By: Ashley Oates
This year the Higher Education Network (HEN) of the California Association of Healthcare Leaders (CAHL) hosted a Case Competition on November 15th at UC Davis Aggie Square in Sacramento – an academic event centered on a case study where teams of undergraduate and graduate students compete to produce the top solution for a panel of judges. More than 38 students competed across 11 teams representing 5 schools.
Beyond the competition, participants received a unique professional development opportunity: a 2:1 coaching session with seasoned hiring managers and talent acquisition professionals from the Career Development and Transitions Committee (CDTC), ahead of their case presentation. Students were offered a resume review, as well as a brief interview to practice with the professionals and be given immediate feedback all within a 20-minute timeslot. Sounds like a lot of pressure, right? My partner and I had the privilege of coaching four students, ranging from undergraduates to career transitioners. Several recurring questions (FAQs) emerged during these sessions, which we’ve addressed below.
Do I use a Summary or an Objective?
We chose to answer this in two ways. For an early careerist, or someone entering the field for the first time with less than 2 years of experience, remember to customize your objective statement to each role you apply to. You may not need a summary if you are looking for your first role, as your experience is effectively summarized in your education section already. Stick to 1-3 lines of text.
For a transitioning careerist, use your summary and objective to tie in your transferrable skills to your advantage. If you are a clinical professional transitioning into an administrative leadership role, speak to your budgeting skills, leading or developing teams, labor bargaining, or motivating others to maintain a successful clinical improvement process. Be sure to quantify your years of experience in your brief summary, then lead into your objective to transition to leadership with your clinical foundational knowledge.
How do I anticipate the interview questions I’ll be asked?
Prepared by studying common questions in resources such as “Boost Your Interview IQ, 2nd Edition” by Carole Martin. You will certainly receive many of these time-tested questions in a formal panel interview, and it’s best to have an optimized answer already ready to go. As a tip, use the margins as a workbook for writing out your responses and even scoring them with the advice of the book on the best responses. Revisiting the basics can build confidence and help you deliver polished answers during formal panel interviews.
Which is the best example to use to answer this question?
Formulate your rolodex of responses tied directly to your resume. If you mentally prepare skill- or behavioral-based responses forged from your resume content, you will be ready to respond as soon as they share the skill they’re looking for within the question. For instance, if asked about prioritization during a busy cycle, reference a bullet point that demonstrates measurable impact—such as improving productivity by 25% through your part in deploying organizational strategies. Think of this as your feet already propped on the starting block when preparing to run a 200-meter dash.
Asking the interviewer, “Does that answer your question?”
You realize you may have rambled during your answer. Avoid this approach, as it can signal uncertainty. Putting your best foot forward by employing the “STAR” method for answering questions will ensure you’re responding efficiently, effectively, and concisely. After selecting your example, simply state the Situation, your Task to complete, the Action you took, and the Result. By speaking to each component of the STAR method, you’ll be assured you’ve answered entirely. The one caution I’ll add for this method is to not over-rehearse to the point of sounding robotic, as the goal is authenticity.
How does my resume look?
To this broad question, I will focus on the immediate first impression. When a talent acquisition professional or hiring manager is reviewing resumes (after the Applicant Tracking System [ATS] reviews for keywords, of course), your resume needs to best represent your brand, experience and approach to your work. Please use color and font judiciously – red/orange section headers can be jarring and considered a puzzling choice. Incorporate whitespace to make your resume visually appealing and easy to scan. Dense blocks of text can overwhelm readers and diminish impact.
Stay tuned for HEN’s next article, where we will dive deeper into strategies for successful career transitions.
Submit more curiosities and questions by contacting Ashley Oates at Ashley.Oates@sutterhealth.org.