The Home Team

Applicants are watching you most

Faculty interviews are structured. Time with residents is where applicants see the program as it really is, and many of them weigh it heavily. Your program often asks for your impressions too.

• You are the program today.At the social, on the panel and in the hallway, you represent your program, and the same rules apply to you as to faculty.
• Every applicant gets the same welcome.Give each group the same time, the same topics and the same honesty.

Invite them in

• Be present.Show up for the time you signed up for, phone in your pocket, and stay until the end.
• Bring applicants into the group.Introduce them to your co-residents, rotate so everyone meets several of you, and pull in anyone standing alone.
• Share the camaraderie, don't perform it.Inside jokes and resident-only stories leave applicants watching from the outside. Make them part of the conversation.
• Keep it professional.One drink at most if alcohol is served. Nothing is off the record, in either direction.
• Never compare applicants.Don't talk about other applicants with them, or about them with each other.

Be the resident you wanted to meet

• Plan it together.Agree in advance who covers call, operative experience, research time, wellness and life outside the hospital, so nothing is left out and no one talks over each other.
• Tell the truth, including what's hard.Name the program's weak spots and what is being done about them. Applicants trust honesty more than a sales pitch.
• Let them ask.Ask what they want to know, and make sure the quiet applicants get a question in.
• Stay positive about everyone.Don't criticize faculty, co-residents or other programs.

The same rules as faculty

Casual settings don't change the rules. These are off limits at the social, on the panel and in the hallway:

• Where else they're interviewing, or how they'll rank.Applicants owe you no answer, and you shouldn't hint at how your program will rank them.
• Marriage, partners, pregnancy or children.If an applicant brings it up, listen and move on. Don't follow up.
• Age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity.Not even “Where are you really from?”
• Health or disability.Talk about the program, not their personal life.

Close the loop, then let go

• Share impressions only through your program's process.Stick to what you saw and heard. Leave out guesses and gossip.
• Don't reach out to applicants.Under SAU guidelines, faculty and residents may not contact applicants after the interview. If an applicant writes to you, follow your program's process and never hint at rank.
• Keep it private.No posts or group-chat commentary about applicants. What they shared with you stays confidential.