Tag: interview

11 Top Tips For Preparing For A Doctor Job Interview With Videos
Are you a doctor preparing for an upcoming job interview. Or are you contemplating your next career move? For many doctors, job interviews are a regular and even annual process. For some doctors, they can act as an annoyance (i.e. why do I need to reinterview for my job). For other doctors, they can be nerve-wracking (i.e. I really would like this prized training or consultant post). Very few doctors would actually say that they enjoy the process of a job interview. Yet job interviews are crucial for our career progression. Here are some top tips for doctor job interviews.

As someone who has literally interviewed well over a thousand doctors for jobs and now prepared over 500 doctors with interview training and interview coaching, I’d like to give you a hand by outlining my top 11 tips for preparing for a doctor job interview. AND. At the bottom of this post (to encourage you to read the post) I have also placed a link to some free training you can take to prepare you for the doctor job interview.

So first, let’s look at the most important tips for how you should best prepare for a doctor job interview. Unsurprisingly, practice and preparation is the most important tip that you can implement to ensure your success at your next doctor job interview. But try not to make this practice unfocused. It’s important to understand that there are key aspects and components of any job interview and it is much more effective if you spend time practising each of these. This is the same principle for how high-performance athletes achieve success in their sporting careers.

Okay, let’s dig in a bit deeper now to these tips starting with the most obvious starting point. Practice and Preparation.

Top Tips for Doctor Job Interviews #1

Practising Is The Number One Tip For Preparing For Your Next Doctor Job Interview.

It should go without saying but the absence of practice and preparation generally leads to underperformance and is the number one reason for job candidates being unhappy with the result of their interview.

Yet. Surprisingly many doctors do not practice or prepare for job interviews. In fact a poll, we are running on a related post indicates that well over 2/3 of doctors either did not prepare at all or only prepared the night before for their last job interview!

Think about that a bit more. What this means is that if you actually do some practice you are probably boosting your chances significantly and likely elevating yourself to the top third of candidates. Just by taking the process seriously.

But how long should you practice for a doctor job interview? The answer to this question is a bit more complicated than you would initially think. But in general, the best advice would be to give yourself at least a few weeks and try to do a number of actual interview practice sessions in that space of time. At least some of these practice sessions should incorporate some form of feedback.

Top Tips for Doctor Job Interviews #2

Make Sure You Practice The Smart Way.

But it’s not just about the amount of practice. It’s how you practice. When a high performing athlete attempts to improve their performance they don’t just do more competitions or play more games. They do things smarter. They engage in what is called deliberate practise (usually with a coach). They break the components of their sport down to more definable elements and concentrate on improving one of these at a time.

The same should apply to your interview preparation and practice. You need to spend time mastering the various elements of an interview. Elements such as:
- beginning the interview
- talking about yourself
- providing examples
- answering hypothetical questions
- not getting flustered by an unanticipated question
- giving each panel member attention
- wrapping up the interview
Trying to practice doing all of these things at once is going to lead you to become overwhelmed and likely to give up. Conversely, the point where you feel bored in practising one of these elements is probably the best indication that you should move on to another element.

Top Tips for Doctor Job Interviews #3

Read The Position Description Several Times.

It’s surprising how many doctors tell me that they are uncertain about what the panel is actually looking for. When the answer is actually staring you in the face.

Best employment practice (which is often backed up by strict policies and guidelines) guides selection panels to ask questions looking for evidence that meets the advertised selection criteria for the role.

So if you understand the job description and, in particular, the selection criteria. You will understand what the panel is looking for. And be far less surprised by the sorts of questions you get.

Top Tips for Doctor Job Interviews #4

Prepare Examples Based On The Selection Criteria.

Trust me on this one. You are much less likely to be thrown by an interview question if you have taken the time to prepare an example that fits each of the selection criteria.

At a bare minimum, you will at least have something relevant-ish to talk about whilst you are trying to work out exactly what they are asking in that curveball question.

But more likely your answer to any question will now start with the phrase “Yes, I can actually think of an example that demonstrates that particular issue”.

Of course. Not all interview questions directly ask you for an example. But even if it’s a hypothetical question it’s rare for the panel to knock back an actual real-world example that shows your competency in that particular area.

Top Tips for Doctor Job Interviews #5

Practice Common Questions.

Following on from the above point it’s important to practice common questions that generally come up in the interview. Medical job interview practices are remarkably stable. I generally see the same types of questions being asked across various jobs and consistently across time as well. A good starting point is to find out from past candidates what they have been asked before.

Make sure you are prepared to answer particularly common questions like:
- Can you give an example of work conflict?
- What would you do if your colleague was upset?
- How have you prepared for the role? and
- Do you have any questions for us?
With the help of past candidates, we have collected over 600 past interview questions in our interview question bank.

Top Tips for Doctor Job Interviews #6

Prepare For The Most Common Starting Question.

Without a doubt, in the majority of most doctor job panel interviews, the most common opening question is some version of providing the panel with an overview of your strengths and fitness for the role.

Most commonly asked in a very lazy way “Tell Us About Yourself?”

Even if you are participating in a multiple mini interview process there will be stations and questions where you need to be able to talk succinctly to your strengths and fitness for the role. So it’s important to be able to answer this type of question well.

There are a number of methods for doing this. Most notably the CAMP method. But it’s important to understand and practice these frameworks well before applying them.

If you would like some training on the opening question. Then there is a free training webinar running over here.

Top Tips for Doctor Job Interviews #7

Your Smile Is Your Secret Weapon.

Many doctors forget that before you even open your mouth to answer a question, there are lots of things that happen in the interview, which can definitely affect the outcome (see below). One of these is your ability to engage the panel in positive body language.

The easiest way to do this is to perfect using your smile in the interview. A well-placed smile at the start of the interview will not only convey an aura of positivity, but it will also help you feel more relaxed at the start of the process. And might just also trigger a reciprocated smile from some or all of the panel members.

Bearing in mind that many panel members make their minds up about candidates in the first few seconds. It’s so much harder to dislike someone if you are smiling at them.

Top Tips for Doctor Job Interviews #8

Get All The Other Details Out Of The Way Early.

Another way of being more relaxed about your upcoming interview is to handle all those interview-related matters early so you don’t have to stress about them and can concentrate on your actual interview preparation.

Things like:
- what outfit you will wear
- working out how to get to the interview (travel options, parking options)
- what pieces of paperwork you need to take with you
- finding out the names of panel members
Top Tips for Doctor Job Interviews #9

Don’t Arrive Too Early.

It’s obviously important to not be late for your interview. But did you know that you can also reduce the result by arriving too early?

Arriving more than 30 minutes could mean that you are bumping into other candidates who are ahead of you in the interview schedule, increasing your anxiety. It could also annoy the interview panel or secretary because they feel that they have to entertain you or offer you a coffee.

If offered a coffee, politely decline.

Better yet. If you do arrive a bit early. Check-in at the desk to let them know you have arrived. But then tell them that you are going to stretch your legs for a bit.

Top Tips for Doctor Job Interviews #10

Take Your Time In the Interview.

Doctor job interviews, particularly the trainee doctor ones, can seem and actually be quite short! So the tendency is to try to rush to ensure that you maximise your time.

This, however, can be a real error as it often leads to a response that the panel interprets as unsophisticated, rambling and unfiltered.

It is still possible to give sharp succinct answers if you prepare properly and learn how to provide structure to your responses. More often than not the panel are looking for broad principles rather than detail.

Top Tips for Doctor Job Interviews #11

Ask For Feedback At The End Of The Interview.

Asking for feedback after the interview process is inevitably unsatisfying. The panel has usually forgotten the details of your interview by that time. And all they have at their disposal normally is a bunch of handwritten notes, which they may feel uncomfortable interpreting for you.

The best time to ask for feedback is at the actual end of the interview. You might choose to use this approach as your final question to the panel. If so try to be specific, ask if there was a particular question you did badly on. If there was, perhaps there’s an opportunity to add to your answer.

Asking for feedback at the end signals that you are both interested in and open to feedback in order to improve. Which is generally considered a good employee character trait.

Need More Help Preparing For Your Next Doctor Job Interview?

With the above tips, you should be able to more effectively prepare for your next interview. But if you are looking for more guidance and help to even better prepare we mentioned above that there is some free training currently available.

If you would like to take advantage of this training just click on the link below.

Related Questions.

Question. If I am thinking about getting a coach to help me with my interview preparation what should I be looking for?
Answer. A coach is a really good idea for interview preparation. In fact, one of the problems that often cause candidates to seek me out is that in past attempts they have relied on other types of people for feedback, such as family and colleagues. Often this type of feedback can be misleading and worsen your performance. There are lots to consider in choosing a good coach. Price is obviously one. But like in most situations you generally get the quality that you pay for. So don’t just choose the cheapest coach. Look for coaches who can provide good testimonials and references from past clients. Look for coaches who have had actual experience in coaching others for the type of interview you are facing. Coaches who offer a free or discounted initial session are often a good choice as they wouldn’t generally do this if they were not confident in the service they provide. Finally don’t just choose a coach in your local area. There are actually not that many really good interview coaches in a place like Australia. You are far more likely to find a good coach by looking for online coaching options. Online coaching has a number of benefits over attending a live session. For one it eliminates travel. Secondly, often you can get more convenient booking times. And finally, you generally can also get a record of your session to review later.
Question. Are there any good places to find interview questions to practice on?
Answer. You will generally find that if you look online and ask within your networks that you will be able to get your hands on some interview questions to prepare on. It’s important however that you do vet these questions. Make sure that they are relevant to the selection criteria and other information about the selection process. Questions from last year are likely to still be based around the same process. But questions from 5 years ago are probably not. To help you get started we have collected over 900 questions from a range of job interview types in Medicine on our AdvanceMed Question Bank
March 13, 2020
Interview Failure. How To Not Suck At Job Interviews: 6 Success Tips

Have you ever had an interview failure before? Did you really suck in your interview! Well, this post is about how not to suck in the job interview. As an Executive and Career Coach, I have helped many candidates prepare for job interviews as well as sat in on quite a few (both sides of the table) myself. So I wanted to share with you some tips for avoiding an #epicfail in your next job interview.

What’s the best way to avoid interview failure and sucking in the job interview? Well, there are shortcuts and hacks of course. But like everything that is important in life. The number one way to avoid failure and succeed in your next job interview is ensuring that you have put in sufficient practice and preparation.

The rest of this post will be dedicated to exploring this in more detail.

Awkward Handshakes and Interview Failure.

bad job interview experience

First, off the rank, let’s talk about how to enter their job interview room and not suck in the first few minutes. One of the best ways to suck in the first few crucial minutes of the interview is to do something awkward when you enter the room. The most common trap here is the handshake.

No one wants to shake hands with a limp-wristed interview candidate. Or even worse, see someone stumbling over a desk or a chair to try and extend their hand knocking over a jug of water. That’s a really great way to get off to a bad start. You’re going to be nervous from the get-go and the panel members are going to think that you lack confidence.

So how could we not suck at that moment? Well, my first tip here is do you really need to shake their hand in the interview? Often it’s best to take the lead of the chair of the interview panel, and the interview panel members themselves. If they don’t offer a hand. Maybe don’t offer yours. Particularly if they are set up behind the big desk or it means that you are going to have to shake more than five or six hands and a big panel interview.

But if you are planning to go in with a power shake or really good handshake, why not practice that beforehand? If you’re one of those people who’s not used to shaking hands in social situations, and you’re planning on shaking hands in the interview, then incorporate this into your practice.

Not Having An Example

The second great way you suck in an interview is to not have a good example when you’re asked for it.

In most interviews for jobs these days, there’s going to be at least one question where they say, can you tell me about a time when you did…And then it’s going to be over to you.

What the panel is looking for are areas and examples of your past work or possibly even something in your education or even outside of education and work, where you can show that you’ve risen to that sort of challenge in the past before.

Now it’s extremely awkward if you have not got an example of prepared and there is a big long pause and silence while you try to think of something.

How can you know what sort of examples you need to prepare for the interview? Well if you actually go and read through the job description, you’ll find some selection criteria which give you a lot of information about the sort of examples of past work that they may want to hear from you. These would generally be about things like meeting success targets or in a team resolving conflict, and using communication skills. It depends on what the selection criteria are for the job, but if you read through those selection criteria, you can then think about your own career, your own work, your life, your academic success. And you can then think about the sort of examples that might be needed in the interview and be prepared for the day.

Gender Stereotypes

The next sure-fire way to suck at an interview is to fall for Gender stereotypes.

What do I mean about gender stereotypes? These days, most interview panels are normally comprised of both male and female members of the existing team. And they may throw a question to you, which is a hypothetical situation about working in a team and you start referring to a certain team member as she or him. But they actually haven’t given you that information.

So a classic example is inside the world of medicine where they might ask you about resolving a conflict between yourself as a doctor and a member of the nursing staff. And you start referring to that member of the nursing staff as she or her or a lady. That’s a sure-fire way of putting yourself out of alignment with any member of the panel who’s got any appreciation for gender diversity in the workplace.

So the solution here is to avoid referring to people as she and he based on stereotypes.

Performing in a job interview is a skill. But the problem with the job interview as a skill is that it is only a skill that you very rarely occasionally use and the rest of the time it’s meaningless.
Dr Anthony Llewellyn | aka The Career Doctor

Talking Too Much

The next great way to suck at a job interview is actually talking too much.

What do I mean by talking too much?

In interviews, you can talk for too long in terms of your answers. You can normally tell this because you find yourself rambling on rather than being succinct and giving an organized response. Or, you can talk too much about yourself.

When you talk too long and you talk about yourself, that means that you are not talking about the actual job you’re applying for, the organization that you want to join, the interviewers themselves, and the team that you are intending to join. You are also not talking about the teams that you’ve worked within the past and the connections you might have to other people that might be helpful in the role.

This is all important stuff as it sells you to the panel. Far too often I hear people talking about themselves in “I terms” rather than “We terms” in relation to the successes they’ve had in their career

You see the panel may be looking for someone brilliant, but they also don’t want someone who’s going to dominate them. They want someone who can come in and brilliantly contribute to the hardworking and high performance of the existing team.

Silly Questions

The next way to suck at the job interview is to ask a silly question.

At the end of each interview there’s usually a time where the panel says something like:

“Those are all the official questions we have for you, but do you have any questions for the panel?”

How often have we managed to completely unravel a really good interview process by asking a silly, or stupid, or dumb question at the end of the interview?

Examples of silly questions are questions that show you really haven’t done your basic research. Such as what are the rosters for the job, or where will I exactly be working, or who will I be reporting to? Or questions that might give the impression that it’s not really the job you are interested in, but something else. Like questions about salary.

There are a number of ways of correcting this problem and avoiding sucking right at the end of the interview. One is to think about whether you really need to ask a question at all.

You can often just answer that last question by saying something like. “No thanks. I’ve had enough opportunities to ask questions already. Thank you very much for the opportunity”.

If you are really intending on asking a question then do your research and prepare a question that will dazzle them or wow them.

At the end of each interview there’s usually a time where the panel says something like: “Those are all the official questions we havefor you, but do you have any questions for the panel?” How often have we managed to completely unravel a really good interview process by asking a silly, or stupid or dumb question at the end of the interview?
Dr Anthony Llewellyn | aka the Career Doctor

Can You Really Wing It?

Can you tell what all these points are leading up to?

If you have had a bad interview performance before, you’ve probably thought of a few reasons why it went wrong. It might’ve been that it was a high-pressure environment and you just got stressed. It might just be that you felt you didn’t “click with the interview panel”. It might be that they asked you all the wrong questions. Or maybe you just had a bad day.

What do all these reasons or excuses have in common?

They all reflect the fact that you probably didn’t prepare and practice for the interview.

Performing in a job interview is a skill. But the problem with the job interview as a skill is that it is only a skill that you very rarely occasionally use and the rest of the time it’s meaningless.

And the problem with skills that we don’t use very often is that they degrade quite quickly. We’re not regularly practicing our interview performance. So without regular practice and preparation in the lead-up to your interview, your interview performance is likely to suck.

So the number one tip for not sucking in the job interview is to spend the time to practice and prepare for your job interview.

Related Questions.

Question. Are There Things I Should Prepare Prior to the Interview?

Answer. There are a number of things you should try to prepare prior to the interview. These range from doing your job research, to researching the panel members, as well as more practical things like putting together a portfolio of your work, making sure you have an appropriate outfit, and working out how you will travel to the interview. We have summed up a few of the questions you should ask yourself in this article.

Question. If I Think I May Need Some Coaching For the Interview. What Should I Consider?

Coaching is a really excellent way to maximize your interview skills practice in a short period of time. A good coach will not hold you accountable for your practice schedule but also help make improvements to your technique and interview responses. However, not all coaches are the same and a general rule of thumb is you probably pay for what you get. We have summarised some of the considerations in this article.

October 17, 2019
Stop Asking Weird and Dumb Interview Questions. Ask These 5 Instead.
As a means for helping other doctors, at AdvanceMed we collect an open bank of real interview questions. These are questions that have been asked in a formal doctor interview process. Our community members regularly submit questions to this bank (thanks heaps by the way!). Not infrequently the questions that come through raise an eyebrow for me and I do wonder whether we are in fact providing a service to anonymously “out” weird, stupid and dumb interview questions and by proxy those that come up with them.

Here’s a recent example from a Pathology trainee interview:

If you can invite 3 people for dinner, who would they be? You can’t name family members.
Anonymous “dumb” interview question

So what exactly is wrong with this type of question and what makes it a “dumb” interview question? Whilst there is no issue with coming up with a challenging question for the job interview. The question does still have to make sense and allow candidates to provide an answer that helps you to judge them by the selection criteria that you have set out.

Context Is Important.

Everything is contextual in recruitment. So a question about inviting guests to dinner might well be very relevant for say an event management position, where one of the Key Result Areas is the ability to come up with a fresh program of speakers for the event sponsor.

But the selection criteria for most medical jobs that I have seen don’t include an event management function. They generally talk about behaviours such as demonstrating good clinical knowledge and skills, good communication, good teamwork, being professional, demonstrating ongoing learning, and practicing cultural respect and safety.

Maybe at a real stretch, a question about inviting people to dinner could infer something about how one goes about forming a team. But I can think of a dozen betters ways of constructing a question that gets to that issue.

Unfortunately, sometimes the doctors who attend interview panels in medicine think that because they are intelligent and perhaps have attended a one day course in recruitment and selection that they are all of a sudden an expert in human resources and recruitment and that it’s time for a “wacky interview question to challenge the candidates.”

Perhaps they may also feel that a creative thinking type of question gives them a different perspective on the candidate? Some useful insight into their personality or communication or teamwork style. But guess what? There are actual validated psychometric employment and other psychological tests that do a much better job of this than one interview question.

Stick To The Script.

I’d encourage all doctors and other professionals involved in the candidate selection process to stick to the script. By which I mean stick with the principle that each interview question should form a relationship to at least one of the selection criteria for the job.

I say this for three main reasons:
1. This principle actually makes it easier to design good questions and establish rating criteria
2. The information you gain from these questions from each candidate will be far more useful to you
3. Most importantly you are also avoiding getting into the tricky area of problems with discrimination and equal employment opportunity
Yes. That’s right. If you can’t prove how your selection process relates to the actual requirements of the position then you open yourself up to the possibility of candidates challenging the process as being unfair.

Good Job Interview Questions. Challenging Questions That You Should Ask.

Ok. So you have looked at the list of questions you are asking for the job and they are predictable and the same as last year. You would still like to be able to stretch the candidates a bit. What can you do?

Here are 5 questions that you can probably use in your next medical job interview. Bearing in mind that you do still need to ensure that they line up with the selection criteria.

Good Interview Question Number One.

What Single Project Or Task Would You Consider Your Most Important Career Accomplishment to Date?
C/- Loud Adler

Acknowledgements to Loud Adler for this question. This one question can tell a lot about a job candidate in medicine. Starting with whether they value outcomes and achievements in their work. It can also provide insights into how they go about accomplishing success, how they manage their time and incorporate feedback into their process, whether they get chosen to work on challenges and why, and how they work with others to marshall resources and create a common cause.

There are so many supplementary questions that can be explored off the back of this one single question.

And this question is easily related to the selection criteria of most medical jobs. For example:
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively & harmoniously in a multidisciplinary team.
- Demonstrated good organisational, time management and problem-solving skills within a complex clinical environment.
- Proven commitment to ongoing learning and professional development.
- Ability to contribute to quality improvement and / or clinical safety in the hospital.
Good Interview Question Number Two.

Tell Us About A Difficult Day You Had At Work
Example Questions Are Great For Getting To the Truth

This is one of my current favourites. Once again it requires the candidate to dig into their career and choose an example of how they have performed. This time under difficult circumstances. If the example doesn’t seem all that difficult. Then this may imply that the candidate has not been truly tested. If the example blows you away it probably means that they are up for the challenge. But its also what they found difficult and how they handled it that matters most. For some, it might be difficulties in communicating or dealing with under-resourcing. For others, it might be difficulties with the emotional impact of work. Whatever the circumstances look for evidence of personal insight, coping strategies, advocating and escalating for help and of course, relying on one’s team.

This question is easily related to selection criteria such as:
- Demonstrated good organisational, time management and problem-solving skills within a complex clinical environment.
- Ability to work independently in a supervised environment and work in a multidisciplinary team
Good Interview Question Number Three.

Tell Us About Some Research You Discovered That Affected Your Practice.
Example Of a Question To Explore Evidence Based Practice

Most candidates can talk the talk when it comes to using evidence in their clinical work. But it is surprising how many are stumped when asked to actually recall an example where they have used evidence to alter theirs and their team’s approach to care.

This question applies to selection criteria where you are wanting to see the demonstration of up to date clinical knowledge and practice (which is pretty much in every doctor position description), but often there is also a criterion about demonstrated commitment to learning and research. So it can address two criteria at the same time.

Good Interview Question Number Four.

What Does This Position Offer You And Why Do You Want To Leave Your Current Role?
Organizations Tend to Try To Hang On to Good Employees. So Its Important to Explore Reasons For Leaving.

A much-overlooked question is why a candidate is applying for the position. Granted in many doctor interviews its a matter of progressing from one stage of training to the next. However, as we go up the seniority ranks there tends to be less turnover. If a doctor is a genuine asset then usually their manager is trying really hard to keep them. So there needs to be a good positive reason offered in terms of things like:
- desiring more responsibility
- experiences that are not on offer in the current post
Any sign of negativity towards the current employer or service should be treated with caution. Strong candidates will be more sanguine about their current experience and less likely to say anything negative regardless of how bad the experience has been.

This question is often a better alternative to asking candidates to either “Tell Us About Yourself?” or “Tell Us Why You Are Good For the Job?” It invites a candidate to address any or all of the selection criteria. Although in Medicine, most will tend to focus on the clinical requirements first in their answer.

Good Interview Question Number Five.

Could You Demonstrate To Us The Following…
Skills Tests Are Under Utilised In Medical Interviews

The last good question is in fact not a question but a test. And the test will again depend on the position and the selection criteria.

In the majority of jobs, which includes medicine, there is normally a key task that is important for the role and which can be simulated in an interview environment. Successful demonstration of this task will normally address selection criteria around clinical capability as well as often communication skills.

The “Skills Test” is used surprisingly sparingly in medical job interviews in my experience. But often very easy to deploy and quite useful.

In a past role, I recruited doctors to fill Resident Medical Officer posts in mental health. The role required a basic ability and knowledge of mental health (we could and did teach the rest) but importantly required the doctors to have up to date medical skills.

We would give each candidate a couple of ECG readings with a scenario which demonstrated common abnormal findings. This test was remarkably discriminating and quite reassuring in terms of hiring doctors who were able to interpret basic ECGs.

Some other examples where a Skills Test may be relevant:
- Resident demonstrating how to complete a pathology form or prescription
- Surgical trainee demonstrating a knot tieing technique
- Surgical trainee consenting interview member for surgical procedure
- Radiology trainee interpreting and completing a report on a Chest X-Ray
- Psychiatry trainee watching a short video of a patient and reporting mental status findings
- Advanced Trainee being asked to give a presentation on a recent update in their field
- Consultant being asked to prioritize a ward round list
Related Questions About Dumb Interview Questions.

Question. Are There Any Interview Questions That A Panel Is Not Allowed To Ask Me?

Answer. Yes. There are. These are called discriminatory or illegal questions. There are laws in Australia and most other countries to prevent panel selecting people on the basis of background, preferences or characteristics which do not relate to the ability to perform the role. We have a post about this here.
September 18, 2019
13 Questions to Ask Before A Job Interview

It’s been a bit of a peak period for interview coaching the last few months. One question that I find that I am often being asked at the end of an interview coaching program by a candidate is: “Is there anything I should be asking about before the interview?”. So what are the sorts of questions to ask before a job interview?

There are definitely a number of key questions you should be getting the answers to prior to going into your job interview. For some of these questions, you should seek the answer from the person coordinating the recruitment. They will include the length of the interview, the format of the interview, the names and positions of the interview panel members, and whether you need to prepare anything for the interview.

For the rest of these questions, you should be seeking the answers from yourself, and possibly your interview coach if you have one. They will include answers to what is the panel looking for, do you have any weaknesses in relation to the job, and do you have the right examples prepared for the panel.

Let’s go over this in a bit more detail. Starting with questions you can ask of the recruiter and then questions you should be answering yourself.

Questions to Ask Before a Job Interview – Question to Ask the Recruiter.

I always recommend if possible that you check in with the person coordinating the recruitment a few days ahead of time. Some recruitment coordinators are very organized in providing you with information about the process. But more often than not you can find out more by being courteous and respectful.

Remember also that this person is often also an executive assistant working with the chair of the panel. So it helps to be making a good impression. Because panel chairs often do ask about whether candidates were polite or not.

Here are some questions to ask before a job interview of the recruiter.

Confirm the Details of the Interview.

Make sure you confirm the details of your interview. Because times and locations do change and sometimes can be wrong. Especially if the interview is being done across countries and time zones. How early should you arrive? Is there any paperwork that needs to be gone through prior to the interview?

Find Out the Names of the Panel Members.

Quite often interview panels are being pulled together at the last minute. So checking a couple of days beforehand is usually the best time to be able to find out their names. I think this is one of the most important questions to be asked as it is very difficult, if not impossible, to remember the names of interviewers if you are just introduced to them during the interview.

Find out the position of each panel member and do your research on them. What is their role, profession, and what are their interests? This will help you to tailor your question responses effectively.

How Long Does the Interview Go For?

Ask about the length of the interview. How many questions will there be in total? This helps you to know how long or short your answers should be.

Is There Anything You Should Prepare for the Interview?

Some interview processes involve getting you to prepare a presentation as the first question or coming in early to review the interview questions. It’s good to know about these things as early as possible.

Is There Anything You Should Bring for the Interview?

The interview is often the time when panels will want to view your credentials and 100 points of identification and other documents like working with children checks. You should also ask if it’s ok to bring things with you to the interview. I always like to bring a portfolio of things to look at and refer to during the interview. Having the job selection criteria to look at can be particularly useful when dealing with strange questions from the panel.

How Many Candidates Are Being Interviewed?

You may think that this is a question where you are unlikely to get a response. But recruiters and interview panels can be surprisingly candid about these sorts of questions. And it helps to know your chances going in.

Its also often possible to work this out based on the length of the individual interview and the total time allotted.

If it’s a position with multiple openings try to also find out how many people the panel is wishing to hire.

If the Interview Is a Video Interview Is It Possible to Do a Test?

Many interviews are conducted these days using video. Usually, you are asked to go to a link on the web using a browser on your computer. It’s a good idea to find out details about the system being used beforehand. And if possible to test it out on your setup as well as trying to connect to another location to ensure that you have the right equipment and appropriate amount of internet bandwidth.

Questions to Ask Before a Job Interview – Questions to Ask Yourself

Arguably even more important than having full knowledge of the interview process is having full knowledge of yourself. If you put yourself through your paces before the interview you are much more likely to succeed.

So here are some questions to ask before a job interview of yourself.

Do I Understand What They Are Looking For?

It may seem obvious. But between lodging that application and doing all that preparation you may have forgotten exactly what it is the panel is looking for. Review the selection criteria that came with the job description. Check out the role description and key responsibilities. Make sure you understand what competencies they are looking for so you can talk about how your own competencies demonstrate that you are a good candidate.

Can I Paint A Compelling Picture Of Why I Am the Best Person for the Job?

Most panel interviews start with a question along the lines of “Why have you applied for the job?” or “What makes you a good candidate?.” Make sure you have an answer to this question. What are the 3 key strengths that you bring that not only meet but exceed their expectations? Use examples and storytelling to paint a compelling picture.

Have I Anticipated Any Key Weaknesses?

The panel will not just be interested in any strengths you may bring to the role. They will be interested in any areas of weakness. Overall they will be generally cautious about giving someone who has significant weaknesses the job. Even if that is balanced out by significant strengths.

So it’s important that you have honestly considered whether you are truly weak in any particular area and have a plan for addressing this weakness.

For example, if the role calls for you to conduct research as part of the position. But you haven’t done any real research. Then you need to be prepared to talk about how you have other skills that would translate to this requirement and mean that you would not necessarily be starting from scratch.

Have I Thought About What Questions They Will Ask?

If you have been doing interview practice you probably have been thinking about what questions will be asked. But be careful that you are not just practising old questions that are based on outdated selection criteria.

If you have not done any preparation at this point you should at least be going through the position description and in particular the selection criteria and coming up with at least one question for each of these.

Have I Talked to Current Incumbents?

A commonly overlooked but easy thing to do in your preparation is to talk to actual people who are doing the actual job that you are going for. These people can give you all sorts of insights into the key challenges of the role and phrases such as:

“Well, when I was talking to one of the current doctors working in the role they mentioned some key things to watch out for in the first month were…”

Will go a long way with the panel.

Current incumbents can often also give you vital insights into the selection process.

Do I Know What Sort of Questions I Need to Ask?

Perhaps the final thing to think about is whether you have any questions about the job that needs answering. There is normally a period at the end of the interview when the official questions have been asked where you have a chance to ask your own questions.

It’s important that you don’t blow your interview by asking a question to which you have already been given the answer or which doesn’t show that you have put in your research.

On the other hand, asking a really insightful question can finish off the process on a high. It’s best to have prepared these questions beforehand rather than just winging it on the day.

Related Questions.

Question. Is There A Good Approach to the Final Interview Question.

Answer. Yes, there is. This is a common “question” that I get asked about. But it depends on your individual circumstances. In many situations, it’s actually OK not to ask a question. Particularly if you don’t have a good one. Here’s a video to help you out.

Question. When Do My Referees Normally Get Interviewed?

Answer. This very much depends on how many candidates are being interviewed and also whether there is some form of automated referee checking system. If there are large numbers of candidates. Then the selection committee will normally wait till after the interview to check referees. They will generally start with referees for preferred candidates. So if your referees are being interviewed at this point it’s a pretty good sign.

September 5, 2019
How To Predict Interview Questions. A Sure-Fire Method With Examples.
Are you looking for an easy way to predict the types of questions you will get at your job interview? I’ve worked with lots of candidates for various jobs both inside and outside of medicine and there is a reasonably simple and straightforward method that I show these clients which can help you to predict interview questions for the majority of questions that you will normally be asked during the interview. And this method also set you up for any unexpected “curveball” type questions.

So how can you tell what sort of questions you are going to be asked during the interview? The simple answer to this is that the genesis of each interview question should come from the selection criteria that are attached to the job description. If you can identify these selection criteria then you can also identify the types of skills, strengths, evidence and examples the panel will be looking for in the interview and practise questions formatted in the various interview question styles.

Whilst, it’s never 100% possible to completely predict the actual question you may be asked. I find that this sort of analysis paired with an intensive practice regimen will pick up about 80% of the actual questions fairly closely. But it’s always possible for the interview panel to go “off-script” on occasion, especially on medical panels, where some of the panel members can view themselves as self-taught experts in the process. For these occasions, I have a couple of other methods so you can handle the more odd question comfortably as well.

For the rest of this article, I will take you through my method for identifying questions in more detail. Give you a couple of examples and then talk about a couple of more tips to have you extra prepared.

How to Predict Interview Questions Step 1. First Find the Selection Criteria.

When you know how and where to look. It’s actually pretty easy to predict most of the questions you will be asked.

So here is a typical Senior Resident Medical Officer job from the NSW Health site.

SRMO Post

You can see that its for a role in Intensive Medicine. So the sort of doctor who might be applying for this role is someone in their third year of Medicine who is looking at potentially training in ICU or perhaps Anaesthesia in the future.

These jobs aren’t formally accredited for training. So they are almost 100% done as a small panel interview with perhaps 3 or 4 people on the panel.

So its obviously worth reading through the whole position description to see if it is a job that is good for you.

But once we have decided we are interested in the job. If we want to work out the sort of questions we will get asked then we need to look at the Selection Criteria. Because in most countries like Australia the common practice (and normally also the policy) is to ask questions based on the selection criteria. Here are the Selection Criteria:

Selection Criteria

In theory, you should not be asked a question which is not related to one of the selection criteria.

So for this job we have 8 selection criteria which is the maximum allowed in NSW Health. Let’s look at some of these criteria. I am going to skip over the first one which is about having a medical degree and being registered with the Medical Board. You will need to be able to prove this when you apply. So you are not going to be asked a question about this. Unless there is a specific doubt or query about the evidence you have given.

Questions About Relevant Experience

Lets look at Selection Criteria number 2.

“Completion of at least two postgraduate years including relevant experience in intensive care medicine.”

On the surface, this seems similar to the first criteria. In that, you either have this or don’t have this. But there are actually a few ways this criterion could come up as a question

AND a few ways of answering it.

The first way this criterion could come up is in what I call “The typical opening or first question.” Panels often like to kick off the interview with a question that gets the candidate to talk about themselves. So you might be asked something general like:

“Why are you a good candidate for this role?”

OR even more general like

“Why are you interested in this position?”

Or more specific and more targeted to the criteria. Like

“Can you outline how your experience makes you suitable for the position?”

If the panel was to ask this question in a behavioural format. Which they often like to.Then they might ask a question like:

“Can you give us an example of how your experience so far has prepared you for this role?”

Every Question Is An Opportunity to Highlight Your Strengths.

Now. I have just given you 4 questions that fit one selection criteria. So, you could now go off and practice all 4 questions. But actually, whilst the format of answering each of these questions will differ slightly. The content will generally remain the same.

With each and every question it’s an opportunity for you to emphasise your strengths to the panel. So in this instance, you would:
1. Give an outline of your experience so far. Especially if it is more than 2 years.
2. Talk about any specific experience in intensive care if you have had some.
3. But also talk about related experiences and training, such as working in emergency OR doing an advanced life support course OR being given the opportunity to participate on a Medical Emergency Team
4. And give the best example of a case of a patient requiring urgent or intensive care and how you contributed to that case and displayed skills and competencies relevant to intensive care.
Demonstrating the Ability to Work Independently.

Let’s look at one more of these criteria. Let’s look at number 3.

“Demonstrated ability to work independently in a supervised environment”

More often than not. The most likely way this selection criterion will be assessed is through a clinical scenario.

If you undertake any coaching with me or take my interview skills course. We talk about how the clinical scenario is both an assessment of your clinical knowledge but also an assessment of your ability to seek help and access other resources.

So, you are likely to be given a scenario where you have to have a method and approach for assessing a sick patient. But there will be a point where the panel expects that you discuss when you would seek help from more senior colleagues. And this is likely to be the more critical part of the question.

The approach to the question is to show a balance between being able to act calmly in a situation, collect information and conduct an initial assessment and then use your assessment to gain input from the senior colleague.

Once again. As always. An example. It doesn’t need to be the exact scenario but just something similar. That demonstrates how you have actually done this before in real life is EXTREMELY POWERFUL.

Some Other Tips For Being Prepared For the Interview.

Question Banks.

Another great tip for making sure you have practised the questions that you may be asked at the interview is to find out from previous candidates what sort of questions they have been asked.

You will find that if you ask around you will often be handed a bunch of “past questions”. If you get enough of these you will start to notice a bit of a pattern. That is the questions will start to repeat themselves. They may not be exactly the same. But in essence, they are the same question.

This is because medical position descriptions generally don’t change much year to year. So you can be fairly confident in using these questions to practice. And if you practice enough of them. Then you will find that you are familiar with most of the questions you get asked.

By the way, we have a page on the AdvanceMed site that lists over 500 interview questions. Categorized by various job titles. It’s worth exploring. Even if there are not many questions for your particular position. You will probably find questions under other categories are easily adapted.

Prepare an Example for Each Criterion.

My last tip is to have a good example for each of the selection criteria. This is useful. For a couple of reasons.

Firstly. You probably have had to do this anyway when you addressed the selection criteria in your application.

Secondly. Even if you are given a bit of a curveball question and you weren’t prepared for it. Having an example for each selection criteria will probably give you something to talk about that is relevant to that “curveball question”.

So that’s how you can work out the sorts of questions you may be asked at the interview.

If you are looking for even more guidance you may want to look at purchasing our book

Or check out the courses and coaching available through this site.

Related Questions.

Question. Where’s a Good Place to Find Evidence for the Selection Criteria?

Answer.

I find a good place to start is your CV. Look at each selection criteria and then go through your CV and highlight areas that meet that criteria. Ask yourself is there enough detail here? Are there quantifiable results or a good example? If not you probably want to add these into your CV for this particular job application.

Question. Why Do Interview Panels Like to Ask Behavioural Questions?

Answer.

Behavioural questions are when the panel asks you for an example from your past that demonstrates a selection criterion. This is based on some reasonable evidence from organizational psychology and human resources research that asking for an example is more predictive of future performance than an answer to a hypothetical question. Its based on the principle that past performance predicts future performance.
August 2, 2019
Top 5 Medical Job Interview Tips From a Doctor Expert
Would you like 5 tips for preparing for your next medical job interview? Hello, I’m Dr. Anthony Llewellyn, doctor and medical HR expert and I love to share tips with other doctors about how to improve their performance in the job interview.

When approaching a medical job interview or any other job interview for that matter the key things you should consider are:
1. Establishing a practice schedule and actually committing to practicing
2. Get an understanding of what the panel is looking for, so you can predict the questions you will be asked
3. Review your CV for examples of your work that will increase the power of your responses to questions
4. Recording yourself practicing so you can see what you actually look like
5. Getting feedback on your performance from an expert
These are my top 5 tips based on years of experience in being a recruiter as well as coaching other doctors for job interviews. Let’s dig into them a little deeper.

1. Practicing

This is the most vital tip in my opinion. You should definitely treat the interview as an examination or a performance. I’m betting that throughout medical school you practised and prepared for exams. So why would you expect to just turn up for your next job interview, “wing it” and turn in a great performance?

Your next job is just as important if not more important than getting a pass on an exam. So you need a bit of a practice schedule and you need to actually practice. I recommend giving yourself at least 6 weeks if possible and doing at least one practice session per week prior to your actual interview. If you have less notice of your interview then obviously you will need to condense this and increase the frequency. Better yet. If you are anticipating a new job in the next 6 months. Think about setting up a practice schedule now

2. Understand what the panel is looking for

You need to understand what the interview panel is looking for. So you can practice the right questions and prepare the right examples. I’m often asked by doctors.

“How can I predict what sorts of questions I will be asked?”

Well. Its actually a lot easier than you think.

The questions you get asked in the interview should relate to the Selection Criteria. So to find these go to the appropriate section on the job description and review it. They are usually placed towards the end of the document. These should give you a fair indication of the types of questions you will be asked.

Sometimes, particularly for college selection, rather than selection criteria, there is a competency framework. These are normally easy to find on the college website. Again these will give you a very good guide to what you will be asked about.

You can then generate appropriate questions or there are places online you can find a bunch of them. You can access our free question bank here.

3. Review your CV for examples.

Your CV or resume is a treasure trove of achievements from which to draw upon examples of your past work (or at least it should be). Review your CV for examples so that you can use these as part of your answers to questions.

Remember providing an example from your past work is extremely powerful at the interview.
Dr Anthony Llewellyn, Career Doctor

Sometimes you will be asked for an example as part of a behavioural question. But don’t be afraid to offer one, even if the question is a hypothetical question.

You are basically telling the panel.

“I can do this. Because I’ve done it before.”

And panels know that past behaviour predicts future behaviour so they will value this information.

4. Record yourself and watch yourself.

Why do I say that you need to record yourself and watch yourself back? Well. Interviews are as much about body language and tone of speech. In fact even more about these things. Than what you say.

So. Its important to know how you appear during an interview.

The only way you will know this is to observe yourself.

Here’s a great example.

Often when I am coaching candidates for an interview I notice that they appear quite stiff in their presentation. This is normally because they are trying to control their hands. By sitting on them or anchoring them in their lap. Actually, you generally want to let your hands get involved in your interview performance. Once we fix this problem. The visual performance always looks a lot better.

There are a number of options for filming yourself for an interview performance. My recommendation would be to use a desktop or laptop set up and record yourself on Skype or Zoom. This way you should easily be able to get at least a head and shoulders view of how you look whilst seated. It’s particularly important to be able to see what you do with your hands.

Alternatively, you can use your smartphone with a tripod if you have one or even just a stack of books on the table. Selfie videos are not as good as you have at least one hand engaged for the filming purpose. Similarly observing yourself in the mirror is not as good as you cannot rewind and go back.

5. Engage an Expert

My final tip is to get some interview practice with an expert.

What do I mean by an expert?

I mean anyone who has had significant experience being a member of a selection panel and/or experiences in coaching candidates for interviews.

Preferably both.

So as a minimum. Try and get someone like a Director of Training or Director of Medical Services to give you a couple of sessions. These people have generally sat in on hundreds of interviews.

Don’t fall into the trap of relying on feedback from fellow candidates, your family or friends. Their feedback is likely to be unhelpful and too much on the positive and encouraging side. Because they have no context for what the panel is looking for and they are too invested in your success and you as a person. You want as critical feedback as possible.

And. If you want to up your game and performance to a higher level.

Then an interview coach is definitely the way to go.

Related Questions.

Question. What if there are no obvious selection criteria?

Answer. There should be selection criteria for any job that is advertised. Sometimes however the job writers or the job writing system make these difficult to decipher. If you have any queries about what the criteria are its best to contact the person whose name is associated with the role for clarification.

Question. How do I find an interview coach?

Answer. There are interview coaches available in most places these days. You can generally do a Google search and someone will pop up. We’ve written an article about how to find a good interview coach that is good for you. Bear in mind that you generally get what you pay for. So the price should not be your only consideration. Also, bear in mind that many coaches can assist you now over the internet. This can sometimes reduce the cost of coaching and give you access to a bigger pool of options.

Question. I get really nervous in interviews. Are there some specific things I can do about this?

Yes. There is. The first thing would be to engage with an expert coach so that you can get some help in improving your overall performance. Practice will help to reduce your nerves on the day. There are specific relaxation techniques that you can incorporate as part of your coaching or separately which will also assist with your performance anxiety on the day.
June 27, 2019
Doctor Job Interview Questions and Answers

Excelling At Doctor Job Interview Questions And Answers

Recently I hosted a free Live Webinar on YouTube about the interview process. We had over 40 trainee doctors to help everyone get better prepared for their upcoming job interviews and how to answer doctor interview questions.

You can watch the full video above. But just in case you are looking for some specific guidance I have taken the time to timestamp it as well so you can find the information that you want more quickly. The timestamps are provided here on this post as well.

Also, another hack for speed watching YouTube videos on PC is that you can turn the settings to watch the video at up to 2x speed.

Introduction & Webinar Outline

Logistics

In this section we cover a little bit about dress code, finding out about the interview style and panel, getting your documents together and working out how to get to the interview. The key emphasis should be to deal with these practical matters as quickly and soon as possible so you can focus in on your interview.

Multiple Mini Interviews

An emerging trend in doctor interviews is that of multiple mini interviews. We cover what these are and how they may differ slightly from the traditional one panel interview and therefore what sort of doctor interview questions you should practice.

Review Your CV & Don’t Forget to Smile

Its always a good idea to review your CV prior to your doctor interview. Similarly practicing your smile can make the doctor interview question and answer process a more relaxed one for you and the panel and help to give a positive vibe.

Interview Frameworks for Doctor Interview Questions

There are two Frameworks I recommend you learn which will help you with 99% of the questions

Specific Doctor Interview Questions:

a. Tell Us About You?

b. Why You (for the Job)?

c. Strengths and Weaknesses

d. Work Conflict

e. Ethical Dilemma

f. The Do You Have Any Questions? Question

Discriminatory Questions

Some Final Thoughts on Practising Doctor Interview Questions

I hope that this video is helpful to you. Leave a like or comment on YouTube or below if it is. Think about subscribing if you want to enjoy more helpful content.

Other Videos in the Series

August 12, 2018