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- Oct 2, 2006
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This forum has been dead for a couple of weeks and I had a few people ask me recently about bad interviews and what they can do about them if anything at all.
Really, if it's a program you like a lot, I'm not sure. All I can offer is the following story I have on my blog http://resxn.blogspot.com/. Feel free to read it there. I just started it, but I posted the story here to save you the trouble of opening a new window.
So for any of you who might think they just had a terrible experience, tell me how this one compares.
This is the picture of the site of the disaster. I will not, however, name it simply because I do not want to make anyone angry. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out, though, if you want.
This was the site of my last interview applying to ENT and at his point I was pretty tired of answering the same questions over and over again. This particular program interviewed with roles (e.g. the mean interviewer, the nice guy, the abstract guy, etc.)
I interviewed first with the "nice guy." He basically just talked to me about playing golf and cool stuff. The next interviewer was the chairman who was "abstract guy." He asked questions like, "Tell me 5 guys living or dead you'd invite to dinner if you could."
By this time I had already decided this was not the program for me. Their biggest selling point seemed to be an electron microscope that was owned by the department. Big whoop for me, it's not like I wanted to see snot at 1,000,000x magnification. Their clinic, at least at that time, was an old set of shower stalls with no doors, but seriously were closed from one another with shower curtains. I'm not kidding.
So, when I got to "mean guy," I was already set to go. I knocked on his office door and was invited in.
"Have a seat," he said. "How many interviews did you get?"
"Ten," I lied.
"Well, then no matter what happens here, it looks like you'll be an ENT then."
I picked 10 because the year I interviewed, that was a theoretically magic number that virtually guaranteed a match. I actually had 8 to which I went. He started to flip through my file.
"Let me tell you how things work here. Basically, we interview more people at this program than do most departments. About 45 or so applicants." He paused, I think to see if I was surprised or something. "And with that large of a number, my job is to go through this interview and look through your file and find a reason to go to bat for you when we meet as a committee."
"Uh-huh." Bright answer, I know.
"And frankly," flipping through my files, "I really don't see anything here to make me want to go to bat for you."
Did you ever read those books as a kid where you could choose which way to go, like if you turned left in the castle you went to page 35 and defeated the evil knight and if you turned right you went to page 58 and found yourself in the dungeon? Well, I had a choice to make at this point. I chose page 58.
"Well, Dr. W, that's ok because frankly I haven't seen anything in your program that would compel me to rank you high anyway."
The blank stare was stunning in it's lack of response. The silence was awesome.
"Hmmmmm. Well, I guess we don't have anything else to say then."
"Nope, I guess not."
"Thanks."
"You too." I got up and left his office. As I did so I walked passed another applicant who was on what he thought would be his 20 min break. He saw me when I went into the office. He looked up at me like a dog does with their head cocked to one side and their ears perked like they have no idea what you're trying to tell them.
"Piece of cake," I said as I walked out of the building and on to my car.
I ranked them, because I was paranoid of not matching, but I put them dead last. Fortunately, I matched at my top choice.
Really, if it's a program you like a lot, I'm not sure. All I can offer is the following story I have on my blog http://resxn.blogspot.com/. Feel free to read it there. I just started it, but I posted the story here to save you the trouble of opening a new window.
So for any of you who might think they just had a terrible experience, tell me how this one compares.
This is the picture of the site of the disaster. I will not, however, name it simply because I do not want to make anyone angry. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out, though, if you want.
This was the site of my last interview applying to ENT and at his point I was pretty tired of answering the same questions over and over again. This particular program interviewed with roles (e.g. the mean interviewer, the nice guy, the abstract guy, etc.)
I interviewed first with the "nice guy." He basically just talked to me about playing golf and cool stuff. The next interviewer was the chairman who was "abstract guy." He asked questions like, "Tell me 5 guys living or dead you'd invite to dinner if you could."
By this time I had already decided this was not the program for me. Their biggest selling point seemed to be an electron microscope that was owned by the department. Big whoop for me, it's not like I wanted to see snot at 1,000,000x magnification. Their clinic, at least at that time, was an old set of shower stalls with no doors, but seriously were closed from one another with shower curtains. I'm not kidding.
So, when I got to "mean guy," I was already set to go. I knocked on his office door and was invited in.
"Have a seat," he said. "How many interviews did you get?"
"Ten," I lied.
"Well, then no matter what happens here, it looks like you'll be an ENT then."
I picked 10 because the year I interviewed, that was a theoretically magic number that virtually guaranteed a match. I actually had 8 to which I went. He started to flip through my file.
"Let me tell you how things work here. Basically, we interview more people at this program than do most departments. About 45 or so applicants." He paused, I think to see if I was surprised or something. "And with that large of a number, my job is to go through this interview and look through your file and find a reason to go to bat for you when we meet as a committee."
"Uh-huh." Bright answer, I know.
"And frankly," flipping through my files, "I really don't see anything here to make me want to go to bat for you."
Did you ever read those books as a kid where you could choose which way to go, like if you turned left in the castle you went to page 35 and defeated the evil knight and if you turned right you went to page 58 and found yourself in the dungeon? Well, I had a choice to make at this point. I chose page 58.
"Well, Dr. W, that's ok because frankly I haven't seen anything in your program that would compel me to rank you high anyway."
The blank stare was stunning in it's lack of response. The silence was awesome.
"Hmmmmm. Well, I guess we don't have anything else to say then."
"Nope, I guess not."
"Thanks."
"You too." I got up and left his office. As I did so I walked passed another applicant who was on what he thought would be his 20 min break. He saw me when I went into the office. He looked up at me like a dog does with their head cocked to one side and their ears perked like they have no idea what you're trying to tell them.
"Piece of cake," I said as I walked out of the building and on to my car.
I ranked them, because I was paranoid of not matching, but I put them dead last. Fortunately, I matched at my top choice.
Yeah, I guess if I wasn't really doing the passive aggressive thing I wouldn't have even posted the picture much less than with the URL attached, but you called me on it so I must fess up. But at least it's not egregious. Sort of. 