EP 61: The 4 Fears Every Doctor Has About Interviews (But Never Says)

What if the thing keeping you up at night is the exact same fear that thousands of other doctors have?

The Academy waitlist is now open. If you want structured support for your consultant interview, join via the link in the description. Coming up this week, we've got the 4 fears that every doctor has about this interview process, but nobody says out loud. An EDI interview question we're breaking down, a patient conflict example with an unexpected turn, And whether the panel can see what you wrote on your shortlisting form. Okay, welcome back to this week's podcast episode. Hi, Becky, how are you?

Great, thank you. Good to be here.

Great. So we actually asked our doctors what is it that scares them about the interview process. What did they come back with?

So 4 key themes. The first one is Freezing. So maybe just getting a question that they've got no idea how to answer. Rambling, not having a structure. Something about embarrassment, because they're going to have to answer questions in front of their future colleagues. And then also something about, you know, having to take a job in the wrong location because they can't get something else and the knock-on effect of that on their family life.

Yep. And these are really common fears. And they're— it's not about whether you're good enough as a doctor. It's just actually about interview prep skills. That's all it is. And these can all be turned around and very fixable with training. Let's get down to our interview question of the week. And this is a question from one of our Academy students. So the question is, do the interview panel see my shortlisting or application answers, or should I assume it's a clean slate?

Okay. Yeah. And I think this comes up quite regularly because there's always this question about, you know, well, I've put out my application form, should I still say it in the interview? And the answer is, look, probably somebody on the panel will have been involved in the shortlisting. Maybe one or two of them will have been involved in the shortlisting, but certainly not all of them. And I think that, you know, a lot of the panel members won't have read your application form or may have skimmed through it. So, your application form and the shortlisting process is the thing that got you into the room, and now it's a level playing field. So, anything that you want them to know in that interview, you've got to say in the interview. Don't rely on anything that was on that form previously.

Yeah, because you won't get scored for that bit of paper in the interview anyway. And anyway, if you thought about it, it would be weird if you didn't say anything that was on your application, because it wouldn't make sense and you'd be missing out loads of your stuff. So whether they've seen it or remembered it or have forgotten or confusing you with someone else, there's lots of things that could be happening as to what information they know about you from the shortlisting. So yeah, assume you're starting from scratch. If you want to be scored on it, if you want them to know it, you have to say it there in the interview. So take it as a clean slate.

Yeah, I think so.

Next up, we've got a golden example from one of our students. This is conflict with a patient. What's the example that we've got this week?

A patient with an infected diabetic foot ulcer was very angry and started to walk out when actually they needed to be admitted for IV antibiotics. Instead of Assessing capacity, you know, whether it was okay for that patient to leave, actually took some time to have a conversation, discovered that he had PTSD from a previous admission, and didn't want to stay overnight because of that, and then worked out a way to give antibiotics without admitting the patient. What do you think?

Yeah, I think, I think that's good. So, the patient's got annoyed when asked to stay. because they need treatment, in-hospital treatment. And yeah, so there was a clear conflict. It's quite— it doesn't need a lot of explanation, like clinical explanation, because you kind of get the idea. But there's good scope to explore. And, you know, they ended up kind of taking the time to find out what was going on rather than just saying, well, you have to stay, otherwise I'm calling the police. So yeah, I think it— I think this is good. I think this is a good example. What did you think?

Yeah, I like it too, because I think that we always say that the conflict part of it, the situation, should be explainable in a couple of sentences. And it is, because actually the conflict part of it is, a time when I had a conflict with a patient was when I was trying to admit somebody with a foot ulcer for IV antibiotics. They became angry and wanted to walk out. That's the conflict.

Yeah.

Then you can say, what I wanted to achieve was to de-escalate this conflict, and ideally to get the patient to stay and complete their care. The steps I took were...

Yeah.

Then we have all that lovely stuff about the de-escalation and actually trying to understand a bit about this patient, and, you know, what makes them tick and why they're actually worried.

Yeah.

It's a beautiful example of de-escalation then.

It really is, yeah. In general, I think conflict with a patient is one of the ones that our students find easier to find an example of. I think the harder ones are usually the— well, the mistake and conflict with a colleague are the hardest, and then duty of candour, and then this one. The main way where conflict with a patient goes wrong is when it results in a complaint, I think, is where people choose one where the patient ended up complaining about them, because then it becomes like a bigger thing and more distracting. So this is, yeah, I think this is a really nice example of a conflict with a patient.

I like it. The student's got the opportunity to come across as somebody who really listens to their patients, who understands them, and who de-escalates conflict from that basis.

Yeah.

I think it's an opportunity to show that you're a really nice, warm person.

Okay, then we're going to look at our interview question. So this is a question that one of our Academy students has been asked recently in an interview. We have the question, how has EDI impacted you as an individual? So what do we think? First thing, whenever I ask someone a question with EDI in it, there's always someone who isn't sure what EDI stands for. So probably important to clarify that EDI is equality, diversity, and inclusion. So if anyone is listening who does not know, you do need to know, although obviously the terminology could be slightly different in your trust. So how has EDI impacted you as an individual? How would you approach this question?

So this is a slightly unusual way for it to come up. EDI questions are common, we know that. This seems to be calling for something that's probably a bit more sort of personal and reflective, and so we're not looking for, you know, some kind of textbook answer, or, you know, I did the Trust training on EDI. Basically, we're never looking for that in an answer, by the way. Um, but I, I think you, you know, if you've got an EDI answer sort of prepared and you've got a few different things that you can say about it, then you can use those examples. But you do need to add that personal element. The, the thing— things that I like in an EDI example, if it comes up in a sort of generic way or a way that allows you to answer with a few different points, I like Something maybe individual about a patient, something potentially that involves, you know, a group of patients, and then something that involves, you know, a member of staff or a group of staff. And then it kind of gives you the chance to show a bit of breadth across it. So I'd probably use an individual patient example, a time when I connected with a patient. one-to-one in an inclusive way or something. We've had some really nice examples that one of them, somebody that I saw recently, had made a different arrangement in clinic for an autistic child who needed to have a dental procedure. And they basically cleared the room, made special provision, done some sort of play stuff for this child. And, you know, the whole thing had turned out absolutely fine. absolutely beautifully, and they'd got everything done that needed to be done. And so, you know, that, that's a really nice example.

It's interesting that you're— that's your interpretation, because I thought it was like, personally, yeah, I suppose I thought it was like EDI for the candidate rather than EDI.

Oh, interesting.

But then that leads— I think that leads to quite a lot of oversharing. Yeah.

Because, see, the individual part in that, say I was using that example of the autistic child, I would then reflect as this student did on actually what I've recognised is that we just need to, you know, for me as an individual, I've recognised that I need to just really ask what people need. Often we don't need to make big changes, but they can have a big impact. And so that's my own personal reflection.

I think that's good. That's a really good way to do it. I do think there is a potential trap then where you think you have to share like a difficult situation you've been in or overshare some element of something about you.

Yeah.

And so I think this is a good reason to do a pause before you answer a question and just think, hang on, what are they actually asking? How can I answer this best? Because as long as you can connect it back to the wording of the question and be clear that you're answering it, I do think it is a bit open to interpretation, this question, and the way you've answered it is, I think, a much safer and stronger way to answer it than talking about yourself.

Yeah, I mean, had people do things with the EDI question, say people who are international medical graduates and they've talked about their own personal experience coming to the NHS and how they were supported and how they subsequently support other IMGs. And that's fine if that's who you are and that feels comfortable for you to share, but as we always say, you can control what you say. So if you don't want to share something that feels a bit personal, don't share it.

Yeah, and we do, I think, frequently have this conversation with students where there's something personal that they are not sure about whether to share or not to share, not necessarily for this question, but in general. And it always comes down to the same thing, which is, like you say, you don't have to share it. You can if you want, but just make sure you know why you're choosing to share it. It's within your control, so decide what's the reason. It should be something that helps you in your interview, not just because you want to get something off your chest. And also you need to Have thought about how you're going to share it. So do it in a way that's practiced. It needs to not be too raw, too emotional to talk about, because it can end up you— it runs away with the time and it dominates your answer talking about your own experience. So it's not wrong to do it, it's fine. Equally, it's not wrong to hold it back, but just have actually thought about it carefully so you have planned what you're going to do.

Yeah, I think there's a risk with this stuff, in a moment in an interview when you're already in a heightened emotional state, that you share something that's, you know, a bit emotional, and you derail yourself.

Yeah.

And the last thing you want is for that to happen. You know, there's something, you get a bit tearful, or you take yourself back to that moment, and it's just, and it's a bit worse than you expected. So, I think if it really does, if it doesn't really, really add value and have to be on the table, I personally would leave it out of the room.

Yep, agree. Okay, and then we've got our tip of the week. So this tip— this is a very, uh, 2026 tip— is don't start with AI when you're designing your presentation. We all love Claude, but, uh, he's not going to write your presentation for you. Um, so you— I know we were just discussing this before we recorded this episode, and you, you found this coming up a lot with students who are prepping.

Yeah, I've had, I've had a few people do this recently, and I, I think it, it, it comes down to a bit about sort of nerves and overwhelm and feeling like you don't know where to start. And people, you know, get their presentation title, and it, let's face it, it's usually something about what's your vision for the service of blah blah. Um, and so they plug it into, you know, Claude or their AI, uh, of choice, and it spews out a vision for the service which is totally generic and has essentially no bearing on that individual candidate at all. And I think it's a huge temptation, but, but don't do it, because anything that— what the panel wants to hear is your vision for the service, and what they need to hear in order for you to get the job is how Not only what your vision for the service is, but why are you the person to deliver that? And, you know, the AI model doesn't know your USPs and how you align to that service. So, I think it's got to be you. Use AI to refine stuff later, if that's what you want to do, but not to start it.

Yeah. You need to start with some thoughts about what you know about them, what you know about you, and shape it from there. But yeah. First off is if you used it starting from scratch, stick the question into AI, it's gonna come up with something that is not, not suitable and is too generic.

Needs to be you.

Needs to be you. Okay, thank you very much. We'll wrap up there and I'll see you in next week's episode.

See you then.