Talking about career goals in an interview

[reverieinvictus]

A couple of common interview questions I've gotten are "where do you see yourself in 10 years" or "what are you career goals" and other questions similar to those. I'm interested in medical education in the future, and I usually say that I'd like to join residency faculty and teach residents and medical students. I've also been saying that I would ideally like to become an APD or a PD further down the line. Is it okay to talk about wanting to be a PD or APD? I don't want it to seem like I'm gunning for their jobs!

I have a few more interviews left, and I want to make sure that it's fine to say that.

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[Law2Doc]

The question is asked to see if you've thought about the career longterm and IMHO is actually most useful in flushing out those people with only a superficial knowledge or interest in medicine. If you say you want to be a PD, you need to be prepared to talk about an academic career and how you expect to lay the groundwork for that. I personally would look at this question more as a generic what kind of role you see yourself in in medicine and then throw in that that's what you hope to be maximizing in ten years. But if you lay out a specific job you may be asked how you'll get there.

 

[gutonc]

I personally would look at this question more as a generic what kind of role you see yourself in in medicine and then throw in that that's what you hope to be maximizing in ten years. But if you lay out a specific job you may be asked how you'll get there.

This is important. If you have a specific goal in mind, you need to be able to lay out a rational plan for how you think you would get there. It doesn't have to be right, or even necessarily practical, but it needs to be logical. And you also need to understand what being a PD entails. Again, okay to not know everything, but you need to have some idea.

If I were you, I'd probably say something vague about wanting to get into academic administration and leave it at that.

 

[reverieinvictus]

Thanks Law2Doc and gutonc! That definitely helps. I'll be more careful about my answer next time and just basically say that I'm interested in a career in academics/medical education without going into too much details.

 

[Raryn]

I basically talked about how much I love teaching and how important it is to participate in the training of future physicians and want to end up in at least a semi-academic job. That's enough detail for them to understand you want to be like them.

(As an aside, if you hate teaching or research, probably not the best thing to talk about how much you want to do it for the rest of your life... Don't blatantly lie, or you'll end up in a program where you will hate the expectations you've set yourself up for)

 

[chronicidal]

This is important. If you have a specific goal in mind, you need to be able to lay out a rational plan for how you think you would get there. It doesn't have to be right, or even necessarily practical, but it needs to be logical. And you also need to understand what being a PD entails. Again, okay to not know everything, but you need to have some idea.

If I were you, I'd probably say something vague about wanting to get into academic administration and leave it at that.

Or you can be super specific to show that you know what you're talking about.

-serve on the ACGME RC for specialty
-serve on NRMP board
-serve on specialty society's education committee
-be chief resident
-interview applicants
-befriend the program coordinator
-conduct research on some hot topic in resident education
-create educational resources for fellow residents in your program
-present educational exhibits at your specialty society conference
-edit textbook chapter
-obtain academic job on clinician-educator track
-obtain master's in education

 

[Frederica]

I'm working on a master's in adult education as doctors, and other healthcare professionals, are not taught how to teach and I would like to help with that at my institution. I recommend that if you do want to be an educator, you learn how to be a great one. Role modeling can be a tool, but I also recommend additional education, or reading education journals, e.g. Academic Medicine, Medical Education, or Journal of Graduate Medical Education. These are all great resources.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I read the thread title as "Talking about career goats in an interview". Personally, I think that's a brilliant idea. Let's ask @Zweihander.

 

[Law2Doc]

Or you can be super specific to show that you know what you're talking about.

-befriend the program coordinator
...

It would sound a bit creepy if someone said one of their career goals was to befriend the PC...

 

[ThoracicGuy]

It would sound a bit creepy if someone said one of their career goals was to befriend the PC...

What if she was hot and single???

 

[Zweihander]

I read the thread title as "Talking about career goats in an interview". Personally, I think that's a brilliant idea. Let's ask @Zweihander.