A lecture given by Dr Imran Waheed in September 2012 on preparing to become a consultant. The lecture focuses on the application process and the consultant interview.

1. PREPARATION FOR
BECOMING A CONSULTANT
D r I m ra n Wa h e e d
Co n sult a nt P s yc h ia t rist
w w w. i m ranwa heed. c om
Se pte m be r 2 01 2

2. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
Setting the context
Application forms and CVs
Interviews

3. THE NHS FINANCES

4. THE NHS FINANCES
DoH – requires 4% efficiency savings per year
Monitor – figure nearer to 6-7%
Never been done in history of NHS
£20 billion of savings by 2015
4500 fewer nurses compared with 2 years ago
9% less management
44% of nurses thinking of leaving the NHS
? End of NHS terms and conditions

5. HOT TOPICS
Payment by Results
CRES, budgets, service redesign
Foundation Trusts
Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS
Commissioning and CCGs
New Ways of Working
QIPP, CQUIN, Darzi, PROMs
Revalidation/Shipman
Modernising Medical Careers

6. CV AND APPLICATION FORMS

7. BASIC CV AND APPLICATION TIPS
Spell check your CV
Proof-reading
You cannot proof-read your own writing
Find someone with English as their first
language
Ideally someone who proof-reads a lot of CVs
Check grammar and tenses

8. SPELLCHECKERS STRUGGLE WITH…
Incorrect homonyms
 Where, were, we‟re
Accidental plurals
Missing words
Medical terminology
Incorrectly placed words, spelt correctly
E.g.
Should I have a coma in the middle of this
sentence?
I spent a great deal of time doing revision
after sex years I passed the MRCPsych

9. THE PROBLEM IS?
I was involved in the collection of data from
200 patients who attended the out-patient
clinics over the previous 12 months, including
BP, Renal function, HbA1c, Medications, their
eye conditions and foot complications. I then
analysed the data compared with the 'Diabetic
Task Force' recommendations. Our aim was to
detect problems in management related to
Diabetic complications and we suggested
improvements in the area of investigations
and follow-up. We proposed to close Audit
cycle after 6 months by re-auditing after
suggestions had been implemented.

10. CAPITALISATION OVERUSE
Common mistake after poor spell checking
and poor grammar
Only capitalise proper nouns, first word of new
sentences and titles when used with a name
 so „Dr. Smith‟ is capitalised
 „…the doctor will see you now‟ is not
In title (publications) you can capitalise all
words except
 articles (a, an, the)
 prepositions under five letters (in, of, to)
 co-ordinating conjunctions (and, but)

11. CV WRITING
Be wary of non-medical website and
organisation advice on CV writing
They do not always apply to medical CVs
Medical CVs
Are often long than two pages
Contain more free text
Have significant additional subheadings such
as audit and research

12. INTERVIEWS

13. INTERVIEW PREPARATION
Be prepared to do about 10-20 hours reading
Most can be done online
 NHS white papers and recent reforms (NHS website)
 Good Medical Practice (GMC)
 Royal College papers e.g. NWoW
 National Service Framework
 AOMRC – NHS finance
 BMJ Careers
 Recent journals, newspapers & news websites

14. “COME AND HAVE A LOOK AROUND”
 Aim: To display interest and glean the issues that are
important to the Trust
 Chief executive
 Medical director
 Clinical director
 Service manager
 Personnel department
 Others on the interview panel

15. EXERCISES
You are the Trust Chief Executive. Why would
you want to employ a Consultant?
What are you going to want for your money?
What do you want the Consultant to do?
What questions will you ask at the interview?

16. THE INTERVIEW
Expect a panel of 10-12 members
Will include a lay chairperson
University representative
College representative
Know your own CV
Expect one or two questions from each
member
Address response to the questioner mostly

17. INTERVIEW PRESENTATION
Keep to time if invited to present
Advisable not to have a talk written out „word
for word‟
PowerPoint is your prompt not whole talk
Be prepared to answer questions
Remember a significant proportion of the
panel may not be doctors

18. STANDARD QUESTIONS
Why should we give you this job?
What qualities make a good psychiatrist?
How would you take a good service to
greatness?
What do you know of clinical governance?
How would you deal with a colleague who
turned up for work drunk?
How is research relevant to psychiatry?
What would you bring to this unit?

19. MORE TAXING OPEN QUESTIONS
Tell us of a recent triumph/disappointment?
Do you think the increased spending on the
NHS has been put to good use?
What is your management style?
What‟s wrong with undergraduate education?
Tell us about a mistake you have made and
what you learnt from it
How will you improve the interface with GPs?

20. MORE ESOTERIC QUESTIONS
How would your appointment raise the profile
of this Trust?
What is your main weakness?
What makes you angry?
If you were in a play, what part would you act?
If you got hit by a bus on leaving the interview,
how would you wish to be remembered?

21. „TAKE US THROUGH YOUR CV‟
Sell yourself – the message and your positive
points
Organise and structure: Clinical, Academic,
Management, Personal
Be personal – your personal story not just a
list of bullet points
Don‟t simply concentrate on facts – talk about
what you observed, what you liked, how it
influenced you, etc.

22. ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS
Don‟t prepare an answer for every question
you might get asked
 It is obvious if you are reciting a script
 You can‟t prepare every possible question
Have an idea what you are going to say
Be prepared to improvise
Practice speaking fluently about the topics
you have read

23. ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS
Not too short, not too long
Strong structure e.g. „I feel I have three main
strengths‟
Announce your message and then expand
Substantiate your answers
Be personal – use „I‟ instead of „we‟
Give examples

24. END OF THE INTERVIEW
Opportunity to ask questions of the panel
You can use this time to clarify something that
you have said
Do not use it to negotiate salary, leave or
conditions!
It is fine to say “I have no questions”
Exit via the exit and not into a broom
cupboard

25. CONCLUSIONS
Essential to know the hot
topics, buzzwords, current trends, etc.
For a professional and effective CV, layout can
almost be as important as content
Get someone else to look at your CV
Prepare for your interview
Meet the right people
Read the right information
Prepare answers to a range of question
Don‟t just try to memorise answers
Structure