How to ace an early career medical officer interview

Editor’s note: This post is a follow up (apparently much requested!) to How to ace a consultant interview for early career medical officers.

Hello everyone! It is amazing that I am still getting contacted with questions about this article over seven years since it was written. Thank you for your engagement. I feel incredibly privileged to be able to support colleagues through the interview process.

We are about to head into the annual medical recruitment period for early career medical officers in my neck of the woods. The most common question I get asked is how to adapt this advice if you are interviewing for a prevocational or training position. I thought it might be useful to answer that here.

Most of the advice applies regardless of your level in the medical career hierarchy. The bit that is subtly different is how you respond to a clinical scenario. It’s not too tricky – you just respond to the clinical question in a way that demonstrates you are sensible and safe to provide care at the level of the job you are hoping to get. So – when applying for a consultant role, you need to demonstrate that you are a boss. Knock over the clinical basics quickly and head into the system level issues – research, clinical redesign, quality and safety. Only escalate complex things to the head of department. When applying for a PGY3 position, linger on the clinical basics a bit more. Demonstrate that you know how to assess and manage the patient in a well-structured way with solid clinical reasoning. Escalate unstable patients to the advanced trainee. Call your consultant about critical issues that need their input. Offer to work through the quality and safety issues with your team – and take the opportunity to demonstrate that you understand how clinical audits work and might present the case at the departmental meeting. You get the idea!

Good luck everyone. Job applications are stressful for everyone. Preparation really, really helps. And remember, not everyone gets their dream job first time, but sometimes the job you didn’t expect to love turns out to be wonderful, or is a fantastic learning opportunity, or helps you work out what you don’t want more clearly, or allows you to keep trying and get the dream job next time. Sometimes your Plan B, Plan C or even Plan Z job turns your notion of what your dream job really is completely upside down.

I have my fingers firmly crossed for everyone about to interview for a new job.

Clare Skinner

Dr Clare Skinner is an Emergency Physician in Sydney. Her professional interests include health system re-design, medical education and improving hospital culture. She is on a gazillion committees. In her spare time, she writes stories, plays music, makes bad art, and hangs out with her partner and kids. | @claski |