Dreamingofpa2490 Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 Hey everyone. Im a recent grad and i have 2 interviews in NYC hospitals next week. one for internal med and one for gen surg. Is there any way i should prepare for these interviews? what kind of questions can I expect to get asked? Should I expect to answer any clinical scenario questions? If I get offered a position am i obligated to give them an answer right away before scoping out all of my potential options? Im really worried about becoming overwhelmed and turning into a scared little clam instead of presenting the vibe of the fierce PA-C I am! :) Would be nice to have a clue of what to expect. Any help or input would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk5142 Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 FWIW in my experience (I'm a fairly recent graduate with <2 years experience in CCM) my approach has been to: -be punctual, professionally dressed, genuine, polite to everyone, show interest throughout the entire day, silence phone -display humility and self awareness (basically the awareness that if you think you know what you're doing as a new grad-then you are probably going to be dangerous), but balance that with faith in yourself and your ability to learn and become a competent provider -I wouldn't expect them to grill you with clinical scenarios, especially as a new grad (if they do-it may be to gauge your critical thinking ability more than your fund of knowledge) -realize that during the site visit phase they are interested in seeing how you are as a person and whether you "fit in" to their existing group or practice setting, and also your potential for staying with the job (they prefer to avoid turnover as it's more work for them to continuously hire new people) -come up with a list of questions to ask, e.g. what is their philosophy on the role of PA's in X setting, how are the relationships/work place dynamics between physicians, PAs, nurses, etc, and any other questions that demonstrate your genuine interest in the position -last but not least, if they give you an itinerary for the day with names of specific physicians/PAs you will be interviewing with, I try to google them and research their educational background, professional interests, etc to try to get a grasp on what kind of person they are (but usually don't let on that I have done so during the actual interview) -typically at the end of the day-depending on how it goes- they will let you know when to expect to hear back from them (ie by the end of the week). If they don't specifically say-then I would ask. -usually they should give you a cpl days to respond to the offer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreamingofpa2490 Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 4 minutes ago, jk5142 said: FWIW in my experience (I'm a fairly recent graduate with <2 years experience in CCM) my approach has been to: -be punctual, professionally dressed, genuine, polite to everyone, show interest throughout the entire day, silence phone -display humility and self awareness (basically the awareness that if you think you know what you're doing as a new grad-then you are probably going to be dangerous), but balance that with faith in yourself and your ability to learn and become a competent provider -I wouldn't expect them to grill you with clinical scenarios, especially as a new grad (if they do-it may be to gauge your critical thinking ability more than your fund of knowledge) -realize that during the site visit phase they are interested in seeing how you are as a person and whether you "fit in" to their existing group or practice setting, and also your potential for staying with the job (they prefer to avoid turnover as it's more work for them to continuously hire new people) -come up with a list of questions to ask, e.g. what is their philosophy on the role of PA's in X setting, how are the relationships/work place dynamics between physicians, PAs, nurses, etc, and any other questions that demonstrate your genuine interest in the position -last but not least, if they give you an itinerary for the day with names of specific physicians/PAs you will be interviewing with, I try to google them and research their educational background, professional interests, etc to try to get a grasp on what kind of person they are (but usually don't let on that I have done so during the actual interview) -typically at the end of the day-depending on how it goes- they will let you know when to expect to hear back from them (ie by the end of the week). If they don't specifically say-then I would ask. -usually they should give you a cpl days to respond to the offer Thank you so much for that solid input! I will surely be implementing the things you have mentioned. Do you know if hospital settings are usually interviewing a big pool of applicants for the open position? And is salary something thats discussed during an interview or only if an offer is being made? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk5142 Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 In my experience, depending on the number of positions they're filling-they usually whittle down the applicant pool through the interview process, and if you've made it to the site visit it's usually around a handful or so (definitely if they are paying for travel/lodging expenses related to the visit). I'm not sure what it's like in a setting like NYC, I imagine most applicants will be local as they probably don't want/need to pay for out of state applicants. If they are all local-there may be more applicants at the site visit phase? This is just based on pure conjecture-perhaps someone with actual experience with NYC may be more helpful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jk5142 Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 Salary is usually discussed at the time of the offer. I would avoid bringing it up specifically during the site visit unless they broach the topic. That's my opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreamingofpa2490 Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 1 minute ago, jk5142 said: Salary is usually discussed at the time of the offer. I would avoid bringing it up specifically during the site visit unless they broach the topic. That's my opinion Thanks again for your input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeepgirl Posted March 11, 2018 Share Posted March 11, 2018 Hi, I am in the interview process with an NYC hospital for a hospitalist position, as well. I am an out of state applicant. The first interview was a 2 part phone experience: one with an HR rep, the second with the actual department. First one with HR had most of your typical job interview questions, second with the department was more laidback and seemed to be more about the department selling itself to me. I have been invited for a site visit. The department said the site visit would be more about getting to know me and seeing how I fit with the team. Salary hasn't been discussed. I've talked with a few PAs in the area and NYC hospitalist positions for new grads fall within the $80-100K/yr range. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreamingofpa2490 Posted March 11, 2018 Author Share Posted March 11, 2018 Thanks for your input, and good luck with the job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietmedic Posted March 12, 2018 Share Posted March 12, 2018 sorry if there are spelling and grammar mistakes in this, but I'm writing this on my phone while doing other activities, but anyways. you should definitely have a rehearsed script in your head for the common questions, like tell us about yourself, what are your three strongest qualities, you can find those common ones online with plenty of good sample answers.I have been asked clinical scenarios on interviews, especially early on, so at the very least be ready withsomething like your most difficult patient, a patient where you felt you personally made a difference, stuff like that. They might try to surprise you with situational questions like that, worst comes to worst make up an interesting story on the spot, I have done that and mixed elements of actual patients into a composite takes patient, because my on-the-spot recall is not great for those sort of things.they might ask you tell us about a time you had a moral or ethical dilemma and what did you do.part of interviewing is learning the art of BS in well, for a question like that, if you haven't had much experience, just say "I actually haven't faced too many moral dilemmas, but here's a general outline of how I would respond to common situations..." in other words if your mind completely draws a blank on a question, at very least, respond with something topical, so that they can see that you could think on your feet somewhat. if they are particularly formulaic or inexperienced, they might pull the one about tell us your three greatest weaknesses. Or they might give you the one about what would you improve most about yourself. I hate that question and I think it's a poor question on the part of an interviewer anyway, the way I usually answer is that "during my time in training and my work experience, I have always been conscientious to improve myself, I cannot think of any particular weakness I have which would greatly affect my professionalism for work skills, but if any come up I am always certain to address them and continually improve myself" . that way you don't incriminate yourself, and at the same time you show them that you are honest and have an eye towards self-improvement.most importantly though you will be nervous, but try to take a deep breath and relax, and realize the person across from you is also a human, and try to interact a little bit, don't be afraid to ask then the question about something they mentioned even if it's something about themselves, at one particular interview where I had three people grilling me for a hospital job, they mentioned something about their pets dog, and so I took them up on it and asked oh really, what breed are they, my girlfriend has such and such dogs... It makes you relatable and takes the tension off of you as well. obviously don't be cocky but don't be self-deprecating either, you want to try to come off as confident and honest, even if it means being confidence with ability to learn and adapt in the face ofyour lack of experience. meaning, if you're not too experienced and this comes up in the conversation, make clear that you love learning, enjoyed your clinical rotations, and consider yourself to be very adaptable, humble, and open do constructive criticism. in terms of taking the job, obviously you don't want to seem desperate, but you don't want to lose it either. If you're interested, just ask them what time frame they need an answer in, and if you want call them the next day and say I'll take it. They should be pressuring you on the spot anyway, that's not very professional, unless there is a long line of people waiting for the job outside, in which case I guess all bets are off. But if you are interested make clear to them by saying " thank you, I'm actually very interested in this opportunity, and I will let you know very soon" or something like that. anyhow, those are my two cents. Interviews are like dating, they're anxious at first but with experience you get better at them. make sure you have copies of your resume, make sure you have a paper and pen, make sure you ask questions about the Hospital. Make sure you know the name of your interviewer so you come in confident. Make sure you're a suit or blouse or whatever is clean, and just take a deep breath and remember you got this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thinkertdm Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 On 3/11/2018 at 8:41 PM, quietmedic said: sorry if there are spelling and grammar mistakes in this, but I'm writing this on my phone while doing other activities, but anyways. you should definitely have a rehearsed script in your head for the common questions, like tell us about yourself, what are your three strongest qualities, you can find those common ones online with plenty of good sample answers.I have been asked clinical scenarios on interviews, especially early on, so at the very least be ready withsomething like your most difficult patient, a patient where you felt you personally made a difference, stuff like that. They might try to surprise you with situational questions like that, worst comes to worst make up an interesting story on the spot, I have done that and mixed elements of actual patients into a composite takes patient, because my on-the-spot recall is not great for those sort of things.they might ask you tell us about a time you had a moral or ethical dilemma and what did you do.part of interviewing is learning the art of BS in well, for a question like that, if you haven't had much experience, just say "I actually haven't faced too many moral dilemmas, but here's a general outline of how I would respond to common situations..." in other words if your mind completely draws a blank on a question, at very least, respond with something topical, so that they can see that you could think on your feet somewhat. if they are particularly formulaic or inexperienced, they might pull the one about tell us your three greatest weaknesses. Or they might give you the one about what would you improve most about yourself. I hate that question and I think it's a poor question on the part of an interviewer anyway, the way I usually answer is that "during my time in training and my work experience, I have always been conscientious to improve myself, I cannot think of any particular weakness I have which would greatly affect my professionalism for work skills, but if any come up I am always certain to address them and continually improve myself" . that way you don't incriminate yourself, and at the same time you show them that you are honest and have an eye towards self-improvement.most importantly though you will be nervous, but try to take a deep breath and relax, and realize the person across from you is also a human, and try to interact a little bit, don't be afraid to ask then the question about something they mentioned even if it's something about themselves, at one particular interview where I had three people grilling me for a hospital job, they mentioned something about their pets dog, and so I took them up on it and asked oh really, what breed are they, my girlfriend has such and such dogs... It makes you relatable and takes the tension off of you as well. obviously don't be cocky but don't be self-deprecating either, you want to try to come off as confident and honest, even if it means being confidence with ability to learn and adapt in the face ofyour lack of experience. meaning, if you're not too experienced and this comes up in the conversation, make clear that you love learning, enjoyed your clinical rotations, and consider yourself to be very adaptable, humble, and open do constructive criticism. in terms of taking the job, obviously you don't want to seem desperate, but you don't want to lose it either. If you're interested, just ask them what time frame they need an answer in, and if you want call them the next day and say I'll take it. They should be pressuring you on the spot anyway, that's not very professional, unless there is a long line of people waiting for the job outside, in which case I guess all bets are off. But if you are interested make clear to them by saying " thank you, I'm actually very interested in this opportunity, and I will let you know very soon" or something like that. anyhow, those are my two cents. Interviews are like dating, they're anxious at first but with experience you get better at them. make sure you have copies of your resume, make sure you have a paper and pen, make sure you ask questions about the Hospital. Make sure you know the name of your interviewer so you come in confident. Make sure you're a suit or blouse or whatever is clean, and just take a deep breath and remember you got this. Awesome. Best advice ever. Only thing to add- if there's donuts, don't take a powdered one. And don't forget the follow up, I actually had an interviewer call me when I didn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreamingofpa2490 Posted March 13, 2018 Author Share Posted March 13, 2018 @quietmedic All of that definitely hits the nail on the head ???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietmedic Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 On 3/12/2018 at 10:11 PM, thinkertdm said: Awesome. Best advice ever. Only thing to add- if there's donuts, don't take a powdered one. And don't forget the follow up, I actually had an interviewer call me when I didn't. Haha, you're lucky, I was never offered Donuts on an interview! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietmedic Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 On 3/13/2018 at 11:19 AM, Dreamingofpa2490 said: @quietmedic All of that definitely hits the nail on the head ???? Thank you! So, how did it go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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