Tag: interview coaching

Preparing for RACS SET Interviews: Ultimate Preparation Guide 21 Tips

Preparing for the RACS SET Interview: Your Ultimate Preparation Guide to Interview Training for Surgical Specialties SET Program Selection

The RACS SET Interview selections are arguably the most competitive specialty selection interviews in Australia and New Zealand with only about 1 in 4 to 1 in 5 candidates succesful each year. Having coached over 60 clients to success with the RACS SET Interview Selection I wanted to share with you my tips for your ultimate preparation guide.

What are the RACS SET Interviews?

The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons conducts an annual selection process for selection into surgical training in Australia and New Zealand.

Or to be more accurate RACS in collaboration with its 13 surgical specialty groups or societies conducts 13 application processes each year for Australian and New Zealand trainee doctors to become enrolled in SET selection.

Once selected into training SET trainees face another 5 to 6 years of full time clinical training in hospitals as a SET Registrar prior to qualifying to become a consultant surgeon in their relevant specialty.

What is the Structure of the RACS SET Selection Process?

As an applicant for a surgical training program in Australia or New Zealand you have one opportunity per year to apply for a training position in one or more of the 9 RACS specialties (it is possible to apply for more than one program per year). There are a number of steps you need to undertake in this highly competitive selection which ultimately culminate in appearing for an interview (if successful).

The application process commences in January of each year with a registering with RACS as part of a centralised process. This is essentially an expression of interest as well as a preliminary eligibility check. You must register and pay the registration fee each year that you apply.

What are the Eligibility Requirements for Applying for RACS SET Training?

You must have Australian or New Zealand Citizenship or Permanent Residency
You must have general (unconditional) registration with AHPRA or general scope registration with the MCNZ
You must have completed the RACS Operating With Respect (Anti-Bullying and Harassment) Training Module
You must have satisfactorily passed the General Surgical Sciences Examination
There may be additional requirements depending on the specialty you are applying for. Generally there is a requirement to have some surgical experience in the specialty increasingly many specialties are requiring that you pass the RACS Clinical Examination

The RACS application process requires you to submit evidence of your eligibility, contact details for referees and a structured CV.

After registering with RACS you are required to apply for the SET Program/s you wish to apply for.

The next steps vary depending on the specialty. But in general

Your CV will be scored
Your referees will be contacted for structured reports
You may be required to sit a Situational Judgement Test
Depending on specialty other evidence may me taken into account, such as examination performance
A final determination of eligibility for interview will be determined

As mentioned at the end of this process, if you are deemed eligible to attend an interview, you will be invited to participate in a semi-structured interview process.

Your final result is then normally determined by a combination of your CV score, reference scores, SJT score (if applicable) and the all important interview score.

More details about the process for 2026 can be found here

Key Dates for the RACS Surgical Selection Process for 2025

Stage 1: Registration for selection

Opens Tuesday 7 January 2025 (12:00 noon AEDT). Closes Friday 31 January 2025 (12:00 noon AEDT)

Stage 2: Apply to the SET program

The opening and closing dates varies between specialties.

Stage 3: Referee reports collected

April/May 2025

Stage 4: Interviews

The interview dates vary between specialties.

Stage 5: Announcement of offers

Latest day of notification of outcome: Friday 7 November 2025

What is a Semi-Structured Interview?

A semi-structured interview generally means any form of interview with a reasonable amount of pre-planning in terms of the questions and the scoring approach. In the case of the RACS specialties this generally means meeting with more than one group of interviewers (panel members) for a determined amount of time in an interview station. The number of stations vary between 3 () to 8 (). When the number of stations is more than 6 the process tends to be called a Multiple Mini Interview process.

RACS Specialty	Type of Interview	Number of Stations	Number of Interviewers	Minutes Per Station	Reading / Transition Time	Stem to Read?	Notes
General Surgery Australia	MMI	5	2 +/- 1 Observer	10 minutes	2 minutes reading time	Yes	3 Clinical / 2 Non-Technical Stations 2 questions + probing per station
General Surgery New Zealand	MMI	6	2 to 3 +/- Observer	10 minutes	1 minute reading	Yes	Structured initial question with probing
Orthopaedics Australia	MMI	6	2	10 minutes		No	Standardised Stem + Probing questions
Orthopaedics New Zealand	MMI	7	3 +/- Observers	9 minutes	2 minutes	No	Standardised Stem + Probing questions
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Australia	Semi Structured	3	2 to 3 +/- Observer	15 minutes	No reading time	No	3 questions per station
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, New Zealand	Structures	3	2	20 minutes		No	Standardised Stem + Probing questions
Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Aotearoa Australia	Semi Structured	3	2 + Observer	15 minutes	5 minutes	Yes	2 Structured questions + probing per station
Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Aotearoa New Zealand
Paediatric Surgery	MMI	4	2			No	Clinical + Professional Station / Article Station / Video Review Station / Theoretical Station
Cardiothoracic Surgery	MMI	3		15 minutes	5 minutes reading time	Yes	3 questions per station
Urology	Semi-Structured Interview	4	2 + Observer	15 minutes		Yes for Sim Pt Station	1 Sim Patient Station 1 Station specific to either Aus / NZ
Vascular Surgery	MMI	6	2 + Observer	8 minutes	2 minutes reading time
Neurology	Structured	4		15 minutes			Consists of four scenario and experience‐based sections, each with multiple questions designed to assess the suitability of the applicant.

The above information comes from official information as well as advice from past candidates. You should check each year for changes.

How Can I Best Prepare for the Interview? Tips for Effective SET Interview Preparation

Having now coached around 150 clients through the SET interview challenge I am frequently asked to present on the topic of how best to prepare for the SET interviews. Below are my top ten tips. Some, such as tips 1 – 4, may seem a little obvious but are still worthy of highlighting. Others you may be less familiar with and will hopefully help you to better prepare.

Tip # 1 Give Yourself Plenty of Time to Prepare for the RACS SET Program Selection Process

Most clients start working with me at the start of the year, giving themselves several months to prepare. Some even commence the year prior.

Do you need 12 months to be successful in the SET interviews? No. But its not a bad idea to give yourself that amount of time so long as you pace yourself (see tip 17). Like most performances its hard to improve by cramming a few weeks prior. You will often need time to first deconstruct your approach to answering interview questions and then build new techniques. This takes time and you won’t be sounding smooth and slick straight away.

At a minimum I would recommend at least 3 months to prepare.

Tip # 2 Ensure You Read Carefully Through the Selection Regulations

Make sure you read carefully the selection regulations. Don’t rely on what past trainees say or even what I write here!. Be aware of any updates or changes throughout the year. They are generally revised and updated at least annually. Whilst in general most of the process stays the same, RACS and the specialty groups are always endeavouring to come up with a better process. An example of this has been the introduction of Situational Judgement Tests for certain surgical subspecialties, such as General Surgery, Orthopaedics and ENT in Australia.

You particularly want to understand what the criteria are for the interview. Generally these are either literally the RACS competencies (based upon CanMEDS) or a variation of these.

These are key to understanding why certain questions are being asked and what is being looked for.

Tip # 3 Don’t Forget Your Registration and to Apply for Selection

Whilst you should be aiming to focus on interview preparation throughout the journey take some time to complete your registration and make payment with RACS and application for selection panels and don’t leave these to the last minute.

Tip # 4 Prepare Your CV Early

As per above get your CV done as soon as possible so its no longer looming over you.

Tip # 5 Make All Points Count on Your CV

I find most clients are pretty comfortable with how to compile their CV to ensure that they obtain the maximum points possible. Most applicants will generally not even bother applying unless they feel that they have a good CV. That being said I am aware of some trainees who successfully challenged their CV score (presumably because things were overlooked).

For this reason I recommend a summary at the start which basically walks the reader through all of your relevant points.

Tip # 6 Choose Your Referees Wisely and Prepare Them

Selecting trainees for interview has become a zero sum game for RACS. Most clients max out their CV points. And most referees are aware that its important to give you a good reference (because every other referee is doing the same).

Still. Its important to be choosy where you can be. Especially if one of your potential referees is more hawkish. But equally important is for you to provide your referees with some reminders of your good past performance. At a minimum give them your CV with some additional information about your achievements whilst you were working with them.

Tip # 7 Invest in the Right Resources for Your Interview Preparation

OK. Now we are getting more focused on the SET interviews themselves.

There’s 3 key types of resources that most trainees will consider investing in for the interviews.

Books, courses and coaching.

Books for the SET Interviews

There are very few Australian or New Zealand books specifically dedicated to the SET interviews. Although many past clients have found the Amanda Nikolic book for General Surgery interviews quite helpful. There are also a range of books from the UK which may provide some assistance.

For SJTs there are actually quite a few books already available written for the RACS SJT. I have not reviewed any of these or heard much about them. So purchase at your own cognizance.

I am not aware of any books with banks of past questions (other than the Nikolic book). The best public repository of past questions is our own one here at AdvanceMed. If you do find this useful then I would ask that you contribute some of your own question after, as many have done before you.

Courses for the SET Interviews

Courses are useful for understanding the theory behind certain interview questions and learning techniques for answering different questions.

There are a few providers who offer RACS SET preparation workshops such as iPrep and IME. IME also offers an online course. At AdvanceMed we have a comprehensive interview skills course which covers off on college interviews. The most powerful sections of this course for RACS applicants are the ones on question frameworks and sign posting. I tend to focus a lot on these sections in my actual coaching. So that’s why the interview skills course is included in my coaching packages.

SET Interview Coaching

You will find quite a few coaches online advertising themselves as being able to help with the RACS SET interviews. For example there’s Claire Berry Consulting and Jo Hely.

As RACS itself says:

RACS in partnership with the Specialty Societies delivering the Surgical Education and Training Program do not accredit, endorse or recommend any commercial providers delivering SET selection and interview training courses.

RACS and the Specialty Societies do not share with commercial providers any information regarding the content and style of SET selection interviews or any other selection tools, and have no evidence of the usefulness of these commercial courses.

So, its important to do your due diligence before engaging with an interview coach.

I am happy to answer any questions that you may have about my own approach to preparing candidates for SET interviews. I would also recommend that you ask around for recommendations from colleagues. Much of my clientelle tends to find me now from word of mouth.

I also offer a RISK FREE Strategy Call where we can see if we are a good fit for each other.

What is Best: Coaching or a Course for Candidate Interview Preparation?

If you can afford it then coaching will by far and away give you better value than an online course or one day workshop.

Nothing beats personal one on one support where the coache is solely focused on your performance and helping you to improve.

Many of the best coaches will have a course built into their coaching program for you as well as other resources. Having coached now for several years I have also built up a library of resources based around key topics that tend to come up in the RACS interviews, for example clinical governance (for which my favourite mnemonic is PIRATES – Patients, Information, Risk, Audit, Training, Evaluation, Supervision) and Artificial Intelligence.

If you are going down the coaching route I would still recommend that you do what most other trainees do which is approach surgeons familiar with the interview process for some feedback sessions as well. Your coach can help you to maximize these.

Tip # 8 Use the Competency Framework and Selection Criteria to Your Advantage

To gain entry into specialty training programs, it’s crucial to use the Competency Framework and Selection Criteria to your advantage. The RACS Surgical Competence and Peformance Framework is an excellent and often overlooked resource that tells you the sorts of behaviours and capabilities RACS is looking for (and not looking for) and is a great touchstone for your interview preparation (as well as SJT prep if you need to sit for this as well).

Some of these competencies are easier to understand and talk about, for example medical expertise, technical expertise and clinical decision making than others such as health advocacy. So give yourself the time to understand all of these and identify examples in your career history of how you have demonstrated all of these. Citing examples is really helpful in the interview and they will often also ask for an example.

I suggest early on making yourself what I call an alignment table, based upon the selection criteria for the interview.

Below is a video example of what I mean.

Tip # 9 Use the Principles of Deliberative Practice

Deliberative practice is a concept first described by Anders Ericsson, which emphasizes the importance of focused, structured, and purposeful practice in achieving high levels of expertise in any field. Unlike regular practice, which may involve mindless repetition, deliberative practice requires individuals to engage in activities that are specifically designed to improve performance. This involves setting clear goals, obtaining immediate feedback, and continuously pushing one’s limits to tackle challenges that are just beyond current capabilities.

Ericsson’s research suggests that deliberate practice is not merely about the number of hours spent practicing, but rather about the quality and intensity of that practice. It involves breaking down skills into smaller components, honing specific aspects of performance, and gradually integrating these components into a cohesive whole. This approach is applicable across various domains, including music, sports, medicine, and education.

Key elements of deliberative practice include:
1. **Goal Setting**: Practitioners must set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals to guide their practice sessions.
2. **Feedback**: Immediate and constructive feedback is essential for identifying areas of improvement and making necessary adjustments.
3. **Challenge**: Engaging with tasks that stretch one’s current abilities fosters growth. This means practitioners must consistently seek out challenging exercises.
4. **Reflection**: Taking time to reflect on performance and practice sessions allows individuals to internalize lessons learned and strategize for future practice.
5. **Repetition with Variation**: While repetition is crucial, introducing variations in practice conditions can enhance adaptability and skill transfer.

By following these principles, individuals can accelerate their learning and mastery of complex skills, ultimately leading to higher levels of achievement and expertise. Deliberative practice has been influential in redefining how we understand talent and skill development, emphasizing that with the right approach and dedication, anyone can achieve excellence in their chosen field.

How does this apply to the RACS SET interviews? As I have noted above. It’s important to allow yourself time to breakdown the interview into its smaller elements.

If we think about one MMI station. Within this station you will have somewhere between 2 to 6 questions to answer. Each question is in itself a mini part of the performance.

And answering each question can be broken down into elements, including:

reading and or hearing the question
clarifying the question (if needed)
starting your answer – see below
expanding on your answer
completing your answer
handling any follow up or probing question

Deliberative practice suggests that we should try to focus on the hardest part of the task. For most clients this tends to be the start of the answer. This is why I tend to focus a lot on what I call “sign posting:.

Tip # 10 Practice “Sign Posting” Your Answers

Sign posting is about ensuring that the opening part of the answer to each question is clear and gives yourself and the listener (panel members) a clear understanding of the direction you intend to take.

A well constructed sign post can do many things, including:

Give you and the panel members immediate confidence (make a good first impression).
Ensure you have identified all the key components of the question (have a good list of issues).
Prevent the panel members interrupting you unnecessarily, as they will understand what you intend to cover.
Mitigate against you running out of time to discuss certain points.

Tip # 11 Make Sure You Identify All the Issues

Its really important that you identify all of the issues in a question.

Oftentimes I see clients dealing well with the clinical aspects of a question but ignoring the more longer term or downstream issues, such as clinical governance issues or opportunities for you to reflect on your own practice or opportunities for quality improvement.

As a bit of a rule I recommend that when you practice you should be targeting 4-6 issues per question. This is not a set in stone rule. But generally when clients are generating 1 to 3 issues they are missing something important.

Being able to identify a less obvious issue may very well be the difference between a good performance and an outstanding performance on that question. And given the competitive nature of the SET interviews you are really wanting to get as many outstanding performance results as possible.

Tip # 12 It’s OK to Question the Question

You are applying to become a surgeon. Which means thinking for yourself. Don’t always take the question as literal and watch for traps or twists. Have you considered every word in the question – why did they include that bit of information? Is there some obvious information missing.

Here’s an example from a past question.

You are seeing an elderly man from a Non-English Speaking Background. His test results have just come back and it turns out that he has cancer. His family requests that you not inform him of the diagnosis as they feel it will unnecessarily upset him.

What would you do?

Most doctors when they see this question begin by outlining how they have identified issues in relation to:

dealing with ethical issues around autonomy and the right to know
planning treatment for the cancer
working with the family in the best interests of the patient
engaging with an appropriate interpretor
involving the consultant

All great points.

But overlooked here is the question as to why the family knows before the patient? Is there a capacity issue or has there been some form of breach of privacy?

On this point. It’s okay to respectfully challenge the premise of the question by suggesting more information would be useful. Just be prepared to back this up with what that information is.

Tip # 13 Adopt a Surgeon’s Mind Set

This tip is a little bit complex to explain in a blog. It goes hand in hand with the above tip. It’s a kind of you know it when you see it and hear it sort of thing. Your aim is to try to think and talk like a surgeon, or at the very minimum a seasoned SET trainee in the specialty you are aiming for.

Think of your most trusted surgical mentor. Who is that person that you regularly go to for advice? And when you do go for advice. Do they just give you the answer or do they take a step back and as a number of really insightful questions first? The latter is who you are aiming for.

What you are wanting to avoid is narrow thinking. Don’t approach a question as if you are who you currently are, which is likely to be an unaccredited registrar or SRMO. If you answer from your current perspective you will tend to overlook all the extra tasks that a good surgeon or SET trainee would be expected to accomplish.

Tip # 14 Get the Right Feedback

There’s good feedback and unhelpful feedback. Good feedback should follow the principles of effective feedback, by which I mean it should be specific, clear, relevant and delivered as soon as possible.

Who is providing the feedback is also important. You are not going to get very helpful feedback from family, friends or colleagues. Even some consultants will be of little use to you.

Its important to try to obtain feedback with someone who has had experience with the process. This effectively means surgeons who have been on selection panels in previous years (possibly some registrars who have successfully navigated the process) and coaches who have the experience to know what works best for clients.

Sessions with an experienced consultant surgeon are often gold. Because they are generally only offered a few times each year. Make sure you make the best of these by being clear and explicit about what sort of feedback you are seeking. The well meaning consultant may be keen to get through as many questions as possible. This is not going to help you as much as them providing one or two “gems” or insights by helping you focus on specific aspects of your performance, such as your opening approach.

Tip # 15 Record Yourself

When I coach clients for interviews I exclusively do this online. There’s a number of reasons for doing it this way. But one advantage is that we can easily provide a recording of the session, which I do for all of my clients. Those that do watch the videos tend to be more successful than those who do not.

I strongly encourage you to record your practice sessions. If you are not doing this then you are missing out on lots of valuable and immediate feedback. You will be able to assess your tone and pace of voice, your body language, and pick up on bad words to avoid. And your competitors are doing this, so you are placing yourself at a disadvantage.

Tip # 16 Regular Practice is Better than Intense Practice

The next 2 tips also go together.

Consistent with deliberative practice and general principles for improving and sustaining performance you want to be performing regularly not necessarily quantitatively. You can only learn and adjust a few things in one practice session before reaching cognitive overload. So there’s no point practicing for several hours.

You can actually achieve quite a bit with a half hour practice session. And if you are prepared (with a bank of questions and recording option) you can even sneak a session into your break or downtime at work.

At this time of the year I am generally recommending to my clients that they try to practice 30 to 60 minutes per week, twice a week. That’s enough at this stage. As you get closer to the interview you will likely want to increase the intensity. And that’s okay because you will have left yourself the energy and drive to do so.

Tip # 17 Don’t Peak Too Early – Avoid Burn Out

As I have mentioned previously. It is important to time your practice so that it is regular and not overly taxing during the months beforehand. As you get closer to the interview time you are going to want to increase the intensity of your practice.

If you feel yourself getting frustrated weeks or months before the interview. Give yourself a bit of a break. Don’t burn out.

With my clients I aim for them to peak by feeling something between ready for it and a bit frustrated (wanting to get on with it) a week or so prior.

Tip # 18 Optimize Your On the Day Performance Early

By this tip I mean get all the logistics out of the way. Book your leave as soon as possible. Make sure you feel comfortable in your suit and that its dry-cleaned.

If you are doing a video interview make sure your room, technology, lighting etcetera are optimised. See this post for a guide on video interviews.

If you are attending in person, book your flights or travel. Book your hotel room. If interviewing in another city try to arrive a day or two earlier if possible. If you haven’t visited the site previously try to check it out in person a day or two beforehand so you know exactly where to go. I recommend booking a taxi or Uber for your travel rather than worrying about using your own car and finding a car space.

If you have followed my recommendations about how to prepare then I don’t actually recommend doing much practice the day or two beforehand. It’s not going to do anything for you. Instead try to relax, whatever way works for you. Book a massage. Definitely go for a walk, run or swim. Have some nice food. Try to get some decent sleep. Treat yourself.

Tip # 19 Remember Each Station or Panel is a New Chance to Make a Good Impression

Some surgical specialties are quite small so you may have a consultant on a panel that knows you already. But generally the panel members have not met you before and don’t know your history or background. With an MMI process there is generally no discussion of candidate performance between panel members either.

This has certain implications:

Each new panel is another chance to make a good impression.
If you feel like you had a bad station. The next station is a fresh chance to recover.
You can use the same example in different stations.
Try to give each panel some information about your career in order to give them confidence that you would be a safe pair of hands if you were their registrar.

Tip # 20 Have a Plan B

Not everyone is succesful in gaining a SET training place. This does not mean that you are a failure or that you would not make a good surgeon. Just to be eligible for an interview puts you in a rare cohort of trainee doctors and I can’t recall a single client who I felt would not make an effective trainee. There is a degree of luck in this process.

Because you have invested so much you may be falling victim to the sunk cost fallacy. At a certain point its important to consider and identify another training option. In fact, doing this may just take the pressure off and I have seen this leading clients getting into surgical training.

What are the things you like about surgery and how might this transfer into another career in another specialty or even a creative career?

You may want to spend time with a career coach discussing this and identifying other options. Once you have decided on another option you may also want to discuss how this affects your CV and application process.

Tip # 21 Thank Your Family and Friends

At the end of this, likely, several month process, your family and friends have been cheering you on and wishing you the best. You have probably ended up spending less time than you would wish with them. Nows the time to thank them and pay them back.

Notes on Surgical Education and Training Selection by Specialty

General Surgery

Australia

With the introduction of GSET, the training program has moved to a five-year program for all trainees who commenced from 2022 onwards.

Based on modelling through analysis of the above factors, the current predictions indicate that the 2025 selection process (for 2026 intake) will see fewer offers than usual being made, based on current Trainees exiting the program.

Approximately 30 spots will be available for the 2026 intake (significantly less than normal).

It is anticipated that in 2026 (for 2027 intake) the number of offers will revert to normal.

Rotation Type	Minimum Duration
General Surgery Rotation	26 weeks
Critical care rotation	1 X 8 weeks

Applicants must submit the completed Australian Board in General Surgery Procedural Skills and Professional Capabilities Form available on the GSA website.

stages of RACS SET interviews and RACS SET selection

New Zealand

Applicants must have successfully completed the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Generic Surgical Sciences Examination (GSSE) prior to the Specialty application closing date, in addition to having a minimum of 52 weeks General Surgery experience which must be completed by the time of application.

A completed Procedural Skills and Professional Capabilities Form which shows validation by a supervisor of a number of professional activities and operative procedures is also required. The procedures must be verified during rotations taken in the twelve (12) months prior to the closing date of applications.

Selection Timetable 2025

Selection Registration Opens – 7 January 2025

Selection Registration Closes – 31 January 2025

Selection Applications Open – 4 March 2025 – 2.00pm

Selection Applications Close – 25 March 2025 – 2.00pm

Referee Reporting Opens – 29 April 2025

Referee Reporting Closes – 27 May 2025

Interviews – 18 June 2025 in Wellington

First offers made – 1 July 2025

Last date for Offers – 7 November 2025

Orthopaedics

Australia

Orthopaedic Multiple Choice Question (OMCQ) Test

The 2026 Selection Intake process will include completion of an OMCQ Test. More information on the OMCQ can be found on the OMCQ test information sheet.

New Zealand

Stages of selection and key dates

Registration Opens 12pm AEDT: Tuesday 7 January 2025
Registration Closes 12pm AEDT: Friday 31 January 2025
Applications Open 12 noon AEDT: Wednesday 19 February 2025
Applications Close 12 noon AEDT Wednesday 19 March 2025
Workplace Assessments Open 9.00am AEST Wednesday 16 April 2025
Workplace Assessments Close 8.00pm AEST Wednesday 30 April 2025
Interviews will take place in New Zealand on a date and place to be determined and advised.

Urology

Eligibility

Applicants must also have passed the Clinical Examination (CE) by the application closing date.
Complete a minimum 26 weeks in Surgery in General at PGY2 or above by the application closing date.
Complete a minimum of 10 weeks in Emergency Department (ED) at PGY1 or above by the application closing date.
Complete a minimum 26 weeks in Urology at PGY2 or above by the application closing date.

Registration

Any person intending to apply for selection to the Surgical Education and Training Program in Urology must first register in accordance with the RACS Regulation: Registration and Selection to Surgical Education and Training. Applicants who have not registered cannot lodge an application for the Surgical Education and Training Program in Urology.

Registration is completed online on the RACS website. Registration fees apply.

The Registration Period for the 2026 intake (conducted during 2025), is:

Registrations Open Tuesday 7 January 2025 at 12:00 noon AEDT
Registrations Close Friday 31 January 2025 at 12:00 noon AEDT

Late registrations will not be considered.

Application
Applications may only be submitted by registered applicants using the online Urology Application form.

Applicants will be required to pay an application fee to be considered for selection. This fee is non-refundable and must be paid prior to the closing date. Failure to pay the application fee by the closing date will result in the application being withdrawn.

The Application Period for the 2026 intake (conducted during 2025) is:

Applications Open Wednesday 19 February 2025 at 12:00 noon AEDT
Applications Close Friday 21 March 2025 at 12:00 noon AEDT

During this time, eligible registered applicants will be able to access an online application form. Late applications will not be considered.

Referee Reporting
The Referee Reporting Period for the 2026 intake (conducted during 2025) will be from Monday 21 April 2025 until Friday 23 May 2025 (approximately).

Interviews
Interviews for all shortlisted applicants will be held on Saturday 14 June 2025. Interview locations will be communicated when finalised.

Vascular Surgery

Vascular Surgery Selection Eligibility

In addition to the RACS generic eligibility criteria applicants must fulfil the following specialty
specific eligibility criteria:

Successful completion of RACS Generic Surgical Sciences Examination (GSSE) by date of
application.
Successful completion of the Clinical Examination by date of application.
8 weeks full time surgical rotation in General Surgery undertaken within the 7 years
immediately prior to, and completed by, closing date of application.
16 weeks full time surgical rotation in Vascular surgery undertaken within the 7 years
immediately prior to, and completed by, closing date of application.

No more than two rotations of at least four weeks can make up the minimum requirement for the surgical rotations. Vascular rotations must have at least two (2) Fellows of RACS (FRACS) employed as a specialist surgeon; or one (1) vocationally trained surgeon employed as a specialist surgeon who works at the hospital on a weekly basis and one (1) FRACS employed as a specialist surgeon.

Applicants may apply to the BOVS Chair in writing at vascular.selection@anzsvs.org.au for an extension to 6.1.1c and d for interruptions due to family leave or other personal circumstances, e.g. illness, research, or higher degree.

Rotations indicating leave cover, relief, or shift work will not meet the requirements.
Rotations indicating Private Assisting will not meet the requirements
Rotations in part time positions will count towards the requirements on a pro-rata basis of a full-time position. For example, working 19 hours per week for 8 weeks will calculate to 4 full time weeks.

Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery

Australia

Key Dates for 2025:

Selection Registration Opens (RACS) Tuesday 7 January 2025 12:00pm AEDT
Selection Registration Closes (RACS) Friday 31 January 2025 12:00pm AEDT
Selection Application Opens (ASPS) Monday 24 February 2025 12:00pm AEDT
Selection Application Closes (ASPS) Monday 24 March 2025 12:00pm AEDT
Referee Reporting May 2025 (evenings Mon-Thu)
Interviews (virtual) June 2025 – all conducted virtually mid-week. Day TBC
Last Date for First Round Offers Friday 25 July 2025
Last Date for Final Offers Friday 7 November 2025

New Zealand

SET Selection timetable 2025

Selection Registration opens – Tuesday 7 January, 12 noon AEDT
Selection Registration closes – Friday 31 January, 12 noon AEDT
Selection application opens – Wednesday 19 February
Selection application closes – Thursday 27 March
Referee reporting opens – Thursday 24 April
Referee reporting closes – Wednesday 21 May, 8pm AEST
PRS Interviews: Thursday 19 June, Wellington
Last date for first round offers – Friday 25 July
Last date for final offers – Friday 7 November

Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery (Ear Nose and Throat Surgery)

Australia

Selection: Key Dates for 2025

Selection Registration Opens Tuesday 7 January 2025
Selection Registration Closes Friday 31 January 2025
Selection Application Opens Wednesday 26 February 2025
Selection Application Closes Thursday 20 March 2025
CV Score Notification Thursday 3 April 2025
Referee Reporting and Multi-Source Feedback Collection April/May 2025
Referee Reporting and Multi-Source Feedback Score Notification by Friday 30 May 2025
MMI Interview Notification by Friday 30 May 2025
MMI Interviews Saturday 14 June 2025
Latest Date of First Round Offers by Thursday 10 July 2025
Last Date of Offers Friday 7 November 2025

The selection process uses four selection tools, each contributing a weighted score as:

Structured Curriculum Vitae 15%
Multi-Source Feedback 10%
Structured Reference Reports 35%
Semi-Structured Interview 40%

Only the top ranked suitable applicants will progress to the interview stage. The number of applicants interviewed will be based on estimated number of positions available in 2026.

New Zealand

Cardiothoracic Surgery

The Selection Process reflects the bi-national nature of the Training Program and is open to Applicants from both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Training Program is overseen by the Committee across both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Successful Applicants must be prepared to be allocated to a Training Post in either of those two jurisdictions for any rotations during their training, recognising that breadth of experience obtained across a variety of Training Posts is likely to help meet the goals of the Training Program. Applicants are expected to have a commitment to equity of health outcomes and understand issues that face marginalised and disadvantaged groups within our communities.

Neurosurgery

Key Dates

Registration Opens for the Neurosurgery Anatomy Examination: 12 noon AEDT Monday 11 November 2024
Registration Closes for the Neurosurgery Anatomy Examination: 12 noon AEDT Monday 9 December 2024
RACS Selection Registration Opens: 12 noon AEDT Tuesday 7 January 2025
RACS Selection Registration Closes: 12 noon AEDT Friday 31 January 2025
Neurosurgery Anatomy Examination: Friday 21 February 2025
Neurosurgery Selection Applications Open: 12 noon AEDT on Monday 3 March 2025
Neurosurgery Selection Applications Close: 12 noon AEDT on Monday 24 March 2025
Interviews for shortlisted applicants: Thursday 26 June 2025
Release of Offers: Prior to 5pm AEST on Friday 27 June 2025

The selection process uses four selection tools, each contributing the following weightings to the overall selection score out of 100:

Neurosurgery Anatomy Examination 30%
Structured Curriculum Vitae 10%
Reference Report 30%
Neurosurgery Semi-Structured Interview 30%

Paediatric Surgery

Paediatric Surgery Selection Criteria

The SET Program is conducted by the Committee across both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Successful Applicants must be prepared to be allocated to a Training Post in either of those two jurisdictions. The Selection Process reflects the bi-national nature of the SET Program and is open to Applicants from both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Applicants are expected to have a commitment to children’s health and wellbeing and understand how that requires different considerations to health systems designed to deliver care to adults.
Applicants are expected to have a commitment to equity of health outcomes and understand issues that face marginalised and disadvantaged groups within our communities.
Applicants are expected to have demonstrated capacity to deal with paediatric patients and their families.
Applicants are expected to have some experience with operating on children and infants. 2.3.7 Applicants are expected to have competency navigating medico-legal and ethical issues surround delegated consent to parents or legal guardians and tensions that can arise when there is conflict between carers and/or the interests of the child.
Applicants are expected to have a reasonable level of understanding of normal growth and development and be able to identify the significance of deviations from norms.
Applicants are expected to have an awareness of the potential for non-accidental injury and must understand local jurisdictional responsibilities related to identification and reporting.
Applicants must have knowledge and experience in managing the psycho-social implications of illness and hospitalisation for children and their families.

How many candidates are successful in Australia and New Zealand each year?

Answer. Success rates vary from year to year. RACS publishes an annual activities report where you can track competition ratios. The latest report available is the 2023 report (which reports on the 2023 selection process for 2024 commencements).

You can see for 2023 competition ratios varied from 11.5% for Cardiothoracic Surgery to 50.0% for Urology with an overall success rate of 31.5%

How Many SET Positions Are Available?

Again, numbers vary from year to year. Some of the smaller specialties may not even offer interviews in some years.

According to RACS there were 1269 active surgical trainees in 2023

What are the dates for RACS Selection in 2026?

These dates are generally determined towards the end of the previous year.

Where can I find past questions to practice with?

The best collection is the AdvanceMed QuestionBank

January 5, 2025

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
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
5 Killer Interview Questions to Ask Employers. And When to Use Them.
Most job applications still include a panel interview process as one of the final steps in selecting candidates. As part of this panel interview process, it is almost universally the custom to ask candidates at the end of their interview if they have any questions of their own. I am often asked by my coaching clients how best to respond in this situation. What are the best interview questions to ask employers? There is a myriad of approaches but here are 5 of my favourites.

In relation to the question about what question or questions, you should ask. The first point is that you do not actually need to ask a question. You can politely thank the panel for their time and indicate that all your questions have been answered already. You can also choose to use this opening as an opportunity to improve on one of your answers or talk about a strength that has not come out in the interview.

In terms of actual questions. If you haven’t been told already then it is often a good idea to ask a question about when the decision of the selection process will be made. Or you can ask a “future-focused” question, such as how will my performance be measured. Or you can actually ask the panel for some feedback about your interview performance.

Let’s go ahead and explore these 5 approaches in more detail. Including giving some examples of where each works best.

As a bonus. At the end of this article, I will also tell you about the best interview question I ever heard from a candidate.

You Don’t Always Need to Ask a Question.

Many candidates are of the opinion that they should have a good question prepared to ask at the end of the interview process in order to impress the panel further. Clearly part of the point of the interview is for you to impress the panel. But this needs to be done with authenticity. So it’s best to avoid trying to “contrive” a question to ask and remember that it’s your time and your interview.

If as part of your research you haven’t come up with a question worth asking, then, in my opinion, you are better off investing your time in other ways of preparing for the interview (such as practising panel questions). Rather than agonizing over developing a truly insightful question.

It’s absolutely OK to not ask a question at the end of the interview process. But it’s important that you handle this part of the discussion well. Most importantly you need to make it clear why you don’t have any questions.

Its perfectly okay not to have interview questions to ask employers. So long as you had done your research already.

The ideal situation for not asking a question is one where you have had plenty of opportunities to ask questions already.

For most of the job clients that I work with this tends to happen in relation to batch recruitment events. Such as the annual medical recruitment process where each year a number of doctors are given the opportunity to apply for higher-level training positions.

In these situations, there is usually a lot of time to prepare for the interview. As well as information provided via websites, one to one contact and information sessions.

Another scenario where this often occurs is for senior medical practitioner appointments, where often you have the chance to have an informal discussion with the chair of the panel prior to putting in your application.

A typical approach, therefore, would be something like:

Thanks. I don’t have any crucial questions at this stage of the process. The information you have provided me already via the [applicant package/information session/phone call…] was really useful. I’d like to thank you for the opprunity and look forward to hearing about the outcome of the process.
Suggested words if you don’t want to ask a question

*As an adjunct, many of the panel members that I talk to about this. And I talk to many. Are of the opinion that it is best not to ask a question if you don’t have a good one. See the end of this blog post for examples of questions you should not ask.

You Can Make a Statement. Rather Than Ask a Question.

Remember. It’s Your Interview. The time at the end of an interview is your last chance with the panel. And in many cases, they are probably running a bit over time and seeing this as more of a polite process rather than expecting you to engage in a long discussion with them.

That being said. You don’t want to leave the room if you feel that anything you have said so far may have reflected badly upon you. OR that there is something that you have not said, which needs to be said.

So. In both of these cases, what I recommend is rather than use this time to ask a question. Use it to address these issues.

So, for example, if you felt you missed out on something important in one of your question responses. You may say something like:

Thanks. I don’t have a question. However, if its ok, I would just like to go back to the second question and add to my answer that I would of course also place oxygen on the patient.
Example of correcting an error in your interview.

Or. If you haven’t made an error. But the panel hasn’t given you an opportunity to talk about your strengths. You can say something like this:

Thanks for the opportunity. I don’t have a question per se. However, I just wanted to highlight a couple of additional items on my CV in reference to my managerial skills. I know from the selection criteria that you are looking for abilities in this area. But we didn’t get to touch on these and I think they will be helpful for you in considering my application.
Example of using the time to highlight more strengths.

Ask When the Decision Will Be Made.

It may not be immediately obvious. But for many selection processes, the outcome may not be clear. A good safe question to ask (politely) therefore is when will the decision be made?

Obviously don’t do this if you have already been told. Which may mean checking back through your emails first. And also watch out as sometimes the chair of the panel covers this at the start of the interview or often more frequently just at the end.

Finding out this information can serve a useful purpose.

Firstly, it gives you an opportunity to time your thank you email. So, if the answer to the question is in 5 days time, send a quick follow up email 3 days later. Don’t ask about the result. Just thank them for the opportunity. Its just a simple reminder that you are an interested candidate. And it may make the difference.

Secondly, it may also give you a hint as to whether your referees have been contacted already or (more likely) will be contacted and via which mechanism. This also then gives you time to follow up with your referees. You can let them know what sort of questions the panel asked and (re)brief them on your strong points.

Ask For Some Feedback.

A significant proportion of the clients that I work with have had an unsuccessful interview in the past. These problems have generally been compounded by the fact that when they have gone back to ask for feedback. The feedback that they have been provided (if any) has been largely unhelpful.

This is not surprising. Interview panels are not really thinking about providing feedback to unsuccessful candidates. They are thinking about how to choose the successful ones. They often see a number of candidates in one session. So, unless something is written down specifically, it is actually hard to recall the specifics. In addition, panels are also often wary about what type of feedback is provided so as not to lead to the risk of the selection outcome being challenged.

There is however one good opportunity to get some useful feedback about your interview performance. And that is at the end of the interview itself. When your performance is fresh in the mind of the interviewers.

The benefit of asking for feedback at the actual interview is two-fold:
1. You get the opportunity to get some real and authentic feedback that can help you in the future
2. You show the panel that you are not afraid to ask for feedback in a high-stakes situation, which should translate in the mind of the panel to perceiving you as someone who will take on board feedback when offered
So to ask for feedback you would say something like this:

Yes. I understand that you can’t tell me the results of the interview at this point. But I was wondering if you would be able to give me some feedback on my interview performance? It may help me to improve for next time. Perhaps there was a particular question I could have done better on.
Example of how to ask for feedback at the end of the interview.

Please note in the above example I have suggested you ask for feedback on something you could have done better on. This is generally better than asking for feedback on something you did well. If you give the panel the opportunity to highlight an area of strength they will probably do that to avoid being too confronting. However, what you really want is something you can improve on.

Ask a Future-Oriented Question.

More often than not, this is my favourite last question approach. However, I would generally only use it if you feel that the interview has gone well.

The idea is to leave the panel thinking about you as a member of their team. If they are thinking seriously about what it would be like to have you on the team then you are very much in the running to get the position.

A standard approach here would be to ask the panel to give you some insight into the first few months on the job. So a question like:

Would you be able to describe to me what sort of outcomes you would be looking to see from me in the first 6 months and how I would know I was successful?
Example of asking a future oriented question.

Can be a really powerful question on a number of levels.

Firstly, it gets the panel thinking about your first 6 months on the job.

Secondly, it gives the panel the message that you want to succeed and are interested in measuring your success.

Thirdly, it also provides you as the job candidate with some vital information about the team that you may be about to join. In that, if they can give a thoughtful answer to this question. They are probably a team worth joining. And if they haven’t really considered this question. You may want to rethink whether you want to work for them.

The Best Candidate Interview Question I Ever Heard.

I promised at the start of this post that I would share with you the best ever response to the final question that I heard (obviously as part of an interview panel). Whilst I have been on many medical interview panels in my time. The actual best question came from an interview I was involved in for a health manager role. And it wasn’t so much the question that I remember but also the approach to it.

We were looking for someone with strong project management skills and the ability to work with the existing team, which had a reputation for being disruptive in a good way, but this reputation did not suit every candidate. On our panel was me as the chair, the team member who would be the new hire’s manager and a job expert, who would be the new hire’s colleague.

The person we were interviewing had impressive credentials and was equally impressive in her responses to our questions. What sealed it for me, however, was her insightful question at the end.

She chose to not look at me nor the potential new manager. But directly looked at the job expert (team member) on the panel and asked:

What do you like about working here?

Now. Others may be not so impressed by this question. But as someone who does highly value culture in teams. I was blown away by the fact that the candidate chose to dig into the team culture and bypass the management layers to get a more authentic response.

Interestingly it figures as the first question on this list of suggested questions to ask at the end.

Footnote. We offered this person the job. But unfortunately, she had been interviewing with other organisations and we were pipped at the post.

Related Questions:

Question. Are There Any Particular Questions I Should Not Ask At the End of the Interview?

Answer. Yes. There are a number of areas you should steer clear of. They basically involve any question that might cause the panel to doubt your passion and interest for the work versus the actual job.

So. Questions about salary levels or arrangements. Concerns about overtime or secondments. Or requests to not work with certain teams. Are best left to another stage of the process.

Question. Is There Anything Else I Should Consider Doing at the End of the Interview?

Answer. You should always check with the chair of the panel if they are finished with you for the time being. Sometimes the person administering the interview process may want you to sign some forms and/or show them some documents, like identification or working with children’s checks.

If you are unfamiliar with the organisation and have not worked there before. It’s probably also a good idea to have a look around after the interview. This is helpful to you and also shows your genuine interest in the job. It’s best, however, to arrange for a tour ahead of time. Rather than just raise it as an idea at the end of your interview.

Question. Should I Shake Hands At the End of the Interview?

Answer. This is a tough one to answer emphatically. In general, it’s best to take your queue from the panel. If they offer a hand then you should shake it. Otherwise, it’s ok to just leave with a smile on your face.
August 21, 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
Career Coaching Canberra: Looking for a Doctor Coach?
Doctors like all other professionals experience career challenges. Sometimes these challenges are about moving upwards in your career. Sometimes they are just about dealing with tricky challenges in your current role. Whatever the situation a career coach can often be a useful resource to help you out.

So if you are working as a doctor in Canberra, what are your options for career coaching? Well, like most large cities there is a range of career coaching options in Canberra. Some of the more popular services in Canberra, include Katrina Howard and Kim Vella.

However, our search was unable to find a career coach specializing in medical practitioners or doctors. So you may also wish to consider working with a coach remotely using video-coaching.

Let’s talk about some of the ways that doctors might use a coach for their careers.

Interview Coaching.

Interview coaching is an obvious place for a doctor to start with coaching. Interview coaching is a way for some doctors to improve upon their interview skills prior to a formal job interview. Given the high stakes of some medical job interviews its normal to be worried about giving your best performance or that nerves might get the best of you on the day.

During interview coaching, a doctor meets with a professional coach to learn strategies for being more relaxed about the interview process and of course to perform better.

So should you work with an interview coach? And if so, how can you find one that suits your needs?

The most obvious reason is that interview coaching can help increase your chances of getting a job. There are a number of ways this can occur.
- Coaching can help you overcome any nerves or anxiety you have about the process.
- Coaching gives you a chance to experience answering many different interview questions.
- Coaches provide you with feedback to help improve your responses during interviews.
The more you practice with a coach, the more confident you will become. By engaging with a coach you are also ensuring that you commit to your own practice regimen, which is important for a good performance.

Some reasons you may want to consider engaging a doctor interview coach:
- It’s been awhile. If it’s been a few years since the last time you interviewed for a doctor job or if your last interview was fairly simple and you anticipate this one will not be the same, then a coach can help you rehearse and regain your interview confidence.
- You get nervous before interviews. A little bit of anxiety is good going into an interview. But too much anxiety can affect performance. Practicing with a coach can help you feel more comfortable, relaxed and prepared.
- You get interviews, but not offers. Often its difficult to get honest feedback from medical interviews. A coach may be able to help work out what is going wrong for you.
- You are not sure about something on your CV. Maybe you have had to have a break in work. Or your last job didn’t go so well. Are you perhaps switching specialties. A coach can help you with how to tell the right story in relation to these sorts of issues.
- Its your dream job and you want to land it. A coach can help with feeling confident in these situations.
On the other hand, if you’re a confident interviewer and have always tended to perform well during interviews, then a coach may not be necessary. But you might still want to think about practising a few times with a friend or a colleague.

Types of Interview Coaching

There are many types of interview coaching. Some coaches meet with you in person, and others speak with you online or on the phone.

In general interview coaches work on something called “performance coaching”. Think of it like a sports coach working with an elite athlete. A key element is practice with feedback. The more practice and the more immediate the feedback the better.

If you meet the coach in person or online, they can also help you develop effective visual communication. The coach can work with you on facial and body expressions that convey trust and show active listening.

Coaches may also help you with other elements of the interview, including how to ask the right questions of the employer, how to research the job and the panel and even some advice on how to dress.

How to Find a Doctor Interview Coach

There are lots of coaches available to choose from in a capital city like Canberra. Career coaches often offer interview coaching. Some things you should consider in a coach are the following:
- What is their training and experience in interview coaching?
- What sort of knowledge and experience do they have with the actual interview process. Medical interviews can be fairly unique, particularly in terms of the types of questions asked and what panels may be looking for. So someone who has actual doctor interview panel experience is ideal.
- Do they provide face to face coaching or on the phone or online. Face to face may seem best initially. But consider that you may need to travel to see the coach and often during normal work hours. Phone coaching and online coaching may be more convenient and cut down on travel.
- What feedback is provided after each session. Phone and online coaches can often give you a recording of the session for you to review.
- What is the price of the coaching.
If you cannot afford a coach, there are some opportunities for less expensive or even free coaching. Your Director of Training may be skilled in interview coaching or may be able to recommend another Consultant in your hospital who is.

Other Types of Doctor Coaching

Some of the other reasons that doctors may seek the aid of a career coach include managing issues in their current role as well as longer term career planning. Here’s a couple of common examples:

Entering into Management Roles

At some point in time most doctors get asked to take on some form of formal leadership position. This can be quite a challenging time as often this role transition seems like it has come with little warning or time to prepare. One of the great failures of our medical culture is to inadequately prepare doctors for leadership roles.

So the newly appointed Head of Department or Acting Clinical Director can suddenly find themselves in what seems to be a very foreign land of budgets, people management, risk registers, strategic plans and the like.

More often than not. Doctors can make this adjustment. A career coach can encourage doctors in leadership roles to take a positive and learning attitude to the new role and reframe challenges to see novel solutions. They can also often make suggestions around training or skills development which might assist.

One process that is often suggested in these circumstances is a 360 Feedback, which helps the new doctor manager get some feedback from their team as to how they are performing and what developmental areas they may wish to look at.

Thinking About Leaving Medicine

Burn out is a significant problem in our profession. Many doctors can feel like they have ended up in a career in Medicine which is no longer satisfying them. But they also struggle to see what other options they may have. If they talk about leaving medicine with their colleagues or even friends and family they are often met with well-meaning but largely unhelpful suggestions about how they might be able to keep going or even comments like “but it would be such a waste if you left medicine”.

The role of the career coach in such circumstances is to take a neutral view on the end outcome. Perhaps the doctor hasn’t seen all the possibilities quite yet? Perhaps leaving medicine is one possibility, but what exactly does this look like?

Seeing a career coach at such existential times in a doctors career can really help to see the problem in new ways and move through a fog of indecision.

If you would like to discuss more about coaching for doctors, leave a comment below.

If you would like to check out the types of doctor coaching services that I provide click on the link below.

Coaching Options
March 5, 2019
Doctor Interview Coach in Brisbane: Career Coaching Brisbane
Interviewing for a job as a doctor can be stressful, especially when its been a while since you may have had some practice.

A way that some doctors choose to improve their interview skills is to work with a coach. During interview coaching, a doctor meets with a professional coach to learn strategies for being more relaxed about the interview process and of course to perform better.

Should you work with an interview coach? And if so, how can you find a doctor interview coach in Brisbane?

Why Interview Coaching?

The most obvious reason is that interview coaching can help increase your chances of getting a job. There are a number of ways this can occur.

Coaching can help you overcome any nerves or anxiety you have about the process. Coaching gives you a chance to experience answering many different interview questions. Coaches provide you with feedback to help improve your responses during interviews.The more you practice with a coach, the more confident you will become. By engaging with a coach you are also ensuring that you commit to your own practice regimen, which is important for a good performance.

Some reasons you may want to consider engaging a doctor interview coach:
- It’s been awhile. If it’s been a few years since the last time you interviewed for a doctor job or if your last interview was fairly simple and you anticipate this one will not be the same, then a coach can help you rehearse and regain your interview confidence.
- You get nervous before interviews. A little bit of anxiety is good going into an interview. But too much anxiety can affect performance. Practicing with a coach can help you feel more comfortable, relaxed and prepared.
- You get interviews, but not offers. Often its difficult to get honest feedback from medical interviews. A coach may be able to help work out what is going wrong for you.
- You are not sure about something on your CV. Maybe you have had to have a break in work. Or your last job didn’t go so well. Are you perhaps switching specialties. A coach can help you with how to tell the right story in relation to these sorts of issues.
- Its your dream job and you want to land it. A coach can help with feeling confident in these situations.
On the other hand, if you’re a confident interviewer and have always tended to perform well during interviews, then a coach may not be necessary.

Types of Interview Coaching

There are many types of interview coaching. Some coaches meet with you in person, and others speak with you online or on the phone.In general interview coaches work on something called “performance coaching”. Think of it like a sports coach working with an elite athlete. A key element is practice with feedback. The more practice and the more immediate the feedback the better.

If you meet the coach in person or online, they can also help you develop effective visual communication. The coach can work with you on facial and body expressions that convey trust and show active listening.

Coaches may also help you with other elements of the interview, including how to ask the right questions of the employer, how to research the job and the panel and even some advice on how to dress.

How to Find a Doctor Interview Coach in Brisbane

There are lots of coaches available to choose from in a capital city like Brisbane. Career coaches often offer interview coaching. Some things you should consider in a coach are the following:
- What is their training and experience in interview coaching?
- What sort of knowledge and experience do they have with the actual interview process. Medical interviews can be fairly unique, particularly in terms of the types of questions asked and what panels may be looking for. So someone who has actual doctor interview panel experience is ideal.
- Do they provide face to face coaching or on the phone or online. Face to face may seem best initially. But consider that you may need to travel to see the coach and often during normal work hours. Phone coaching and online coaching may be more convenient and cut down on travel.
- What feedback is provided after each session. Phone and online coaches can often give you a recording of the session for you to review.
- What is the price of the coaching.
If you cannot afford a coach, there are some opportunities for less expensive or even free coaching. Your Director of Training may be skilled in interview coaching or may be able to recommend another Consultant in your hospital who is.
January 23, 2019
Doctor Interview Coach in Sydney: Medical Interview Coaching Sydney
Interviewing for a job as a doctor can be stressful, especially when its been a while since you may have had some practice.

A way that some doctors choose to improve their interview skills is to work with a coach. During interview coaching, a doctor meets with a professional coach to learn strategies for being more relaxed about the interview process and of course to perform better.

Should you work with an interview coach? And if so, how can you find a doctor interview coach in Sydney?

Why Interview Coaching?

The most obvious reason is that interview coaching can help increase your chances of getting a job. There are a number of ways this can occur.

Coaching can help you overcome any nerves or anxiety you have about the process. Coaching gives you a chance to experience answering many different interview questions. Coaches provide you with feedback to help improve your responses during interviews.The more you practice with a coach, the more confident you will become. By engaging with a coach you are also ensuring that you commit to your own practice regimen, which is important for a good performance.

Some reasons you may want to consider engaging a doctor interview coach in Sydney
- It’s been awhile. If it’s been a few years since the last time you interviewed for a doctor job or if your last interview was fairly simple and you anticipate this one will not be the same, then a coach can help you rehearse and regain your interview confidence.
- You get nervous before interviews. A little bit of anxiety is good going into an interview. But too much anxiety can affect performance. Practicing with a coach can help you feel more comfortable, relaxed and prepared.
- You get interviews, but not offers. Often its difficult to get honest feedback from medical interviews. A coach may be able to help work out what is going wrong for you.
- You are not sure about something on your CV. Maybe you have had to have a break in work. Or your last job didn’t go so well. Are you perhaps switching specialties. A coach can help you with how to tell the right story in relation to these sorts of issues.
- Its your dream job and you want to land it. A coach can help with feeling confident in these situations.
On the other hand, if you’re a confident interviewer and have always tended to perform well during interviews, then a coach may not be necessary.

Types of Interview Coaching

There are many types of interview coaching. Some coaches meet with you in person, and others speak with you online or on the phone.In general interview coaches work on something called “performance coaching”. Think of it like a sports coach working with an elite athlete. A key element is practice with feedback. The more practice and the more immediate the feedback the better.

If you meet the coach in person or online, they can also help you develop effective visual communication. The coach can work with you on facial and body expressions that convey trust and show active listening.

Coaches may also help you with other elements of the interview, including how to ask the right questions of the employer, how to research the job and the panel and even some advice on how to

How to Find a Doctor Interview Coach in Sydney

There are lots of coaches available to choose from in a capital city like Sydney. Career coaches often offer interview coaching. Some things you should consider in a coach are the following:
- What is their training and experience in interview coaching?
- What sort of knowledge and experience do they have with the actual interview process. Medical interviews can be fairly unique, particularly in terms of the types of questions asked and what panels may be looking for. So someone who has actual doctor interview panel experience is ideal.
- Do they provide face to face coaching or on the phone or online. Face to face may seem best initially. But consider that you may need to travel to see the coach and often during normal work hours. Phone coaching and online coaching may be more convenient and cut down on travel.
- What feedback is provided after each session. Phone and online coaches can often give you a recording of the session for you to review.
- What is the price of the coaching.
If you cannot afford a coach, there are some opportunities for less expensive or even free coaching. Your Director of Training may be skilled in interview coaching or may be able to recommend another Consultant in your hospital who is.

Coaching
For Job Applications || For Interview Practice || For General Needs

Check Out Your Options
October 21, 2018