“Not another question bank or course…” you might think. That’s where you’re wrong. We’re trying to do things differently at stinterview.com. This piece explains our philosophy, and why we believe we’re doing better and helping more people on their path to landing their dream specialty jobs.
It’s so competitive. It’s impossible.
One of the first things that people often say when you tell them you’re going for a London job in surgery, or an ophthalmology number is… “it’s competitive, good luck.” Whilst luck plays a role, we believe you can build systems and structures to make yourself lucky. Think about it this way, you want to create a world and an environment that in 1000 parallel universes, you get the job you want 999 times.
The interesting thing about this is if you’ve come from the uber-competitive and sometimes cut-through environment of medical school is that often this brings connotations of… winning prizes (Duke Elder anyone?), presenting at international conferences, discovering a new molecule, having PhD’s… you name it.
However the fact is most of us who started stinterview.com didn’t have PhDs. I had 1 publication. I simply did the work, and was consistent. I started early, focused on high-yield questions that came up, and gave myself the best shot of success. Most people on the other side are just regular people who’ve put in place frameworks for practice.
What we’re not
Do we have the number 1 ranked candidate?
Do you get a useless piece of paper at the end?
Do we have some fancy “AI enabled learning algorithm”?
Do we have the most stations of any question bank?
No and no, no, and we’re working on it.
But what you will get is high quality, relevant stations in a format we’ve iterated on with a live-cohort all of last year (thank you guys for all the feedback, and congrats to those who got in). We speak to people who’ve just done the new virtual interviews, scour the web for interview updates, and genuinely take joy in “finding” new colleagues. We’ve structured it in a way that wasn’t the most convenient for us, but what would work for solo or group practice.
Don’t just wing it
The whole premise of stinterview is to give you the content, structure, and accountability to reap the benefits of consistent, early and focused practice. Our question banks aim to focus on the most high yield topics.
When you first sign up, you get a starter set of stations that’s plenty to get your started. As a subscriber, you also get access to free mock-interview workshops. These are where you are paired with a fellow subscriber (Someone who is equally trying their hardest to get in!!) and you both do a station you’ve not seen before.
Think about how much better you will be after
1 – Constantly being put on the spot with someone unfamiliar
2 – The accountability of committing to these interviews up front
3 – Seeing how it is on the examiner’s side
Democratizing high quality interview prep
We started with a mission to help people get in to their dream specialty jobs, and do this in an accessible and cheap way. So many of the people we’ve helped now work with us, and it’s a blessing to be able to give back. We wanted to make something that empowers people by rewarding those with the focus and foresight with the resources to land their dream jobs.
Hopefully you think joining the cohort is enjoyable as well. Sign up, come to all the work shops, and give it your best shot this year.