average consultant? ‘What skills do you Fel you need to improve the most? ‘What are your strengths? ‘What is your main weakness? How would your colleagues describe you? How would your patients describe you? How do you know that your colleagues trust you? How do you respond to critisism? Tellus about your teaching experience. How do you cope with teaching multisiscipinary serous? Tellus about Problem-Based Learning? What are Its pros and cons? What kin of teaching do you tike/disike the most? Tellus about your worst teaching experience as a teacher ‘What have you learnt from the teaching courses you atended? Do you think that anyone canbe taught? How would you enthuse a junior doctor who had shown an interest into your specialty to join the specialty asa career? What do you understand by the term Quality Medical Recruitr fill vacancies of Acgurance? What isthe difference between a good teacher and an excellent teacher? (Other than by attending courses, how would you improve your teaching skils? Yell us about some of the negative feedback that you have received following your teaching Tellus about your research experience. What is your understanding and experience of research governance? What di you gan from your research? 10 you think that al trainees should do research? \Whatis the role and importance of research for a junior vainee? How do you go about seeking ethical approval? How would you go about seeking funding for your research? How do you keep up to date? How do you identity your weaknesses and deficiencies? \What contribution can you make to risk management? (De you belave in 2 no-blame culture? hen di you last have to complete aeriticel incident form? How would you encourage your team to complete critical incident forms each sme it is appropriate? One of your consuitantealeaguess underperforming or his quality of care is Unsatisfactory. What do you do? (ne of your juniors complains to you that they are being bulie by another consultant. How Go you handle the situation? You receive a conplaint from one ofthe nurses that a consultant has been sighted taking ‘plates from the drug cupboard. How do you handle this complaint? ‘Ane of your junior colleagues comes in late by lover 20 minutes repeatedly. What do you do? (ne of year juniors keeps contradicting you in front of patents, What do you do? ‘senior consultant turns up drunk for work ‘one morning. How do you handle the situation? You overhear two nurses talkabout the fact that one of your retstrars wae taking cocaine last Friday when he went clubbing. How do you adress the stuation? ‘Assuming that you report a colleague's bad performance to your clinical director. What ‘would you expect him todo about it? ‘Wat difference do you make between lack of fitness to practice and underpertormance? ‘CORRINE TAYLOR is the Director of International iment wavw.iMRmedical.com and leads a 25-person team in assisting Australian hospitals source doctors from all the over world to grades and specialties. PHYSICIANLife 59