Little touches go a long way during recruitment
I just realized this is my fourth recruitment season. For those of you playing along at home, here is the progression I’ve gone through:
Year One: “Who are all these people in suits, and why are my colleagues so stressed out?”
Year Two: “What do you mean you hand deliver paper copies of the files to each faculty interviewer the week before interviews. . . there’s got to be a better way!”
Year Three: “Do our interview days really need to be such a fire drill? Why don’t we centralize the interviews in one building and bring the faculty to the interviewees?”
It’s been a wild ride over the last four years, but today, one of our applicants complimented me on how well organized we are and how smoothly everything ran. You know interviews are a logistical nightmare, I very genuinely responded, “It’s taken four years, but I think I’ve finally figured it out!”
Having mastered the big challenges, I now have the luxury of focusing on the small but meaningful details. Consider the following tips:
- We used to used peel off name badges, which never stayed put for the entirety of the visit. We changed to badges interviewees pinned on to their suits. Then we realized applicants probably only have one or maybe two suits that they wear for all of their interviews. They probably don’t want to stick holes in their lapels, so we’re moving to a name badge with a clip.
- I actually take time to read personal statements for our applicants, so that when I greet them in the morning I actually know a little bit about them. That’s 400 personal statements for anyone who is counting!
- We provide an emergency contact number in our confirmation letter, along with directions and maps in case their flights are delayed or they hit traffic. We encourage them to call and just come late rather than leaving them to wonder what to do.
I would love to hear what others do! Leave a comment below.
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Diane Farineau
Diane W. Farineau is the director of administration for graduate medical educational and faculty affairs at the University of Virginia Health System in the Department of Medicine.
Diane has written 35 posts.
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While name badges are helpful to us as interviewers, we’ve found it much more personal to “remember” the applicants’ names for each interview session. It’s not impossible really, we’ve been doing this for years and have had many comments on how nice it is not to be walking around with a big paper tag stuck to the lapel of a suit.
Impressive Jodi!
Not sure i could memorize 400 names though in three months! Part of the problem is that even though we stare at pictures, they show up looking quite different and that throws me every time!
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