Frequent complaint is “the interviewer did not read my application”
Program will try to match interviewee with both a faculty/junior faculty sharing similar birthplace, college, med school, fields of interest (in and out of medicine)
Last minute changes occur, we try for Friday distribution prior to interview week (M/W)
Look for an underlying theme linking personal statement, work experience, research, or extracurriculars; ask open-ended questions to explain
The interviewer should…
Maintain professional atmosphere in a quiet room, avoid interruptions; turn beeper over
Limit discussion to issues related to candidacy for residency position
Ask only for information necessary to make a sound decision
Use proper terminology: we interview residency “candidates” for further training, in business we interview “applicants” for variable skill sets
Identify Red Flags
Misdemeanors
Typographical errors
Gaps in education (buried in transcript or Dean’s MSPE)
Information provided on application is subject to questions
Identifying Key Words
Every school is different, interpret in quartiles or quintiles or sextuples
MSPE: Outstanding > Superior > Excellent > Very good > Good > Capable
DOM: “We will be recruiting him/her to stay at our institution”
Integrity of LOR: From researchers, mentors or family acquaintances; “in my 30 (vs 2) years’ experience”
Guiding Principles for Interview
Be time sensitive
2 interviews plus tour: 30 minutes limit/interview
Introductions
The applicant may have Google’d you (do they know you more than you know them?)
Be aware that online Residency Interview Tips on YouTube are popular this time of year
Always observe
Composure, fluidity of thoughts/language
Motivation, “fit” at BMC, Talk the talk or walk the walk?
The interviewer should…
Approach the interview as s/he would a patient encounter
Ask open-ended questions
Avoid interrupting the candidate
Use silence or pauses to encourage the candidate to speak candidly
Ask the same questions of all candidates regardless of gender or ethnicity
The interviewer should…
Focus the interview on the candidate’s expressed capabilities and attitudes in relationship to the residency or fellowship appointment
Avoid stereotyping candidates; use gender neutral terms
Try to get feel for candidate’s humility, intellectual integrity and willingness to work
Use nondiscriminatory language to identify special needs (are there any reasons you would not be able to perform expected duties?)
Areas to avoid
Although questions about social, personal or family issues may put a candidate at ease, one should not ask about age, marital status, pregnancy, family planning, number of children and childcare issues, religion, physical disabilities or race
Ask questions that the Selection Committee would need to know
Recommended questions
“Are there any current or foreseeable family obligations or health considerations that might make it difficult to work as a resident at BMC?” Open ended, can be asked of all candidates
“Are there any questions I can answer about community life outside the medical center?” Allows candidates to ask about childcare, etc.
Types of interviews
Structured
Standard panel of questions each candidate must answer
Allows us to train and standardize interaction
Less spontaneous and more formal
May put off candidates
Types of interviews
Structured
Semi-structured or unstructured
Allows the interviewer to individualize the contact
Allows more critical evaluation of weaker candidate; allows more inviting format for stronger candidates
Interviewer evaluates interviewee while interviewee is evaluating interviewer
Allows the flexibility to scrutinize or recruit the candidate
Types of Interviews
Individual (standard)
Panel
A panel of interviewers evaluates a single candidate
Tell me about your research project. Why did you choose that hypothesis?
What areas do you think you can improve on? How have you worked on them in the past?
Tell me about an interesting or inspirational patient (personal statement) and why.
Tell me about a challenging patient. What did you learn from it?
Ask about past performance
At the end of a “good day”, what makes it good?
How would you like to be remembered by your medical school?
What was your most challenging goal and how did you achieve it?
What was your most difficult decision in medical school and what influenced that decision?
Assess interpersonal skills/stress management
What kind of person has been difficult to work with, and how did you deal with it?
What do you think constitutes teamwork?
Describe an unpleasant or stressful situation in medical school and how you dealt with it.
What gets you going, what keeps you going?
What will be your biggest challenge as resident?
What barriers would keep you from coming to our program?
Assess character and personality
What single quality distinguishes you from other candidates? What should I know about you to help us decide if you were a good candidate for our program?
How have you changed over the past 4 years?
What in your life are you most proud of?
What do you like to read?
Describe your weaknesses
What are your goals during residency?
Clarify understanding
What are your 10 year goals? Your 3-5 year goals?
How would you describe the ideal physician?
Who is your role model? Whom do you emulate inside or outside of medicine?
What 4th year electives are you taking and why?
What will you like most/least during residency?
How would you change your medical school curriculum? What are its strengths?
Clarify understanding
What are your reservations about IM residency or our program specifically?
Tell me what interested you about our program today.
Can I clarify anything you heard or saw today?
Challenging questions
Ask candidates to tell you how they do something at which they are adept (e.g. cooking a dish, golf swing, jigsaw puzzle). See how well they convey information
(Ask riddles/brain teasers)
(Present challenging clinical cases)
Review notes and finalize impressions
Standard interview rating form
Objective grades/scores
Letters of references (MSPE, DOM, others)
Extracurriculars and level achieved
Volunteerism
School activism/civic duties
Research
Interview x 2
Exit interview
Review notes and finalize impressions
Quickly jot down feelings and impressions
Document concerns (Red Flags)
Document the context and who initiated if sensitive topics discussed
Document items for discussion by Selection Committee
VIP candidates, current residents’ friends/opinions
Need to be in Boston, Visa issues if not already documented
Post-Interview Communications
APDIM Statement distributed to all candidates discouraging post-interview communications
Communication for second-looks or clarification of issues is appropriate
Received communication: respond to the interviewee that you enjoyed talking to them and you wish them professional success; bcc program office.
Why review interview process?
Helps add your voice to our candidates’ application
Struggling residents had evidence of difficulties recognized in the application process
We will endorse a candidate’s application if we feel we can support him/her
Your interviewees are seeing all these questions on the internet, YouTube so be prepared! (How have you prepared for this interview?)
Present concepts
The Behavioral Interview
Behavioral interviews are based on the premise that a person's past performance at “work” is the best predictor of future performance
Interviewer asks how candidate acts and reacts in certain circumstances; how one handles a situation rather than just gathering information
Give specific "real life" examples of how candidates behaved in situations relating to the questions
Give an example of a goal you achieved and tell me how you achieved it
Future directions
Multiple Mini-Interviews
Started at McMaster University with 6-10 timed stations through which applicants rotate
Each station has a scenario, task or question
Medical schools seek to admit individuals who will make not only excellent students, but ultimately become outstanding physicians. The best physicians are those who are not simply repositories of information; they are ethical, caring professionals and excellent communicators.
The MMI was created as a potentially more effective means of assessing qualities that lie outside the realm of grades and test scores
MMI
Standard interview questions may not reveal an individual’s communication skills, problem-solving abilities, level of professionalism or other skills important for the practice of medicine.
The MMI approach uses a series of stations to assess specific skills and qualities and assigns the same interviewer to rate all applicants at a station in order to address some of the weaknesses of the standard interview format
Used at the medical school level, technique is filtering into residency programs
Ethical dilemmas or questions about policy or social issues.
The instructions describe a situation and then ask the candidate to discuss the ethical or other issues involved.
The interviewer may follow up with questions designed to probe the applicant’s response
Obamacare supports care for all over care for the individual. Discuss.
MMI stations
Standard interview questions.
An MMI may include one or more stations with traditional interview questions such as “Why did you apply to this school?” or “Describe an obstacle that you have overcome.”
A task requiring teamwork.
Since the ability to work as part of a team is essential to medicine, some stations involve two applicants working together to complete a task.
MMI stations
Essay writing.
Some schools include an essay component as part of the interview process so a station may involve responding to a prompt in writing.
This station may be longer than the others to allow for the applicant to formulate and write the response
A rest station.
An interview takes a lot of energy, since the applicant is “on” the whole time and being presented with challenging tasks at every station.
Many MMIs include a rest station. The applicant can clear their mind and get ready for the next station.
MMI stations
Interactions with an actor.
At these stations, the applicant is provided with a scenario involving an individual who is played by an actor.
The applicant may need to give the individual bad news, confront the person about a problem e.g. catching a friend cheating, or gather information
An observer present in the room will rate the applicant based on his or her interaction with the actor
Does applicant personality influence multiple mini-interview performance and medical school acceptance offers? (UC Davis)
Looked at 5 traits in 444 applicants in 2010-11 (agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, openness) undergoing MMI
Extraversion was associated with MMI performance, whereas both extraversion and agreeableness were associated with acceptance offers.
Adoption of the MMI may affect diversity in medical student personalities, with potential implications for students' professional growth, specialty distribution, and patient care.
Acad Med. 2012 Sep;87(9):1250-9
Objectives
Understand the role of the interview
Reflect on how to determine if you would like to work with that applicant (or just socialize) e.g can this applicant care for my loved one?
Familiarize yourself with interview Do’s and Don’ts
Review for the experienced and stimulate the novice
Motivational Interviewing
“...a collaborative, person-centered form of guiding to elicit and strengthen motivation for change.”
MI is a particular kind of conversation about change (counseling, therapy, consultation, method of communication)
The style of MI is calm and focuses on drawing out motivation to change from the interviewee rather than trying to force the interviewee to make positive changes
