GP Interview Questions

You may get any of the following openers

1. Walk us through your CV.
2. Tell us about yourself.
3. You have 2 minutes to talk about yourself.
4. What would you like to tell us?
5. Can you introduce yourself?

GP training

1. How was your training?
2. What rotations did you have as a GP trainee?
3. What did you learn from your hospital rotations that you apply in general practice?
4. What challenges did you face during your training? And how did you overcome them?
5. What did you enjoy the most and the least, and why?
6. If you could change anything in your training, would you? And why?
7. How was your AKT and SCA experience?
8. If you struggled with exams, what were the main challenges?
9. Did you require additional training time? Why?
10. If you completed your exams before time, how did you spend the next few months?

Working in general practice

1. What GP rotations have you done before? (if it’s your first job)
2. Have you worked as a GP before? Did you work as a salaried GP or as a partner? Why did you leave that job? (if you have worked as a GP before)
3. How many sessions did you do?
4. How often was the on-call duty? What was it like? How do you deal with the stress of a busy on-call day?
5. How many patients did you see per session on a standard non-on-call day? How long was each appointment? Was it telephone or face-to-face?
6. How often would you do home visits?
7. What was the admin work like? How would you deal with the admin work?
8. Would you become stressed if the admin work was overwhelming? If so, how did you deal with the stress of the admin work, and the admin work itself?
9. How do you prioritise tasks on a busy day?
10. Are you familiar with SystmOne? Emis? Microsoft Office? Adobe? AccuRx? Docman? Anima? Patchs? Heidi?

Working with colleagues

1. What will you bring to our team?
2. Do you get along with your colleagues? Do you work well in a team?
3. Have you ever disagreed with a colleague? How did you handle it?
4. Have you ever lost patience at work? How did you deal with it?
5. Can you share an example of you going “that extra mile” at work? Can you share an example of you contributing to the success of a team?

Working with patients

1. How do you explain complex medical information to patients?
2. How do you build a good rapport with patients?
3. How do you feel about patients Googling their symptoms?
4. What would you do if you could not figure out the cause of a patient’s symptoms?
5. How do you deal with unhappy, agitated or hostile patients?

Interests

1. Do you have any clinical interests?
2. Do you plan on pursuing your interests?
3. Do you know the pathway for achieving these?
4. How can the practice benefit from your clinical interests?

Projects

1. Can you share any examples of leadership activities?
2. If selected, would you like to take any leadership responsibilities?
3. Tell us about your QIP/audit projects.

Learning

1. Is career growth important to you? What have you done for this so far?
2. How do you stay up-to-date with your learning? What is your plan for continued professional development?
3. How was your last appraisal?
4. Have you ever learned anything from your clinical and non-clinical colleagues? Give us examples.
5. What do you expect to learn from this job?

Ethics

1. Have you ever made a mistake at work? What did you learn from it?
2. Have you ever misdiagnosed a patient? How did you deal with it?
3. Have you ever received a patient complaint? How did it make you feel? How did you deal with it?
4. Tell us about a significant event you have been involved in.
5. If you ever saw a colleague making a mistake, what would you do?

General practice and NHS

1. Why did you choose general practice?
2. What aspect of general practice do you enjoy the most? And why?
3. What aspect of general practice do you find the most challenging? And why? How do you deal with it?
4. How do you feel about the future of general practice in the UK?
5. How do you feel about the future of the NHS in the UK?

About this job

1. What attracted you to this job?
2. What do you know about this practice?
3. What do you think will be your biggest challenge in this job?
4. What do you know about the local area?
5. What changes can you bring to our practice?
6. How will you help us make more money?
7. What do you expect to gain from this job?
8. Why are you the right person for this job?
9. What will you bring to this role that others won’t?

About you

1. How would you describe yourself?
2. How would your colleagues describe you?
3. What are your strengths?
4. What are your weaknesses?
5. What are some of your biggest achievements?
6. What are you most proud of?
7. What are your goals in the next 12 months?
8. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
9. What do you do to relax? What do you do to maintain work-life balance?
10. On holidays, what do you miss the most about work?

Questions from the HR Department

1. How many sessions would you like to work?
2. Are there any days you are unavailable?
3. If we offer you the job, will you accept it?
4. When can you start working for us?
5. Do you have any more interviews after today? If so, when?
6. How far do you live from the practice?
7. Do you have a UK driving licence?
8. Will this be your only job?

Expect questions from scenarios commonly seen in general practice.

This is what you can ask them:

1. How many sessions are you looking for?
2. What days are you looking for?
3. What is the salary on offer? Will it increase progressively?
4. Is there a pathway to partnership?
5. Will I have any additional responsibilities?
6. Would I need to debrief/teach students/trainees?
7. Is there a pathway to becoming a trainer?
8. What is the on-call and home visit frequency?
9. Would I get access to regular PLTs, teaching?
10. Do you provide annual BLS/safeguarding updates?
11. Are there any regular practice meetings?
12. Would the practice cover for my indemnity?
13. How many annual, study and sick leaves will I get?
14. Do you provide basic equipment, including BP monitor, sats probe, thermometer, otoscope, etc?
15. Does the practice provide any support for GPs in the initial phase of their career?

Tips for the interview

1. Think of the interview as a conversation, rather than an interview.
2. Be confident; you’ve worked hard and deserve to be here.
3. Know your CV.
4. Show genuine interest in the practice.
5. Prepare examples for the following:
   1. Safety: when you escalated something you were unsure of.
   2. Communication: good communication in a challenging situation.
   3. Professionalism: demonstrating professional behaviour in a challenging situation.
   4. Teamwork: where you went above and beyond for the team.
   5. Adaptability: where you adapted to a change or introduced a change.
   6. Reflection: examples of your ability to reflect. Examples of strength and weaknesses.
   7. Self-care: examples of how you look after yourself and have a life outside medicine.
   8. Learning & development: examples of your curiosity and commitment to growth.
   9. Organisational ability & leadership: examples of being organised and demonstrating leadership.
   10. Commitment: examples of your commitment to the practice, to General Practice and to your own self.

On the day of the interview

1. If given the option, choose to attend a face-to-face interview.
2. Review your CV before the interview.
3. Read about the practice before the interview.
4. Dress professionally.
5. Arrive early.

1. Your CV should be tailored for the job.
2. Add your availability; the days on which you can and cannot work.
3. Add your picture; it helps to put a face to the name.
4. Mention your residential status. Will you need a visa?
5. It should not be too long; ideally, it should be a one-page CV.

1. Send a thank-you email within 24–48 hours; a simple, genuine note can leave a strong impression.
2. Reflect on your performance; what went well and what you’d do differently.
3. Record any unexpected questions for future prep.
4. Respond promptly to offers or follow-up queries.
5. Be honest about other interviews or offers; integrity is always respected.

1. Read about the practice.
2. Go through your CV.
3. Go through the list of interview questions.
4. Practice a mock interview with a colleague.
5. Do not rehearse answers, as the conversation should flow naturally.

You may not be able to discover all of the following, but it’s worth exploring the following.

• Practice size and type
• Team members
• Demographics
• Deprivation score
• Services provided
• Training status
• CQC rating
• QOF data
• Clinical system used
• Local PCN involvement
• Recent news or initiatives
• Social media presence
• Patient reviews

1. Safety
2. Communication
3. Professionalism
4. Teamwork
5. Adaptability
6. Reflection
7. Self-care
8. Learning & development
9. Organisational ability & leadership
10. Commitment

Here are some tips for all of the above:

1. Safety: it’s okay not to know. Known when to refer/escalate.
2. Communication: please see below.
3. Professionalism: please see questions above and reflect on them.
4. Teamwork: think of examples.
5. Adaptability: think of examples.
6. Reflection: think of examples of learning from feedback/mistakes.
7. Self-care: think of examples. Mention life outside medicine.
8. Learning & development: show curiosity and commitment to growth; CPD, courses, clinical interests.
9. Organisational ability & leadership: expect questions about admin, time management, stressful situations and triage.
10. Commitment: they want to see commitment to the practice, and to your own self.

• It is best to tailor your answer to how it’s asked and your communication skills.
• Remember that communication includes listening, explaining, documenting, along with empathy and clarity.
• Communication skills apply to both colleagues and patients.
• Think of examples where you’ve managed good communication in challenging situations.

• Time of arrival.
• Documents to bring with me.
• Who to contact after arrival.
• Parking.

• Do not be late.
• Arrive 10 to 15 minutes before time.
• Keep in mind it may take you time to find parking and navigate through to find the interview room.
• Keep in mind that there may be a quere at the practice reception once you get there.

• Take your CV, even if you’ve submitted it before.
• It may not be a bad idea to take a few copies of your CV for each panel member.
• Cover letter. Multiple copies.
• A blank paper and a pen or pencil in your pocket, in case you need to make notes.
• You don’t need to take any documents, but it’s best to have digital copies of all documents on your phone.

Yes, it is. Many doctors are choosing a one-page CV because it is easier to read. If designed well, it can give off a strong, confident first impression and make you stand out from the crowd.

You can design it yourself, use online templates or hire someone to do it for you. If you would like, we can design it for you.

You can read more about it in detail here: How to write a one-page doctor CV.