This is a special 3 part email series. If you missed yesterday’s, we discussed why geography ISN’T the most important benefit of securing your consultant job. You read it here.

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I grew up in Glasgow.

Which might sound pretty cool, but I was NOT one of the cool kids.

I was in the Debating Society and was ALWAYS in the chorus in the school musical. I think you get the picture.

It was a rugby school and it was full of smart people.

In spite of being a Debating Nerd, I coped well.

I made it through unscathed and slid straight into medicine. Not sure I gave the career much consideration at the time, but there you go.

I, like a lot of people I knew, was curious. I enjoyed medicine. I wanted to discuss and debate issues.

But I rarely engaged at medical school.

I’d sit shiftily in class, keep my head down, and look forward to the end of the lecture.

There was no point. I just wanted to enjoy myself, and I was never going to be great at medicine. People were way louder and smarter than me.

(Don't get me started on my ability to understand Biochemistry).

My fellow Med Students were people who seemed to have it all.

And you know what Reader?

This is precisely what’s happening in the world of Consultant Interviews.

There’re a lot of smart, interesting, excellent candidates out there who are being drowned out because they see themselves as outsiders.

Much like my med school, most attention seems to go to the insiders.

And you’re left wondering if there’s any point in trying to apply for jobs when there's clearly a favourite for the post (and it's not you).

After all, you might spend weeks prepping and just crumble on the day.

Yet other people seem not at all stressed and just breeze through it.

But here’s the truth:

Being 'the favourite' is no longer enough.

Often the situation is not what you think it is.

And anyway, it's a level playing field on the day.

Your performance is much more important that any notion of who's the favourite.

"It's not going to be me..."

"They've got more experience…"

"I'll probably mess it up anyway…"

Not only is this kind of chat incredibly unhelpful, it's total nonsense.

Once you start talking yourself up, your performance will skyrocket.

But if you want to slice through the noise, you can’t compete by trying to be exactly like them.

Because you don’t rise above the crowd by copying them.

You rise above by being different.

So tomorrow, I’ll share why being your true self is an advantage if you take the right approach. Because there’s a reason people will choose to you over your competition.

Even if you’re not the person in the locum post.

Talk then,

Tessa

P.S. You might be thinking, ‘oh, this is easy for you to say because you have a substantive job’.

And you’d be right.

There’s a reason I don’t worry about competition any more. I’ve adopted the same interview prep philosophy over the past few years and people are beginning to catch on. I’ll explain more in tomorrow’s email.

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