PA Interview

[macrac]

Hey everyone, I have my first PA interview next week and I am pretty nervous. I have done a couple mock interviews in preparation, but was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions? I would appreciate any feedback, thank you!

[moorecarson121]

There are multiple threads on this with years of advice


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[JD2012]

On top of it, search youtube on tips, read rodican's book on how to ace it. With the linked thread, you should have an idea.

[PACrankset]

On ‎10‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 4:06 PM, macrac said:

Hey everyone, I have my first PA interview next week and I am pretty nervous. I have done a couple mock interviews in preparation, but was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions? I would appreciate any feedback, thank you!

I think you are on the right track with the mock interviews etc. My advice from the couple of interviews that I attended (both very different types of interview) be yourself. Of course you should have a general idea of what you will say for various questions, but having a canned answer can be a detriment. One thing that helped me was to have a couple of patient encounters in my head that I could use to answer a number of different questions.

[Ket131]

1.) Know about the school.  This way you can ask them questions without really thinking and it being forced.

2.) Read about the faculty.  This way if you are interviewed by one member in particular you can mention a shared interest or two. 

3.) Have noteworthy responses.  Everyone is more or less going to be asked the same questions, they probably don't want the same answers?  Can't say this for every school but you want to stand out.  I had a group interview, two others with me, every question I was asked, I had very different things to say, I used my medical experiences often.

For example: What is something difficult you have had to talk to someone about?  

What crossed your mind, death?  Maybe mentioning to someone else that their loved one has passed?  Well, it is possible they hear about death often, so I went with another experience I had.  For me I mentioned how I had a patient and a former blackstone ranger, a gang based out of Chicago, sexually harassing a woman at my work place.  He is verbally abusive to everyone and is always yelling, he is big and physically intimidating so people don't say anything to him.  Well, I did, I mentioned about how I talked to him about his language and how he was sexually harassing the women at my workplace.  Got "wows" from those interviewing me and from the two sitting nest to me.

- This shows much more than just talking about something difficult with someone.  It was different, it showed being able to talk to someone that is very different from you etc etc.  It allowed me to allude to the issues of healthcare workplace violence (verbal or otherwise) which is the highest in any profession.    It also shows caring about your coworkers and feeling that they should be respected.  

4.) Be relatable, they want their cohort to be able to rely and work with each other.  

5.) Keep practicing :)

[lccalbert]

Have unique answers. Interviewers always take short notes to remind them of you while they are making their selection. I applied to 4 schools, interviewed at 2 and accepted to both. Most schools will try to make you comfortable to make sure they are getting the real you. My goal in the interview was to get the interviewers to say something like "Ive never heard that answer before" They have read over a thousand applications and they are interviewing at least a hundred or so students and all of them have read andy rodican's book. Stand out. That is my one piece of advice. Stand out.

[cindy]

On 10/19/2017 at 10:45 AM, Fuhrmentation said:

If you would like help with your interview preparation, please DM me and we can FaceTime. I have been able to help dozens of students this year (some of which got in on their first try as well)! 

 

Hi, 

How can I contact you regarding the mock interview?

Thank you