subject: Great Tips For Medical Interview [print this page] The appointment as a medical consultant in NHS is seen as the pinnacle of the medical career and rightly so. However, the role of the consultant in the new NHS has evolved to include increasing managerial responsibilities as well as an increased role at the sharp end in a consultant delivered (and not led!) services. Most would agree that it is the non clinical skills that separate good from the average candidate in the Medical Interview. Thus you should be uptodate in your knowledge of management and political topics. A sound knowledge of NHS structure and a political awareness will provide a framework within which you can apply your leadership and managerial skills. In your role as consultant, you will be very often called upon to develop and improve services, manage a team, deal with difficult colleagues, provide opinion on an ethical dilemma, participate and encourage teaching and research and resolve conflict.
It is thus expected at consultant medical interview that you understand these issues and have a balanced opinion. This is a big ask considering that you have had minimal, if any involvement in the day to day running of the services or managing any of the other issues during your training. It is however not too difficult to get a grasp of most of these issues.
Remember, performance and ultimately your success in medical interview, is a result of thorough preparation. Take time to practice. Practice develops performance in all things; medical interviews are no exception. Get a colleague to give you a mock interview. You should be prepared to do at least 20-30 hours of reading to improve your medical communication skills. There can be hundreds of medical interview questions but they all boil down to 10-15 themes. It is vitally important that you spend some time brainstorming your ideas on each of these topics. Take four or five questions from each theme (Teaching, research, difficult colleague etc) and brainstorm them. Then see how you can structure your answer using 3 or 4 bullet points. This would help recall on the day of the interview. Don't try and write down all your answers word by word. There is a real risk that you will sound rehearsed and worse may forget the content of your answers. Remember, Medical Interviews generally allow up to 2-3 minutes per question. So you should aim for 1.5-2 minutes for your answers allowing time for the question to be asked and supplementary questions. Remember to provide objective examples to substantiate your statements. This is very important, for e.g. it is no good saying that you are a team player unless you provide examples to back up your statement. An appropriate answer would be I am a good team player. In my last 360 degree appraisal I was rated very highly as a team player. Further my consultants often praise me for being such a great team player.
In every answer you give, look for the opportunity to show the panel just how much wider reading you have done. You want to convince the panel that you will bring enhanced benefits to the organisation. Candidates will be remembered if they are distinctive, have something interesting to say and can make a unique contribution. Therefore consider what have you got that makes you special and what makes you fit in.
Remember success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. Good luck!
