“Dos And

Don’ts” Of
Residency
Interviewing
ZEESHAN MANSURI MD,
MPH·MONDAY,
SEPTEMBER 25, 2017
“Dos And Don’ts” Of
Residency Interviewing
Credits: Dr. Christina Shenvi,
MD PhD (Assistant Program
Director, University of North
Carolina)

Interviews can be stressful,

especially when your future job
is at stake and in the hands of
the somewhat mysterious match
process. How can you set
yourself apart from hundreds of
other applicants as someone
who is a good fit for a program,
who should be ranked highly,
and who will be a great future
resident – all in the course of a
15 minute interview? This post
will walk you through some
important “Dos” to make you
stand out, and some devastating
“Don’ts” that can sink you
down lower on a program’s
rank list.

First off, you should know that

residency interview spots are
precious. A program would not
invite you unless they were
seriously interested in you and
thought you had a chance at
matching there. So be
encouraged! Often the program
is trying to recruit you just as
much as you are trying to
impress them.

Residency programs are looking

for applicants who will fit well
with their individual program,
but there are some general traits
that all programs are looking
for, and the first and most
important one is NOT board
scores! Personality traits are
more important than board
scores. Interviewers are using
that 15 minute interview to try
to figure out if you have what it
takes to be a good resident. The
most important characteristics
are intangible things such as:

Reliability Common sense The

ability to work well with others
Compassion Determination
Teachability Humility
Excitement about learning and
curiosity Professionalism
Maturity We can see things like
leadership experience, grades,
volunteer work, and research
experience from your
application. During the
interview we are looking at you
as an overall person. Programs
want to avoid matching
residents who will later drop
out, who will be difficult to
work with, who will be high-
maintenance and expect special
treatment, or who act
unprofessionally.

WHEN DOES THE

INTERVIEW
START?
The interview process starts
with your first contact with the
program. If you are rude to the
residency coordinator or require
an extraordinary amount of help
with scheduling, you can be
sure the residency leadership
will hear about it.

Do be polite to everyone you

meet. No exceptions.
Do get any paperwork in on
time. Residency involves a lot
of paperwork from
credentialing to immunization
reviews, to completing your
charts. Programs may shy away
from a resident who has to be
emailed personally multiple
times to fill out their paperwork
or schedule their interview, as it
is a red flag for requiring a lot
of extra help in the future.

Do take responsibility for your

own travel details. Look online
to schedule things like airport
shuttles and places to stay. Do
not expect the residency
coordinator to help you with
that. Programs may have lists of
residents who are willing to
host interviewees and it is fine
to ask for that. But remember,
you are interviewing the entire
time you are staying with that
resident, because any
concerning behavior will make
it back to the program director.
Don’t cancel the day before. If
you cancel an interview spot,
then that is one spot wasted that
could have been offered to one
of the hundreds of other
applicants who were turned
down. It is poor form and
reflects poorly on you and your
school. Give as much notice as
possible if you have to cancel.

THE PRE-
INTERVIEW
DINNER
These are a great time to
informally meet with residents
and find out more about the
program and see if it is a good
fit for you. However, they can
be dangerous if you are too
informal. If you act
inappropriately or
unprofessionally at the
interview dinner, the leadership
team will find out about it.
Do ask lots of questions. This is
important for you, and also will
allow you to be more prepared
and informed when you go for
your formal interviews.

Do keep your conversations and

language professional.

Don’t drink too much.

Don’t bring up controversial

topics. You do not want to risk
getting into an argument with
one of the residents who may
have strong, opposite opinions.

THE INTERVIEW
DAY
You will probably have various
slide presentations about the
program and also a tour. The
days can be long and can run
together.

Do keep up the energy and

interest level. If you can’t even
keep your energy up for one
interview day, we will have
concerns about how you would
function on a long string of
tiring night shifts.

Do take notes. It will give you

something to remember about
the program, and also some
ideas for questions to ask of the
interviewers.

Do dress professionally. You

may be eccentric and creative in
your dress at home, but for the
interview day, you want to fit in
when it comes to your attire,
and stand out when it comes to
your personality.

THE INTERVIEWS

You will likely have 4 or more

interviews of 10-20 minutes
each. If you can, know who
your interviewers are, whether
they are the program director,
the chair, a faculty member, or a
resident. That way you can
tailor your questions to their
role.

Do be on time. You’ve probably

heard the saying “10 minutes
early is on time. On time is late,
and 10 minutes late is
unacceptable.” Certainly,
catastrophes and transportation
hiccups can happen, in which
case, call the coordinator to let
him or her know as soon as
possible.

Do start well. Smile, have good

eye contact, give a firm
handshake, and sit up straight.
This is an interview, after all.

Do be excited to be there. If the

interviewer asks you how your
day is, avoid responses like
“pretty good” or “ok, but I’m
pretty tired”. Even if your flight
was delayed and you are
working on 2 hours of sleep, put
your best foot forward and
answer with how great your day
has been and how excited you
are to be there. You will have
days in residency when you are
functioning on little sleep, and
we want to know that you can
keep up your energy despite
being tired.

Do always be honest. If you

exaggerate your capabilities,
such as saying you are fluent in
Spanish, when really you only
took a year in high school, you
may find yourself caught out if
the interviewer is fluent and
decides to conduct the interview
in Spanish (this has happened).
Also, being honest is just the
right thing to do.

Do be excited about your

activities and accomplishments.
An interviewer will probably
ask you about the research,
teaching, or volunteer
experience that you listed on
your application. Be able to
speak about it articulately and
with excitement. Excitement is
contagious… so is boredom.
Talk about how much you
enjoyed the research project and
what you learned from it. Avoid
saying things like “I was just a
tech on that project to meet the
research requirement for my
school,” or “I learned I hated
research.” Always focus on the
positive part of the experience.

Do practice your answers to the

most common questions. Most
of the questions you will be
asked are predictable. You will
always have a few “off the
wall” creative questions, but
most of the time, it is standard
interview questions (see the end
of the post for a list). Have
answers that you have thought
about and practiced for these.
You do not need to memorize
your answers, but at least be
able to articulate them well.

Do have a plan for after

residency. No one expects you
to have your life all figured out
yet. But at least have thought
about your interests: Do you
want to work in a rural setting?
Do a fellowship in something?
Work in a major academic
center? Do research? No one
will look back in the future and
hold you to these answers, but
at least it shows that you have
thought through your interests.

Do be genuine. We want to find

out your personality, who you
are, and whether you are a good
fit. If you plan to go back to
your small hometown and be
their ED doc, do not pretend
that you want to do a research
fellowship and become an NIH-
funded researcher. First of all,
not all programs are looking for
that, and second of all, the
interviewer will sense that you
are telling them what you think
they want to hear, rather than
what is true.

Do speak articulately. We all

use word fillers such as “like,
um, you know”. Avoid these
when you can as much as
possible. Also avoid inflecting
every answer as if you are
asking a question. For example,
when asked about what your
plans are in 10 years, think
about what the following would
sound like: “In ten years? I
really enjoy teaching? So I
would see myself working in
academics? And I will probably
do an education fellowship?
And then I would want to be
involved in research?”

Do sell yourself. Interviewers

may ask about something you
are proud of doing, or a major
accomplishment. Talk about it!
This is your chance to impress
them and sell yourself.

Don’t be annoyed if the

interviewer hasn’t read your
application or has forgotten
parts of it, such as where you
went to college. Many of the
interviewers are coming in to
interview on a day they would
otherwise have had off. They
probably glanced at the
applications the night before,
but may not have read all of it.
Some interviewers read your
personal statements, and others
do not. Always be polite and
respectful in your answers.
Even if the interviewer has read
your application, they have also
likely interviewed 19 other
people that day, and the
applications can start to run
together just as programs start
to all look alike to you.

Don’t ramble. When an

interviewee starts to ramble, the
interviewer may worry that they
will ramble when presenting
patients on a clinical shift. After
all, the interviewer is trying to
find applicants who will work
well as residents in the ED. A
big part of being a good resident
is being a good communicator.
Hone your communication
skills by preparing your
answers.

Don’t speak negatively about

other programs. If asked about
your experience rotating at
another place, or even at your
home institution, do not speak
negatively about them. You can
compare and contrast them, but
“bad-mouthing” other residents
or programs is a big red flag.

Don’t speak negatively about

other specialties. It is
inappropriate to do so, and you
never know if the interviewer’s
significant other or parent might
be a doctor in that specialty. If
you had a challenging
experience on a rotation with
another specialty, reframe it
about what you learned through
the challenges.

Don’t be arrogant. You are a

medical student. You have a lot
to learn, which is why you are
applying to residency. Do not
criticize practices you have seen
in an arrogant way. It is ok to
talk about differences in
practice, and how you learned
from it or read up on it to find
out the evidence base for
something, but hubris is another
big red flag.
Don’t be casual even if your
interviewer is a resident. They
often have just as much say in
the decision of where to rank
you and how to score your
interview as any of the faculty
interviews. So stay professional.

Do have questions. At the end

of the interview, most
interviewers will ask if you
have any questions. This is in
part to help answer anything
you may have, but also it gives
us a sense of how interested and
prepared you are. Have a few
questions about the program.
They can be generic, such as
“What are some things you
have recently changed about the
program?” or “Are there any
things you see changing about
the program in the future?” Or
they can be specific about how
the rotations are structured, how
much time residents spend in
the ICU, etc. Make a list of
questions ahead of time that you
want to ask about. It can lead to
an awkward silence if the
interviewee has no questions.

Do end well. Again, the

interviewer is probably there on
their day off. Make them happy
to have spent 15 minutes with
you. Thank them for their time
or for answering your questions.

AFTER THE
INTERVIEW
Do be honest if you tell a
program you are ranking them
#1. You can only have one #1.
If you change your mind later,
let the program know that. If
you are ranked in a match-able
range, and do not match there,
the program leadership will
know that you were dishonest.
This reflects poorly on you.

Do be professional. It is not
required to send a thank you
letter. But if you do, make sure
it is professional and legible (if
hand written). An email is
acceptable as well.

Hopefully the “Dos and Don’ts”

here will help keep you from
committing any major interview
faux-pas. Enjoy the time that
you have traveling, seeing other
programs, and meeting future
colleagues. Good luck!
-Zeeshan Mansuri
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