How long should answers be during residency interviews?

[resident12]

My answers are usually about 2-3 minutes when answering questions like why this residency, why this program, why did you choose this field, tell me about yourself, etc.

But, I read some SDN posts that say your answer should be brief, like a minutes or so.

Please advise.

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[Law2Doc]

My answers are usually about 2-3 minutes when answering questions like why this residency, why this program, why did you choose this field, tell me about yourself, etc.

But, I read some SDN posts that say your answer should be brief, like a minutes or so.

Please advise.

People who say "be brief" tend to do poorly in interviews. This is not a cross exam where you need to not say too much. Your goal is to have a nice discussion and be able to pitch yourself. So you need to talk, put on a good showing. if you don't say a lot, to an interviewer the half hour can be like pulling teeth. They don't want you to just answer the questions asked in short answers. They WANT you to do most of the talking, in most cases. Their questions are more vehicles to get you talking and less about actually caring what the answers are.

 

[Top Gun]

Your answers should be long enough to engage the interviewer, but not long-winded. Basically, it should be like a normal conversation. Whenever I interview, I just try to relax and be myself.