by Michelle Snowden, Executive Recruiter, Radiation Oncology

During an interview, even though the employer has your resume, the interviewer will often have you walk them through your clinical qualifications.  Know in advance what that employer uses and what they may be installing in the next year so you don’t spend 10 minutes talking about how much experience you have working with Eclipse when they use ADAC.

Whether you are a new graduate or have 20 years of experience, know your equipment and software qualifications like the back of your hand.

Physicists: 

Have a good idea of the some of the following:

• Number of monthly/annual QA’s you perform on a regular basis for linacs
• IMRT QA, HDR, and commissioning experience 

Specifically if you have less than 2 years of clinical experience try to keep track of concrete numbers.  ie: I have conducted or assisted with 15 monthly QA’s and 2 annual QA’s on Varian/Siemens/Elekta linacs, etc.

Dosimetrists: 

• Know the types of treatment planning systems you have worked with and approximate time on each. 
• If you work with IMRT, be able to state that ___% of your patients are 3D and ___% are IMRT plans. 
• If you know this employer does a lot of head and neck or prostate be able to tell them that you do 15 per month. 

Radiation Therapists:

• Know the linacs and R&V systems you have used, including version. 
• Know all Radiation Therapy technology with which you have experience. 

*More of your interview may be spent assessing your people skills.

If you are applying to a facility with a different planning system, linac or R&V system than you have used in the past, then tell them about what you have worked with and let them know you are a quick study and that you would love the opportunity to work with their technology.  You can tell them about the last time you learned to use a new piece of equipment of software (if you caught on easily).  Do not discount familiarity you gained from courses you took to learn about the system they use.

The most important part of any interview is to be prepared.  You can find more tips on the Deacon Recruiting website under “Career Tips”.