Interview Tips

Apologies for disappearing for a while.  The stresses of final year came straight after the first lecture and I've been struggling to keep up. But I promise to be consistent from now on!    

  

So second round applications officially opened Friday and I thought what better time to post about the interviews.  

The London Collaboration: 

I only went through the London Collaboration interview which was a 2 station process. I started with station 2 where I initially had a medicines optimisation task. This was followed by a role play with a patient who was refusing to take his medication. Then to finish I was asked to describe a time when I went out of my way to help a patient or a friend. This station was quite easy and the interviewers were really engaged, smiling and encouraging which helped. In the next station it was the complete opposite. The interviewers looked like they wanted to be anywhere but there which threw me off a couple of times. They initially gave me a prioritisation task which required a good understanding of the roles of different hospital pharmacy staff. Following this I had a few questions to answer. These included ‘why do you want to work in London?’ and ‘Tell us about a time where you worked in a team to achieve a particular goal, outside of your degree.’   

  

From my understanding the second round interviews will be with individual hospitals and you will not have to sit an interview for multiple hospitals like with the London Collaboration. But I thought I should add a quick summary of this year’s collaborative hospital interviews as I have been told that this will be the new set up for hospital interviews next year. I will write a more detailed outline closer to the next application period.   

General Tips : 

For those going through this a second time and even those going through it the first time you’re probably desperately seeking advice on what you could do to maximise your chances. Below I have quickly summarised the general tips suggested by students who sat these interviews and lecturers, most of which I used myself to secure a place.  

  

1.      Smile  -   From everyone's experiences it was clear that the interviews varied greatly. Some people had really friendly interviewers that would smile and nod encouragingly when you got stuck. Then there's the other side, which was common, where the interviewers looked bored out their minds, fiddled with papers and kept glancing at the clocks. This is sometimes a technique to see how you are under pressure and other times it just might be because they’ve been sitting there all day. The last thing you should do in this situation is get worked up and drop the ball. I know it’s easier said than done but try to smile as much as possible. Avoid revising or talking about the interview itself before going into the interview. Talk about something different with a friend, crack jokes or remember something that made you laugh. Even pull funny faces in the mirror of their bathroom, if nothing else works, so you can laugh at how ridiculous you look. Just try to look as cheerful as is possible as this is a patient centred job you are applying for at the end of the day.  

2.      First Impressions stick so make it a good one  -   I walked in with a big cheesy smile and said good morning in the most cheerful voice I could muster. This I believe portrayed a friendly and welcoming personality which is needed as a pharmacist. Thankfully they smiled and said good morning back which was an excellent beginning to the interview. Remember people usually make a judgement about you within the first few seconds of meeting you. So for the rest of the interview you would be either reaffirming their judgement or trying to prove you’re the opposite. Keep this in mind before you walk into your interview. 

3.      Read the person specification  -   Most people will remember to read their application answers because really who remembers what the wrote weeks after they’ve wrote it. But not everyone reads the person specification which is one of the most valuable documents on the Pharmalife profiles. I used this both when I was writing my applications as well as before I went for an interview. It allowed me to tailor my answers to fit within their mark scheme. By showing how you meet the person spec through your answers you are effectively showing them why you’re the perfect person for the job and saving the interviewer and yourself a lot of time and stress.  

4.      Know where you are being interviewed  -  This may seem like an obvious one but you need to actually research the hospital you're being interviewed for. The more research you do the more you seem genuinely interested in the hospital and it shows your enthusiasm. Read the job description to begin with and then move on to the hospital’s website. What are their values? How have you reflected this through your experiences? Have they made any changes recently or introduced a new service? Do they have any special schemes or opportunities for their staff? What does their CQC report say? What makes them stand out for you? Even try typing their name into Google and see what comes up past the first few hits and then present all these findings back in the interview by embedding them in your answers.  

5.      Use  S.T.A.R  Answers  -   If you are asked a question don’t ever just dive straight in. Take the time to think. You need to articulate your answer in a coherent manner that actually answers the question fully. Mumbling for 5 minutes about the Sudafed tablets you didn’t sell the hypertensive patient and then realising they were asking you about teamwork will only harm your interview score. When answering any question related to a past experience use the STAR technique shown in the picture below.¹ This will allow for your answer to flow and for you to tick all the boxes on the interviewers sheet. 

 

Image from: http://srg.az/library/recruitment-azerbaijan-innterview-tips/recruitment-azerbaijan-using-the-star-technique-to-shine-at-job-interviews

6.      Record Yourself  -  This was an amazing tip I heard from one of the fourth year pharmacy students at Kingston University. Record yourself answering some of the questions and then listen back. Do you sound dull, boring, engaging, interesting? You could also try watching yourself in the mirror to look at your facial expressions when you’re talking. This might make you notice a few bad habits you have and give you time to change them. E.g saying ‘umm’ or ‘basically’ a lot or even a monotonous voice which would put people to sleep.  

7.      Practice but to a limit   -   This sort of links in with the first point but try and bullet point your answers for the most common questions and then have a friend ask you some at random. Although its common knowledge not to memorise answers for interviews, so they don't sound rehearsed, it would be a good way to see how you come across when answering questions. I used this tip before my interviews and didn't realise that although I am usually a chilled person I looked super serious when answering the questions. This allowed me to make a conscious effort to smile during my interview and the interviewers smiled back (well some did). 

This list is by no means exhaustive. Everyone will have tips and tricks to learn from and research makes the best preparation. My next blog post will have a mini question bank you can use to get you started. These will be just a collection of questions compiled by Zahra, a 4th year at Kingston University, from students who have attended interviews this past month.  

All the Best!

S.