Radiology Interview

Clinical Radiology Training Training is a five-year run-through programme which provides comprehensive training in diagnostic radiology. The training programme also encompasses interventional radiology training which currently has a small number of dedicated run-through posts but can also be entered via internal re-application after the third year. Training in interventional radiology extends training to six years in total.

Application to Clinical Radiology Training is via a national recruitment process on a website called Oriel. Typically there is only one recruitment round with application opening in late October.

When you submit your application you will be asked to provide a self-assessment score based on your portfolio. There are 7 domains, with various points to be scored for each:

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  Commitment to Specialty

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  Leadership and Management

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  Teaching & Training

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  Formal Teaching Qualifications

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  Audit & Quality Improvement

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  Academic Achievements

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  Prizes & Awards

This score will be verified by submission of evidence after interview offers have been sent out.

To obtain an interview, candidates must score highly in the Mutli-Specialty Recruitment Assessment (MSRA). You will be invited to sit this exam after you apply. Interviews are allocated after results are available with a cut-off score set based on the performance of all applicants. If you do not reach the cut-off score you will not be offered an interview.

Interviews take place virtually over a 4 day period. There will be two examiners and a lay representative (who will keep time but not speak). As of 2024, the interview process has changed. It now consists of 2 stations (10 minutes each) where the following domains will be assessed:

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  Commitment to specialty

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  Communication skills

Nationwide job preferencing will open after the interview but before interview scores are released.

The interview score is combined with the MSRA score and your portfolio score (in a ratio of 50:20:30) to provide a total application score that will form the basis of your ranking compared with other applicants. The higher you rank, the more likely you will receive your first choice job. You should note that the total score is weighed significantly in favour of the interview.

We have worked with doctors who have scored highly in applications to generate an extensive online interview question bank covering a range of scenarios that you may encounter on the day across each station.

Our question bank will give you plenty of opportunities to read model answers and to learn the structures and frameworks you need to navigate the tough questions you may face at interview.

Alongside our written knowledge library, we have also developed a number of instructive videos showcasing model answers so you can see how a top-performing candidate might perform face to face.

We also spoke to top-performing doctors who have been through the interview process and asked them for any other preparation tips, and this is what they suggested:

Do your research

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  Use your taster weeks to talk to consultants and trainees about their experience in radiology - what was good, what is bad, what do they think about their training? Write this information down so that you can bring it up in the interview if needed.

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  Read about radiology on the Royal College of Radiologists website. Particularly read the latest workforce census and their pages ont eh future of radiology.

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  Read around "hot topics" in radiology including arteficial intelligence, skills mix and the workforce crisis.

Plan a strategy and leave plenty of time

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  You should approach an interview like preparing for an exam

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  Don't leave everything to the last minute

Buddy up with a friend or someone who has been through it and get them to do mock interviews

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  It's helpful to try to do this with someone more senior or someone you know less well, to replicate the anxiety you may face of having to perform at interview

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  Put yourself out there and be uncomfortable - it's okay to make mistakes when practising

Come up with solid structures

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  It's useful to go through Quesmed's example videos and written content as it will allow you to see patterns in how best to approach any given question style

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  This will allow you to think on your feet if the question asked on the day is not the exact same one that you prepared

Make a list of every possible question you could be asked and write the model answers down, personalised to you

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  Practise makes perfect - rehearse those answers until it's second nature

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  Remember to try and link your experiences and achievements back to why this may make you better at your chosen career path

Speak to those around you and learn from their experience of the interview

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  Sometimes, questions that you may have never thought would be asked have come up in the past

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  Learn from the mistakes that others have made around you