NHS Interview Questions for Doctors
- January 27, 2023
NHS doctor interviews require preparation....
And familiarising yourself with NHS interview questions & answers will help you make a great impression to a potential employer. This helpful article on NHS interviews for doctors is aimed at helping you prepare for different scenarios as well as questions and answers to create a good impression.
In this article we look at the following topics:
- Preparing for your interview
- Where do I start with my research?
- What can i do to prepare?
- Preparing for the types of questions you may be asked
- Prepare questions to ask the interviewers
Preparing for your NHS doctor interview:
Getting invited to an interview means you’ve passed the first hurdle – your CV must have made a good impression so now it's time to prepare. There are some key questions to consider before you start:
- What do you know about the employer? (hospital & trust)
- What do you know about the service?
- What do you know about the job?
- What do you know about the team structure?
- Who will you be reporting to?
- What will the interview be like?
- Who will be interviewing you?
- What questions do you need to prepare?
For doctors, these are just a few of the interview questions that you should now be asking yourself as you start to prepare for your NHS interview. Why? Knowing as much as possible about the vacancy that you are interviewing for will help you answer questions with relevant points, ask questions to spark conversation, sound confident and well researched, overall helping you to make a good impact.
Where do I start with my research?
Know the trust and department
Firstly, find out about the employer and the job. Speak with your IMG Consultant who knows the hospital or trust well, they can provide you with reading materials & information packs, job descriptions, information on recent developments, trust objectives and values.
In some circumstances we will be able to arrange an informal chat with someone working in the Trust, or even better an IMG who has recently joined the Trust and has been through the same situation.
We always recommend taking a broad look at the trust online, use their official website to understand the trust structures, departments and services, as well as recent advances within the department you are applying for and the training programmes offered.
It is important to take the time to learn about their department and organisation. Knowing the job you are applying for will give you a better chance of securing it.
Know the interview panel
Secondly, discuss with your IMG Connect consultant and find out what the interview will involve, making sure you are prepared.
Consider who will be on the panel and what their roles are. Do some homework and look up the hospital online, you may be able to find some key information to help you to understand your panel in more detail. Use LinkedIn to connect with panel members, or just to look at their experience and contributions to the trust as a whole.
What can I do to prepare?
Think about preparing in the following areas to give yourself the best chance of success in your interview:
Job description & person specification:
Get to know what the trust wants, and work this into your answers, matching to your skills and experience. Take time to review and analyse the content of your current CV matched to the specifications of the job that you want and the Trust you want to work for. Consider how you will contribute to the service and how you will meet or exceed their standards.
Trust vision and values:
Look up the trust values, measure yourself against them and consider what you will offer to the service.
Explore the Trust values and policies for best practice and consider how you will meet/achieve these in your daily work as well as in your career. Conduct research on the hospital and familiarise yourself with any recent developments and advances within the team you are applying for. Consider the training programmes offered via the hospital and the structure of department and staffing.
Selling yourself:
Your CV functions as a way of recording all your achievements, skills, and experiences, and your interview is your opportunity to share these and sell them to your prospective employer. You will likely be asked questions regarding your career, so review your CV regularly with a focus on points relevant for the role you are interviewing for.
Preparing questions and answers for your interview:
You will be asked a range of questions throughout your interview, some short and direct, others more detailed and clinically specific. As such we advise preparing a wide range of questions and answers to give you a head start in the interview and every chance of success.
Preparing for the types of interview questions for doctors that you may be asked:
Before we look at each type of NHS interview questions for doctors in detail, it is important to say that you should prepare concise answers. These should of course be full of facts and detail but be succinct – stick to two or three sentences where you can.
FAQs:
As part of the interview you will likely be asked a few FAQs, these can be hard to predict and can be general in nature. The interview panel will want to know why you are an excellent fit for the job. Try to answer without giving too much, or too little personal information.
These relate to you, your ambition, how you cope in situations, working in the UK, personality traits and so on. Prepare a number of answers you can rely on. We have included some recent examples below:
Clinical questions:
Undoubtedly you will be asked relevant questions in a clinical context, do your homework on the service and relate this to your own practice. Clinical questions are hard to predict, so prepare a wide range of responses and review your own practice against the trust you are applying for.
Consider how you deal with certain aspects of your role, including:
- Clinical techniques
- Equipment
- Prescribing
- History taking and management planning
- Clinical judgement
- Physical examination procedures
- Knowledge of specialism
- Ethical dilemmas & practice
- Professional behaviour
- Trust policies
- Communication & team discussions
- Input from senior colleagues
Remember, interview panels want to feel confident that you will be able to adapt quickly to practice in the UK, so don’t forget you will be working in the NHS and all answers should reflect current practice in the UK.
Competency-based questions (typically clinical questions):
Many clinical questions will ask you to explain what you would do, often these require detailed answers, with several variables. Competency-based questions are focused on actual experiences and ask specific questions that require you to give examples from past experience.
Reflect on your practice, how you deal with situations, and how you work with your multidisciplinary team to ensure the best care and outcomes for the patient.
The STAR framework (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is a useful model for describing your capability and competency. When preparing answers these should be in depth, a lack of depth means your answer lacks impact. The STAR technique will ensure your answers are structured, don’t talk in broad terms – give specific examples.
Briefly describe:
- S - the background to the specific situation
- T - the task being undertaken, specifically describe your responsibility
- A - what action you took
- R - describe the result of your actions
Example competency-based questions:
- Give an example of a time when someone has complained about your work or when you’ve known that someone wasn’t pleased with your work?
- Give an example of a time you had to work with a group of people on a project or another job?
- Describe a recent patient interaction which shows your ability to create trust and what steps would you take to develop an effective relationship with your patient.
- Can you please detail a time when a new and different approach to your patient proved beneficial? What did you do and what was the outcome?
Direct questions:
Whilst most questions will be broad, be prepared for direct questions, such as:
- What specifically qualifies you for this position?
- What do you know about us?
- Why do you want this job?
- Where do you see yourself in 3 years?
Take a second to compose your answer and avoid a jumbled response.
Behavioural skills questions:
These cover a wide range of behavioural skills necessary to be successful in your NHS role, i.e. communication, problem-solving, teamwork, managing others, organisation, empathy and so on. As these can be hugely varied in nature, we have included a table of examples:
|
Communication Skills |
Describe a situation where your communication skills had a positive effect upon patient care. |
|
Problem Solving and Decision Making |
Describe a difficult problem you have faced at work. How did you contribute to the solution? |
|
Managing Others and Team Involvement |
Describe a time when you have led a team successfully. |
|
Empathy and Sensitivity |
Why is it important for doctors to demonstrate empathy and sensitivity? |
|
Organisation and Planning |
How do you keep yourself organised at work? |
|
Vigilance and Situational Awareness |
Describe an example of when your awareness of a developing situation at work, enabled you to avoid a problem or difficulty. |
|
Coping with Pressure |
How do you cope with pressure? |
|
Professional Integrity |
Give an example of a clinical scenario where you made a mistake. What did you do about it? |
|
Clinical Knowledge and Expertise |
Describe a difficult clinical scenario you have been involved in. How did you contribute? |
|
Why is research important? |
Prepare questions to ask the interviewers:
“Do you have any questions?”
This is almost always asked at the end of an interview. Asking some questions can show you are interested and have done your research. Topics can include training, department structure and staffing, recent advances in the service, technology, equipment and clinical procedures.
Try to treat your NHS interview like a conversation, with well-prepared questions that are based on the job description, service structure and patient care delivery, as well as the vision of the trust as a whole.
For more articles on making a success of your NHS interview, including preparing for interview questions for doctors, take a look at these articles.
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