Weird Piece of Interview Advice; what's your opinion?

[Bananas Foster]

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So, I just ran across this piece of interview advice:

"...seldom utilized but highly recommended practice is that of visiting the hospital the evening before the scheduled interview. If not too busy, the house officers on call are usually more than willing to discuss their residency program at length, and tend to be more candid in this setting. In addition, the applicant may have the opportunity to see parts of the hospital and gain insights into the actual day to day realities of the training program that are not available to the average interviewee"*

So... how good is this advise in the realm of pediatrics? How on earth would I go about asking some residents "hey, can you let me in the lounge after sign out to ask questions?" Has anyone ever done this? Seems like it could backfire quickly, and I'm not sure how awkward this would be?


*http://medicine.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/osa/residency-information/the-interview.html

 

[oldbearprofessor]

So, I just ran across this piece of interview advice:

"...seldom utilized but highly recommended practice is that of visiting the hospital the evening before the scheduled interview. If not too busy, the house officers on call are usually more than willing to discuss their residency program at length, and tend to be more candid in this setting. In addition, the applicant may have the opportunity to see parts of the hospital and gain insights into the actual day to day realities of the training program that are not available to the average interviewee"*

So... how good is this advise in the realm of pediatrics? How on earth would I go about asking some residents "hey, can you let me in the lounge after sign out to ask questions?" Has anyone ever done this? Seems like it could backfire quickly, and I'm not sure how awkward this would be?


*http://medicine.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/osa/residency-information/the-interview.html

Interesting. I wonder if one shouldn't just go to the NICU in scrubs and take sign-out with the team?

Seriously, the only reason I can think of to go near the place the night before is if you're staying a distance away and are nervous or unsure about how to get there.

Otherwise, programs design their interview day to meet the needs of the interviewees. By going around that in this way, I think many would be concerned that you don't think the PD knows how to run an interview or want some advantage over the others.

Do your f/u AFTER the interview with the PD or even residents if needed, not beforehand.

I am curious if anyone has ever done this though?

 

[GoSpursGo]

I also think this is what the preinterview dinner is for. I feel like randomly showing up at the hospital and wandering around would be super sketchy

 

[Stitch]

I also think this is what the preinterview dinner is for. I feel like randomly showing up at the hospital and wandering around would be super sketchy

Agreed. I would think it was weird and wonder why you couldn't wait. I also think most residents are pretty honest about the program during the interview day. No one wants you to get there and be unhappy because it's not the place that was advertised. Obviously YMMV though.

 

[thetubes]

i dont know how i feel about this. at some places i interviewed at we had to sign confidentiality forms because we were witnessing patient care. maybe this is ok for internal medicine but i think in pediatrics security is more strict and i dont think they would appreciate you doing this on your own. you should be able to get a good sense of a program from the dinner before hand.

 

[JMMH]

I wouldn't do it. Anything out of the norm for things like this are more likely to hurt than to help. All it takes is for you to rub one house officer the wrong way and you're done.

Plus unless it's a slow night, I can't imagine many residents on call wanting to spend any free time talking to an overeager applicant. 😉

 

[jlee9531]

not a good recommendation.
hippa issues.
plus if the residents are busy, which at big academic programs, they usually are, then you would just be seen as in the way.

 

[MonkeyRalph]

When I was a resident, if an applicant did this, I would be very curious about their insight and would likely hold it against them, because there is really only one of two things going on:

1- They really don't realize that this is a busy job and therefore they might be overwhelmed when they faced the reality of being a resident on call or not really cut out for it.
2- They do realize this, but they don't care that they are inconveniencing anyone else... i.e. they are inconsiderate.

Please do not do this.

 

[Bananas Foster]

Yeah, don't worry, I have no intention on doing this. It seemed weird to me on first sniff and in the context of pediatrics, even before starting interviews, it seems borderline bizarre.

In the context of how tedious interviews already are, it seems pathological. I spend my pre-interview nights watching the food network on gloriously large hotel TVs, I was just curious if anyone else did this.

 

[No1Cub17]

Yeah I don't know who wrote that entire "advice" column, but a lot of it is exaggerated and overblown. Peds interviews are pretty chill. If an applicant would've come to my residency program the night before wanting us to entertain them, I would've been like what hell is wrong with you - we're busy, your interview is tomorrow not tonight - goodbye. Definitely would've been a creepy move. Then when we had our applicant review session during a housestaff meeting, that applicant would've been outed as having done that which I imagine would've significantly hurt their chances of matching at our program. Thankfully our residency did take our opinions of candidates seriously and looked at personality as a significant factor in matching candidates.

 

[No1Cub17]

Yeah, don't worry, I have no intention on doing this. It seemed weird to me on first sniff and in the context of pediatrics, even before starting interviews, it seems borderline bizarre.

In the context of how tedious interviews already are, it seems pathological. I spend my pre-interview nights watching the food network on gloriously large hotel TVs, I was just curious if anyone else did this.

Not a bad strategy. I also spent several pre-interview evenings having a few drinks with fellow applicants at the hotel bar. And haha you must have a small tv at home