I think the same as another person mentioned of how a 25 minute interview can determine if the applicant is a good fit. Especially if the interview is one where you ask them questions and not have questions asked to you...
I would take into account two things
That threw me off, but in the end, the "warm" interviewers I liked ended up being really harsh in terms of supervision when I landed there for internship. It's honestly a crap shoot. Some folks come across cold because it's one staff member interviewing you who isn't going to be interacting with you regularly, etc. so that's hard to judge or they're just tired of interviewing so they sound mechanical, but would be more interpersonal if they got to know you on internship. Something to keep in mind. I don't know that putting a lot of energy into that aspect is honestly that helpful or indicative of the environment there. In my case, it definitely wasn't.
With performance based interviewing (at sites like VAs, for example), interviewers may be trying to be unemotional and “standardized” with how they ask questions. So it may not be reflective of their actual interpersonal style. I met a number of people who I knew were super supportive of interns and very invested in training that came off coldish in an interview. But it was part of the process for them. In a way, I appreciated the less biased approach because it can unduly influence outcomes if applicants they favor (for whatever reason) get a more friendly interview than others. But I also see how it is so hard to gauge how they might be in supervision, for example, based on that. I learned a lot from how they talked about their past experiences (one TD described in detail the exciting things a former intern from a couple years ago had done and that showed me that she truly cared about the person and cherished what they accomplished in their time at the site).
That’s what is throwing me off so hard about a site I love but the interview made me feel not good. The lack of expression as well as the amount of questions being thrown at you sucks. I don’t know if I should even factor that into my decision making.
I had a similar experience when I applied at one site. The interview day was structured oddly and some of the interviewers were interpersonally off-putting. Multiple other interviewees that day and some others I met during later interviews also appeared to have similar reactions.
I had one that was 20 minutes long... I’m pretty sure they had already decided who they were ranking prior to the interview.
Group interviews were the worst! “Why should we choose you instead of them?” Asked in a group format was not a good experience. I did not enjoy being interviewed by interns at one site prior to my interview with the faculty.
I wouldn't look too much into this at all. I'm just complimentary generally as an interviewer.
Agreed. There is also still a VERY clear power differential in favor of the site. As much as we like to think we have some power as interviewees in choice, it’s still very much a site choosing you (or not choosing you). Certainly you rank them as well, but it’s not an egalitarian process at all.
Interesting. How do you know that? I thought it’s 50/50, and in only certain circumstances student’s choice may prevail.
I meant in the sense that students are interviewed by sites and the onus is on them to appear as attractive candidates, not necessarily the other way around. Internship sites have many applicants to choose from, so they’re not in a position where they need to “sell” themselves whereas interviewees are in a more vulnerable position. Hence my opinion that it’s inherently not egalitarian. You don’t get to ask all the questions and pose them first, choose which sites to interview yourself, etc. they choose YOU for interviews and beyond based on a large pool of applicants—or not at all. Interviewees don’t get that same choice; they do pick sites they like, but they have to just hope the site finds their application worthy of the next step in the process.
I believe the statistics do take the tracks into account, because you’re still ranking a separate number (that just happens to be part of the same site). That’s my understanding anyway.
