They say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks, but I have to disagree. I have been going for interviews for many different roles across my career, and have been lucky to be successful in a few of them! Over the years, being interviewed and also being a recruiter of others has shown me the good, the bad and ugly when it comes to interview styles and techniques.
Being in my first consultant post I was keen to complete the FPH effective interview skills workshop to prepare myself future consultant interviews. I was lucky to get a place on the programme as places are limited – this was one of the attractions of the course – that the group was small.
In November 2017, I made the journey to London to spend the day with 8 other delegates and left feeling that I was walking away with new knowledge and skills to help me in future interviews. There is the expectation that you undertake some pre-course homework before attending and would encourage those planning to attend not to skip this as the more you put into the course the more you get out (don’t leave it to complete on the train journey like I did!). The group was a mix of delegates including registrars in the middle of their training, registrars at the end of their training, some seasoned consultants and new consultants like me.
The course gives you the opportunity to learn not only from very experienced HR consultants and FPH advisors but also gives you the opportunity to learn from each other as there was a wealth of interview experience in the room. Hearing these stories allowed you to develop and hone your own interview style from hearing what has worked (or didn’t) from others.
The morning consisted of learning about the public health consultant interview process and started to build skills though small group workshop activities. The afternoon allowed you to undergo a mock interview with your fellow delegates, chaired by faculty advisors and other senior public health professionals. This gave delegates the opportunity to practice an interview presentation and also to practice some interview questions and receive constructive critique.
I have not taken the opportunity to use these skills at interview yet, I’m very happy where I currently am, however I will very much bring out these skills when the time comes. The handbook provided for the course will service as a great guide into the preparation for future consultant interviews. I would say this course is a must for those looking for their first role in consultancy and for those experienced consultants looking to bush up their interview skills to pursue new challenges.
Written by Steve Maddern, who is acting public health consultant at Wiltshire Council. He is registered with the UK Public Health Register and is a member of the Faculty of Public Health. You can follow Steve on Twitter @stevomadds.
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