Сonsultant Interview Questions

During your consultant interview, you are being assessed on your abilities to carry out different roles you will be playing as a consultant. Being an excellent clinician is not enough, though you need to demonstrate that you have the skills and are ready to take up the responsibility of being a consultant, for example besides being a clinician, you will be supervising junior doctors in different stages of career, leading changes, contributing to research. You will get asked questions that touch upon these aspects of your role and responsibilities.

Commonly asked questions in real consultant interviews are listed below.

Training and motivation

  1. Tell us about yourself.
  2. Take us through your CV
  3. Why should we give you this job?
  4. Why should we not give you this job?
  5. Tell us about reasons you chose your specialty.
  6. If this specialty was not available, what would you do?
  7. If this job is not offered to you, what would you do?
  8. Why should we give you this job?
  9. Why should we not give you this job?
  10. Why should you want a job in this trust?
  11. Tell us your experience relevant to this post.
  12. Go through your CV relevant to the job you have applied.
  13. How would you justify your appontment to the trust?
  14. Tell us about your training that has prepared you for this role?
  15. If unsuccessful in this interview, would you apply again when we advertise again?
  16. What would you change in your training programme?
  17. Why have you chosen our hospital?
  18. You do not have any research experience. Why is that?
  19. How would you motivate your juniors to take up your specialty?
  20. Are you fully trained? Given an opportunity, would you like to brush on any aspect of your training?
  21. Do you think your training is affected by zero/off days due to EWTD?
  22. What value would you add to trust portfolio if employed here?
  23. What is your biggest selling point?
  24. We have received 14 applicants for this job. Why should we pick you?

Ethical

  1. A18-year girl would like to have a TOP but does not want her parents to know?
  2. You have a 28-year-old patient in clinic who is now HIV positive. She does not want her husband to know. What would you do?
  3. You are asked to speak to a 24-year-old boy with diabetes who is refusing insulin. What approach would you take?
  4. A 32 year male patient admitted with severe paracetamol overdose is refusing treatment. What would you do?
  5. A 82 year old man with underlying stroke is refusing antibiotics for aspiration pneumonia. What would you do?
  6. Daughter of a 76 year old patient is insisting on full CPR to her father. What would you do?
  7. Why should patient have a choice in their treatment?
  8. 14-year girls would like to discuss contraception with you. Would you?
  9. A 16-year girl would like to have a TOP but does not want her parents to know?
  10. What would you do if a patient reports that she was touched inappropriately last night?
  11.  It is brought to your notice that your trainee has falsified data in his/her audit?
  12. It is brought to your notice that your colleague has falsified data in his/her audit?
  13. How would you handle the situation when your registrar has posted holiday snaps when he/she was supposed to be on private study leave? 

Personal qualities

  1. What is your greatest weakness?
  2. What is your greatest strength?
  3. What makes you a good doctor?
  4. What makes you a good teacher?
  5. What three words describe you?
  6. How committed you can be?
  7. How do you get over your weaknesses?
  8. If time travel was possible, what year would you like to visit in past?
  9. If time travel was possible, what year would you like to visit in future?
  10. If you could change one event in history, what would you choose?

Research and academics

  1. Are you a keen researcher? Why
  2. Are you a keen researcher? Why not?
  3. Tell us about your research?
  4. Why did you use this specific topic for research?
  5. What kind of difficulties you came upon in getting ethical approval for your research?
  6. Do you think research should be mandatory for every doctor?
  7. Why doctors should spent time in research?
  8. Why do pharmacological companies invest billions in research?
  9. Would you like to continue to be involved in research?
  10. We don’t have time scheduled in your job plan for research. Would you still be keen to continue undertaking research?
  11. How does research contribute to patient care?

Teaching

  1. Do you like teaching?
  2. How do you know you are a good teacher?
  3. Tell us about a teaching session that did not go as planned?
  4. How do you plan your lesson for class room-based teaching?
  5. Junior doctors often complaint that they do not get teaching during ward rounds. How can you mitigate this?
  6. How do you motivate someone to make a career in your specialty?
  7. Are you aware of different teaching techniques?
  8. Do you like small group teaching or class room-based teaching? Why?
  9. Would you like to take on more research or teaching?
  10. Why should consultant teach?

Situational

  1. Your registrar start teaching IMT doctors when you are doing ward round? What would you do?
  2. You come across a pile of abnormal pathology reports that are more than a month old. Some of the required urgent action. Your colleague responsible for them is not on leave but has not actioned them. What would you do?
  3. Your fellow consultant is not following PPE policy and enters bays/side rooms without wearing a mask. What would you do?
  4. You are doing your ward round and one patient informs you that her son is taking all the money from her and she can’t even leave house as she has no money for taxi. What do you do?
  5. You were away for four weeks and requested your registrar to review one results that you were expecting to be grossly abnormal. You find that this has not happened and this is not the first time. What would you do?
  6. What would you do when your matron informs you that one SHO is regularly in breach in infection control policy and does not wash hands after patient contact?
  7. Your registrar come to the clinic and appears unkempt? Your clinic in-charge is unsure of what to do and approaches you. What would you do?
  8. Your consultant colleague is very emotional these days and is reported to have been crying. What would you do?
  9. You notice that one of your consultant colleague has started to leave early in a regular basis. He is also phoning patients booked after 4 pm to come at 1 pm so that he can leave early. What would you do?

Clinical governance

  1. Why do we talk so much about clinical governance?
  2. How would you ensure that your department follows governance robust practice?
  3. Give an example of clinical governance as you are doing your ward round as a consultant?
  4. Would you like to lead the governance lead?
  5. What is a risk register? How does it help in improving patient care?
  6. How do you identify threat to the service?
  7. Why QIP are so important?
  8. Tell us about a QIP that you did? Why did you select specific topic?
  9. Multisource feedbacks are becoming common these days. Do you think they influence individual practices?
  10. How do you keep your team safe?
  11. How do you determine that the team is following good medical practice and is safe?
  12. Tell us about a datix that you were involved in?
  13. Tell s about a serious adverse event that you were named in?
  14. Should doctors be encouraged to do incident reporting?
  15. How do you identify gaps in your knowledge? What do you do?
  16. Tell us about when you identified a serious governance issue? What did you do?
  17. How do you deal with ever expanding waiting list?
  18. What strategies would you employ to reduce waiting list? 

Management/NHS issues

  1. You have done about 10 years as consultant in previous post. Why are you changing your job now?
  2. You only started in the previous job 1 year ago. What are the reasons you are changing job?
  3. You are changing job so soon after accepting a full-time consultant post. Should we be worried that you may have a change of heart again?
  4. Consultant post are usually long-term placement. Do you see yourself spending 20+ years in current post?
  5. What career progression are you hoping to get from this job?
  6. What do you think about the clinic waiting list validation ?
  7. Are you a leader or follower?
  8. What makes you agree? What do you do?
  9. What has been your happiest moment as a doctor?
  10. Tell us about a clinical mistake that you made
  11. What would you do if your fellow consultant is constantly late in reporting tissue
  12. When your team member is not delivering in time causing a project to get sluggish or at risk of fail, what do you do?
  13. Do you feel you are good enough and are the right candidate for this job?
  14. How would your peer describe you?
  15. Why some people do well as leaders and some fail?
  16. You are a doctor for 14 years now. Tell us something that you are proud of?
  17. Have you ever felt out of depth when dealing with a patient? What did you do?
  18. What would you do if your fellow consultant is constantly late in reporting tissue biopsies?
  19. Share with us a project that you found most difficult to complete? What was it so difficult to complete?
  20. What has been your happiest moment as a doctor?
  21. How do you deal with the conflict in personalities within a team?
  22. How would you describe your leadership style?
  23. What do you do when you come across a situation that is totally opposite of what you had in mind?
  24. How can NHS prepare for next disaster after the recent pandemic?
  25. Do you think telephone clinics are a way forward to reduce waiting lists?
  26. What can NHS do to recover from the backlog created by Covid-19 pandemic
  27. What do you believe is the most effective NHS initiative so far?
  28. If you could choose to do only clinical work instead of teaching medical students, would you agree?
  29. Clinical excellence awards should be abolished. What is your take on it?
  30. How has Covid pandemic impacted NHS?

Team working and leadership

1, Give and example of a situation where you made a difference in success of the project?

2. Have you ever been involved in a dysfunctional team? How did you deal with it? 

3. When did your leadership skills made you shine in a project?

4. Why team working is important

5. Do you thinks doctors are good leader?