Here are the top 4 reasons for failing to impress in a medicine interview leading to failure.
- A lack of correct preparation. Correct preparation requires the right content and knowledge that you need to understand in order to satisfy the panel that you do have an understanding of what being a doctor is about. Your interview panel will have in front of them the minimum information about medicine that they will require from you such as the regulatory framework of medicine and the central core General Medical Council domains.
- A lack of confidence. This is partially related to a lack of correct preparation but also poor thinking patterns ahead of the interview. This will be noticed immediately by the interviewer just from your body language alone. This will signal to the interviewer that the preparation for your interview may have been insufficient and you also lack the ability to compose yourself under pressures which are not qualities required from a future doctor.
- Too much confidence. Unfortunately we often see students, who think that they already have secured a place, and they just have to turn up to the interview and the offer will be handed to them on a plate.
- A lack of ability to see what type of question you are being asked and the appropriate response. Just a simple example to illustrate is where the interviewer asks a question around ethics in medicine and you start talking about continuing professional development. Not answering their questions won’t go down well with the interviewer.