Once you have a ticket to the staff specialist interview, hopefully your preparation has already started.
There's plenty of advice out there, and this is just some more to add to...so take it or leave it.
This preparation involves being able to answer 2 things:
1. How can you make your attributes align with the job description and any scenarios on the day?
2. What makes you the better candidate?
Medical Interviews, from interns to staff specialists, often revolve around the same recipe. For transparency, most public jobs are also scored against a matrix with some flexibility via a global score - keep this in mind when you try and cover the content/address the questions.
The recipe goes something like this:
1. Why do you want to work here?
2. What can you bring to the job?
3. An administrative question
4. An awareness question
1. Why do you want to work here?
You've obviously got your reasons for applying for one department over another. A lot of this will have to do with you as a person. So show them who you are. Moreso, do your research and show them why who you are aligns with what the department is!
2. What can you bring to the job?
This is interviewing 101. If you don't get a permutation of this question, you probably had an absence seizure!
To approach this question you need to know the answer. What does the department want? What does it need? How do my attributes, expertise or interests fill or support this gap? How do I find the answers to these? To that end - make a time to meet with the director and ask, point blank, these questions. Then ask all the stakeholders of the department. Seems like overkill, but this dance is so much bigger than the fellowship exam, so invest time in preparing for it!
It may seem daunting, but having this insight gives you the ability to wax lyrical about your attributes in the context of the department you're applying for...and that's the key to ticking the boxes, being memorable to the interviewers, and getting a job!
3. An administrative question
You're a FACEM and at least 25% of your FTE will be clinical support (as per ACEM guidelines), not to mention how much of your 'clinical' time is spent on administrative procedures! An administrative question enables layered responses from what understanding the candidate has of the system and how they can manage it. Most recruitment teams will acknowledge the FACEM as 'at standard' for the clinical aspects of the job, and what they really want is to recruit for the non clinical aspects. So have some ideas in terms of the immediate situation, the department, the town/city, the state and the country!
4. An awareness question
This question often crops up, seeking and understanding of your engagement with the emergency profession. It could be something like 'where do you see ED as a profession in 5 years?' or 'what is the responsibility of ED in terms of bullying and harassment?'
Make sure you have the facts for the latest issues and controversies facing FACEMS at large.
The other non clinical question that often crops up includes medical education and research - so have ideas how you might address them too!
