You’re about to move into the next phase of your medical education journey – interview season for residency. This might seem overwhelming in addition to all your current responsibilities. This article will help you pick the most appropriate attire for your interviews. It also offers tips for how to prepare for interviews, interact with program directors and how to answer common questions to help you stand out from 99% of the competition.
How you approach interviews for various residency programs will be a vital part of getting matched with a program – ideally your first choice. Your academic credentials and accomplishments are of course an important part of the decision. What you wear on interview day helps make a positive first impression with a faculty member, program director and other decision makers. How you answer questions, interact with the interview committee and present yourself are critically important as well.
Dress Code
Residency program interviews, for current fourth year medical students, are a formal event and most always have a business formal dress code. You can certainly ask the interview program coordinator to confirm the dress code, but it is a good idea to go the formal dress route even if the point of contact tells you that business casual, or other, is acceptable. You’ve invested so much into your education to date. Now is not the time to take a laid-back approach! The below guidelines apply for both in-person and virtual residency interviews.
Women – What to Wear
Formal dress options for an in-person interview include a two-piece pants suit, skirt suit or dress suit. Neutral colors are the best choice for your interview outfit in that they look traditional and professional and will not be distracting in any way. A tucked in, nice blouse (collar or no collar both work) will look sharp underneath your suit jacket. If the weather is cool and you are wearing a skirt or dress suit, wear nylons or tights that complement your suit color.
Opt for closed toe dress shoes. I personally think a heel looks best with an interview suit but if a walking tour is part of your agenda, low heels, nice flats or wedges can work as well. Of course you don’t need to worry about footwear if a particular program conducts virtual interviews.
Ensure that your clothing is free from wrinkles, fold marks or lint of any kind. Unkempt clothing has no place at this important event! These finishing details go a long way when it comes to making strong first impressions. If you are buying a suit for the first time, Ann Taylor, J.Crew, Banana Republic and LOFT are all good choices. All these stores have regular sales so start checking sites early in order to score the best deal!
Men – What to Wear
Wear a neutral-colored suit – ideally navy blue or black on the day of your residency program interview. Stick to solid colors. If you have purchased a new suit for the occasion, ensure that it has been properly tailored meaning the sleeves and pants are just the right length. Tailoring is often required when buying an off the rack pant suit so don’t leave this important purchase to the last minute. A white shirt or blue collared shirt are smart choices. Your shirt should be crisp and wrinkle free which typically requires ironing or steaming. Add a traditional tie or bow tie to finish the look – no crazy patters or colors.
For shoes, pick dress shoes that match your suit. Black shoes to match a black suit and dark brown or tan shoes to match a navy suit. You may do a lot of walking around the hospital the day of your residency program interview so also make sure your dress shoes are comfortable. If your shoes are new, wear them around the house a couple days before the interview to break them in.
Ensure that any facial hair is well groomed and neat.
Accessories
Keeping accessories to a minimum is a good practice. For women, this might involve simple earrings and a necklace. Avoid any bracelets that jingle or clink together when you speak. I would leave any smart watches at home for fear that some kind of alarm or alert might go off during the interview. For men, I would stick to a ring or two if you wear them and a basic watch.
Make-up
I personally love a full make-up look as I think it enhances my features, brings more color to my very fair complexion and creates a polished look. A make-up free, natural look is also perfectly acceptable if that aligns with your personal style and makes you feel most comfortable. If you don’t typically wear make-up but are looking to boost your overall look, I think most women can benefit from mascara, blush and a coat of lip gloss.
Interview Tips
Now that we have reviewed the professional business attire that will give you the right look, let’s dive into what to do and say to continue making the best impression during the selection process.
- If possible, speak with first year current students at the program for which you are interviewing. Often the admissions department can facilitate an introduction to a current resident if requested. In addition to asking the resident how they like the program, ask them for advice during the interview process based on their previous experience. Do they remember any challenging questions they received?
- Participate in mock interviews before your actual interview. This may look like you pulling a list of commonly asked residency program interview questions and practicing your answers with a friend, medical school professor or family member. An important step during your preparation should involve video recording you answering questions so that can make adjustments to your body language, tone of voice or answers. For example, when reviewing a video, you may notice that you have a tendency to touch your hair or face when speaking. Maybe you use excessive filler words such as “like” or “um.” One of the best ways to improve any kind of public speaking, which includes interviewing, is to understand your baseline and determine where to focus on improvement efforts.
- Focus on delivering crisp, clear answers in as few sentences as possible. It is in your best interest to simply answer the question and then stop talking. When we get nervous, we have a tendency to go on and on. The more you can practice answers to common questions, the better prepared you will be to manage the nerves that will inevitably accompany your in-person or online interview.
- On the day of the interview, ff you are seated when the interviewer comes out to meet you, stand up, make direct eye contact and greet the individual by name. “Hi Sadie, nice to meet you.”
- Demonstrate strong body language throughout the interview. Keep your hands in your lap and try to keep them there as much as possible to avoid excessive hand talking or face touching. Sit up straight (no slouching) and keep your attention and eyes focused on the interviewer. If multiple people are in the interview, rather than scanning the group back and forth with your eyes when answering a question, hold eye-contact with each person for 5-seconds before moving on to the next person. This strategy builds stronger 1:1 connection and ensures that each member of the selection committee is focused and engaged as well! Holding eye contact for 5-second intervals takes practice. You can easily practice this method with friends or family members or even at home alone. Pretend that objects in your home are people, and lock eye contact for five seconds with each.
- Beyond the initial greeting, try to use the person’s name a few times throughout the interview. This will set you apart from 99% of the competition. It might feel strange the first time but using someone’s name regularly in conversation can quickly become second nature. If the interview is a panel interview where several people from the program are present, see if you can get their names in advance of the interview. Your interview coordinator should be able to provide these details. Usually you can find a picture of the person on the school’s website. Start to build name and face recognition so that it is easier for you to use names during the interview. A great way to incorporate names is during the portion of the interview when you get to ask questions. For example: “Mike can you tell me more about the OB/GYN rotation and what experience I can expect to gain?”
- Perhaps the most common question you will likely get asked during an interview is “Tell me about yourself.” This may seem like a super easy question but if you haven’t thought through a thoughtful response, it can quickly turn into a rambling, non-relevant statement. Prepare your answer in advance of the interview and keep it to 3-5 sentences. An example can be found here.
- It is perfectly normal to feel a bit nervous before and during an interview. If you happen to get stumped on a question and can’t think of an answer after 30 seconds or so of thought, ask the interviewer if you can come back to that question later in the interview. Also, it is perfectly ok to allow silence while you are thinking of answer.
- Review your residency program application prior to your interview so that what you shared is fresh in your mind. If you had to write a personal statement, be prepared to summarize what you wrote in a few sentences if asked. Prepare doing this succinctly in advance.
- Ideally your cell phone is nowhere in sight. My recommendation is to leave it in your car to avoid any calls or text messages you could receive during the interview. You’ll have a lot on your mind the day of the interview and very well could forget to put your phone on silent mode. If you choose to bring your phone inside to the interview, make sure the phone is on silent and keep it in a purse or pocket during the entire interview.
- No gum chewing or eating of any kind during the interview. Totally fine to accept a glass of water if offered or bring your own if you feel you may need it.
Good luck you’ve got this!
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