Interviews and Work

[Allerian1004]

For those of you who are working or have been through this proccess... did you have a hard time getting off work for your interviews. Were your managers fairly understanding? I just went through my job orientation and only get 10 days of vacation. That isn't very much.

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[63768]

well let them know as soon as you know that you have an interview. even though i only had two interviews last year, my boss was really cool with it. i just made sure all my stuff was done ahead of time before i left.

 

[jackieMD2007]

Um, call in sick. Or take a personal day. Or something.

 

[breck]

For those of you who are working or have been through this proccess... did you have a hard time getting off work for your interviews. Were your managers fairly understanding? I just went through my job orientation and only get 10 days of vacation. That isn't very much.

I'm just curious, what did you tell your employer when they interviewed you about your plans for medical school? It seems like this is a huge part of your life when you are premed and it would almost inevitably come up. I've just started applying for jobs now and I have no clue what to tell employers. My instinct is to be honest so when interviews come up I don't have the problem of getting time off, or being "sick" every other week, especially for out of town interviews. Unfortunately I am also worried uabout not getting jobs, due to my honesty, b/c employers won't want the hassle of having someone they hire taking multiple days off for interviews, much less leaving next July or August. It's a bad spot to be in. Why on earth can't medical schools just hold interviews on weekends. This is just another example of us having to bend over for them. Never mind that people have jobs and/or school. Med-school must come first and everything we do is on their terms

Sorry I didn't give you any advice here Allerian. I really don't know what you should tell your employer b/c I don't know what you told them when you were hired. I would love to here what you and everyone else seeking employment for the next year is telling their potential employers. Has anyone actually been honest and had an employer be cool with this???

 

[butmylipshurtrealbad]

This might be particular to my line of work (For the school district, special education), but I'll tell my story. I needed a job for this year, but knew I would be going on interviews, and would probably miss alot of time. When my current employer told me she wanted me to work for her, I very bluntly and honestly told her that I plan on being out for interviews, and althought I couldn't tell her dates or how often, I wouldn't want her to hire me unless she was comfortable with that. She said yes, and it was mostly all good. She did make a few snide comments about it near the end of the year, which I shrugged off becase she knew what she was getting into. Also, I still called in "sick", and by the end I ran out of sick days, and lost quite a bit of money on top of the debt I was incurring from paying for flights. I am now facing the beginning of medical school with residual debt from the application process left over.......Nevertheless, the point is that you don't know how much you will be interviewing until you get further into the process, and if you don't say anything, it could end up being a problem (depending on how much the job means to you, and how many hours you work)-- for me, honesty was the best policy. If they don't want you because of it, chances are they wouldn't be too happy about you being "sick" that often when the time comes either...I don't know if I relaly responded to the post at all...sorry

I'm just curious, what did you tell your employer when they interviewed you about your plans for medical school? It seems like this is a huge part of your life when you are premed and it would almost inevitably come up. I've just started applying for jobs now and I have no clue what to tell employers. My instinct is to be honest so when interviews come up I don't have the problem of getting time off, or being "sick" every other week, especially for out of town interviews. Unfortunately I am also worried uabout not getting jobs, due to my honesty, b/c employers won't want the hassle of having someone they hire taking multiple days off for interviews, much less leaving next July or August. It's a bad spot to be in. Why on earth can't medical schools just hold interviews on weekends. This is just another example of us having to bend over for them. Never mind that people have jobs and/or school. Med-school must come first and everything we do is on their terms

Sorry I didn't give you any advice here Allerian. I really don't know what you should tell your employer b/c I don't know what you told them when you were hired. I would love to here what you and everyone else seeking employment for the next year is telling their potential employers. Has anyone actually been honest and had an employer be cool with this???

 

[breck]

This might be particular to my line of work (For the school district, special education), but I'll tell my story. I needed a job for this year, but knew I would be going on interviews, and would probably miss alot of time. When my current employer told me she wanted me to work for her, I very bluntly and honestly told her that I plan on being out for interviews, and althought I couldn't tell her dates or how often, I wouldn't want her to hire me unless she was comfortable with that. She said yes, and it was mostly all good. She did make a few snide comments about it near the end of the year, which I shrugged off becase she knew what she was getting into. Also, I still called in "sick", and by the end I ran out of sick days, and lost quite a bit of money on top of the debt I was incurring from paying for flights. I am now facing the beginning of medical school with residual debt from the application process left over.......Nevertheless, the point is that you don't know how much you will be interviewing until you get further into the process, and if you don't say anything, it could end up being a problem (depending on how much the job means to you, and how many hours you work)-- for me, honesty was the best policy. If they don't want you because of it, chances are they wouldn't be too happy about you being "sick" that often when the time comes either...I don't know if I relaly responded to the post at all...sorry

Thanks for the info. I have actually considered applying to some teaching positions so this may be useful. I'm still worried that I will lose out on a job by being honest. I'm also worried that I may only get a handful of interviews and as a result a couple of sick days wouldn't even be an issue. I hope my sick days will be a HUGE issue though. Does anyone else have any stories they would like to share about the conflicts of attaining a job with interview season right around the corner??

 

[Homer Simpson]

Be honest. Tell your potential employers that you are planning to apply to medical school, will be interviewing, etc. It will cost you a few job, but if you don't tell them upfront and ask for a recommendation later on, they might not be happy.

I'm just curious, what did you tell your employer when they interviewed you about your plans for medical school? It seems like this is a huge part of your life when you are premed and it would almost inevitably come up. I've just started applying for jobs now and I have no clue what to tell employers. My instinct is to be honest so when interviews come up I don't have the problem of getting time off, or being "sick" every other week, especially for out of town interviews. Unfortunately I am also worried uabout not getting jobs, due to my honesty, b/c employers won't want the hassle of having someone they hire taking multiple days off for interviews, much less leaving next July or August. It's a bad spot to be in. Why on earth can't medical schools just hold interviews on weekends. This is just another example of us having to bend over for them. Never mind that people have jobs and/or school. Med-school must come first and everything we do is on their terms

Sorry I didn't give you any advice here Allerian. I really don't know what you should tell your employer b/c I don't know what you told them when you were hired. I would love to here what you and everyone else seeking employment for the next year is telling their potential employers. Has anyone actually been honest and had an employer be cool with this???

 

[Allerian1004]

Be honest. Tell your potential employers that you are planning to apply to medical school, will be interviewing, etc. It will cost you a few job, but if you don't tell them upfront and ask for a recommendation later on, they might not be happy.

Thanks Guys. I had more orientation today and brought the problem up. My education coordinator told me to talk to my manager and explain that this is a part of my educational goals for the future. And, if my manager is not flexible then this is not the job I should be in, because working here should not compromise your future. I did tell my employer when I was interviewing that there would be medical school interviews and that would cause me to miss time. I'm hoping she'll work with me.

 

[Depakote]

Most employers understand that the jobs people take in their early-mid 20's are stepping-stone jobs and they will work with you if you're up front about it.

Just understand that your interviews will be your only vacations untill you are positive you have enough personal time accrued to spare some on yourself.

 

[JDUB44]

Thanks for the info. I have actually considered applying to some teaching positions so this may be useful. I'm still worried that I will lose out on a job by being honest. I'm also worried that I may only get a handful of interviews and as a result a couple of sick days wouldn't even be an issue. I hope my sick days will be a HUGE issue though. Does anyone else have any stories they would like to share about the conflicts of attaining a job with interview season right around the corner??

You will most likely lose out on the job in teaching if you tell them you will only be there one year, already lost one. Didn't make that mistake twice so I didn't tell the second one, I just agreed to take a couple of courses and make an effort to complete the alternative E license program. Then at the end of the year i'm done if I get into med school. They don't know this but i'm not under any contract for more than one year, so I feel that it is my business what I do with my life. If they wanna get smart at the end of the year, tough I'll just say, "things change Mox".