Interview/ site visit attire

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GASMAN

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Just want to know what everyone is wearing for site visit/interview? Attending jobs, not residency.

suit, tie, dress shoes the whole Wall Street look?
business casual?
Scrubs?
 
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I wore a suit to every interview, then was brought promptly to the locker room to change into scrubs every single time. No one ever gave me the nice heads up that @CD125 received.

My $0.02, even if just 1 or 2 of the partners sees you in formal attire as you’re coming or going, it helps send the message you’re serious about the opportunity. Unless they explicitly tell you otherwise.
 
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GASMAN said:
Just want to know what everyone is wearing for site visit/interview? Attending jobs, not residency.

suit, tie, dress shoes the whole Wall Street look?
business casual?
Scrubs?
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It doesn't hurt to wear a nice suit..looks professional.

But I usually tell applicants to wear scrubs to make it easier to tour the ORs
 
Business casual (which means jacket, no tie.....not cardigan + your wife's stretch pants or whatever kids think bus cas means nowadays). Also, I'm in the South where it's a bit less stuffy too so ymmv
 
dannyboy1 said:
Never understood the need to visit the OR. Seen one you’ve seen em all. Tell me about call schedule, daily schedule and compensation….
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That would just be….. too straight forward. I’ve seen many cafeterias.
There was one or two interview they were so busy, didn’t feed me. That’s a good impression.

Only one place told me to not dress up, I ended up there. I figured they were thinking of me as a future partner and treating me equally, they must be alright
 
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I would agree. A suit is expected by many. People will have different opinions and no one will fault you for taking it too serious. If you get there and you’re way overdressed, you can take your tie off or leave your jacket in a locker. But you can never go the reverse way and dress nicer than what you came with. I have arrived to places underdressed and overdressed. If it’s something important, overdressed is far less stressful to manage. It may be that a junior group member tells you to wear scrubs but you meet the senior member who makes the decisions and they might be wondering why you’re the only applicant who didn’t take it serious enough to dress to impress. I think that overdressing is the safest approach.
 
CD125 said:
Had one job explicitly tell me not to wear nice clothes as I would be changing into scrubs right away. I really appreciated that and wish all jobs did that. Every other job unless they tell you I would just wear a suit to be safe.
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That is nice!
dannyboy1 said:
Never understood the need to visit the OR. Seen one you’ve seen em all. Tell me about call schedule, daily schedule and compensation….
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I totally agree.


I guess time to dust off my suit. Hope it will fit! LOL!
 
dannyboy1 said:
Never understood the need to visit the OR. Seen one you’ve seen em all. Tell me about call schedule, daily schedule and compensation….
Click to expand...

Most of the groups I interviewed with were PP MD only. Wasn’t about touring the OR, just the only way I could actually talk to anyone.
 
Beeftenderloin said:
Most of the groups I interviewed with were PP MD only. Wasn’t about touring the OR, just the only way I could actually talk to anyone.
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Also a good opportunity to gauge how the group interacts with nurses/surgeons, and you’ll get to see how the group leadership spends their days. If everyone is busy doing cases except the group president/senior partners, or worse yet they’re in street clothes, your next question should be where their salaries are coming from if they’re not in the OR.
 
dannyboy1 said:
Never understood the need to visit the OR. Seen one you’ve seen em all. Tell me about call schedule, daily schedule and compensation….
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If all the docs are in the OR doing their own cases, it's how you meet people...
 
Beeftenderloin said:
Most of the groups I interviewed with were PP MD only. Wasn’t about touring the OR, just the only way I could actually talk to anyone.
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Have you met someone who bluntly told you not to join? Honest question, not being a smart ass.

The best I’ve seen is a newest hire telling me that the calls is only for senior partners, but in 6 months he “can” start taking weekend calls.

Another junior guy who told me that he’s doing 1:4 at the GI suite for the hospital. He signs up to 80 charts a day. But everyone makes partner.

Everyone puts a positive spin, regardless where the interview/conversations take place.

Someone must have pissed in my cereal this morning. Feeling extra jaded today.
 
IMGASMD said:
Have you met someone who bluntly told you not to join? Honest question, not being a smart ass.

The best I’ve seen is a newest hire telling me that the calls is only for senior partners, but in 6 months he “can” start taking weekend calls.

Another junior guy who told me that he’s doing 1:4 at the GI suite for the hospital. He signs up to 80 charts a day. But everyone makes partner.

Everyone puts a positive spin, regardless where the interview/conversations take place.

Someone must have pissed in my cereal this morning. Feeling extra jaded today.
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Lol, no one was quite that blunt with me. Though maybe they intentionally kept me away from those people. Most people seemed reasonably happy and wanted to be as transparent as possible. Lying about the realities of a job is a recipe for high turnover. Good groups know this.

I think the closest I got was at a 50/50 solo/supervision gig. “Sometimes you’ll finish your room at 1-2pm and have the afternoon off …unless a 3pm or 5pm nurse needs to be relieved, but that only happens a few times per week.” Tried to sell it as a great time to go run errands before you have to come back and work more. That was a pass.
 
dannyboy1 said:
Never understood the need to visit the OR. Seen one you’ve seen em all. Tell me about call schedule, daily schedule and compensation….
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The ORs are where you meet and talk to your potential future partners. Unless it's an ACT model and it's just CRNAs in the room.

Also, you get a glimpse of the rest of the culture there. The anesthesia group might be on its best behavior to recruit you, but the rest of the OR staff simply DGAF who you are and it's business as usual.
 
IMGASMD said:
Have you met someone who bluntly told you not to join? Honest question, not being a smart ass.
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Not exactly.

But sometimes they will tell you things about the practice that are acceptable to them, but not acceptable to you. Maybe they don't even perceive those things as negatives, either because it's really no big deal to them, or because they lack experience at places where things are different.

A big part of interviewing is about looking for red flags that weren't obvious from the initial recruitment contact. You'd be surprised how many people are institutionalized to the degree that they aren't even aware of the red flags they tell you about.
 
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Beeftenderloin said:
Lol, no one was quite that blunt with me. Though maybe they intentionally kept me away from those people. Most people seemed reasonably happy and wanted to be as transparent as possible. Lying about the realities of a job is a recipe for high turnover. Good groups know this.

I think the closest I got was at a 50/50 solo/supervision gig. “Sometimes you’ll finish your room at 1-2pm and have the afternoon off …unless a 3pm or 5pm nurse needs to be relieved, but that only happens a few times per week.” Tried to sell it as a great time to go run errands before you have to come back and work more. That was a pass.
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A few times per week? You only work a few times per week. I would be so pissed if I left at 1 and had to come back at 5.
 
In all seriousness, I interviewed at a very laid back practice and wore a suit. Sure you're just going to strip right out of it into scrubs most likely but my thoughts are if you take the process serious then the interviewee will take you serious. I'm sure most of us would think this way, if there were two candidates with all being equal and one was dress more casual than the one in a suit/business attire, the person "dressed for the job they want and not the one they have" will have a leg up in the decision making process. That's just me.
 
Beeftenderloin said:
Most of the groups I interviewed with were PP MD only. Wasn’t about touring the OR, just the only way I could actually talk to anyone.
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I understand this, but I also wonder how candid people are going to be when the surgeon, scrub tech, and circulator are all within earshot. Both in the positive and negative.

-“hey we make a million bucks a year and work 30 hours a week”
-“I’m so burnt out, I don’t know how I’m making through the day.”

All the conversations I’ve had with partners in the OR doing cases have been superficial at best and only minimally informative. I can spend 30-45 minutes in the ORs and collecting all the information I would find useful from any OR tour.
 
GravelRider said:
I understand this, but I also wonder how candid people are going to be when the surgeon, scrub tech, and circulator are all within earshot. Both in the positive and negative.
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I dunno, that’s not the impression I got. The surgeons operating, nurses are doing their own thing, charting, etc, usually across the room. Not like we’re yelling for the whole room to hear, just a quiet conversation.

Sure, most folks weren’t offering up salary/benefits info in the OR (most groups left that for a private convo with group chair/president/head person) but most everything else was on the table for discussion, and people didn’t look at me like I had 3 heads for asking.

Obviously I’m not going to expect an honest answer about relations with surgeons/OR staff if they’re in earshot, so I’ll save that question til somewhere more appropriate. Just like I’m not going to ask about relations with CRNAs with anyone other than anesthesiologists in earshot. Common sense applies.

And of course everyone’s going to put some degree of topspin on answers, but you’ve got to expect at least some of that, they’re trying to convince you to come work there.

GravelRider said:
-“I’m so burnt out, I don’t know how I’m making through the day.”
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I imagine most groups try to keep you away from this person.
 
It helps to ask ahead of time what the typical attire would be. I was eventually hired at a group that told me (paraphrased) "come as comfortable as you want to be, the OR desk will show you where the scrubs are once you arrive"
 
GravelRider said:
I understand this, but I also wonder how candid people are going to be when the surgeon, scrub tech, and circulator are all within earshot. Both in the positive and negative.

-“hey we make a million bucks a year and work 30 hours a week”
-“I’m so burnt out, I don’t know how I’m making through the day.”

All the conversations I’ve had with partners in the OR doing cases have been superficial at best and only minimally informative. I can spend 30-45 minutes in the ORs and collecting all the information I would find useful from any OR tour.
Click to expand...


They can whisper and be quite candid. I’ve had people tell me what they make. One guy who was the head of his group told me he had cancer and wouldn’t be around much longer.
 
Twiggidy said:
In all seriousness, I interviewed at a very laid back practice and wore a suit. Sure you're just going to strip right out of it into scrubs most likely but my thoughts are if you take the process serious then the interviewee will take you serious. I'm sure most of us would think this way, if there were two candidates with all being equal and one was dress more casual than the one in a suit/business attire, the person "dressed for the job they want and not the one they have" will have a leg up in the decision making process. That's just me.
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All else being equal, the more physically attractive and taller candidate will also be more likely to be selected. That’s life.
 
I am in an MD-only private practice group. Always show up in a suit, unless explicitly told not to. Yes, oftentimes you will quickly change into scrubs. What's the big deal with that? You are showing proper respect for the opportunity being offered to you.

This is how I view the guy who shows up dressed casually, "So you want to become a partner in the multi-million dollar business that my partners and I spend a great deal of time and energy maintaining. You will literally come here and make millions...and you couldn't bother to show up in a suit?" It's not a great first impression to be making. Some people care about this a lot, some a little, but I guarantee that at least one person who is voting on whether to hire you cares. Why damage your chances over something so minor?

One time, there was a "spouse dinner" on the evening of the interview day. I had worn my suit to the hospital that morning and instantly been handed scrubs to change into. That evening, I still showed up to the dinner in a suit. My wife came and also dressed nicely. One or two of the guys tried to tease me about it and I joked back that I look really good in a suit and wanted to make sure they got to see me in it. They laughed, I threw my coat around a chair, and we had a great time.

I don't know, maybe I am just old-school in my mentality or overly visual.

We do have candidates do round-robin interviews with the partners, going from OR to OR, that's the only way to get good face time with a decent number of the partners in a given day. I had other similar style interviews elsewhere and in some places, it did come across as a little artificial or awkward, but for what it's worth, some people are socially awkward no matter the setting...
 
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dannyboy1 said:
Never understood the need to visit the OR. Seen one you’ve seen em all. Tell me about call schedule, daily schedule and compensation….
Click to expand...
Its not about seeing the OR. It's about meeting the other anesthesiologists AND surgeons. If you're not meeting surgeons on your interview, that's a huge red flag imo. The interaction of the anesthesiologists and surgeons will tell you a lot about the practice.
 
Twiggidy said:
If there were two candidates with all being equal and one was dress more casual than the one in a suit/business attire, the person "dressed for the job they want and not the one they have" will have a leg up in the decision making process. That's just me.
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That goes both ways. If I were evaluating two jobs that were otherwise close to equal, I would go with the one that had enough wisdom, experience, empathy, and common courtesy to discourage me from wearing a suit for an interview. And, to be honest, even if the jobs weren't that equal, I'd give the "down to earth" group that didn't bother wasting my time with superficial appearances a huge bump in the rankings.

This isn't the 1950s. We aren't trying to claw our way up to middle management.

When you get right down to it, an anesthesiologist wearing a long white ("doctor's") coat to an interview would be absolutely ridiculous...and yet it would be less ridiculous than a business suit.
 
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It's helpful to draw a line between how you think things should be, or how you want them to be, and how they are.

Professional norms are norms for a reason. Just dress up. If you hate it, take comfort in the fact that you'll be in scrubs a few minutes after arriving. There is NO downside.

What to wear should be the easiest issue you grapple with on an interview day, by far. It's a silly time to make some kind of weird philosophical stand or statement. Remember what you're there for.
 
Big Swinging Doc said:
That goes both ways. If I were evaluating two jobs that were otherwise close to equal, I would go with the one that had enough wisdom, experience, empathy, and common courtesy to discourage me from wearing a suit for an interview. And, to be honest, even if the jobs weren't that equal, I'd give the "down to earth" group that didn't bother wasting my time with superficial appearances a huge bump in the rankings.

This isn't the 1950s. We aren't trying to claw our way up to middle management.

When you get right down to it, an anesthesiologist wearing a long white ("doctor's") coat to an interview would be absolutely ridiculous...and yet it would be less ridiculous than a business suit.
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Despite it being a bit of an anesthesiologists buyer's market right now, I'd still be careful pushing the envelope. There are certainly groups that will take any breathing heartbeat just to put a booty in the OR but there are still selective groups out there and I wouldn't want to be weeded out over something as simple as wearing a suit to an interview.

Additionally, I think someone coming to an interview in a white coat is ridiculous to the point of trolling and I'd recommend "keep searching" if someone came to an interview this way. YMMV
 
pgg said:
It's helpful to draw a line between how you think things should be, or how you want them to be, and how they are.

Professional norms are norms for a reason. Just dress up. If you hate it, take comfort in the fact that you'll be in scrubs a few minutes after arriving. There is NO downside.

What to wear should be the easiest issue you grapple with on an interview day, by far. It's a silly time to make some kind of weird philosophical stand or statement. Remember what you're there for.
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all about the benjamins
 
(I'm gonna bump this old thread because I think it's all still relevant, makes no sense to add a new thread for this topic and had a follow-up question)

If you're interviewing with a group and there's a dinner the night BEFORE your interview, do you still suit up? Or would slacks + tie/blazer be a better fit?
 
HemeOncHopeful19 said:
(I'm gonna bump this old thread because I think it's all still relevant, makes no sense to add a new thread for this topic and had a follow-up question)

If you're interviewing with a group and there's a dinner the night BEFORE your interview, do you still suit up? Or would slacks + tie/blazer be a better fit?
Click to expand...
I did slacks, button-up, and tie. No suit coat. I was tied for best dressed lol.
 
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HemeOncHopeful19 said:
(I'm gonna bump this old thread because I think it's all still relevant, makes no sense to add a new thread for this topic and had a follow-up question)

If you're interviewing with a group and there's a dinner the night BEFORE your interview, do you still suit up? Or would slacks + tie/blazer be a better fit?
Click to expand...
I had to fly for my interview, so I packed light with a carry on. I didn’t want to risk them losing my luggage.

I wore a suit and tie for the interview. At night, they took my to a fancy restaurant. I wore my exact suit as the interview minus the jacket and tie. I did add a sweater though as it was very cold.
 
HemeOncHopeful19 said:
(I'm gonna bump this old thread because I think it's all still relevant, makes no sense to add a new thread for this topic and had a follow-up question)

If you're interviewing with a group and there's a dinner the night BEFORE your interview, do you still suit up? Or would slacks + tie/blazer be a better fit?
Click to expand...
Business casual. Nice pants and a button up shirt. Plus/minus a casual sport coat. Stick a tie in the car “just in case.”
 
Dantrolene FC said:
I had to fly for my interview, so I packed light with a carry on. I didn’t want to risk them losing my luggage.

I wore a suit and tie for the interview. At night, they took my to a fancy restaurant. I wore my exact suit as the interview minus the jacket and tie. I did add a sweater though as it was very cold.
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Yeah to me if the interview and dinner are the same day it’s somewhat no brainer to just keep your suit on (may be different in Anesthesia since y’all apparently change into scrubs for most of the day) but the dinner being the night before makes it a little weirder so I wasn’t sure.
 
HemeOncHopeful19 said:
(I'm gonna bump this old thread because I think it's all still relevant, makes no sense to add a new thread for this topic and had a follow-up question)

If you're interviewing with a group and there's a dinner the night BEFORE your interview, do you still suit up? Or would slacks + tie/blazer be a better fit?
Click to expand...
Slacks and blazer
 
Honeslty, it's practice specific. We had an amazing recruiting year for 2023.
Hired 12 and had to put 2 more on hold as we figure out our volume.
We always encourage relaxed atire. Usually do hospital/ASC tours if desired. Putting a suit on and off is a PITA.
Jeans and a nice button down shirt is good enough for us. We def. don't judge anyone on what they wear.
Same applies for dinner.
 
HemeOncHopeful19 said:
Yeah to me if the interview and dinner are the same day it’s somewhat no brainer to just keep your suit on (may be different in Anesthesia since y’all apparently change into scrubs for most of the day) but the dinner being the night before makes it a little weirder so I wasn’t sure.
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I met the CMO, head anesthesiologist, and some other admin people for half the day which I wore a suit for. The afternoon was a tour of the OR for like an hour where I wore a bunny suit over my suit. Then I had the dinner that night.
 
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