Fall is a critical time of year for many medical students and residents🍁.
Fourth year medical students are submitting residency applications, while those nearing the end of their residency training are hunting for jobs🩺.
Needless to say, there is a lot of interviewing going on.
Over the next few editions of Sunday Morning Rounds, we'll be discussing several critical aspects of interviewing and tips for success.
This week, let's start with a few general tips to elevate your interview🤨, regardless of where you are in life or what you're applying for:
- Exude a positive attitude. From the minute you step into the office/hospital/campus etc., the interview has already started. Be kind and courteous to EVERYONE...you never know who might be watching or who knows who👀. Walk and sit with confidence, meet handshakes with a firm grip and strong eye contact🤝, and smile to display positivity when listening to/answering questions. Practicing this body language and non-verbal communication ahead of time will go a long way in accelerating your performance on interview day🚀.
- Load up your elevator speech. One of the first questions you will almost certainly receive during an interview is "Tell me about yourself". Now that you can anticipate this question, there's no need to fumble around with it! Have a few engaging talking points to introduce the interviewer to who you are💁🏻. We'll discuss this in more detail next week (spoiler much?😜)
- Be an active listener. It can be easy to go on autopilot a little bit during an interview or get distracted by emotions like anxiety😰. Make a concerted effort to actively listen to the interviewer and use that non-verbal communication from earlier to convey your interest. Active listening not only lets the interviewer know that you care👂but can also identify some important topics that you might have questions about or that you could use to highlight your strengths during the conversation💪🏿.
- Ask questions that matter to you. There is almost always time at the end of an interview for you to ask questions. Use it! Come prepared with a list of questions that matter to you. This could be something like workplace culture🙌🏽, opportunities for growth📈, or salary💵 (but approach this one very carefully). Avoid asking cliche questions or declining to ask questions all together...this could make the interviewer believe you aren't as interested in the position as they initially thought🙅🏼♀️.
- Establish a timeline for timeline for responses. As stressful as an interview can be, the waiting game afterwards can be just as if not more stressful🕑. Save yourself some anguish by asking your interviewer when you should expect to hear back regarding a decision🤔. This may also provide smart tidbits of information such as how many other people have yet to be interviewed, or if you are the first (or last) interviewee for the position.
Good luck to everyone on the interview trail!🍀
❓Questions to ask during your interview: If you are currently interviewing for residency, click here to watch my video on some useful questions to ask on interview day!
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