Amy Wiggins & Natalie Smith, Careers and Employability Service Pharmacy
Dec 28, 2015
Amy Wiggins & Natalie Smith, Careers and Employability Service
Pharmacy
What we will be covering:
• What the Careers and Employability Service can offer you
• CV and cover letter re-cap
• Interview skills
• Personal details (name, address, telephone, email)
• Education (start with most recent first)• Relevant experience/work
experience
• Other information (skills/interests/achievements)
• References (one academic, one work experience or ‘available on request’)
• No more than two sides
Paragraph 1: Introduction
Paragraph 2: Why community/hospital pharmacy? Why
one over the other?
Paragraph 3: Why that particular pharmacy/hospital?
Show your research.
Paragraph 4: Why you? What skills and knowledge can you
bring to the pharmacy/hospital. You can bring in your
experience and any relevant modules here if you wish
Paragraph 5: Conclusion
Yours sincerely/faithfully
Read the question, then re-read and highlight the relevant points. Once you have finished your answer, check that you have answered each section of the question
Always put your answers in Word first, as not all application forms will spell check (and you can save your answers)
Use the word limit as a guide to how much you should write
Keep in mind the qualities the employer are looking for
Be familiar with the employer website
Re-read employer information
Remind yourself why you find this employer attractive
Read a quality weekend newspaper
How does this relate to pharmacy?
Read a pharmacy related publication.
Read about the requirements for Pre-Reg.
Interview questions may be:▪ Hypothetical (what would you do if…)▪ Competency based (describe a situation where
you…)▪ ‘Traditional’ interview questions (tell me about
yourself)
In your answers, keep in mind the skills the employer will be looking for.
Be honest.
Why are you applying to us?
Why have you chosen Pharmacy?
What makes you suitable for this placement/job?
What have you got out of University?
What are your strengths & weaknesses?
What do you do in your spare time? What do you get out of it?
Describe a situation where you had to .....
show leadership make a difficult decision overcome a difficult obstacle refuse to compromise work with others to solve a problem
What would you do differently?
For questions where you are asked to ‘explain a time when…’, it is useful to use the STAR approach:
Situation – set the scene
Task - what needed to be done/achieved?
Action - this should take up about 80% of the answer, what action did YOU take?
Result - this is the ‘proof’ that you succeeded, try and give evidence such as statistics if possible
Get into pairs, decide who is the interviewer and who is the candidate
Interview question: Give me an example of a situation where you have had to refuse to compromise
Interviewer – take notes identifying whether the answer uses the STAR approach (Situation, Task, Action, Result)
You have 5 minutes
5 minutes
End
What would you do if an irate customer complained about the length of time they had been waiting?
What would you do if someone asked you to sell them 40 paracetamol tablets?
What would you do if a person became aggressive when talking to you?
Used precisely because it's impossible to work out your answer beforehand.
Tests your ability to think quickly, logically, produce practical solutions.
Don't panic! Take a few seconds to think - this shows confidence.
There may be many possible solutions.
Ask for some thinking time
Tell them you would need to research the answer
Ask if you can come back to that question later
Allow yourself not to know the answer – “I’m afraid I don’t know” is better than waffle!
Keep the answer short if you are operating at the edge of your comfort zone
Keep calm, even if you feel that everything is going badly
Don’t be put off by silences while the interviewer makes notes
Be aware of your body language
Shake hands warmly, but wait to be invited to sit down.
SmileTry to relax - don’t sit on the edge
of your chair, but don’t slouch.Speak clearly and not too fastDon’t fidgetKeep up good eye contact with the
interviewer
Body language at interviews
Get back into your pairs and switch interviewers/candidate roles
Interview question: What would you do if an irate customer complained about the length of time they had been waiting?
Interviewer – take notes regarding the candidate’s body language. Are they relaxed/do they keep eye contact etc.?
You have 5 minutes
5 minutes
End
Will I have a mentor in the workplace?
How many people work in the team?
Will I have to travel as part of this placement/job?
What do you think are the issues your pharmacy is facing in the current climate?