Medical interviews

The one thing you can be sure of after leaving Medical School is that you are going to have to do a lot of interviews - a whole lot. If ever a college programme needed soft skills and interview skills training included in the curriculum, it's Medicine.

I sit on interview boards all the time, and I find it fascinating just how baaaad young (and not-so-young) doctors are when it comes to putting themselves across in a selection interview. Some concrete advice for when you are sitting there in your best suit and shiniest shoes ...

(1) Walk us through your CV. In a short interview, it’s first impressions all the way, so you need to start well. Your answer should be concise, articulate, chronological and, above all, relevant. For each of your previous roles, you need to delineate: What I did, What I contributed, What I learnt, Why I moved on and Why I made the choices I did. Minimum two minutes, maximum four. Draft it up. Hone and refine. Trim all the frills. Practise, practise, practise. [More on this here.]

(2) Tell us about your experiences in research and audit. Research is all about improving patient outcomes. Full stop. A surprising number of candidates lose sight of this and talk about the effects of research on their careers or the necessity of having to conduct research to 'tick the boxes.' Audit is also all about improving patient outcomes - identifying successful protocols, or gaps in the approach, or something that requires further research and study. If your answer is not patient-centric and outcome-centric, you are very unlikely to succeed in the interview.

(3) Why do you want this job? Subtext: what is your plan? Do you have one, and if not, why not? Interview boards rarely give jobs to ‘drifters’, so give them a solid reason for the move. Try and strike a balanced tone – there are obvious benefits to you in getting the job, but what is the quid pro quo for them?

(4) What do you hope to achieve in this job? Another planning question. Do you really know what is going on here? Have you bothered to find out? Are you clued in as to the nature of the role, patient demographics, protocols used, available equipment, research undertaken, or other local peculiarities? Without that, you have no foundation for your answer. If you do have that knowledge, you can start to talk about your hopes and your plans once you are on the job.

(5) What are the big issues/problems facing this hospital/department/specialty? Your answer to this one is a big indicator of your level of preparation for the interview and also of your mindset – are you strategic or tactical, big picture or little picture, a general or a foot-soldier? In other words, are you a player? [More on this here.]

(6) Why should we give you (as distinct from all the other highly qualified, highly experienced candidates) this job? What makes you so damn special? If you don’t know, don’t expect a bunch of largely disinterested interviewers to be able, or willing, to find out. If you do know, but you find it difficult or embarrassing to articulate, they will hire the candidate who has no difficulty overcoming false modesty. An interview is no time to hide your light under a bushel; you need to determine what makes you special/credible/memorable/effective and get comfortable with saying it out loud to complete strangers. [More on this here.]

(7) Do you have any questions for us? Never go to an interview unless you have at least two meaty questions to ask them. Even if you are fantastically well-researched and you know everything about the job, you should use this opportunity to demonstrate your professionalism, your enthusiasm and your all-round brilliance by asking a couple of really good questions. You’re a doctor for God’s sake! You’re supposed to be curious about everything!