USMLE Forum Archives - The Match & Residency - Residency I.View:Attending's Perspective
Residency I.View:Attending's Perspective
adonis123 - 10-26-10 07:33
Here is the perspective of Dr. Jessica Freedman, Former Associate Residency Director,on residency interviews:
My typical “interview day” as the associate residency director went something like this:
1.I arrived at the hospital at 7:15 AM for morning report.
2.I participated in the applicant “program presentation,” which typically lasted 90 minutes.
3.I then took the prospective residents on a 30 minute tour.
4.A “break” of about 45 minutes followed to eat lunch and review applications before starting to interview applicants, a three hour marathon.
5.Sometimes I then worked an eight hour clinical shift.
Do you get the drift? While interview days are nerveracking for applicants, for the residency leadership, especially at the end of the “season,” they are exhausting. When you go on your residency interviews, therefore, it is important to consider the attendings’ perspective, their disposition, and their overall energy level. Many applicants have a tough time thinking about their interviews in this way, but it is your job—and to your advantage–to make the interviewers’ job as easy as possible. To do this, it pays to know as much about your interviewers as possible on interview day. How can you do this?
Read about the residency and departmental leadership before your interview
Inevitably, the residency leadership (program director and associate program director) will play a large role in each interview day. Probably other departmental leadership, such as the chairperson, research director, or section director, will also interview. While you cannot anticipate people’s personalities, interview styles, or general approach to the interview day, you want to be able to recognize these individuals when you meet them and (hopefully) make a good impression since their opinions count the most in evaluating your application. Attendings in positions of leadership will likely give the preinterview program overview, a good opportunity for you to try to assess their overall approach and disposition. You should also know something about their academic interests and areas of focus in the department, which will give you an idea of what they value in applicants.
Assume your interviewer has not read your application
Even though I always intended to review every applicant’s file before I met him or her, with so much packed into my day, this sometimes didn’t happen. This was why I often started my interview with an open-ended question like “tell me about yourself.” In this way, I put the interview in the interviewee’s court, hoping to hear something interesting that I could then ask about. In any case, I encourage all applicants to approach interviews with the assumption that the interviewer has not read their file. Why? This encourages applicants to give complete answers and to convey the information they know is important about their candidacy. This also makes your interviewer’s job simpler since they can sit back and listen once they realize that everything you are saying is relevant and important.
Try to quickly assess the interviewer’s style
Every seasoned interviewer has a unique approach to interviewing and, if you pay attention, you can get a handle on this approach within the first few minutes of the interview. Is your interviewer chatty or does he prefer to listen? Does she have a structured and well-organized list of questions? If you can get a sense of your interviewer’s approach early in your interview, you can tailor your responses to “fit” that style. If your interviewer prefers a question and answer format and clearly has a well-defined list of questions, for example, don’t go off on tangents while you are speaking; answer her questions completely and allow her to go through her entire list. On the other hand, if you sense that your interviewer is more of a conversationalist, try to make segues and dialogue to promote discussion. I was definitely a conversational interviewer and found it painful when an applicant responded to my prompts with concise and nicely packaged answers that forced me to ask a series of direct questions, which contradicted my preferred style.
Smile, be personable, and make the exchange pleasant
Of course you will be nervous, but when I was fatigued at the end of a long day, it made my job easier when my interviewee had great interpersonal skills. Even though interviewers do their best to be objective, we instinctively respond to some applicants and feel lukewarm about others. And, when we are tired, interviewers tend to have less tolerance for applicants who don’t evoke an immediate positive response. In general, applicants who are enthusiastic, engaging, and interesting are appealing to almost all interviewers. And if your interviewer genuinely likes you, the exchange will be easy and your interviewer will try to make you comfortable during the interview and then advocate for you behind the scenes.
So, try to see it from the interviewer’s perspective. While you may be busy, your interviewer is probably busier (and stressed). Do everything you can to make his job easy!
adonis123 - 10-26-10 07:33
Here is the perspective of Dr. Jessica Freedman, Former Associate Residency Director,on residency interviews:
My typical “interview day” as the associate residency director went something like this:
1.I arrived at the hospital at 7:15 AM for morning report.
2.I participated in the applicant “program presentation,” which typically lasted 90 minutes.
3.I then took the prospective residents on a 30 minute tour.
4.A “break” of about 45 minutes followed to eat lunch and review applications before starting to interview applicants, a three hour marathon.
5.Sometimes I then worked an eight hour clinical shift.
Do you get the drift? While interview days are nerveracking for applicants, for the residency leadership, especially at the end of the “season,” they are exhausting. When you go on your residency interviews, therefore, it is important to consider the attendings’ perspective, their disposition, and their overall energy level. Many applicants have a tough time thinking about their interviews in this way, but it is your job—and to your advantage–to make the interviewers’ job as easy as possible. To do this, it pays to know as much about your interviewers as possible on interview day. How can you do this?
Read about the residency and departmental leadership before your interview
Inevitably, the residency leadership (program director and associate program director) will play a large role in each interview day. Probably other departmental leadership, such as the chairperson, research director, or section director, will also interview. While you cannot anticipate people’s personalities, interview styles, or general approach to the interview day, you want to be able to recognize these individuals when you meet them and (hopefully) make a good impression since their opinions count the most in evaluating your application. Attendings in positions of leadership will likely give the preinterview program overview, a good opportunity for you to try to assess their overall approach and disposition. You should also know something about their academic interests and areas of focus in the department, which will give you an idea of what they value in applicants.
Assume your interviewer has not read your application
Even though I always intended to review every applicant’s file before I met him or her, with so much packed into my day, this sometimes didn’t happen. This was why I often started my interview with an open-ended question like “tell me about yourself.” In this way, I put the interview in the interviewee’s court, hoping to hear something interesting that I could then ask about. In any case, I encourage all applicants to approach interviews with the assumption that the interviewer has not read their file. Why? This encourages applicants to give complete answers and to convey the information they know is important about their candidacy. This also makes your interviewer’s job simpler since they can sit back and listen once they realize that everything you are saying is relevant and important.
Try to quickly assess the interviewer’s style
Every seasoned interviewer has a unique approach to interviewing and, if you pay attention, you can get a handle on this approach within the first few minutes of the interview. Is your interviewer chatty or does he prefer to listen? Does she have a structured and well-organized list of questions? If you can get a sense of your interviewer’s approach early in your interview, you can tailor your responses to “fit” that style. If your interviewer prefers a question and answer format and clearly has a well-defined list of questions, for example, don’t go off on tangents while you are speaking; answer her questions completely and allow her to go through her entire list. On the other hand, if you sense that your interviewer is more of a conversationalist, try to make segues and dialogue to promote discussion. I was definitely a conversational interviewer and found it painful when an applicant responded to my prompts with concise and nicely packaged answers that forced me to ask a series of direct questions, which contradicted my preferred style.
Smile, be personable, and make the exchange pleasant
Of course you will be nervous, but when I was fatigued at the end of a long day, it made my job easier when my interviewee had great interpersonal skills. Even though interviewers do their best to be objective, we instinctively respond to some applicants and feel lukewarm about others. And, when we are tired, interviewers tend to have less tolerance for applicants who don’t evoke an immediate positive response. In general, applicants who are enthusiastic, engaging, and interesting are appealing to almost all interviewers. And if your interviewer genuinely likes you, the exchange will be easy and your interviewer will try to make you comfortable during the interview and then advocate for you behind the scenes.
So, try to see it from the interviewer’s perspective. While you may be busy, your interviewer is probably busier (and stressed). Do everything you can to make his job easy!
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