Best Things to Say in a Medical Assistant Job Interview

You’re all dressed up, you’ve got your medical assisting degree from the Allen School in your portfolio, along with your well-conceived resume and personal references.  You’re about to sit down with the hiring manager for a large healthcare provider to interview for a position in their organization.   This can be a very stressful activity, especially if the interviewer throws you a few curve ball questions.  Most people aren’t naturally comfortable in this situation, but you needn’t be worried.  If you’re properly prepared, you’ll do just fine. Part of the preparation process for doing well in a live interview situation is knowing what to expect.  The Allen School blog has covered “what to expect” in the interviewing process fairly regularly in past posts like this and this.  Today though, we’re going to examine the five best things to say when in a job interview.  Catherine Conlan contributed the source article for this list to job search website, Monster.com.  You can read the whole piece here.  But to digest it, here’s the list of the five top things you should say in an interview.

“I’m flexible” lets the interviewer know you’re easy to work with and a team player.

“That’s a good question” gives you a little time to think of an appropriate answer when the interviewer throws you an unexpected query.

Reasons why you want the job – Always have thoughtful responses ready to answer this type of question.  Your answer should include some discussion of how you want to grow within the hiring organization.

The company’s own words – an excellent tip, it is always worthwhile to read how the hiring organization talks about its business on the company website.  If you can, align your responses with the company’s viewpoint, tone and attitude.  Even use phrases they use in the language on their website.

Well-thought out questions – All interviewers typically end with asking you if you have any questions.  Avoid questions about salary, benefits, vacation here.  Rather, focus on questions about the job, the responsibilities, the pathway to advancement etc.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the relevance (or perhaps the lack thereof) of the resume as a tool for job searching.   The recent discussion centers around the idea that the automation of human resources and recruiting functions – along with the prevalence of online career sites – has rendered the lowly, paper-based resume irrelevant.  It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume this were true; but is it? If you’re a graduate of the Allen School’s medical billing programs online (or any of the ground school programs too like nursing assistant education) you have some solid educational credentials to display.  Whether you’re just hitting the job market as a freshly minted graduate, or you’ve been leveraging your degree for years and are seeking the next position along your career path, you should know that the venerable old resume is still very much a part of the process of landing a job. However, things have indeed changed with respect to how recruiters and HR people do their jobs.   The role of the resume has indeed undergone something of a change.  Whereas it used to be the first line of attack to get you in the door, today, that function has been taken over by online processes.  LinkedIn profiles, job boards like Monster.com and many other services have become the first line of attack to get a recruiter or HR person interested.   However, once you’ve landed that initial interview, it is absolutely imperative that one has a solid, paper resume to hand to the interviewer. If you’re not up to speed on the “new normal” for job hunting in the Internet age and the new role for the resume, you should check out this good article from Yahoo on this very subject.

Listen up those of you finishing up your medical billing courses or medical assistant program with Allen School.  You’re at the threshold of a new career and a new life.  Some of you may even be considering taking your newly minted certification and moving to a new locale to start a new career and life.  If that describes you, then check out the following information. The United Health Foundation, American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention collaborated to produce a report identifying the top 10 healthiest states to live in and the top 10 least healthy states to live in.  According to report producers, “Rankings are based on a number of criteria, including premature death, infant mortality, preventable hospitalizations, high school graduation rate, violent crime, health insurance, child poverty, obesity, diabetes, physical activity and immunizations.” The top 10 healthiest states? Hawaii, Vermont, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Utah, Connecticut, Colorado, North Dakota and New Jersey. The top 10 least healthy? Indiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Michigan So now you just need to decide if you want to live in a state that’s healthy so you enjoy a healthful quality of life – or – if you want to live in an unhealthy state where there is guaranteed to be higher demand for the health care worker such as yourself. Or, you might be wise and choose to live in New Jersey, and work in neighboring CT to get the benefits of both!