Suggestions for how to improve interview skills

[jadealer]

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So I talked to one of the schools that I got waitlisted at but not accepted. I was told that my interview was my problem. I was average but not exceptional... I seemed nervous and my answers appeared memorized and rehearsed and flat...

Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can improve this? I suffer from an anxiety disorder, which I thought I had under control for my interviews but apparently not.... I am a non-trad student workign full time and graduated 3 years ago and my UG school is 6 hours away so I cannot use the HPO office...

I thought we were suppose to practice answers for questions.. but it apparently bit me in the butt.

Anyone have any HELPFUL suggestions.. I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[NickNaylor]

Talk to strangers to get comfortable talking with people you don't know. All interviews should be like conversations. It isn't an oral test where you flatly give out a response. Be animated, entertaining, and interesting while answering the questions.

I know that practicing responses is encouraged, but don't do it so much that you literally have your response memorized word-for-word. That'll definitely come across as "flat."

 

[catalase]

Talk to strangers to get comfortable talking with people you don't know. All interviews should be like conversations. It isn't an oral test where you flatly give out a response. Be animated, entertaining, and interesting while answering the questions.

I know that practicing responses is encouraged, but don't do it so much that you literally have your response memorized word-for-word. That'll definitely come across as "flat."

^^This.

Sincerity, eye contact, and improvisation are huge in interviews. Don't come off as a robot. When you're asked a tough question, it's ok to pause for a second and make a remark about how thought-provoking it is before proceeding. It's ok to make them laugh (within reason) and if you see that you share something in common with an interviewer use that to stimulate conversation.

There's no "right" way to interview. AdComs use interviews to see how you interact in a professional setting. Do some practicing before the next cycle to build confidence. Good luck.

 

[EpiIV]

Go to the interview feedback sections on this site. You'll get a lot of interesting questions there. Get a friend and use them as conversation starters. Don't pretend you're interviewing or get stuffy all about it, just talk like normal people. My own friends have a tendency to ask hypothetical situations of each other often enough anyway, so it's not even odd for me to randomly say "So let's say you're a poor Indonesian farmer and your ox just died..."

I find that a lot of those questions are actually quite fun to mull over once you separate them from the whole med school mentality. "if you were a part of the body what would you be?", "What ice cream flavor are you?", and "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" all sound like you could have pulled them straight from one of those survey memes that 16 year olds do out of boredom.

It's a place to start at least

EDIT: Sorry, I left out the real point here. Practice making conversation, not just the answering the questions. I find that looking at this in a fun way helps ease the stress of the interview. Do whatever it is to make yourself comfortable in your skin.