ST4 Interview Questions

The interviews for entry into ST4 training are a common source of anxiety for core trainees, and many people have asked what sort of questions to expect on the day. While they can ask you pretty much anything, there tend to be recurrent themes that come up that allow the interviewers to gauge what you’re like as a trainee, colleague and person in general that gives them an idea as to whether you’d be someone they’d enjoy working with.

Of course, you don’t want your answers to sound completely scripted, but it’s helpful to have a bit of framework in advance that you can apply to specific types of question, to allow you to sound more confident and prepared on the day.

Here are a list of common interview questions that we’ve compiled – you could try writing out a couple of bullet points for each so you know at least vaguely how you’d approach the question if it were to come up.

What are you most proud of in your career so far?

What are your ambitions for your future career?

Please explain a time you felt out of your depth, and how you managed it?

Tell me about a time you performed well as a leader

Describe an occasion when you had to deal with stress, and how you managed it

What do you think will be your greatest challenge as an anaesthetic trainee?

Tell me about a time you had to apologise

What is burnout, and why do you think anaesthetists are affected?

Should anaesthetists be ‘perioperative physicians’?

Who should lead a cardiac arrest?

What will you contribute to the training programme?