Tips for Completing Your Interviews

Estimated Read time: 2 minutes

Now that you’ve prepared for your interviews, it’s time to discuss recommendations for responding to appropriate interview questions, provide examples of inappropriate interview questions, and present recommendations for what to do if you get asked inappropriate interview questions.

Responding to Questions

Consider the following “Dos” and “Don’ts” when responding to interview questions.

Dos	Don’ts
Use clinical and nonclinical experiences in your responses, as appropriate. Provide detailed and specific examples and try to avoid speaking in generalities. Typically, one strong example is better than several weak or tangential examples. Provide a complete response to each question. In general, when responding to: Behavioral questions, share past experiences using the STAR format described in the “How to Prepare – Virtual or In-Person” section by discussing the situation or task you encountered, the actions you took, the outcome of your actions, and what you learned. Situational questions, discuss the actions you should take, why you should take those actions, and what you would expect the result of your actions to be.	Do not provide patient information that could be used separately or in combination to identify a patient, such as names, locations, diagnoses, or other distinguishing characteristics. Refer to a patient as “the patient.” If your response may portray a colleague in a negative light, do not provide information that could be used separately or in combination to identify that colleague, such as a name, title, location, or other distinguishing characteristic.

Dos

Don’ts

Use clinical and nonclinical experiences in your responses, as appropriate.
Provide detailed and specific examples and try to avoid speaking in generalities. Typically, one strong example is better than several weak or tangential examples.
Provide a complete response to each question. In general, when responding to:
- Behavioral questions, share past experiences using the STAR format described in the “How to Prepare – Virtual or In-Person” section by discussing the situation or task you encountered, the actions you took, the outcome of your actions, and what you learned.
- Situational questions, discuss the actions you should take, why you should take those actions, and what you would expect the result of your actions to be.

Do not provide patient information that could be used separately or in combination to identify a patient, such as names, locations, diagnoses, or other distinguishing characteristics. Refer to a patient as “the patient.”
If your response may portray a colleague in a negative light, do not provide information that could be used separately or in combination to identify that colleague, such as a name, title, location, or other distinguishing characteristic.