Here is a special post with a recent youtube podcast interview with me about tips for radiology applicants/residents. Enjoy!
Five Radiology Residency Tips- Special Podcast Interview!
Tag: interview
The Program Director Interview Welcome Presentation: More Than Meets The Eye?
As part of the radiology residency interview trail, most interviews begin with a welcome presentation delivered by the program directors. I know. Your eyes may start to glaze over as you think about these presentations. All of them blur together by the time you have reached your second or third interview.
But wait… Maybe there is more to these conferences than meets the eye. Although sometimes painful, these presentations are chock full of information that will become very important once you begin the radiology residency. And, believe it or not, the initial program director lecture content usually does summarize the residency programs well. So, try your best to maintain awareness instead of falling asleep in that comfy chair in a warm room with the program director droning on about the program. Listen very carefully and take notes. Your future career is on the line. Ignore it at your peril!
To summarize for today, my goal is to cue you on what you should tune into when you hear these lectures. Most quality presentations contain wide-ranging information, from residency rotations to information about ancillary staff and even imaging equipment. But what do you need to get out of the production? I’ve divided some of the most important themes you may not find elsewhere with the following subheadings: program theme, staff availability, teaching methods, program stability, and fellowship connections. We will go into all of these in more detail.
Program Theme
Every program has a general theme. Some programs are academic. Others produce community radiologists. And even others gear themselves to the interventional radiologist. Usually, the presentation develops one or more of these general themes. Most of the time, you will not find this information on the website or paper. For instance, I can tell you that when I gave the welcome presentation, I emphasized how our program runs as a private practice in an academic community setting. It doesn’t say that anywhere on the website or in the packets we give the applicants. You will be hard-pressed to find this information elsewhere. So, you need to take notes and write down the kind of program you are interviewing.
Staff Availability
Often, the welcome lecture summarizes how open the program is to input from the residents. Can you ask the attending a question on the fly? Or do you have to make an appointment month in advance to get the program director’s ear? You can derive a sense of the general communication between the residents and the attendings from the interaction with the program director and residents during the welcome session. Again, you won’t receive this information quickly from other sources.
Teaching Methods
Most presentations mention the styles that attendings utilize to teach the residents. Does the program emphasize multiple-choice questions at conferences? Do they like to use the Socratic method of teaching how to read films? Or maybe, the residents are taught chiefly by total immersion in the rotation. For some residents, this may be a crucial determiner of the effectiveness of their learning over four years. I’m unsure how you begin to find this information unless you know the other residents or the program director well.
Program Stability
If you listen carefully, the program director may talk about the attending staff at the institution. Are they all young? (Usually, that means there has been a recent collapse of the residency program) Or, as I like to say, do all the staff members stay around until they are in a “proverbial box.” The average age of the staff is 70. (If you see a residency program like this, maybe they churn their young attendings) This information can also be hard to come by using other means.
Fellowship Connections
Usually, you can find out where the former residents went to their fellowships after residency online. However, the program director may drop hints about getting their residents into these fellowships. That is just as important. Do the attendings have deep seeded connections at other institutions? Or rather, the program director may not talk about staff connections at all (A red flag!). Typically, the welcome presentation will divulge some additional information about these connections.
The Welcome Presentation- More Than Meets The Eye
As you can see, a welcome presentation is more than just a summary of all the information everyone already knows about the program. Typically, it summarizes facts about a residency program that you may not be able to find easily elsewhere. So, I recommend listening (as dull as some of them may be!). You may learn a thing or two that will help you decide where you want to match!
10 Ways to Sabotage Your Radiology Residency Interview
As radiology attendings, we need to sit next to our radiology residents for hours at a time. We get to know your quirks, mannerisms, and other personality features for better or for worse. (Kind of like a marriage!) Interviews are a time to let that personality shine through. We want to make sure that you are a living, breathing person with a soul. Can you speak understandably? Can you hold a conversation? Are you funny/witty? What’s your hygiene?
A radiology residency interview can also confirm that you are the person you say you are in the application. Can this person be trusted? Is this person going to lie to his attending about a procedure or history? For these reasons, significant weight is placed on the interview even though the process is imperfect. Furthermore, it does not always weed out the bad from the good.
Even knowing the importance of the radiology residency interview process, many prospective radiology residents enter the interview unprepared and have the perceived emotional/situational IQ of a tomato. If that were you, I recommend you practice your advertising pitch numerous times before beginning the interviews. If you want that residency job, you need to be the greatest of actors/actresses during the interview process. Show us that you can handle the demands of radiology residency!!!
Throughout my interview experience, I have seen all sorts of applicant disasters during the radiology residency interview process, usually related to unprepared applicants. Most can prevent these catastrophes with attention and practice. I am going to go through 10 real interview characters that have sabotaged their application. I hope these scenarios will be instructive in the art of the radiology residency interview. DON’T LET ONE OF THESE CHARACTERS BE YOU!!!
The Liar
Our third radiology residency interview candidate of the day walks into the room and shakes my hand firmly as we sit down to talk. He seems very focused, and I enjoy talking with him. He starts talking about how he developed an organization that hires famous CEO guest speakers to come to his medical school and lecture on business in medicine. Wow, very impressive! The interview ran smoothly, so I preliminarily gave him high marks.
After the interview session, the selection committee convenes to review each of the applicants. It turns out, the application and the other interviewer had different stories. Upon review of the application, it says he was just a member of the organization’s club. The other interviewer said he would only chauffeur the CEO to the meeting. Out of concern for the applicant’s integrity, we put him in the do not rank pile.
Bottom line: Make sure to get your story straight. Your oral presentation and written information should all be aligned. The interviewers regularly reconcile everything together. You need to tell the truth and stick with the same story!!
Smelly Guy At The Radiology Residency Interview
Before the formal interview procedure, we have a social interaction period with the residents to get to know the applicants. After most of the residents leave the room, we begin to hear some grumbling from the residents. So, I walk into the room, and as I walk toward a particular applicant, a stench becomes stronger and stronger. Oh my God!! It smells pungent, and I can almost taste it in my mouth. My impulse is to run, but I have to be cordial due to the circumstances. I am dreading the one on one interview process.
Bottom line: Make sure your hygiene is appropriate before starting your interviews. Appearances and “smells” are essential!!
The Sleepy Man
My introductory lecture to our residency program starts, and the lights begin to dim. I typically look at all the applicants in the room to keep the interest level high. But after 5 minutes of lecturing, I hear a loud freight train-like noise emanating from the back row in the form of an applicant in a suit. My assumption is he is not interested in the residency program: suitable applicant but low-interest level. We rank him toward the bottom of the list.
Bottom line: It is imperative to get a good sleep the night before the interviews. Even if the applicant was only tired but interested in our program, sleeping during the interview shows a lack of interest and respect.
Ms. Robot
I warmly introduce myself to an applicant as she enters the room for the formal interview. Entirely devoid of emotion and empathy, she responds, “Hi” quickly. We sit down, and the applicant immediately launches into this speech about herself without any voice inflection or changes in tone or speed. I have the sense she has done this a thousand times before. There is no “conversation-like” tone to her speech. No interactive quality. Is this the way she will behave when I have to sit with her for hours at a time? Even though her application was excellent, the applicant committee decided to give her a do not rank assessment.
Bottom line: Practice interviewing with others. Pretend you are having a conversation and interacting with your interviewer. Perceived personality is vital!
Shy Radiology Residency Interview Guy
The applicant walks into my interview room and introduces himself, but I can barely hear what he says. He stretches out to shake my hand. His hand feels cold, limp, clammy, and weak. The interview starts, and I try to get him to respond to my questions, but it’s like “pulling teeth.” The answers last 10 seconds at most. I asked the residents sitting next to him in the conference room about the candidate, and they said he didn’t speak a word. No one was able to figure out his personality. Even though his application was OK, we felt we could not put him on the rank list.
Bottom line: You need to get over your fears and act and speak with confidence. It may involve practice, coaching, and psychological evaluation. If we can’t figure out who you are during your interview, we are not sure if we want to sit next to you as a resident!!!
Mrs. Bizarro
Across from me in the interview area sits a pleasant-looking woman dressed appropriately. Everything seems fine until our conversation begins. Her eyes start to bulge out. Smiles and giggles burst out inappropriately in the middle and end of sentences. Even though she answers my questions mostly appropriately, something is off.
After the interview, we meet with the selection committee, and the first thing I ask is: what’s with Mrs. Bizarro? All the committee members look at me and say, “We were thinking the same thing!!!” We quickly took her off the rank list.
Bottom line: Practice your interviewing skills in front of a mirror or tape yourself on an iPhone. You need to know that your expressions are appropriate for the interview context. This lady may have been an excellent radiologist, but we sure would not feel comfortable having her sit next to us!!!
Not Quite Right, Joe
Toward the end of the interview, we start to talk about extracurricular activities and hobbies. The applicant proceeds to say that he was into cow-tipping as a college student. And one time, the college dean reprimanded him for the activity. Automatically, mental bells start ringing. Who would mention something like that in an interview setting? Why would someone want to do that to a cow? Off the rank list, he goes!
Bottom line: We are not your friends in the interview setting. Do not release any information that could jeopardize your application and make you appear strange. We do not want any issues during residency that could cause probation, suspension, or worse!
The Guy all the Residents Hate At The Radiology Residency Interview
I am having a great conversation with one of the applicants. He tells me about some of his exciting research projects and hobbies. He seems to be a straight shooter and is very witty. We end the conversation on a high note with expectations that we will rank the candidate highly.
After our interview, we met with the rest of the admissions committee. The admissions committee consists of the residency director, associate residency director (myself), chief resident, and several other senior residents. We begin to discuss the candidate at hand. Every single resident states something negative like: “This guy was obnoxious”; ‘He was chauvinistic,”; “Really bitingly sarcastic.” The directors are dumbfounded. We place the applicant in the do not rank pile.
Bottom line: You need to play nice with all members of the staff, especially the residents. They have essential input in the residency application process and interviews. The wrong statement can get you kicked off the rank list!!!
The Cell Phone Gal
I started giving the introductory talk to the applicants about the program. Every minute or two, I notice a woman looking down at her lap. Oh well… I continued with my lecture.
An hour later, we meet for an interview, and we shake hands. We sit down, and I start asking questions. The applicant seems a little bit distracted. Again her eyes continue to float down toward her lap every few minutes. All of a sudden, I hear a ring. She picks up the cell phone and says to me, “I need to get this.” She is not interested in our program.
Bottom line: Shut off your cell phone. You are here to interview for a job. It is a sign of disrespect to use your cell phone at any time during the interview process!
Opaque Sam
We parse through an applicant’s resume and ERAS transcript. The package states that the resident had a DUI arrest when he was a college student. So, the interview begins after some ice-breaking small talk. Naturally, a DUI arrest is a big deal. It signifies that the applicant has the potential to be an alcoholic and engage in risky behaviors. So, I anxiously pop the question: Tell me about what happened with your DUI arrest when you were in college? The applicant bluntly states, “It happened. It’s over. I don’t really want to talk about it further…” A moment of silence ensues.
Flash forward to the selection committee meeting. All the interviewers received the same response from the applicant. There was no response of remorse. No explanation for the event. Nothing. Our committee put the applicant in the do not rank pile.
Bottom line: Candidates should address any adverse events upfront, or else an admissions committee may perceive the applicant as hiding something significant, whether true or not. Don’t be like Opaque Sam!!
Sabotaging Your Radiology Residency Interview!
Interviewing is often about what not to do as much as it is what you should say. Make sure you prepare for the interview day. And, don’t be like our ten catastrophic characters!!!
