2018-2019 Postdoc Interview Thread

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Boise VAMC
PTSD Track
Personalized email - 1/26
Skype interview- gave a specific date/time but stated they could be flexible
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Savannah Behavioral Pediatrics
Invite 1/24
Personal Email
Phone Call and then Skype or In-Person
 
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For those who haven’t heard back from James Haley VA..I got an email that said I am still under consideration, but was not invited for the 1st round of interview which are currently happening.
 
jas1009 said:
I'm currently waiting on the Eastern Colorado health track rejection...:thumbdown:
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Have you heard anything yet? I emailed them over a week ago asking if my health psych application is still under consideration and they haven’t even responded yet.
 
Lotus143 said:
Have you heard anything yet? I emailed them over a week ago asking if my health psych application is still under consideration and they haven’t even responded yet.
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Nope, not a thing. I had emailed the training director asking a question about applying weeks before the app deadline and she never emailed me back to answer my question. So at this point I’m just taking the cold shoulder as a rejection and moving on. A courtesy email with a rejection would be some nice closure though.
 
Still no word from Bay Pines VA to anyone?
 
anyone hear back from Hines VA LGBT mental health track?
 
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kennilapug said:
Still no word from Bay Pines VA to anyone?
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No, I haven't heard anything either. I even sent an email on Thursday asking when to anticipate an updated status on my application and have not heard a response.
 
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Question about following-up with a site to check my application status:

I submitted my application on the deadline (early in December) and received a confirmation e-mail. 4 weeks later, after not having heard anything, I sent an e-mail requesting a status update. I was told that they hadn't made any decisions and that they would get back to me as soon as they had. It's now been two weeks since I received that e-mail, and two of the sites I've interviewed at have told me that they'll be making offers during the first or second week of February. I have another interview this upcoming week and one final interview the following week.

At this point I can't imagine that they're still considering me for an interview because it surely has not taken them nearly 2 months to review my application, so I imagine that they've already interviewed people and have either chosen not to interview me or have still not decided. Would it be appropriate for me to request a status update for the second time? I'm worried that if I don't say anything I will potentially receive offers from other sites without even having interviewed at this one, and if I'm out of the running then I would really like to know now so that I don't have to keep worrying about this. Thoughts?
 
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Parabolas said:
Question about following-up with a site to check my application status:

I submitted my application on the deadline (early in December) and received a confirmation e-mail. 4 weeks later, after not having heard anything, I sent an e-mail requesting a status update. I was told that they hadn't made any decisions and that they would get back to me as soon as they had. It's now been two weeks since I received that e-mail, and two of the sites I've interviewed at have told me that they'll be making offers during the first or second week of February. I have another interview this upcoming week and one final interview the following week.

At this point I can't imagine that they're still considering me for an interview because it surely has not taken them nearly 2 months to review my application, so I imagine that they've already interviewed people and have either chosen not to interview me or have still not decided. Would it be appropriate for me to request a status update for the second time? I'm worried that if I don't say anything I will potentially receive offers from other sites without even having interviewed at this one, and if I'm out of the running then I would really like to know now so that I don't have to keep worrying about this. Thoughts?
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- I don't think it hurts to respectfully ask again.

- Also, if they're one of your top choices, you could just wait till you have an actual offer and then tell them that so they they have to tell you whether you're their top choice.
 
Mike Tyson said:
- I don't think it hurts to respectfully ask again.

- Also, if they're one of your top choices, you could just wait till you have an actual offer and then tell them that so they they have to tell you whether you're their top choice.
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Unfortunately the two sites that I've already interviewed at (which I feel that I am very competitive for) have said that they'll only give 1-2 days of decision time after making their offers (which will come next week or the week after). So if I were to wait until that point to contact this one site (assuming they don't contact me in the meantime) then I would essentially be asking the site to make me an offer without even having met me.

Anyway, I do think that I'll ask for an update tomorrow. Seems reasonable to me.
 
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postdochopeful said:
I haven't, but given that last year they didn't send out rejections and sent invites in the 2nd week of January, I'm taking that as a rejection.
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Thanks, you're probably right. You'd think that if we go to all this trouble to put an application together the least they could do is let us know we aren't being considered. I still haven't heard from 4 of the sites I applied to but am taking those as rejections at this point. I understand that places likely get a lot of applications but I feel like its just common courtesy!
 
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psychgrl131 said:
Thanks, you're probably right. You'd think that if we go to all this trouble to put an application together the least they could do is let us know we aren't being considered. I still haven't heard from 4 of the sites I applied to but am taking those as rejections at this point. I understand that places likely get a lot of applications but I feel like its just common courtesy!
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I still have 11 I haven't heard from; I'm really hoping that not all those are rejections :(
 
Has anyone heard from the Milwaukee VA or the Hines VA for neuro?
 
Cambridge Health Alliance, Adolescent Risk/Violence Prevention Track Rejection - Mass Email - Jan 26
 
Bay Pines VA (PTSD/Women’s Health)
Phone call - 1/29
In person interview - one specific date and time given
 
Long time lurker here! Question about the reciprocal offer process:
Would it be acceptable to *attempt* to request a reciprocal offer from a site that you are scheduled to interview with but you have not yet done so....and won't interview for another 2 weeks?
 
jamtxn said:
Long time lurker here! Question about the reciprocal offer process:
Would it be acceptable to *attempt* to request a reciprocal offer from a site that you are scheduled to interview with but you have not yet done so....and won't interview for another 2 weeks?
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I second this! Two of my sites will make offers next week before I even interview at some of the others. I don't think there's much that can be done, but just wondering how people are planning to handle this kind of situation.
 
Parabolas said:
I second this! Two of my sites will make offers next week before I even interview at some of the others. I don't think there's much that can be done, but just wondering how people are planning to handle this kind of situation.
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I had my idea of how to handle the situation if an offer was made after I completed all (or most) of my interviews but I still have 4/6 left. I just think it would be very awkward (even borderline inappropriate??) to request a site to make an offer before interviewing me?
 
jamtxn said:
I had my idea of how to handle the situation if an offer was made after I completed all (or most) of my interviews but I still have 4/6 left. I just think it would be very awkward (even borderline inappropriate??) to request a site to make an offer before interviewing me?
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Yeah, I mean it's not like they can give us any kind of meaningful answer if they haven't even met us. Unfortunately I think we'll need to just take make our decision based on the existing offer with the assumption that we won't match at the other sites. My worst fear would be turning down an offer only to not receive any more.
 
Parabolas said:
Yeah, I mean it's not like they can give us any kind of meaningful answer if they haven't even met us. Unfortunately I think we'll need to just take make our decision based on the existing offer with the assumption that we won't match at the other sites. My worst fear would be turning down an offer only to not receive any more.
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Depends. We generally have a rank list set before interviews even start. Interviews can move the needle sometimes, but the top 1-2 choices almost always remain the same from pre-rank to interview.
 
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WisNeuro said:
Depends. We generally have a rank list set before interviews even start. Interviews can move the needle sometimes, but the top 1-2 choices almost always remain the same from pre-rank to interview.
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Interesting, so in a situation where I have received an offer from one site and I contact a second site that hasn't even met me, would it be fair to ask them my standing?
 
jamtxn said:
Would it be acceptable to *attempt* to request a reciprocal offer from a site that you are scheduled to interview with but you have not yet done so....and won't interview for another 2 weeks?
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Yes, I think it's acceptable to contact a site even if you haven't yet interviewed. This happened to me during the postdoc process. After receiving an offer from site A I called site B (where I hadn't yet interviewed) and let them know I had an offer. They were unable to move up the interview process but did tell me I was a strong applicant. I choose to accept A's offer rather than reject and risk no postdoc. Interestingly, a similar scenario played out during the job search.
 
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WisNeuro said:
Depends. We generally have a rank list set before interviews even start. Interviews can move the needle sometimes, but the top 1-2 choices almost always remain the same from pre-rank to interview.
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This is definitely helpful to know and does allay some of my concerns about contacting a site to gauge their thoughts on the strength of my application.
 
calimich said:
Yes, I think it's acceptable to contact a site even if you haven't yet interviewed. This happened to me during the postdoc process. After receiving an offer from site A I called site B (where I hadn't yet interviewed) and let them know I had an offer. They were unable to move up the interview process but did tell me I was a strong applicant. I choose to accept A's offer rather than reject and risk no postdoc. Interestingly, a similar scenario played out during the job search.
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Thank you! Any regrets?
 
Parabolas said:
Interesting, so in a situation where I have received an offer from one site and I contact a second site that hasn't even met me, would it be fair to ask them my standing?
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You can. Some sites rank interviews with more weight, and may not be able to say anything. But, never hurts to ask.
 
jamtxn said:
Thank you! Any regrets?
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No regrets, but they were different paths to same end goal (tt faculty position). Postdoc A was clinically focused (got my hours for licensure, but had to find extra time to research & write). Postdoc B was research focused (would have had to find a way to accrue clinical hours). I was advised by multiple mentors to take the clinical experience since "finding" time for clinical work during a research postdoc would be harder than finding time to research/write during a clinical postdoc. I also thought it I didn't find a faculty job after the clinical postdoc I would consider applying for research postdocs.
 
Has anyone gotten a reject from Hines VA for their PTSD track? I am still waiting lol.
 
i'm still waiting to hear back from a few.. including one that seems to have sent notifications out.
 
I received a phone call yesterday from Henry Ford Neuro asking why I haven't signed up for an interview time... apparently I was not included in the mass e-mail that was previously sent. Now I can't help but wonder the same thing about the 5 others I'm still waiting on... :thinking: Is it over yet??
 
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mbneuro124 said:
I received a phone call yesterday from Henry Ford Neuro asking why I haven't signed up for an interview time... apparently I was not included in the mass e-mail that was previously sent. Now I can't help but wonder the same thing about the 5 others I'm still waiting on... :thinking: Is it over yet??
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Which ones are you still missing?
 
NeuroBlue said:
Which ones are you still missing?
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Minneapolis VA
St. Louis VA
Milwaukee VA
Vanderbilt
UAB Neurology (I did see someone post they received an invite, so I'm assuming this is rejection for now)
 
mbneuro124 said:
Minneapolis VA
St. Louis VA
Milwaukee VA
Vanderbilt
UAB Neurology (I did see someone post they received an invite, so I'm assuming this is rejection for now)
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Don’t know anything about any of those. :/
 
University of Georgia CAPS
Phone Call
Invite
Interviews via Skype; contact admin asst to schedule
 
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Anyone heard from JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute?
 
University of San Francisco (USF) CAPS
1/31
Personal Email
Invite
Interviews in person or via Zoom; 2/12 and 2/15

I assumed this was a rejection since their notification date was 1/19...
 
Northwestern University CAPS
Mass email 1/31/18
Rejection
 
CPMC
2/1
Mass Email
Rejection

I was expecting this one...
 
berkyberk said:
Anyone heard from JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute?
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I reached out on Monday just to confirm whether they received my application because I never got a confirmation email and they said that the director is still reviewing applications.
 
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