Preparing for an interview. Part I.

So, you have made it! You have sent off your C.V. and/or application form and you have impressed the hospital so much that they have set up an interview with you. Congratulations! Now it’s time for you to sit down and plan, as best you can, what you are going to say. It is almost impossible to predict what questions you are going to be asked, but there are certain questions which always seem to be asked in one form or another.

In this chapter we will be discussing what you should do before you go for your interview and also what to expect when you get to the interview itself by looking at some of the most common questions doctors are asked.

The first thing you should do before you even go to the interview is get in contact with someone who already works in the department or hospital that you want to work in. We could call it ‘spying’, but we won’t. We’ll just call it ‘preparing’. Most people, when asked, will give you an opinion on what a department or another doctor is like. Calling the department in question may seem a little devious but it can also show initiative. Also, it would be a good idea to arrange a visit to the Department before the interview to get to know more about the post. Getting background information is key to fi nding out what the interviewers might expect from you in the way of answers.

When you first get into the interview room, you are going to fi nd yourself faced with a group of people. You will be facing at least 3 but probably 4 or even more people. One of them will be the department head, another may be a representative of the personnel department and you will probably have to answer questions from 1 or 2 department consultants. This can be very intimidating if you have never spoken in front of a group of people before but what is the worst thing that can happen? They won’t employ you. Well, you are already in that situation, so why worry? Just get on with the job of answering their questions. Remember that you need to show that you can cope in diffi cult and stressful situations. It’s all in a day’s work for most doctors, so this is your chance to shine at it.

Below, we have a list of questions that are commonly asked in interviews. It is a good idea to think about answers to these questions and even take some time to plan out how you would respond in case you are faced with the task of answering them in person one day.