Resident recruitment: Job interview or event?
Over the past several weeks, coordinators have been submitting their recruitment best practices for publication in our newsletter Residency Program Alert.
Congratulations to Toni Haddad, general surgery coordinator at Henry Ford Hospital, who won our drawing for a free copy of our newest book,The Complete Residency Program Management Guide.
The following is an excerpt of Toni’s submission. Look out for the rest of Toni’s submission and those of several of your coordinator colleagues in the October issue of RPA.
In the life cycle of the program coordinator, recruitment is the most hectic, detail- oriented, busiest, hustling and bustling times of the year. But, it can also be one of the most enjoyable of the coordinator’s responsibilities.
The e-mails and phone calls, organization, getting files together, arranging for staffing, and the smiling–the endless smiling! It is a chance for the Coordinator to come face to face with the future of medicine. I love my job, I love my job, I love my job!
When does the interview begin? The interview begins at the point of contact. How you handle initial e-mail or phone contact is important. Be courteous and helpful and try to convey a smile in your voice. Remember, you’re not only evaluating them, but they are evaluating you! While you are evaluating their application, they are evaluating your program. They are looking at your Web site, trying to get an glimpse of what you program is all about.
In our surgery program, planning begins in mid-July. We look at the calendar and determine when the holidays fall, when departmental functions fall, staff meetings, and important football games that may impact staffing. We then set the date! Our program interviews on Saturday.
We pay for one night hotel accommodations for applicants at a reasonably priced inn close to the hospital. We also take them to dinner at a restaurant the night before interviews. It is not lavish or extravagant, but it’s a positive experience for our applicants. This dinner has evolved into a coordinator hosted dinner party, and it has become an opportunity for the applicants to meet with current residents and their spouses.
Spouses or significant others meet and can discuss what the life of a surgical resident entails and what it is like to live in this place called Detroit. It is an opportunity for residents and applicants to meet without faculty members around and candidates can ask all those questions that they cannot ask on interview day. Applicants see firsthand the camaraderie between current residents and think about whether they want to spend the next five or more years here at this program. Funds are not easy to come by these days; however, our department makes this a priority.
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Julie McCoy
Julie McCoy is the associate editor for the residency market at HCPro, Inc.
Julie has written 192 posts.
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