Final Interview Tips & Tricks
Our last minute guidance on how to nail the interview and a good luck message from all of us at RadCast
Wow, what a week!
Doing some quick maths, we’ve provided over 76.5 hours of 1-to-1 interview practice with candidates over the course of this week. And man, are we shattered. But, we’re not done just yet, and we look forward to giving more personalised interview support to the candidates booked in over the next few days. But this email isn’t about us, it’s about you. As the interviews begin tomorrow, *internally screams in panic*, we want to outline what last-minute support we can give you guys so you can absolutely SMASH the interview.
Interview Format 2022
For those of you that haven’t received the outline of the interview format this year, please, please, please email the recruitment leads and flag it up. You should have received this and your MS Teams interview link by now (please check your spam folder). So if you haven’t, get an email to them ASAP. Remember, it’s YOUR job to chase these things. Trust us, you don’t want some stupid clerical error to ruin all the hard work you’ve done to get to this point.
But, us being your friendly neighbourhood radiologists, we’ve managed to secure the document they’re sending out (hehe). Most of it is gibberish but the important bit is the structure of the interview this year. Reassuringly, it’s identical to the interview format last year. If you’re not sure what that was, we’ve summarised it below:
Part A - Commitment To Specialty - 2 Minutes
Part B - Coping With Pressure And Managing Uncertainty - 5 Minutes
Part C - Team Involvement - 5 Minutes
Part D - Attributes & Skills - 2 Minutes
You will also have 1 minute to then add any additional information to support your application.
As you can see, little to no change from last year and that is a win for you guys (especially those of you that have been practising with us). Whilst there is no real means of going over every interview tip in this letter to you guys, me (Muhammad), Jamie and Uzoma have each provided our top interview tips below based on what we’ve seen doing the 1-to-1 sessions for the last 2 weeks or so.
Uzoma - it’s not about the narrative, its about the skills you demonstrate (mic drop).
Now this is an absolute banger of a statement. Why? Well because your answers aren’t meant to be a shopping list of your skills and successes. Rather, it’s how you weave that narrative together of your achievements helping you develop the attributes required to be a radiologist.
Me (Muhammad) - there are no unique reasons to do radiology, but there are unique experiences (strokes long white beard).
In a nutshell, when outlining why you want to do radiology, don’t focus on trying to think of original reasons to do the specialty. Trust us, we’ve heard it all before. Rather, focus on linking your reasons to do radiology with your own experiences in order to distinguish yourself from other candidates. Also whilst you may be coming into radiology just to make that sweet, sweet moolah (which means cash if you’re not fluent in gangster rap), please avoid saying this as a reason to come into radiology.
Jamie - structure, structure, structure! Stick to your structure, cut out the waffle and you’ll look slick as ****.
Think Jamie’s point is pretty self-explanatory but the structure of your answers acts as the foundation for you to rely upon in the interview. This is particularly true as the interview nerves kick in and your perception of time seems to get warped. But remember, never deviate from the structure! It’ll save your ass throughout the interview and make sure you answer the question being asked.
So yeah, those are our top tips. We know you’ve got this. Remember, do what you can and then just end the interview politely and go enjoy the rest of your day.
Additional Spots
My wife hates all of you. Genuinely she does. Since we began doing these interviews, I’ve not seen her once. Actually, I’m not even sure she’s still in the flat. Anyhow, putting my martial issues aside, we’ve tried our hardest to increase our capacity. With the remaining days left, we’ve been able to provisionally identify 4 additional slots for 1-to-1 interview practice on the:
21st February at 6pm
21st February at 9pm
22nd February at 7pm
22nd February at 8pm
Now, these are premium interview slots as we already have prior existing arrangements on those dates and times. But if you want to get more information about booking onto these slots, please send as an email via the button below. Remember, the slots will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. After these slots, we have no more. Like genuinely, zero.
Access Our Radiology Interview Top Tips Webinar
If you’re not able to book into a 1-to-1 slot with us and are getting sick of receiving shit feedback from your mirror, then why not check out radiology interview top tips webinar? In this 45-minute webinar, we’ve condensed our 4 years of experience in supporting candidates get their training number in radiology and provide an overview of the common mistakes candidates make in their radiology interviews and our top techniques on how to smash your radiology interview. Now, it isn’t as personalised as our 1-to-1 interview sessions but hey, it’s much better than getting the silent treatment from the mirror. Trust us, it’ll help you put those final touches to your interview performance meaning you hopefully go into the real thing with your interview technique on fleek. So, sign up via the link below.
You Can Never Have Enough CRAC
We’ve spoken to a few candidates over the last few weeks who are struggling to think of a structure for the new ethical scenarios and the new skills/attributes based questions. Often, they’re having to Google it or are reading really shitty books (you know which one we’re talking about). But why? Why rely on resources that are generic and not focused on radiology? Remember, you’re applying for a job in radiology, so your answers need to bring it back to the specialty. Instead of wasting your precious time, just sit back, sip your tea/coffee/matcha (if you’re fancy like Jamie) and watch our bespoke modules on these exact topics. But there’s so much more. 56 modules more in fact. Trust us, we wish we had this resource when we applied back in the day. In fact, that’s why we made it. So you guys don’t have to run around (virtually) like headless chickens. So, if you’re interested, sign up by clicking the button below.
Final Words
Around this time, it always becomes bittersweet for us at RadCast. For most of you, we’ve been speaking to you for the last few months and hopefully, gotten to know a lot of you. It has been awesome to see you guys go from strength-to-strength and get so far in your journey. But it isn’t over just yet. Your interview is the last hurdle before you can call it a day. Don’t falter now. Don’t get complacent. Don’t give up. Remember, preparing for the interview is not like the BS that is the MSRA. An hour of interview prep is a LOT. So use your time effectively!
Once again, to all of you, we wish you all the best with your interviews. We hope you guys absolutely nail it and do yourself proud. But whatever the outcome is, we are immensely proud of each and every one of you. I’m not trying to be overly emotional here but genuinely, we are. As always, our inbox is open for each and every one of you. Just get in touch via hello@radcast.co.uk.
So, good luck, good night and may the force be with you. Always.
From Muhammad, Jamie and Uzoma
p.s. if you’re reading this oh darling wife of mine, please come back x