The Interview: A Time to Shine
Congratulations! Your resume got you in the door—you and 10 other similarly qualified candidates—to interview for the job. Your task is to convince the interviewer that you are the best choice among those candidates.
Your interviewer will be looking for things that say you have expertise and competence, interpersonal and decision-making skills, and interest in the job. As you interview, you should gather more information about the job, the employer, and the organization while impressing the interviewer enough to be offered the job.
Chemistry is the Key!
Remember that the typical hiring decision is made within the first fifteen minutes of an interview. Employers hire people—not qualifications. Your credentials, experience, and professional background got you to the interview. The person that gets the job will be the person that the employer feels will work best with their team. During the interview, look for shared experience and common backgrounds. Remember studies have shown that education and experience are 35% of a hire, while chemistry is 65%.
Remember the Objective
Everything you do when you are looking for a new job should be directed toward one central goal: getting the job offer. You may decide not to accept the offer, but you have to receive the offer before you can make that decision. Once you feel that an offer is being considered, your second objective is to raise your perceived value to the employer to increase the compensation package that may be forthcoming. Leave your ego at the door when you go to be interviewed—first and foremost, get the job offer.
Ready, Research, Practice
A key to success is to go well prepared to every interview. That way, you’ll know how to present your strengths and downplay your weaknesses, and you’ll be able to ask the interviewer intelligent questions. Be prepared to give further descriptions or additional examples beyond the points made in your resume.Just as there are different types of resumes, there are a variety of types of interviews and settings for interviews.
You may face your first interview one-on-one in the hospital or at a job fair. Or your first interview may be an informal screening over the phone. A first or second interview could be conducted by a series of managers or a panel of employees in the office or in a restaurant.
Wherever or with whomever your interview occurs, most preparation is the same.
Your first step is to research the practice or organization. Your best information may come from current or previous employees. Hopefully, you’ll have spoken to some during your informal interviews. If possible you should also research the individual or individuals that will interview you.
Take your research and use it to review your strengths, skills, goals, and weaknesses. Remember when you get to the interview, the interviewer is interested in what you bring to the workplace—not in what you want to get out of the job. Practice talking about your skills, strengths, and experiences in terms of how you can use them on the job.
Practice well thought-out answers to anticipated questions:
- Tell me about yourself.
- What do you like about your present position?
- What do you dislike about the positions you previously held?
- If you were starting your career over, what would you do differently?
- What four critical things do you want in your next job?
- What do others see as your best qualities?
- Why do you want to join this practice/organization?
- Why would you hire yourself for this position?
- Tell me about a time when a supervising physician disagreed with the way you handled something. How was the issue resolved?