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  • Reflecting on questions you’re confident answering and which ones you feel less confident responding to – focus your energy on questions you are less confident responding to.

  • Research the school(s) you are interviewing with to understand the number of stations, time between each station, time in each station, past station types and other interview conventions.

  • Learn about your prospective field including scope of practice, key priorities, and issues through podcasts, documentaries, articles and books.

  • Prepare stories, reflections and anecdotes related to the program competencies.

  • Familiarize yourself with question types and possible answer structures.

  • Practice according to known interview logistics. Consider practicing on your own, with a friend, family member, co-worker or a member of the Centre for Career Development team until you feel comfortable and confident.

  • Start your own practice group or join one organized through a club.

  • Attend the Professional School Interview preparation workshops and MMI simulations through Centre for Career Development.

Tips for interviews

  • Interview accommodations

  • STAR

  • PESTLE

  • SPIKES

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What is the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI)?

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Examples:

  • How have you tested your motivation to work in this profession?

  • Tell me about yourself.

  • What’s a contribution to the community you’re proud of?

  • What do you do for fun?

How do I prepare for a general interview question?

Reflect on your experiences, growth, and motivation for the profession Review possible questions online and practice responding according to your interview’s known conventions.

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titleGeneral questions

General interview questions ask about your goals, characteristics, fit with the program, past experiences and coping skills.

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What is a behaviour-based question? It is an interview question that prompts
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titleBehaviour-based questions

Behaviour-based questions are interview questions that prompt you for a specific time when you used a skill or dealt with a situation in the past.

It combines a prompt for one specific example (e.g. “tell me about a time when”) with a skill you need or situation you will face in your program or profession (e.g. “you had to communicate complex information”). [call out box]

Examples:

  • Tell me about a time when you had to communicate complex information. How did you do it?

  • Describe a situation when you took on too much and couldn’t accomplish everything.

How do I prepare for a behaviour-based question?

To help prepare for behaviour-based questions: Review relevant frameworks, skills and competencies essential to your prospective profession. Identify related personal experiences to start building your library of experiences you want to pull from in your responses. Consider reflecting on: What you did Why you did what you did What options you considered What you learned from the experience How you would handle things differently in hindsight.

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STAR approach

The “STAR Approach” (Development Dimensions International, n.d.) is a useful technique for answering behaviour-based questions:

  • Situation: Provide background and context

  • Task: Describe what you needed to do

  • Action: Explain what actions you took and how you did it

  • Result: Describe the outcomes of your actions

Learn more tips about using the “STAR approach”.

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titleDifficult conversations

Difficult conversation questions will prompt you to share how you would deliver bad news or handle an uncomfortable conversation.

Examples: How would you communicate a cancer diagnosis to a 65-year-old patient? If you hit another vehicle with your car, what would you say to the other driver?

Difficult conversation questions provide an opportunity to demonstrate your interpersonal communication. You will be evaluated on how well you demonstrate your skill set, rather than on solving the problem.

How do I prepare for a difficult conversation question?

If you find frameworks helpful to structure your responses:

  • practice with friends, family and peers so you feel comfortable in an interview

  • review frameworks for sharing bad news. (e.g., SPIKES model and effective listening strategies for uncomfortable conversations).

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SPIKES model (Sandrick, K.1998)

The SPIKES model for delivering bad news was developed by Robert Buckman, MD, Associate Professor of Medical Oncology, University of Toronto and modified from the original version.

  • Setting  - where you as healthcare professional sit in relation to patient/family members; create best physical circumstances

  • Perception  - why here today: as you know we have done some tests; ask before tell to get patient’s understanding of medical situation

  • Invitation  - how much does the patient want to know? e.g. “how would you like me to provide information about your test results?” Some prefer the big picture and some prefer every small detail; let patient ask questions

  • Knowledge - (physician tells “bad” news: don’t tell them they have cancer immediately — use “tumour” first; did I answer your questions?

  • Empathy  - listen for and identify emotions of patient and identify cause, validate patient’s feelings and expressions, offer resources and other support

  • Summary - summarize discussion

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titleCritical thinking and ethical questions

Critical thinking and ethical questions are designed to let the interviewer see how you think as you walk through a complex problem that doesn’t have a clear answer.

Examples:

  • Should Canada have presumed consent for organ donation?

  • You are a student working in a free clinic. After reviewing the scheduling for the day, you notice some appointment times are double-booked. Discuss the scheduling with the receptionist.

How do I prepare for an ethical or critical thinking question?

Ethical and critical thinking questions can be complex. There are various ways to prepare for these types of questions. You might:

  • Identify how you like to work through a problem

  • Review common ethical scenarios in your field

  • Search for critical thinking/ethical questions and practice responding out loud in a structured way

While responding to ethical or critical thinking questions, it may be helpful to:

  • Summarize the question in your own words to help the interviewer understand your sense of the question

  • Identify missing information or state assumptions or note the key issue to narrow the scope of the question

  • Structure the response to systemically work through the factors and perspectives

  • Incorporate information from other sources when applicable (personal experiences, articles, class content)

  • Propose a new initiative, training or information gathering mechanism that could improve your suggested solution

  • Summarize your response with a clear decision

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Ways to organize your response to ethical and critical thinking questions

PESTLE model (Wood, n.d.)

  • Political: government interventions, tax considerations and policy initiatives

  • Economic: cost in time and money

  • Social:cultural considerations, health consciousness, population growth and social determinants

  • Technological: R&D activities, automation and innovation

  • Legal:legal implications

  • Environmental/Ethical: weather, climate change, tourism and/or ethical considerations

CARVE model, developed by Eric H. Gampel (McClean, 2019)

  • Consequences: what are the potential consequences of the solution?

  • Autonomy: how fully does the solution preserve the right to choose?

  • Rights: how does the solution affect the rights of the stakeholders?

  • Values: how well does the solution uphold personal or organizational values?

  • Equality: how well does the solution promote equality? Is the solution just?

ABCDE model (Levine, 1994)

  • Autonomy: how fully does the solution preserve the right to choose?

  • Beneficence: does the solution provide the greatest benefit to the affected parties?

  • Confidentiality:how well are principles of confidentiality preserved by the solution?

  • Do no harm: how well is the principle of do no harm upheld by the solution?

  • Equality, Equity or Justice (justice): how well does the solution promote equality/equity? Is the solution just?