Logistical Interview Question

[mdavey]

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Are interviews on the weekend, or do they expect that we will be able to miss work (and I mean my job). I'm sure missing one or two days would be fine, but I see myself getting fired for missing one or two days times 10. Thanks for the help.

 

[ChocolateKiss]

Are interviews on the weekend, or do they expect that we will be able to miss work (and I mean my job). I'm sure missing one or two days would be fine, but I see myself getting fired for missing one or two days times 10. Thanks for the help.

Very few schools have interviews on the weekends, and if they do, they are often extremely limited (i.e 2-3 days over the whole interview season). Most have Mondays or Fridays though, which are easier than Tues/Wed/Thus because you have the weekend to do some of the traveling.

 

[Duchess742]

Are interviews on the weekend, or do they expect that we will be able to miss work (and I mean my job). I'm sure missing one or two days would be fine, but I see myself getting fired for missing one or two days times 10. Thanks for the help.

from what i saw my friends experience with interviews this past year, i think that a lot of schools conduct interviews on one or two weekdays only. i'd say your best bet is to talk with your boss now, explain your situation and the possibilities, and find out what he/she considers an acceptable amount of time you can miss. then, you can plan around that. you can try to schedule as many interviews as possible on wkds, and just prioritize for the schools where that's impossible.

good luck!

 

[Duchess742]

oh yeah, never underestimate the potential of "sick days"

 

[jackieMD2007]

Davey,

I am worried about the same thing. But....I don't think all of the interview invites are going to come at once. I mean...a couple in Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov..etc...one or two "sick" days a month probably isn't going to kill you...especially if they are spread out.

If I get fired here I'll have to go back to waitressing. Meh.

 

[TinyFish]

Usually only on weekdays. It is one of the joys of the application process. Some schools will give you an interview date, but many will let you schedule your own date and are pretty flexible about it.

I used most of my vacation time this year to go interviewing, but the good part is that interviewing is usually much more fun than going to work. Well, my work, anyway.

I never believed it was true before I did it, but it is--interviewing is fun (and expensive :-/ ). You get to meet your potential future classmates!

 

[zimmie256]

How much notice do you typically get when a school invites you for an interview? (So you could plan to use your vacation days without pissing off your boss)

 

[OncoMan]

How much notice do you typically get when a school invites you for an interview? (So you could plan to use your vacation days without pissing off your boss)

I'd say, school's give you typically around a month.

 

[jbrice1639]

I'd say, school's give you typically around a month.

depends on the school and it depends when in the interview cycle it is. early in the season (september/october interviews) sometimes they have availability as soon as a week after invite to interview. Later in the season it seems to be a longer lead time as they are more booked up. you can certainly schedule them further out if you want to, but taking the earliest interview date available is preferable at schools with rolling admissions.

definitely use the sick days or personal days if you have them.

 

[Sanctuary]

The vast majority of schools do NOT offer weekend interviews, which is similar to most employers. If you are looking for a new job and are offered an interview somewhere, that new place isn't going to make a special weekend interview session for you. Medical school being similar, it is up to YOU to cater to the schools requests, as it is also up to you to cater to a future employers interview requests.

 

[almost_there]

Also, I suggest stacking interviews if at all possible, saving you money and time. Especially if you are from the west coast, an interview in the midwest or east typically takes up 3 days -- the day before to travel there, the day of to interview (and try to fly back), the day after to recover from the trip or to finally make it home.

So if you can arrange back-to-back interviews, and take one ways instead of roundtrips, it can help a LOT in terms of time and money.

 

[Wookey]

Are interviews on the weekend, or do they expect that we will be able to miss work (and I mean my job). I'm sure missing one or two days would be fine, but I see myself getting fired for missing one or two days times 10. Thanks for the help.

Yeah I hear ya. Weekend interviews are almost never available. I had to come up with some lame excuses to go interviewing this year. But I usually took off Monday so I could use the weekend to travel. That way I only missed one day of work. But I had to drop some interviews because I didn't want to lose my job and ended up going to 4 out of 7 interviews.

 

[Twitch]

I imagine for most people telling their bosses that they are going for an interview would not be PC esp if you don't work in a lab or healthcare setting.

Besides won't they wonder why you like to take 1 day vacations so much? Or if you schedule your sick day weeks in advance? I imagine not all of us have the luxury of just calling in sick any day without repercussions.

Sure would be easier to come out clean to "the man"

 

[vtucci]

The least amount of time I had was 10 days notice. The most was 2 months (but that was because I was scheduling it). I had one on a Friday but most were Monday, Wednesday.

I used sick days.

 

[Flopotomist]

Very few people actually go to 10 interviews. Why would you expect to go on so many?

 

[EBI831]

Perhaps because the OP is an optomist and likes to believe that they'll do well in this application cycle and maybe because all the places they are applying to are good and it's worth it to take a look at all of them. Dear OP, even if this wasnt your reason pretend so so i don't feel like the only half full person out there.