In this testimonial, Ellen reflects on her sixth interview for a consultant position after a series of rejections. She explains how varied feedback from previous attempts made it hard to target preparation, and how she initially blamed external factors such as lack of experience. Through a coaching course, Ellen learned to shift her focus from generic, trainee‑level responses to consultant‑level narratives, selecting strong, positive examples and structuring answers clearly. She realized that poor answer framing—choosing irrelevant or negative examples—had been a key barrier. By reframing her experiences, emphasizing future‑oriented actions, and understanding what interviewers truly seek, she secured the role. Ellen also notes the lasting value of these skills for future interviews and for serving on interview panels, and she shares the insights with colleagues.
Chapters
For me, this was my 6th interview. There was lots of reasons why I didn't get the other jobs, lots of different feedback. So every single one had a different reason. So I think it's quite difficult to focus your prep on one thing when you've been told a different thing every other time. Some of those things are out of my control in terms of amount of experience. Some of them were, you know, undoubtedly me not prepping in the right way the first time round. So it was kind of— Not a last chance scenario for me, but I actually really, really wanted this job, and I've been locum in that job, so I was very happy with it already. And the team had made it clear that they wanted me to stay. I just had to make sure there was no reason for them not to employ me, basically. And that's kind of why I need to have some sort of coaching. I don't know if it was the first thing, but the main thing was more about my answers in terms of not just giving a generic answer. It was how do I elevate it to the consultant-level practice? Because, you know, I already had been in locum consulting for 2 years before getting this job, but a lot of my experiences was still as a registrar and as a trainee. And you think about them, how they affect you as a trainee, but you don't really think about how those skills, you know, elevate yourself into a consultant post. So I think I started to think about all my examples and all my answers as in how would I change for the future, or how would I bring this into the job world more than what I did in the past. So it was kind of, yeah, it was that next stage of actually what I would do with all this information and this experience that I've gained. It was just a focus really, and I think it was an opportunity to reflect on what I hadn't done well in all those other interviews. You know, you blame yourself, you blame other people, and you blame lots of different reasons why you didn't get the job, but obviously You are going to be the biggest part of that why you didn't get the job. There were a couple of them where the fact that I wasn't as experienced as other candidates and I can't create time, so I have to put that out of my mind and I blamed that for a really long time. But actually maybe it was how I was answering the questions and not structuring my answers or just picking rubbish examples. Even in terms of simple questions about quality improvement or audit or affecting change, I gave really bad answers. Because I hadn't really sat down and thought about the changes that I had made. I thought I was being really smart giving like an alternative answer, and that's not what they wanted. So I was giving examples of when it hadn't gone well when I should definitely have been focusing on when it should have gone well because I thought I was being a bit different, but that's not what they're looking for. Well, it was definitely worth it because it's definitely reframed how I think about things, and I think I'm going to be on interview panels in the future anyway. So I think even knowing what people ask for and what substantiates a good answer will help me in the future as well. So I think it is worth it because it will come into use in future life as well. You know, and I've told one of my colleagues who's coming up for interview about it as well, and, or at least, you know, now I can tell people, look, this is what they look for. Um, you know, this is what you need to start thinking about before they, they get towards that level as well. You've been brilliant, and, um, thanks for joining the course, and thanks for putting the effort in. And, um, yeah, you totally deserve it. I'm really pleased to see you get your job, Ellen. That's brilliant. Okay, thank you for all your help.
