Personal qualities

Here’s a list of some of the main skills

What do personal qualities questions assess? they will assess:
They assess what you are like as a person, the skills and qualities you have and your strengths and
Communication skills
weaknesses. They usually expect this through a reflection of a point in your life where you utilised Teamwork
those skills perhaps in your work experience or volunteering or other parts of your life. This is Leadership
important because there’s a range of different skills needed to become a good doctor. Empathy
Organisation and time management
Resilience
How should you prepare for personal quality questions?
Teaching
Make a table with all of the common skills and qualities and reflect on when you have seen it, how Conflict resolution
you have developed it yourself and why is it important in Medicine/ Dentistry? Problem solving
Build a bank of these experiences and develop it over time, with in depth reflections. Role of responsibility
Research what some of those common skills include such as what attributes make up those skills.
Extra tips:
Top tip: Task for you:
Know what your strengths and
Link everything back to yourself Complete the table with the main
weaknesses are! For weakness talk skills above + any other
and why it’s important in
Medicine/ Dentistry! about how you will overcome it situations/ skills

Why is it important in Medicine/

Skill/ Quality How is it shown When you have seen it How you have shown it
Dentistry

Seen in my work exp, when I saw a doctor

Verbal communication: good eye
Communication
contact, nodding, changing tone of
voice, active listening.
calm down an anxious patient. The Dr
adapted their verbal and non-verbal
communication by using a softer tone,
using words of reassurance and it helped
the patient feel more calmer.
I have developed communication Every patient is different, and you need
skills when volunteering at a care to adjust and tailor your communication
home. I talked to an anxious to them. It’s important for building trust
patient and helped him feel calmer. and rapport with patients.

Teamwork

Leadership
 What is good communication?
When you think about communication, it’s both speaking and
listening. Remember the importance of non-verbal cues like tone,
pace, and body language (like mirroring and gestures). Share the
little things you do in your communication. For instance, I like to
mirror the patient's body language to make them feel
comfortable and use a soft tone to show I care. It helps them
open up during consultations, sharing information they might not
have otherwise. This is important in healthcare where you’re
working with your multidisciplinary team and patients, as it helps
to build trust and develop your relationships. Book our top-rated
interview sessions to know how to apply this in real life– we'll get
you ready for everything! 😊
What is good teamwork?
Working collaboratively is important to avoid errors, reduce
workload and building trust. As a doctor, you can’t do
everything alone and you would be working with different Secret tip🫢: Read GMC
healthcare teams. Giving the time to listen to others, take in domains of good medical
practice document to learn
their ideas, voicing out your own ideas, giving constructive
about why as a doctor these
criticism for others to improve would go a long way to skills are important . For
building a good relationship between your team members. dentists read the GDC
Remember that each role in the healthcare team is very standards document!!
Also know about the 6 NHS
important and you shouldn’t downplay any role as they have Core values
their own responsibilities. Note: Nurse/Physician vs Doctor is
quite a popular theme and requires careful answers so DM us
to know about how to tackle them!

How to approach personal quality What is good leadership?

questions: skills edition
Leadership is the ability to guide and
For questions whenever you are asked to talk about a time when you inspire others towards a common goal or
displayed a certain skill, follow the structure of:
vision. A good leader possesses several
State the skill and what it consists of.
important characteristics.
A specific scenario where you demonstrated the skill. Be specific for
HOW you demonstrated it. A good leader possesses a clear vision,
What impact did this have on the situation? communicates effectively by actively
Link it to medicine/ dentistry, why is this skill important? listening to team members and provides
In the last bit reflect so why is that skill actually important/ what did clear information and feedback. They also
you learn from the experience/ scenario set a positive example to others. A leader
has a role of responsibility for others in the
This is the ideal interview answer structure to follow, which is why we said team, and will take initiative to resolve
to fill in a table with the skills and qualities, so you have a big bank of
conflicts too.
situations for every skill! .
STARR : Gibbs reflective cycle
Task:
Situation: What happened? Give a brief summary. Use this structure for
Task: What was the task at hand and what was the end goal? reflecting on certain
situations, especially when you
Action: What did you do? Why did you do it?
made a mistake, problem
Result: What happened as a result of your actions? How did it impact others? solving and resolving conflicts
Reflection: What have you learnt from this? Did this situation change your views
of something? What can you do differently next time

Tasks for you:

Answer these questions for the different skills using the structures we have given.
Ask someone to ask you the questions/ record yourself answering. Make sure to
speak for 3 minutes. Then go over your feedback. If you want to arrange some
sessions with us DM on insta!

Give an example of when you dealt with a challenge.

What does good communication mean to you?
What is a good leader?
Tell me about a time when you showed good team working skills
Tell me about a time when you dealt with a mistake
Tell me about a time when you had a teaching role.
What is your strength?
What is your weakness?
Reflection is so important as a healthcare
What are some qualities of a good doctor? professional. Doing this helps you to be a
How do you stay organised? better doctor/ dentist, because you can think
What motivates you to pursue a career in medicine?
about how to deal with situations better and
How do you handle stress and pressure in challenging situations?
How do you handle conflict or difficult interactions? learn from certain situations. It’s all part of the
Describe a situation where you demonstrated excellent communication skills. lifelong learning aspect of a medical/ dental
What qualities do you believe are important in building relationships with career, you can learn from so many different
patients?
situations! And interviewers want to see that
How do you maintain a good work-life balance?
Describe a situation where you demonstrated empathy and compassion you have this characteristic, so the best way
How do you cope with failure? to show this is by adding a line or two about
your reflections in your answers.