practice makes perfect: Interview Preparation

October 18, 2004

Interview Preparation

Hi All!

I just thought I'd add a few thoughts about interview preparation. I have 13 years experience on the hiring side of healthcare, interviewing more than my share of physician candidates. For the last six years I've been studying the art of interviewing as an executive and physician search consultant. I've noticed this trend.

Physicians are some of the brightest people on the planet, but as such they usually believe they can get a handle on most anything easily - and it is true they can. However, interviewing well requires preparation. Most physician interviewees are not prepared for the interview and most physician interviewers aren't well prepared either.

It is proven that hiring mistakes can be avoided by using a definitive interviewing process - one that is consistent across candidates and behaviorally oriented, but that is another posting. With that said - preparing for an interview requires really thinking about career goals and accomplishments. Being able to answer the "tell me about yourself" question is one of the most important things that a physician candidate can learn and practice.

The best answer to the "tell me about yourself" question is a three part response.*

1) Summarize your career in one sentence.
For example someone completing a fellowship in infectious disease medicine might say, "Ever since I was a kid, I always had a keen fascination with solving problems which led me to specialize in infectious disease medicine, because I love the science of the specialty combined with the detective/sleuth problem solving." Someone who has been in practice might have a different message, "My 20 year infectious disease private practice has been characterized by treating some of the nastiest bugs on the planet and I've seen the full gamut ranging from plague to ........."

2) Give a one to two sentence example demonstrating your accomplishments.
Be sure the accomplishments are relevant to the position you are seeking; have the description be easily understood, indicate an impact on the bottom line by enhancing patient care or by being cost effective.
For example, "I have always had a very busy practice. It was important to have a high patient volume but to maximize the efficiency of my office. I had a physician assistant and a nurse practitioner who worked with me getting the number of patients seen each day up to 30-40."

3) End your answer to this question with a one sentence statement about what you want to do next in your career and HINT the statement should match with the purpose and intent of the position for which you are interviewing.

Every harried physician practice manager, physician hiring committee member, hospital or physician executive asks some version of the "tell me about yourself" question.

As a candidate you will stand head and shoulders above the others if you take the time to frame the answer to this question well and practice it so that it rolls out of you spontaneously and easily.

Have a great interview.

Lynden Kidd
Next Iteration
215-579-1751
[email protected]
www.nextiteration.net

*The three part answer format is credited to Jeff Skrentny of Jefferson Group Consulting. Jeff can be reached at [email protected] or at 312.474.6076

Posted by Lynden Kidd in Little Black Bag | Permalink

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