At your Consultant interview (or any other medical interview) you will be asked a question that starts with ‘tell me about a time when x’, where you need to come up with an example.
How do you choose an example that makes you look confident but not arrogant, vulnerable but not too fallible?
What makes a good example?
- It should be authentic.
Use a real example, don’t make something up (this won’t work out well for you). - It should not result in any significant patient harm.
I know, we all make mistakes, but the aim here is to demonstrate how you handled a situation, not for the panel to get distracted by a significant incident. - It should show vulnerability.
The panel doesn’t want to see a perfect human. They’ve asked because they want to hear your challenges and how you coped. - It should demonstrate learning.
Show how you handled it well, how you used this to improve your practice, and shared learning with your colleagues
Use the IMSO framework to structure your answer:
Incident: what happened?
Mission: what was your role and goal?
Steps: what steps/actions did you take?
Outcome: what was the end results and what are your reflections and learning?
And a common mistake to avoid:
Don’t spend too long on the story. They are there to hear MSO of IMSO. If you can’t outline the story in two sentences then use another example.
Choose and prep solid examples so you don’t need to conjure them on the spot.