Who has most influence in the selection of candidates?

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Hello everyone,

I had three questions that hopefully someone with lots of experience will be able to answer:
1) Which individuals form the interview panel?
2) Is the interview panel as a whole that makes the ultimate decision of selection or is it one specific individual?
3) Who is the most influential person in the decision making of selection? If more than one person is most influential, a ranking would be great : )

I am assuming that these questions are valid for general and plastic surgery equally.

I would like to thank you guys in advance for your help and I apologise for such a post but as an IMG I have noone I can ask.

Originally Posted by franceschino

Hello everyone,

I had three questions that hopefully someone with lots of experience will be able to answer:
1) Which individuals form the interview panel?
2) Is the interview panel as a whole that makes the ultimate decision of selection or is it one specific individual?
3) Who is the most influential person in the decision making of selection? If more than one person is most influential, a ranking would be great : )

I am assuming that these questions are valid for general and plastic surgery equally.

I would like to thank you guys in advance for your help and I apologise for such a post but as an IMG I have noone I can ask.

In general, the chief/chair of the division/department makes the rank list. That person may assign minor or major importance to the interview process. Where I trained, the applicants were essentially ranked before the interview process began. This ranking was based on their paper application and heavily influenced by letters of recommendation, and how they did on the visiting rotation.

From speaking to my peers over the years, I have gathered that most programs are like this. The chief/chairman will listen to others' input, and if there is a strong general consensus that an applicant is bad or good, this will be noted. But in general, the list is made by the top dog.

Ours worked somewhat similarly.

The "interview panel" was made up of several faculty members, including the Chair and the PD, and representatives from each year of residency starting at Pgy-2.

While there may have been a loose ranking prior to interview, we did engage in formal ranking sessions on every candidate, with all of us putting our thoughts in writing and scoring on a LIkert type scale.

Finally, ranking came down to PD and Chair, sometimes in spite of what the faculty thought.

My field is neurosurgery, and we have so few residents incoming every year, making sure we get the right candidate is of course very important. I think whats key for us is making sure we get someone that fits in well with the rest of the program. Therefore I think we place a heavy emphasis on the interviews as well as performance on rotations at our program. There is a preliminary rank meeting at the end of the interview days to rank everyone interviewed that day. And then one bigger meeting before submitting the rank list to discuss all the applicants. Final rank list is made by the chairman and our program director.

Wow! Your replies were so helpful and informative.
Thank you so much!!!

Originally Posted by Winged Scapula

Finally, ranking came down to PD and Chair

This is mostly how our program works. The chair interviews almost every applicant, and the PD makes the first draft of the rank list. Then there's a big meeting where applicants get shuffled around based on other people's impressions.

Originally Posted by TheProwler

This is mostly how our program works. The chair interviews almost every applicant, and the PD makes the first draft of the rank list. Then there's a big meeting where applicants get shuffled around based on other people's impressions.

And after the meeting, I'm sure the PD submits the list he wants.

Originally Posted by doc05

And after the meeting, I'm sure the PD submits the list he wants.

Okay.