presenting your le skills in recruitment & selection processes · skills in recruitment &...
TRANSCRIPT
Presenting your le
skills in recruitment & selection
processes
Laura Mackenzie The Careers Group,
Careers Consultant University of London
Objectives
To help you to:
• gain an insight into the recruiter’s point of view
• recognise appropriate evidence of your (leadership) skills
and understand how to present this effectively in writing &
through interview
• Improve confidence with regard to interviews
The session today:
• Understanding the recruiter’s perspective
• Presenting yourself on paper - CVs and application forms
• Developing a professional portfolio
• Preparing for interviews
– Preparation tactics
– Typical questions
– Structuring answers
• Interview practice
(Medical) recruitment & selection
• Increasing move towards standardised recruitment and
selection processes (often competency based)
• Focus on demonstrating competence
• Like all recruitment selection, core principles:
– Can you do the job? – Competence & experience
– Will you do the job? – Motivation & attitude
– Will you fit in? – Interpersonal
The perspective of the recruiter
• Recruiting is expensive and time consuming
• It is costly not to get it right
• Recruiting is never an exact science
• Recruiters are looking for tangible evidence and (at interview)
a sense of rapport
• Understanding what a recruiter wants to know can provide a
framework for presenting your evidence …
You’re the recruiter:
• Discuss with partner and write down top 3 things you would
look for in an excellent consultant
• Then discuss how you would assess whether someone had
those skills through applications/interviews
Groundwork for all effective applications
• Understand what the recruiter wants
• Analyse the role requirements
• Prepare your evidence in advance
• Learn how to structure your evidence appropriately
Sample Person Spec: AFP • General Attributes:
– Understanding of patient as central focus of care
– Ability to prioritise
– Understanding of importance of working with others
– Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues & patients
– Initiative and ability to deal with pressure
– Commitment to learning & CPD
– Self awareness & insight into own limits
– Understanding of principles of equality and diversity
Leadership skills – presenting
your evidence
"The doctor's frequent role as head of the healthcare team and
commander of considerable clinical resource requires that greater
attention is paid to management and leadership skills regardless of
specialism. An acknowledgement of the leadership role of medicine is
increasingly evident. Role acknowledgement and aspiration to
enhanced roles be they in subspecialty practice, management and
leadership, education or research are likely to facilitate greater clinical
engagement"
Aspiring to Excellence, Prof John Tooke, 2008
“The responsibility we have for our patients gives all doctors, not just
those in designated leadership posts, a natural leadership role.”
P. Young (2011): Integrating Leadership into GP Training
Medical Leadership Competency
Framework
http://www.leadershipacademy.nhs.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2012/11/NHSLeadership-Leadership-Framework-
Medical-Leadership-Competency-Framework-3rd-ed.pdf
The elements of the framework • Personal Qualities
– Self-awareness
– Self-management
– Self-development
– Acting with integrity
• Working with Others – Developing networks
– Encouraging contribution
– Working within teams
• Managing services – Planning
– Managing resources
– Managing people
– Managing performance
• Improving service – Ensuring patient safety
– Critically evaluating
– Encouraging innovation
– Facilitating transformation
• Setting Direction – Identifying contexts for change
– Applying knowledge & evidence
– Making decisions
– Evaluating impact
Behind the buzzwords
• Communication
• Organisation & planning
• Managing others
• Problem solving
• Interpersonal skills
• Decision making
• Leadership
• Conceptual thinking
• People skills
Example: good
communication skills?
Q. Provide an example of a time when you have used
communication skills effectively with a colleague.
“I always aim to communicate effectively with everyone I meet.
I’ve been told I’m a good communicator and have got lots of
positive feedback from patients. I would always communicate
positively with my team and anyone else I came into contact with.
One time a colleague was not happy at work and I spent time
helping them to feel more positive about things which they later
thanked me for”
The art of being specific
• Describe a specific incident (not several vague examples)
• Be explicit about what you did (not ‘what I always do is’)
• Stay focused – provide evidence and context
• Try the STAR technique …
STAR
• S ituation [concise description]
• T ask or target [what had to be achieved?]
• A ction [what did you actually DO?]
• R esult/reflection [what was the end result?]
[what did you learn?]
[Situation/task 15%, Action 70%, Outcome 15%]
Competency Question Example:
Describe a situation in which you demonstrated
leadership. What did you do and how did you
know you had been effective?
• Bullet point a STAR answer
• Share with a partner
Presenting your skills on paper:
CVs, application forms
& portfolios
Application forms
• Reader
– What is their focus?
• Content
– Relevance and priority
• Structure
– Readability
– Priority
– Logical flow
– Theme then evidence
Your medical CV
Constructing a medical CV Core Sections
• Personal details
• Career Statement
• Education and Qualifications
• Present position
• Career history (ensure that any
gaps in employment are
accounted for)
• Clinical skills and experience
• Management and leadership
experience
Refinements
• Development courses and
conferences
• Presentations
• Clinical audit
• Research experience/
Publications
• Teaching experience
• Interests
• Referees
Striking the right balance • e.g. Going for an elective: emphasise your experience so far to
highlight your:
– Adaptability and flexibility
– Resilience
– Clinical exposure so far
• e.g. Going for a consultant position: emphasise management skills
and experience
– Staff management
– Financial management
– Leadership potential
– Inter-agency liaison
– Vision
• Remember: a CV is not ‘you’ according to ‘you’
Specific & Succinct • Be Succinct:
– avoid long prose; bullets often best
• Be Specific:
– Avoid general statements of competence e.g -
– ‘Managed patients on an acute psychiatric ward’
• Think skills: that you developed in each previous job, and how these might
relate to the post advertised.
– e.g.
– Responsible for care of post-operative patients in the eight bed ITU
– Responsible for organisation of ward rotas
– Developed negotiation skills through liaison with local PCTs and secondary care
providers
– Responsible for inducting new members of staff into the department
Common pitfalls
• Irrelevant information
• Putting earliest experiences first
• Too much description
• Long prose paragraphs
• Poorly presented, unprofessional design
• Inconsistency of style or format
• Spelling or grammatical errors
Professional portfolios
Portfolios for Recruitment and Selection
• Suggested format:
– Lever arch file or similar
– Tabbed for easy reference
– Divided into relevant themes, e.g. ‘Publications’, ‘Audits’, ‘Non-academic
achievements’ etc
• Suggested Structure(s):
– You can structure your portfolio in different ways, such as:
– Following the key headings of your CV
– Using the core themes within the GMC's Good Medical Practice Guide
for Doctors
Presenting your skills at
Interview
Before the interview: preparation
General preparation tactics
• Review and re-read your application – any gaps or questions?
• Get to know your portfolio (if relevant)
• Think of evidence to Illustrate your abilities & motivation, and to
match the person specification
• Try to anticipate some questions
• Practise talking about your examples (coming up ...)
• Research where you want to be (the post, the research unit, the
trust etc)
Common types of Question
1. Motivation (& realism) ‘Why AFP? Why this UoA?’
2. Competency based ‘Give me an example of a time when ...’
3. Portfolio based ‘What does your portfolio say about you?’
4. Academic Research, teaching, etc
5. Future focussed ‘What do you want to achieve in the AFP?’
6. Self-reflective ‘What are your major strengths/weaknesses?’
Talking about your motivation
• Research What have you discovered about the (specialist)
training post? Trust? Training programme?
• Decisions What choices have you made regarding your
career so far and what rationale can you give?
• Behaviour What have you done relevant to the specialist
trainee role to indicate motivation?
• Interests What do you devote time to beyond and around
medicine?
Dealing with Competency Questions
• Competency Qs are used frequently in formal interviews
• An opportunity to demonstrate a required or desired behaviour
• Top tips:
– Describe a specific incident (not several vague examples)
– Be explicit about what you did (not ‘what I always do is’)
– Stay focused – provide evidence and context
– Try the STAR technique …
Tips from the AFP Trainees
Academic interview component:
• Be prepared to summarise/critique your abstract or journal extract:
– Try books such as How to read a paper: the basics of evidence-based medicine. T.
Greenhalgh.
– Practice summarising an abstract succinctly to others and getting their feedback
– Practise critiquing papers, looking at (e.g.) methodology,
• Be prepared to talk about a research paper that you have found
interesting or consider to be important
– Try Faculty of 1000 – a post-publication review of biomedical literature by leading
faculty across the world, with rankings of important papers: http://f1000.com/rankings
• If applying to a UoA where you get to choose your research, think about
potential supervisors!
– One candidate was asked who they’d like to have as their supervisor from the
university's faculty list.
Tips from AFP trainees cont’d
Clinical interview component: • Brush up your acute medicine knowledge to be able to talk
confidently
– Try The Oxford Handbook or similar
General advice: • Beware of the bell! – Many interviewers use a bell to signal the end
of the interview
• Try to include specific examples from your own experience
whenever talking about general points
Practicalities
Take care of the basics:
• Don’t be distracted by practical details ...
• Journey time – allow for problems, dry run
• Telephone numbers – in case of delays
• Look smart, feel comfortable
• Emergency supplies – spare tights/tie
Presenting your skills at
Interview
During the interview: performance
Performance Tactics Impact
• Make eye contact with all of the panel members
• Smile when appropriate!
• Be confident and concise with your answers (no ‘probably’s, ‘sort-of’s’ and
‘might do’s’!)
Focus & preparation
• Stay focused on the job in hand and slow down
• Give yourself thinking time - Repeat Q / Ask “can I have a minute to think?”
• Think of the ‘key features’ of your answer before you talk
• Seek clarification - “Are you looking for an example of...?”
• Ask for feedback - “Is this example what you were looking for?”
Performance tactics cont’d
Structure
• Try to structure your answers with a clear beginning/summary at the end
• Focus on your actions/skills/behaviours rather than general descriptions
• Try STAR
• Summarise your answer & come to a definite end.
In difficulty?
• Stuck? - vocalise what is going on and ask for time to think / or for help
• When in a hole, stop digging!
– “Sorry, I’ve got a bit lost. May I start again?”
Your chance to Practice
• Work in groups of five
• All take turns as interviewee and interviewers
• Set yourselves up as a panel facing your interviewee
• Take it in turns to ask a question of your interviewee
• Be prepared to provide constructive feedback around:
– Structure of answers
– Length of answers
– Eye contact and body language
– Evidence of motivation
After the Interview …
• Review your performance – What went well?
– What could have gone better?
– Do you know?
• Feedback from selectors?
• Make a note of comments – “I could have approached that
question this way …”
– “Next time try to mention …”
Interview Record Trust:
Int. date:
Interviewers’s names/positions:
What happens next?:
What went well?:
What additional preparation would
have been useful?:
Any difficult questions?:
How might I approach these?:
How was my presentation/style?:
General comments:
Summary • Preparation:
– Focus on what is required for the role
– Match your evidence & identify specific examples
– Think carefully about your motivation
– Practice answering questions (without ‘rehearsing’)
• On paper: – Be succinct and specific in answers & on CVs
– Tailor CVs to the role and audience
– Think about relevance
• At interview – Be yourself & be honest
– Provide specific and succinct examples as evidence
– Be prepared to refelct on experiences and talk about weakness as well as
strength
Thank you.
Any questions?
The Careers Group believes that all
information provided in this publication
is correct at the time of publication.
© The Careers Group, University of London. 25 May 2013.