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My Interview Experiences for Non-Training Jobs

Dr. Naseer Khan

This post concerns the interview experiences that I had after I passed PLAB 2 and I started applying for jobs.

 

Overview of My Interviews

  Date Location Specialty Post P S A J
01 10/03/17 Blackburn Eld. Med JCF ✓ ✓ S ✗
02 15/0317 Haverfordwest Medicine JCF ✓ ✓ S ✓
03 15/03/17 Cambridge Anesthesia SCF ✓ ✓ S ✗
04 20/03/17 Portsmouth Medicine SHO ✓ ✓ S ✓
05 20/03/17 London Urology SHO ✓ ✓ S ✗
06 24/03/17 Birmingham Renal ST1 ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
07 28/03/17 Portsmouth Medicine CMTF ✓ ✗ P ✓
08 28/03/17 London Urology SCF ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
09 29/03/17 London Stroke SCF ✓ ✓ S ✗
10 29/03/17 Luton Medicine FY1 ✓ ✓ S ✓
11 31/03/17 Manchester Plastics CT1 ✓ ✓ ✗ ✗
12 05/04/17 Birmingham Medicine ST1 ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
13 05/04/17 Middlesbrough Eld. Med CT1 ✓ ? ✗ ✗
14 10/04/17 Huddersfield Medicine CT1 ✓ ? ✗ ✗
15 11/04/17 East London Eld. Med FY2 ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗
16 11/04/17 Plymouth Rheuma ST1 ✓ ? ✗ ✗
17 13/04/17 London Urology SHO ✓ ? ✗ ✗
18 18/04/17 Blackpool Medicine ST1 ✓ ? ✗ ✗
19 28/04/17 Manchester Medicine ST1 ✓ ? ✗ ✗
20 02/05/17 London Renal ST3 ✓ ? ✗ ✗
21 08/05/17 Cardiff Medicine ST1 ✓ ? ✗ ✗
22 08/05/17 Cardiff Teaching CTF ✓ ? ✗ ✗

P = In-Person interview was offered
S = Skype interview was offered
A = I attended the interview
J = Job was offered
S = Interview was attended via Skype
P = Interview was attended in-person
? = I did not inquire about the Skype interview option


Questions about Experience

  1. Tell us about your experience.
  2. Have you ever worked in the UK?
  3. In which departments have you worked so far in your career?
  4. What was your role in your last job?
  5. What responsibilities did you have in your last job?
  6. How was your experience at your last job?
  7. How was the patient load?
  8. Did it ever get too hectic?
  9. If so, how did you deal with it?

 

Questions about Working

  1. Will you be able to adjust to the working conditions here?
  2. How will you adjust?
  3. Do you work well in a team?
  4. Do you get along with your colleagues?
  5. Have you ever had a problem with any colleague?
  6. How did you deal with it?
  7. Do you get along with nursing staff?
  8. Have you ever had a problem with the nursing staff?
  9. How did you deal with it?
  10. Do you ever lose patience at work?
  11. Do you get angry at work?
  12. Do you get angry at home?

 

Questions about Interests

  1. What are your future academic interests and why?
  2. Do you know the pathway for your future academic interests?
  3. Have you taken any membership exams after graduation?
  4. Why have you applied for this job?
  5. Why do you want to work at our trust?

 

Questions about Growth

  1. Is learning important?
  2. How can we learn as a doctor?
  3. How have you learned as a doctor? Give us examples.
  4. Have you ever learned anything from your colleagues? Give us examples.
  5. Have you ever learned anything from the nursing staff? Give us examples.
  6. Have you ever made a mistake at work? Tell us about it in detail.
  7. How did you learn from your mistakes?
  8. Were any changes introduced into the system after this incident?
  9. What do you expect to learn from this job?
  10. What do you expect to achieve from this job?

 

Questions about Procedures

  1. Which procedures can you perform?
  2. Can you perform them without supervision?

 

Questions about Ethics

  1. If you ever saw your consultant doing anything illegal, what would you do?

 

Questions about Knowledge

  1. What is Clinical Governance?
  2. What are its pillars?
  3. What is an audit?
  4. Do you know the steps of an audit?
  5. Have you ever been a part of an audit?
  6. Have you ever seen anyone at work conduct an audit?
  7. What is the difference between audit and research?
  8. What is research?
  9. Have you ever been a part of a research?
  10. Have you ever seen anyone at work conduct a research?

 

Scenario-based Questions

  1. Pneumonia
  2. Hyperkalemia
  3. Indwelling urinary catheter causing fever.

 

Questions from the Human Resources Department

  1. If we offer you the job, will you accept it?
  2. When can you start working for us?
  3. Do you have any more interviews after today? If so, when?
  4. Are you single or will you be moving with your family?
  5. Will you need hospital accommodation?

 

Final Question

  1. Do you have any questions from us?

 

Your Questions

This is what you can ask them:

  1. Will I get to attend weekly or monthly teachings?
  2. Will I get to deliver any teachings myself?
  3. Will I have an Educational Supervisor?
  4. Will I get a Clinical Supervisor?
  5. Will I get access to an online portfolio?
  6. Will I get the opportunity to participate in audits, quality improvement projects, and researches?
  7. Will I get the opportunity to get my CREST form signed, provided I meet all the competencies?

You should ask any question which shows your interest in the job from a clinical and academic point-of-view.

 

Conclusion

.

What I Learned from My Interviews

  1. Only apply for jobs in which you are interested. Otherwise, you are wasting your own and the interview panel’s time.
  2. Memorize a few basic definitions like Audit, research, clinical governance. Know the steps of audit and the 7 pillars of clinical governance.
  3. Go through emergencies from Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine. But don’t worry yourself too much. Most panel members are not asking scenario-based questions. Out of the 8 interviews that I attended only 3 asked scenario-based questions.
  4. Stay calm. Be yourself.
  5. Dress formally.
  6. As soon as you accept a job offer, it’s best to politely decline all other interview offers, to give other candidates a fair chance and to be fair to employers as well, to not waste their time.

 

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