Consultant interviews - Pre-shortlisting visits

Should you bother?

The short answer is "yes", for two reasons:

1. It makes no sense to apply for a consultant post if you don't know what the job entails and what you are letting yourself in for. Of course, you have most likely read the job description and person specification, but these are often vague, sometimes misleading and in any case only provide a representation of what the job will be in the first few months but not in the longer term. It is therefore important that you establish for yourself the detail you need to decide whether you actually want to apply. The information you will gather will also be useful to tailor your answers to the consultant application to the post.
    
2. Some departments may decide to shortlist only those who have demonstrated an interest in the post by having visited before, or at least called. This is more likely to happen in larger specialties such as anaesthetics where they could be a lot applicants per post (up to 100 for some posts) and where Trusts have to find ways of cutting down their shortlisting workload. So you must get your name on that list!

Who you should see

The purpose of this visit is to find out more details about the job and a little bit about the Trust in order to detemine whether you actually fancy applying and to tailor your answers to the consultant application form to the specifics of the job. At that stage, you should therefore restrict your contacts to the clinical director and/or the unit manager, perhaps including also one of the key consultants. The best approach is to contact the clinical director's secretary and to ask who would be available to talk to you.

If you cannot physically attend a meeting with any of these people, then you ought to organise a telephone conversation to make sure that you do get the information that you require.

What you should ask

At this stage, there is no need to ask loads of fancy questions about the Trust's strategy and other political issues. You need to keep some questions in reserve for the pre-interview visits that you will organise once you have been shortlisted. Ask yourself: "What do I need to know to make sure that this is a job that I want to apply for?". This may include questions such as:

• General: What are the departments medium and long term goals?
• General: Is the job description a long term representation of the post? How is it likely to change after one year?
• Clinical: The job description contains "flexible sessions". What are they likely to entail?
• General: What are the expectations of the department in relation to SPAs?
• Clinical: I have trained in <special interest> which is clearly a requirement for the post. What are the plans to develop the service in relation to that interest?
• Clinical: I have training in <special interest> which is not clearly stated in the job description. What would be the opportunities to make use of that aspect of my training in the short and medium term? (Only ask this question if you are worried about losing the value of your training and at risk of deskilling in an area that matters to you)
• Research: The job description mentions that candidates will be "expected to play an active role in developing the research interests of the department". What does this mean in practice? (This is to check whether you will simply be expected to recruit a few patients for clinical trials, or will actually be expected to initiate and lead your own projects).
• Teaching: The job description mentions that there will be teaching commitments relating to rotating trainees and medical students. Other than the expected informal trainees, what are the opportunities to get involved in teaching at a more formal level?
• Teaching/Research: One of my toughts/ambitions is to gain further qualifications in teaching/research, such as <name the degree>. What are the department's thoughts on this and what level of support would I be receiving for that?
• Management: During the course of my training I have developed an interest in management; for example I have been involved in <name a small handful of projects>. What are the opportunities to become actively involved in management? Does the Trust have a mentorship program? What support is provided to new consultants to develop their management skills and clinical leadership abilities?

There are obviously many more questions you could ask depending on the responsibilities set out in the job description; but at this stage, keep it fairly generic. Whatever you ask, do not mention money, holiday/time off, or private practice - basically anything that would show that you are interested in anything else but that job.  

What if you can't do a pre-shortlisting visit?

If you cannot, for one reason or another, do a pre-shortlisting visit, you should at least contact the clinical director or head of department to enquire about the job. A phone call may be enough. This will ensure that your name is on the list and will, in many cases, constitute a good compromise. Most intelligent people will recognise that it is not practical for everyone to visit but, similarly, will hold you in higher esteem if you demonstrate some interest in the job that is being advertised.

I heard about canvassing. What is it?

Many candidates are concerned about doing pre-shortlisting visits because they have been told (or have read) that the Trust does not allow canvassing. Canvassing is essentially a situation whereby you approach members of the panel with the view to sell yourself and encourage them to consider your application more thoroughly. This is not to be confused with a simple pre-shortlisting visit where you limit yourself to enquiring about the detail of the post to which you are applying. In particular, during a pre-shortlisting visit, you should avoid imposing that they should take a look at your CV (although there is no harm in taking your CV with you in case they ask for it). It is more acceptable however to bring your CV for a pre-interview visit (i.e. once shortlisting has taken place).