I was going to post about the job interviews we held yesterday. Interesting experience being on the "other" side of the desk, as an interviewer. We were two, plus our practice manager who was along to help thrash out the finer points of contracts, pay scales and the like. We just wanted to get the cut of the candidate's gib as it were.
We are quite new to this having had a stable complement of docs at the surgery for more than a decade. Also we are looking to appoint two half time job-shares this time around which is, for us, uncharted territory. So enter Drs J and Neighbour, like an unholy pairing of George Dixon and Harry Callahan.
Our victims fell into two broad types, power dressed and confident ("Grey" women) or power dressed and timid ("Beige" women). The determinant seemingly being the choice of suit colour. All had impressive CVs. Enough to make me feel more than a bit inadequate in some cases, (till I dug out my old CV and had a bit of a chuckle: "Represented Muggleton Hospital at football" = three games played by the A&E docs against the nurses-- except that for the last game they drafted in all the porters and their husbands and we got thrashed so that was the end of that..... ).
One of the "Greys" got the gig and seemed quite happy so we shall have to see how this bold experiment works out.* So the only question that remains to be answered is which cop you think I was?
Hold on a minute, I hear you cry. You promised us sheep. We're sure you did. They're even in the title, look, just up there....
And so they are. It will not have escaped your notice that the surgery is in a leafy shire county. Borsetshire to be "exact". I've whittered on about the drive to work before. Leafy lanes and wildlife in abundance. Well after spending a large part of yesterday interviewing it rather ate in to my admin time. But today is Lady J's day off and she had "things to do" in town, so she opted to take the big-red-bus and drive the kids in to school this morning. "So you can have the nippy car, go in early and shift the paperwork before surgery..."
Which was lovely. Until I got to within a mile or so of the surgery and hit a tailback. Which is something we just don't have on my morning "commute". As the massive line of cars (at least five ahead of mine!) snaked around the corner the reason became apparent. One man, two border collies rushing about like exocets, and around a gazillion sheep (well more than a hundred anyway-- I may have dozed off momentarily mid count, as is to be expected). They were expertly herded down the lane and round the corner in a matter of ten minutes or so, but somehow after that I didn't have the heart to race in to surgery Colin McCrea style any more, so I wasn't quite as early in as I'd hoped.
If only I'd had my magnum handy......
*In case you were wondering we appointed the first half of the Job-Share a while ago to an old friend of the practice so we know that part will be fine.
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8 comments:
And where you the good cop or the bad cop
boy-- I kinda thought the Magnum reference at the end would do it, depending of course on your view of what makes a cop "good" I suppose.
wendz-- heaven forefend. I am a man of peace. Still a few rounds blatted off skywards might have got them mooving with a little more purpose, though the collies were doing fairly well I suppose. Sorry to say Magnum didn't do much for me. His car was good though.
*so much for my sojourn on the feminine side*
And did you say "tell me your greatest strengths and weaknesses"? It's always struck me as odd how many candidates don't have a ready answer to the "weaknesses" given that this is the oldest question in the book.
What's a "good weakness" for a GP? "I'm ridiculously over-conscientious" doesn't count as a "weakness" anymore; been over-used.
"I can't stop myself buying chocolate digestives and leaving them around all the time"?
wendz-- for now she's making do with the big red bus driven me ;-)
potentilla-- how clever of you to discern that GPland runs on a staple of industrila strength coffee ( or tea for some weirdoes) and chocolate digestives / hob nobs :-)
Oh, and we didn't go for the "strengths and weaknesses" instead opting for "where will you be in five years time" and "what would you be if you weren't a doc". Answers may yet appear in another post, but off for the weekend to a huge family do, so not right now....
(word verification apparently branching out to include klingon today-- vkkdh indeed. I'm sure he used to cross swords with Captain Kirk!)
Not clever, I learned it from Dr Crippen.
Do "weaknesses" next time, it's much more fun to listen to than "5 years' time" for which everyone has an answer but it's always either so vague as to be largely devoid of meaning ("in a fulfilling and stretching job"), or annoyongly pushy ("I'll have your job"). Or maybe in your case you actually wanted to hear "still doing part-time here" or "NOT still doing part-time here"?
Have a good do. lmqsb
There is only one decent and acceptable answer to the "weakness" question....
smile coyly and say "I'm sure if you asked my wife* (*insert appropriate appendage) this question she would have a ready answer for as I am sure I must have some, it's just that I am not personally aware of them"
Well, it beats saying "do you think I'm stupid enough to tell you my bad points at an interview?"
Steve
Potentilla-- we had a very good one thankyou. may post more later.
steveg-- interesting tack, and if any of the young ladies in question has suggested we ask their wives it would certainly have got our attention ;-)
sooz-- they are distracting aren't they. These specimens weer not exactly crossing the road, more filling it. And they had to be driven roughly half a mile to the next gate. Not so bad for those of us following on, but a bit of a scare for oncoming traffic. Still I agree it's quite nice to be forcibly slowed down by real real life once in a while.
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