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Career Development Resources

PasTest is a well-renowned medical education provider with over 30 years of experience. We understand the stresses and strains you face as you progress through your working lives and run an established portfolio of non-clinical courses to guide you throughout your career development, from the recently introduced FY Application Workshop to the Management Course for SpRs. 2007 will see the launch of our first career development publications, and below you can find a number of articles and resources we’ve put together if you’re looking for a little bit of advice. We hope you find them useful.

Should I apply for this job?
A surprising number of people arrive at job interviews without having thought through basic things like why they want the job, let alone why they should be the one to get it. In fact people often go to interviews with a better idea as to why they might not want the job, and frequently a comprehensive list as to why they probably won't get it!
This article describes some methods for deciding if you want a job, if you are suited to it, and if you should apply. Click here to view this article.


Managing your time effectively
If you can manage your time well, you are on the way not only to career success, but success in every sphere of your life. Click here to view this article.

How to solve a problem?
Life is problematic - it's what makes it so interesting. And it is also how we learn. If life was a straight and smooth path, a situation many of us may long for, we would all have the skills and emotional maturity of an infant.
So when a problem comes along, how do you tend to respond? Click here to view this article. 

Self-appraisal: learning from what went well
The workplace is full of assessment and appraisal these days, and you may wonder why anyone would want to appraise themselves in addition to all that. Well, there are a number of advantages to DIY appraisal… Click here to view this article.

Self-appraisal: learning from what went less well
In any pursuit there are always going to be things that go less well than you would like. You might call these disappointments. People tend to view these inevitable hiccups in life in one of two ways, either as indicators of failure or stepping stones to success. Click here to view this article.

Typical Interview Questions
Here is a selection of question the three authors were asked at Specialist interviews they attended over the past 12 – 24 months. It is by no means an exhaustive list but will hopefully give an impression of the type of questions asked, and give you a starting point for your preparation.

• Are there any gaps in your training to date?
• If you were to start a career again what would you change?
• What specific skills have you learnt which make you a good teacher?
• What one technique has had the biggest impact on your teaching methods?
• What is your experience of teaching?
• What do you understand by the term clinical governance?
• Are there any problems with the implementation of clinical governance?
• Tell me about an audit project you’ve carried out?
• What problems are there in the way senior house officer audit projects are carried out?
• What do you understand by the term clinical risk management?
• What is near miss situation?
• What is the role of the National Patient Safety Agency?
• What complications of procedure X should you be aware of?
• Tell me about the evidence base for the treatment of condition X
• Tell me about the most recent paper you’ve read which will change your day to day clinical practice?
• Tell me about an interesting paper you’ve read in the past three months?
• Tell me about a memorable case where you’ve learnt something new?
• What is the worse case you have managed?
• What is the most interesting case you’ve managed?
• What invasive procedures have you performed and what complications have you encountered?
• What measures do you use to obtain informed consent for the procedures you do?
• Tell me about a clinical situation where you’ve needed to seek advice: what lessons did you learn from it?
• When was the last time you rang your consultant?
• Tell me about a situation where your communication skills did not succeed in getting something done?
• If you could improve the specialty training scheme in one way, what would you do?
• You’ve done a locum appointment in training post- what was the most important step up you had to deal with compared with being a senior house officer?
• What could you do to improve the organisation and running of your current workplace environment?
• Would you be happy being an average consultant?
• What characteristics make a good consultant?
• Why do you want to work in this region?
• What do you understand by the term “research governance”?
• Should research be carried out at tertiary centres or do district general hospitals have a role?
• Summarise your research as briefly as possible?
• Tell me about your research- assume you talking to a group of charity workers from your funding organisation?
• How did you organise your research project: did your supervisor write your grant application?
• How have you kept your clinical skills and knowledge up to date during your research?
• Give an example of where you’ve had to work as a member of a multidisciplinary team?
• Is the expanding role of nurses a benefit or a danger to the medical profession?
• How has the recent national service framework affected your hospital’s practice: how is the implementation being measured?
• What are your ultimate career intentions?
• Where do you see yourself in five years time?
• What information technology skills do you possess?
• How would you deal with a problem doctor – for example if you suspected your consultant had a drink problem?
• How would you cope with criticism and a complaint against you?
• Describe yourself in as few sentences as possible?
• Why should you be given the job over another candidate?
• What are you interests outside of medicine: do they have any impact on how you practise medicine?
• What are your weaknesses?
• What are your views on NHS recruitment drives in a developing world?
• Would you rather work in shift pattern or a traditional 24 hour on-call pattern?
• If you were able to do one thing that could improve the wellbeing of the world/mankind. What would you do?
• Give an example of where you’ve prioritised clinical need?
• What was the most important event in your life?
• Do you ever lose your temper?


References
1. Poole A. The implications of Modernising Medical Careers for Specialist Registrars. BMJ Career Focus 2003:326:194
2. Burnett S. How to get short listed. BMJ Career focus 2002;324:3
3. Scoote M, Thaventhiran J, Elkington A. Progress towards higher specialist training. BMJ Career focus 2002;325:49-51
4. McKevitt F. Locum Appointments in the specialist registrar grade BMJ Career focus 1999;319:2

Further Reading
• Burnett S. How to perform well at interview. BMJ Career focus 2002;324:69
• Hutton-Taylor S. Spruce up your CV and interview skills. BMJ Career focus 2002;326:143
• Houghton A. Getting that all important job: part 1. BMJ Career focus 2003;326:143
• Houghton A. Getting that all important job: part 2 BMJ Career focus 2003;236 : 176- 7
• Houghton A. Getting that all important job: part 3. BMJ Career focus 2003;327:5
• Sudlow M, Toghill P. How to be interviewed. BMJ Career focus 1996;313:2
• Dosani S. How to be successful at the SpR interview. Hospital Doctor 2003;17 April:34-5