 |
Consultant Interviews: Guidance for Public Health Trainees
Home Tips Questions Presentations Courses
With thanks to former trainees of the South West scheme for their contributions
Newham PCT – Experience of an Assessment Centre and Interview
I attended the interview for Newham PCT for the post of Consultant in Public Health/Medicine, leading on the life expectancy PSA. The post was managerially responsible for the PH SHO, PH Associate and Junior PH Analyst.
Trainees applying for the post were advised to put their Training Director as a referee. As a trainee, I also had to provide documentary verification of being within 6 months of CCT (a RITA Form G or a letter from postgraduate Dean/Faculty Adviser).
An open day was organised a day before the closing date for applications. This was very useful as a means of trying to gauge the DPH’s expectations of the post, and the type of person they were looking for.
After being shortlisted, I was invited to attend an assessment centre to be followed a week later by an interview.
The assessment centre was gruelling and took the whole day. It consisted of a literacy test and a numeracy test, each of which lasted 45 minutes with a break in between. The tests are standard ones used for senior management staff. I found the literacy one rather easy, as long as one followed the instructions exactly. The numeracy test was more difficult and included financial data relating to manufacturing (toys!) and lots of business terms. I struggled to finish on time as I spent quite a lot of time trying to understand the graphs and data provided.
After lunch, we then had a public health 'knowledge' test with access to the internet to complete it. This also lasted around 45 minutes, with questions on the following:
Odds ratio - definition, how calculated, its uses
95% confidence interval - definition, uses
Logistic regression
Marginal costs
Cost benefit analysis
Factors that can cause variation in clinical practice
Sensitivity and specificity - some tests results were given and we were asked to calculate these
Absolute risk, relative risk, attributable risk - definition and uses
OPCS4 code for Primary Hip Replacement
We were asked to find out the prevalence of COPD in Newham according to QoF scores for 2005/06, and identify the practice with the highest prevalence
This felt like doing Part A again. One could look up things on the internet (not always the best), but one had to be careful not to waste time doing this and to ensure that one gathered one's thoughts.
Following this, we had an in-tray exercise in which we had to respond to emails giving advice on various topics from various people ranging from the Chief Executive of the PCT, the Director of Corporate Services, the Smoking Cessation Manger, and the Chief Executive the local authority.
There were about 8 questions which included giving advice on initiating a screening programme for diabetes, keeping or expanding the smoking cessation target, the truth about the links between heart attacks and the workplace.
Finally, we were asked to prepare a 5 minute slide on 'Reducing Cardiovascular Mortality in Newham'. This was to be prepared on site and then passed onto the PCT.
By the end of the day, I felt like I had been put through a grinding machine.
I attended the interview the following week with a panel of about eight people including the PCT Chief Executive, the local authority Chief Executive, the Director of Public Health, a Consultant in Public Health, the Faculty representative, and someone from the Regional Office. I was questioned on the presentation I had prepared and there were a range of questions on continuing professional development, managing staff, and what did I hope to achieve in the first three months of the job, amongst other things.
I left feeling that I could have done better at the interview and I received feedback from the Director of Public Health afterwards on both the assessment centre and the interview.
The experience was extremely useful and will help me to prepare for future interviews.
Sola Aruna
Senior Lecturer in Public Health interview
I was fortunate in my interview that I was currently working at the university on secondment from the training scheme. This helped greatly in the sense that I already knew the organisation and was aware not only of the structures, but also what kind of direction public health at the university was looking to take. I would say that for an interview at an academic institution where you don’t currently work, it would be extremely useful to do some research into the structures of the university and identify both its current interests (in terms of teaching and research) and also its future direction.
The focus of questions will differ depending upon each particular institution, but in general I feel that it is important to recognise the need to develop links between academic and service public health. As former trainees, with good links to service from our years on the training scheme, we are in a strong position to be able to do this. So it’s certainly an area to focus on.
Institutions want to know what your research and teaching interests are, and it’s obviously crucial to have given this some thought. There is a balance to be made between following areas of personal interest and fitting in with priorities for the institution. It’s good to be flexible, and again I think this is an area where those coming off the training scheme may have advantages over competitors.
My interview panel consisted of a mixture of academic staff. As I already knew most of the panel, it was actually a pleasant experience! However it was challenging. Questions ranged from my research and teaching interests, to how I thought I could contribute to the university, to my views on public health issues.
I have also participated in the interview process for other academic posts as a member of the interview panel. From the other side of the fence, the panel were looking for evidence of research potential, demonstrated both from previous research and publications, and also from future plans. It’s also important not to underestimate the importance of demonstrating interpersonal skills during the interview and on the application form. Like any other organisation, the institution wants someone that it can rely on to fulfil the particular role, and be adaptable to fulfil other future roles. Some candidates were rejected because they didn’t give the panel that confidence. Either they seemed entrenched in their particular area of interest, or they appeared fuzzy about what they wanted to do. That’s why I think a mixture of focus and flexibility is the right approach.
For those wishing to pursue an academic post I would strongly recommend spending time in local institutions on secondment, and developing links with other institutions, for example through academic supervisors. Trying to publish work throughout the training scheme is also extremely helpful when it comes to job applications.
Paul Pilkington
Hammersmith and Fulham PCT – Reflections on a Successful Interview
I was invited to interview at very short notice - called on Thursday for interview on Tuesday. This meant I had very little time to prepare - to go on an interview course or make extensive preparations - but it also meant I had less time to obsess and get too nervous. So if you are called at short notice, don’t get upset - it may have its good side.
The short lead in from advert to short-listing to interview meant that I was not able to do a pre-interview visit, but I felt I was able to supplement this with my own research.
The question bank that Mary-Ann had prepared was incredibly useful - indeed it was virtually my only preparation apart from an hour-long discussion with my trainer. I went through the questions, one by one, over and over again and tried to formulate answers using my own experiences and work that I had done. I identified those questions that I had difficulty in deciding an appropriate answer to and discussed these with my trainer - by focusing on these difficult questions, we made more efficient use of the little time we had.
Another trainer’s suggestion which I found useful was to look through the person specification and for each attribute, identify examples from your work and training that illustrated that you possessed that attribute.
I googled the PCT and council to get a feel for their strategic direction - both to understand whether it was a place I would like to work and also to be able to incorporate these insights into my presentation and in the answers that I gave.
The presentation was to be only 5 minutes long. I discussed with my trainer whether to do PowerPoint or not as I felt 5 minutes was too short. My trainer agreed that speaking without notes, if done well, can be more powerful than any number of slides. With this in mind, I kept running over the key points in my presentation in my head over the weekend to see if I could get it down, virtually memorized. If there were any reports of a madman strolling round a park, speaking loudly to himself - it was probably me! I then made handouts - one PowerPoint slide with my key points and distributed it to the panel at the beginning of my presentation.
I think I was fairly relaxed - partly because of the short notice, and partly because the interview was at 5pm and I had waited so long - and so was able to be much more at ease and confident in answering the questions. I think I was very “American” in my approach - selling myself aggressively- so much so that at the end I worried whether I had come across as over-confident, but perhaps since I have sometimes been given feedback that I come across as reticent or diffident, the over-selling only brought me to par.
I felt it was a bit like an OSPHE - that mix of projecting confidence but also being able to show listening skills as well. I smiled a lot and made eye contact a lot as well. The interview went very quickly- forty five minutes of questions and I left feeling that I had given it my best shot, but unsure what the competition would be like.
My top tips would be to use the sample questions on the website and prepare answers and to try and be as relaxed as possible- easier said than done, but do remember we have been through a fairly rigorous training programme to get to this point.
Ike Anya