For 2021 ST3 orthopaedic specialty selection will use validated self assessment of portfolios and a single online 30 minute interview with three-six interviewers asking structured questions and scoring over a series of domains.

Interviews will be conducted using Microsoft Teams.

Interestingly Ortho Interview was started following the change from regional ST3 selection which used a single 30-minute interview held locally where candidates were grilled across clinical, motivational and situational questions and domains.

Our Thoughts

The single interview offers less chance to differentiate between candidates and more chance for an error to affect your overall score. Online technique is also very different from that of in-person and the 30-minute interviews will likely be quick-fire questions which push you to work under pressure.

The good news is that the person specification has not changed and the domains scored against will be the same. In essence you can expect similar questions to those of the clinical station, portfolio station and list planning station to probe your clinical knowledge, commitment and personal skills and academic ability.

Any change also offers much more opportunity for well-prepared candidates to shine. Regardless of the medium the questions and your answer still require significant preparation in order to score highly and get your first choice job.

At OI we're committed to helping the best candidates get their first choice jobs.

We have updated our award-winning Knowledge Course to focus on online technique in addition to all of the core clinical, motivational and situational knowledge required. This course will be delivered in-person as well as online.

We have also moved our Mock Interview Course online for 2021 to most accurately recreate the stress and environment of the actual interviews. We will be providing candidates with 2 group mock interviews and 1 personalised 1-1 mock interview before the 2021 online interview to ensure you gain the most points possible and get your first choice job.

As always our award-winning online questions bank has been updated with the latest questions matched against the person specification.

Further Info