"Work-life balance" & EM Interviews

[Perfect Hair Day]

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Obviously, EM can afford a wonderful work-life balance given the shift-work nature of the profession. Is it taboo at all to cite work-life balance as a motivator (amongst other things of course) to pursue residency in EM, during an interview?

 

[EMDOC17]

Probably depends on how you bring it up. When asked why you want to go into EM if you come out with that fact it may be seen as a negative. If you say I like EM because of x,y,z and oh it does have a good work life balance than it may not be looked down on. Honestly you are probably playing with fire. Would be more looked down upon that make you look good and therefore I would avoid it.

 

[lucid_leprechaun]

Obviously, EM can afford a wonderful work-life balance given the shift-work nature of the profession. Is it taboo at all to cite work-life balance as a motivator (amongst other things of course) to pursue residency in EM, during an interview?

During interviews, I would certainly recommend being honest about your reasons for choosing EM. For a lot of people, this revolves around workplace environment and pace of work. Does work/life balance play a roll? Certainly. But most interviewers would not look highly upon that being your primary reason to go into EM. Being honest is the best, emphasizing the things that drive you to the field and why you love it, especially why you can't imagine doing anything else.

 

[Perfect Hair Day]

By no means is the work-life balance driving me to EM, but I do see it as an added perk of the field.

 

[lucid_leprechaun]

By no means is the work-life balance driving me to EM, but I do see it as an added perk of the field.

Sounds good, would mention as a benefit if relevant (Love being with family members, enjoy time outside of hospital for balance.)

 

[gamerEMdoc]

A good way to put it:

"I love acute care medicine and shift work really appeals to me, I like to work hard, but not have to take my work home with me. "

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Obviously, EM can afford a wonderful work-life balance given the shift-work nature of the profession. Is it taboo at all to cite work-life balance as a motivator (amongst other things of course) to pursue residency in EM, during an interview?

Yes. It is taboo. Think of it this way--those who will be interviewing you (chief residents, program directors, and perhaps some academic faculty) have some of the worst work-life balance in EM. We all know that's part of the reason people choose EM, but not one talks about it in interviews. A bit like applying to medical school that way. We all know we'll make a pretty good salary as a doc and that is some small percentage of the motivation for even the most idealistic, but you don't bring it up at your interview.

 

[SamtheWise]

By no means is the work-life balance driving me to EM, but I do see it as an added perk of the field.

I just don't see what you have to gain from this comment. You are point blank saying to the PD that one of your favorite things about EM is that you work fewer hours than most other physicians.

When I was interviewing I assumed that anything brought up in an interview with a PD is something that you are opening yourself up to be evaluated based on, and while it may seem innocent to you, someone trying to objectively evaluate you could read into this comment that:

1. you don't understand that work-life balance can actually be quite difficult as an EP because of the odd hours of your shifts and the other responsibilities outside of clinical work that often occur during regular business hours and

2. you are less motivated for leadership, i.e. you just want to clock in, clock out and then go ski, and while there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, nobody has ever been excited about the least motivated and ambitious candidate for a job

 

[Perfect Hair Day]

I just don't see what you have to gain from this comment. You are point blank saying to the PD that one of your favorite things about EM is that you work fewer hours than most other physicians.

When I was interviewing I assumed that anything brought up in an interview with a PD is something that you are opening yourself up to be evaluated based on, and while it may seem innocent to you, someone trying to objectively evaluate you could read into this comment that:

1. you don't understand that work-life balance can actually be quite difficult as an EP because of the odd hours of your shifts and the other responsibilities outside of clinical work that often occur during regular business hours and

2. you are less motivated for leadership, i.e. you just want to clock in, clock out and then go ski, and while there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, nobody has ever been excited about the least motivated and ambitious candidate for a job

I was asking if it was taboo. I didn't say it was my favorite thing about the field. Point was to avoid this during an interview, so thank you lol


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[RainbowOtterz]

I do not think this is something that should be brought up as a true reason for doing EM. Off the cuff as a joke maybe, but honestly stay away. It makes it look like you are truly not invested in the process and don't care.

 

[KGflyboy]

I wouldn't mention it in an interview. I also would avoid putting it in a personal statement. I think the general consensus is that such a statement may hurt your chances. At best it would be neutral, but it very well could be a negative. It certainly won't help your chances. Don't take any chances.

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[WilcoWorld]

I was asking if it was taboo. I didn't say it was my favorite thing about the field. Point was to avoid this during an interview, so thank you lol


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Yes, in the interview setting it is taboo.

That is to say, even though it may be true, it's something you are best off not discussing.

 

[goodoldalky]

I agree with the above posters, but let me provide some more general advice. If you have to ask yourself, "Would it be bad to say this during an interview?" Don't say it. It's bad.

 

[gman33]

Stay away.

 

[Apollyon]

I agree with the above posters, but let me provide some more general advice. If you have to ask yourself, "Would it be bad to say this during an interview?" Don't say it. It's bad.

Bingo. /thread

 

[sum dude]

Obviously, EM can afford a wonderful work-life balance given the shift-work nature of the profession. Is it taboo at all to cite work-life balance as a motivator (amongst other things of course) to pursue residency in EM, during an interview?

The phrase you seek is "we like to work hard and play hard." Don't say it, but find a residency that says it for you, b/c that's the kind of residency you are seeking.
FWIW, pretty much every residency first year schedule sucks, but some have better 2nd and 3rd year--might want to consider that.

 

[Birdstrike]

Obviously, EM can afford a wonderful work-life balance given the shift-work nature of the profession. Is it taboo at all to cite work-life balance as a motivator (amongst other things of course) to pursue residency in EM, during an interview?

EM is terrible for work-life balance. I don't think it's "taboo" to bring that up, in fact I think it's quite normal and healthy to be concerned about such things, but I do think it shows youthful inexperience to think that EM is a speciality that promotes work-life balance, as opposed to harming it.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just get married, have a couple kids and then work in a short staffed ED for about 5 years. Return in 5 years and talk to me. We'll discuss at that time.


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[Angry Birds]

EM is terrible for work-life balance. I don't think it's "taboo" to bring that up, in fact I think it's quite normal and healthy to be concerned about such things, but I do think it shows youthful inexperience to think that EM is a speciality that promotes work-life balance, as opposed to harming it.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just get married, have a couple kids and then work in a short staffed ED for about 5 years. Return in 5 years and talk to me. We'll discuss at that time.


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Co-signed

 

[Psai]

Co-signed

Birdstrike is your pa?

 

[shoal007]

Co-signed

took over note. i attest to the above documentation is my own and was completed by myself not birdstrike.

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[TrailRun]

This illustrates why it's so hard to pick a specialty as a student. There are so many contradictory opinions as to whether EM is a lifestyle specialty or not. On the surface, working 12 to 14 shifts a month sounds fantastic. But when you realize two thirds of those shifts are either evenings or overnights and the reality is that you miss a lot of dinners with your family, and a lot of your days "off" are spent groggy or sleeping. I matched surgery and am contemplating a switch, but it seems like the attending lifestyle of surgery (home almost every night by 6:30 I'm told) might actually win out. I love the breadth of EM but it seems a lot of physicians (EM, surgery, and others) are all trying to reduce their clinical time.

To the OP's point - definitely don't mention lifestyle during interviews, unless it's something like "EM also offers time and opportunity to pursue my passion for public health" or something benevolent. But even then old avoid it unless specifically asked.

 

[e30ftw]

The only traditional residency interview question I typically got was, "So why do you want to do EM?"

To which you need a genuine sounding (hopefully true) response about you've always been interested in the acute phase of medicine and you like "being able to treat anyone for anything" etc. Do not respond, "Because it has a good lifestyle" because you will sound lazy and it will also immediately make the interviewer remember all the Thanksgivings, Christmas Eves, and July 4s worked over the years.

However, outside of that question, the vast majority of my interviews were spent talking about non-medical stuff. The best interviews are spent talking about hobbies, sports, recreation, vacations, how much fun 4th year is, etc.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Anyone who doesn't think EM is a lifestyle specialty is doing it wrong.

Sure, the nights, weekends, holidays, evenings, fast pace are definitely downsides, but you can have an awfully good lifestyle with EM. It is an immensely flexible specialty. Very easy to go part-time. Very easy to do locums, even in other countries. You work few enough hours that you can do all kinds of other things. I go on at least one vacation a month, work my shifts, and still have time for a full-time job on the side. That's pretty lifestyley to me. If you own your job and can convince your group to also be very lifestyley, you can see < 1.5 pph too, which helps you get out on time and not be too wasted when you get home to go mountain biking.

Add in the fact that it has one of the highest hourly rates in medicine, and if you can not be crazy with your spending, you can rapidly cut back even more. You can probably find a job where you can buy your way out of nights and evenings. Maybe even weekends and holidays too. And in the end you're still making a full-time FP's salary or more, for 1/4-1/3 the work. Try getting burnt out working 20 hours a week seeing 1.5 pph. It's pretty tough.

I agree it's not automatically a lifestyle specialty, but it certainly has that potential.