Medical Interview Skills Medical interviews skills are about trying to match the skills and qualities that you have to those required for the advertised position. Only by doing your homework will you be able to score highly in this very objective structured interview 
After submitting your application the shortlisting process occurs. During this process each candidate is assessed according to the person specification that was published with the job advert. Essential and desired criteria are awarded points with varying degrees of importance. Each candidates application is therefore scored in each of the areas looking for you skills, knowledge and attributes. This process is used so that the cream of the applicants can be separated from the rest.These candidates form the short list and invited for interview. This process normally takes in the region of 3 to 4 weeks.
You will be informed by the human resources department of your invitation to attend interview by either telephone, email or post. Candidates must be aware that there is normally very little time between the publication of the short list and the interview process itself
What are the interviewers objectives?
Generally their objectives are
To find the most suitable person
Look for the skills that are required for the job
To assess your previous achievements
To assess socially how you might fit into the department and the trusts
To encourage you to express yourself fully giving your own opinions good or bad
Portray the job and organisation in the best possible light
Categories of assessment by the panel
Each of the members will have a predefined role during the interview process. They will be looking for specific skills, knowledge and attributes. More detail of what each member of the panel is looking for is discussed later. Generally the following categories are used during the assessment process:
Training for the job in question
Specific skills matched against the job specification
Knowledge
Attributes there will be beneficial to the trust
Interest in the post
Interest in the trust and area
Potential to fit into a team
Ability to sustain an argument under pressure
Career hopes
Motivation
Common sense
Insight
Appearance
Ability to form relationships with members of the panel
What types of questions can I ask me during my interview?
While the answer to this is that generally anything could be asked as long as its of a fair nature and presented to each of the interviewed candidates. What is more important is the general category of questioning that is used. They may be
Open
Closed
Probing
Hypothetical
Leading
Difficult
On top of the type of question that can be asked there is the manner of questioning. There are a number of different approaches an interviewer can use in order to find out interesting information about the candidate. After all it is the purpose of the interview. Take nothing personally this is just a process by which the panel attempts to explore various aspects of your personality, behaviour, training ect in order to assess your suitability for the job. The following approaches have been described
The aggressive interviewer:
This can be daunting. The interview is a very stressful process and no doubt over the preceding three or four months you have been working hard preparing your self for the interview itself which will have involved lost sleep and dedication to the cause. Be prepared to have an interviewer who takes an aggressive line of questioning. They are there to try and knock you from your line of thinking and deliver answers that you would not normally deliver. These answers normally represent your true feelings and opinions. It is therefore a very successful manner in which the interviewer will find out details about the candidate that would otherwise be hidden by a different manner of questioning.There is one golden rule when being interviewed by the aggressive interviewer. Do not let them throw you. They will attempt to provoke you, identify weaknesses or failings or gaps in your training. They will be there to see whether you can sustain an argument and balanced your opinions on evidence. They may fire questions at you quickly giving you little time to think. Go with the flow and maintain your professional appearance. Deliver answers in a positive enthusiastic light. When talking about controversial issues state the evidence for both arguments and then give your opinion. Do not come out with rash unsupported comments however be prepared to disagree with the interviewer. They are not after a yes man but are after someone with clear logical thinking who can deliver a balanced opinion on a range of issues and is prepared to hold their own ground.
During a recent consultant interview the university representative was assigned the aggressive approach. He decimated the local internal candidates managing to throw most of them off balance. They delivered unsubstantiated opinions came over flustered and unprofessional. His in your face, leaning over the table, fast fire questioning was intimidating. The candidate who got the job went with the flow, delivered personal opinions backed up with credible arguments and didnt feel threatened by the approach.
He played an interesting part in a fascinating quick fire discussion and came across as unfaultable, reliable, professional, wise and able to tackle the most stressful situation.
He got the job over the more favoured internal candidates who almost all fell at this hurdle. As this was the second panel member to interview the candidates the momentum can be carried into other questions good and bad. It can make or break an interview.My advice is to be honest and upfront when confronted with this approach. They will eventually get your opinions. Failure to comply easily will come across as though you have something to hide or have poor communication skills. Be careful though because during this type of questioning is not the time to start formulating opinions on the subject matter. You will not look slick but will come across as confused and thrown. This is where preparation is vital. A number of controversial issues will be discussed during the interview practice session. I will tell you my opinions and why i hold them. You may disagree but this will help you formulate your own opinions which should prepare you for this type of questioning.
The unprepared interviewer
The art of interviewing is as a result of training and experience of the interview process. It is not uncommon to come across the unprepared interviewer who has not read your CV and knows little about you. This characteristic is typical of an unexperienced interviewer who thinks with little work and preparation they can turn up on the day and interview. The best approach in this situation is to keep calm and patient. Volunteer information about your skills and generally help the interviewer. Do not patronise the interviewer or point out that they are unprepared. Do not constantly refer to your CV. It is important not to show up the interviewer as being unprepared as you may lose the important vote carried by this interviewer.
The nervous interviewer
Clinicians when taken out of by relatively comfortable environment of the clinical settingand put in the interview environment may come across as nervous. Remember that the interviewer is typically employed by the trust and that the management of the trust is present. The clinician will be attempting to demonstrate his value to the panel and as a result may act nervously. With this type of approach it is easier to help the interviewer by readily volunteering information and giving succinct answers. You dont want to be in the situation where the nervous interviewer has to drag information from you. Sometimes it is easier if you loosely control this stage of the interview.
Interview preparation
The purpose of the interview is to appoint the best person and most appropriate person for the job. Generally with consultant interviews there may be a strong candidate on paper however a decision as to whom to appoint is rarely made before the interview process. There is therefore a level playing field for all the candidates. The candidate who performs the best on the day is likely to be offered the job. If the situation arises where the performance of two candidates is similar then the candidate with the stronger paper record is likely to succeed.
When thinking about preparing for the interview the following categories are important
Knowing the institution
Knowing the job
Knowing about you
Without having researched the above three categories candidates are unlikely to be successful.
Knowing the institution/deanery
Candidates need to gather as much information as they can about the institution. This will demonstrate to the interviewer that you are very interested in the job and it will help you know that youre prepared. Sometimes questions are based on strategic developments that are occurring or are planned in the future within the trust. More than likely the advertised position is part of the general business plan for the development of a service. The panel will want to find out your opinions and plans about how to develop a particular service. If you are not aware of these strategic developments then you will not be in a position to give a definitive answer. You may come across as unprepared and unsuitable for the advertised position.
You will be expected to have detailed knowledge about the organization. The following information should have been researched and at hand during your interview
Size of the hospital
Different sites within the hospital
The history of the hospital
Strengths and weaknesses
Strategic future developments
Current business plans within your department
Financial reports
Annual reports
Executive board meetings minutes
Health Care commission ratings
National and International reputation of the hospital and any areas of expertise
Most NHS trusts have intranet portals that contain information which should answer all of the above questions. These sites can normally be accessed by the Internet from your home. Here annual reports, financial reports and minutes of the executive board meetings can be downloaded. Trust newsletters are normally published on their websites. By downloading them and reading this information you should be in a good position to understand what the trust is trying to achieve and what its future developments are. You may also be able to form your own opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of the trust.
The Healthcare Commission also regularly visits hospitals in order to assess them on a number of preset individualised items. This information is published on the Healthcare Commission website. Make sure your visit it and find out about nthe trust that you are applying for.NHS trusts are transparent organisations and normally hold some of their NHS executive board meetings at which the public are invited. These open meetings are also normally published on the trusts website. It would do you no harm to find out when the next of these public meetings is planned to be held and to attend. A chief executive and medical director will normally pay attention to the public members of this meeting and may recognise your face at your interview. Questions can be asked during these public meetings so if you have any compelling questions that you would like to ask of the senior management of the trust then this is the time.
Once you have gathered all you need to know about the organization you will have prepared yourself for questions about the organization and will be in a position to present yourself in the best possible light. It will also serve to help you become clear about the aims of the trust and how you might fit in.
The general categories of assessment are
Qualifications
Clinical experience
Management and administrative experience
Teaching experience
Research experience
Personal attributes
Any other requirements
The categories are also divided into essential and desirable characteristics. All of the essential criteria should be displayed in order for a candidate to be eligible to be invited for interview. Whilst its not essential to have the desirable credentials most candidates will have the majority of these. During the interview process the panel will need to confirm the presence of all the essential criteria and elaborate on the degree of desirable characteristics present in each candidate.
Knowing yourself
The vast majority of candidates who are unsuccessful at interview know about the job and the organization. The main area that these unsuccessful candidates fail on is demonstrating self knowledge. Self knowledge is an essential component in the preparation for your consultant interview. The panel will be interested to find out what youre really like. You must feel comfortable in presenting your attributes to the interview panel. You will need to communicate effectively what makes you successful and what makes you stand out from the other candidates. As mentioned previously all of the invited candidates are potentially appointable. All of them will have the essential criteria and the vast majority of desirable criteria. The difference between successful and unsuccessful candidates is therefore how you present this information and sell yourself.You want to form the situation where the trust cannot turn you down. You want them to feel that they will be missing out if they dont appoint you. You need to convince the panel that you will bring added benefit to the department and organisation. Many people will be interviewed for the job and at the end of a long day the panel will need to make the decision. Candidates who appear distinctive with something interesting to say who sell themselves at the right level will be remembered.
This section needs to be prepared. It is actually quite difficult selling yourself without knowing what makes you unique. You therefore need to consider the followingWhat makes you special and why might you fit into the department and trust.What skills have you got and how have you demonstrated these skills previously.What are your main strengths.What are your achievements.
Like Financial Investments, funds that have a clear demonstrated track record of good return for the investors are likely to be popular with new investors. New financial funds that have no track record or history are unlikely to seek major investment. In a parallel situation the tract record of your achievements and delivery will indicate potential benefit for the trust. They know this.
Your personality.
Without knowing yourself youre not be in a position to sell yourself. You also need to convince yourself that you are the appropriate person for the job and have the appropriate skills and attributes that the trust are looking for. If you personally are not convinced on this how can you possibly convince a panel of eight or 10 members. With every job there is always a degree of uncertainty. Candidates must forget this uncertainty. You need to get yourself in a positive frame of mind where you come across as enthusiastic with drive. However your enthusiasm and willingness to develop services and move the department and trust forward must also be achievable. Insight is also important.The language that you use needs to be confident and assertive. It needs to be definitive so when you describe your past achievements use phrases such as
I delivered....
Which resulted in.....
The positive change was......
The advantage of my actions was.........
Phrases which as are not so powerful include:
I think it resulted in......
I have been told that......
I probably could have.......
I might be able to.......
When selling your skills it is important to create the right impression. When you use powerful statements about what you could bring to the trust it is always useful to refer to past achievements. This demonstrates to the panel that you have substance rather than just vision. The trust is looking for a track record. If you have helped develop a service then tell them. If you have set up a training programme remind them. Dont for get to put this in context for the job at hand. For example I have demonstrated previously that i have inside drive and enthusiasm. In my last job I was the main clinician behind setting up the new ward based epidural service. Whilst working for the trust I personally identified an area within the service that needed improvement to help deliver the highest quality patient care. I personally took responsibility for the process of change which over a 12 month period resulted in the introduction of this new and very much needed service. The feedback from patients and staff was tremendous. I have therefore demonstrated that I have many of the skills required to take up this post and can add real value to your trust. In fact during my pre interview visit I have already identified this same service as requiring slight improvement. I would like to help you develop and improve your services to the very highest standards that i know you all want to acheive. I have the skills required.
This statement comes across as bold, powerful and enthusiastic. It refers to a past achievement and indicates that it was successful. It refers to some of the skills that the trust are looking for and then hints at how this may be applied to the job at hand.Compare the above statement to the one below
I have the skills for the job. In fact I would like to help to develop some of your services. I think I would like to improve the ward based epidural service within this trust. This
indicates the value I could bring.
Essentially the two statements are referring to a set of skills and the same service development within the same trust. The first is more powerful and demonstrates a track record. The second indicates the same vision but the lacks the same weight as the first as there is no demonstration that these skills have been utilised before.By producing powerful statements backed up with a credible track record you demonstrate the contribution you can make to the organization. This will create value in the eyes of the potential employers. You need to think of yourself as a product and convince the panel to invest in you. This decision will be based not just on skills but on how you communicate this effectively and powerfully
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