Interview Tip for Our Medical Residency Applicants - Listening, Listening & More Listening

Good morning!

I just came upon a very interesting piece of information about interviews in a little Kindle book, Listening Skills: Master the Art of Listening and Communication Skills for a More Confident  Life, by Michele Gilbert.  She mentions that during interviews, "most major corporations study applicants for listening skills to determine whether they have truly developed communication skills rather than knowing how to respond to an interview or work an interview." 

Fascinating new truth, as far as I'm concerned.  (You probably already knew it!)  I'm thinking about medical residency applicants who are applying for the specialties in which prime value placed on actively listening to the patient....psychiatry, internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, OBGYN, and of course all the sub-specialties thereof.  This advice can also be very useful for the other specialties in which communication with other doctors and staff are of prime importance: ALL MEDICAL SPECIALTIES.

So the bottom line here is that the interviewee needs to listen very carefully and digest what the interviewers are saying or asking before spouting off some technically complicated and correct answer already in his or her head.  That goes for your future conversations with patients, staff and colleagues too. But you already know that too!

This is a good little book though, and I recommend it, maybe even better than some of the "Interview Tips" books out there.

In a way, this advice takes some heat off you by too much pre-thinking about your answers to interview questions....that is, too much preparing and practicing for an interview with canned answers you have nervously memorized might get in the way of listening to what the interviewers are actually saying or asking.

Elizabeth

Personal Statements - Random Thoughts about Authenticity

Good morning medical residency applicants and medical fellowship applicants!

A poorly written personal statement could doom your application, however remember that you are not applying for a writing instructor position.  Your personal statement should give the program director at least a HINT of your own writing ability.  That is why we need to see and assess your originally written essay or filled in questionnaire before we edit it, in order to support your authenticity.

Elizabeth 

Good morning Medical Residency Applicants and Medical Fellowship Applicants! 

A biiiiiiig THANK YOU to all of our return customers!  This year and last year so many of our clients have finished their medical residency programs and are again requesting our editing service for their fellowship personal statements.  In fact, most of the 2015 projects have been for return fellowship applicants.  That is a huge compliment and we are very thankful for your loyalty. 

Every day I learn more while researching various medical fellowship programs in the United States.  As my sister and partner said yesterday, "it's the specialty on steroids."  We thoroughly enjoy working with such a select group of doctors.  I sometimes wish we had a bigger staff of talented writers to accommodate all of the requests we receive.  We are still only three editors and a consultant program director, and that has definite benefits in controlling the quality of our work.  

Since we have not felt the need to advertise in a long time, I have missed working with the doctors who land on our website through a Google search....those applying for medical residency positions.  So yesterday I fired up the original advertising campaign to go for a couple of weeks, just to pull in a few newbies.  It's a joy to showcase the interesting accomplishments and personalities of  international medical graduates who are looking for U.S. residency programs!  

Thanks also to our treasured clients who have been kind enough to recommend our services to their relatives and friends!  

Elizabeth  

Ready, Set, Upload your Medical Residency Personal Statements!

Good morning Medical Residency Applicants!

I hope you have all fine tuned your personal statements to upload this coming week in your ERAS forms.  I may be wrong on this, but as I understood from prior years' application processes, the personal statement is something you can change, even after you have uploaded it.  Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

The early bird does not necessarily ALWAYS get the worm.  Review your PS again to make sure it's airtight against grammar, spelling and punctuation errors.

It was a busy season for us here at CVPersonalstatement.com.  We enjoyed each and every one of our treasured clients.  Thank you so much for your loyalty, and for having passed around our name to your friends.  We hardly spent anything (both this year and last year) on advertising.  :)

If you decide to apply for your 2nd or 3rd target specialty, send us your draft for editing. It's not too late. We can help you express a passion for that specialty, even if you are not so enthusiastic about it.

Thanks again.
Elizabeth
cvpersonalstatement@gmail.com
618-207-3277

AAMC Website - Writing your PS

Good morning Applicants!

As you prepare the first draft of your personal statement for a medical residency or medical fellowship application for us to edit, please consider the useful information from the AAMC website about writing your personal statement:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/about-ama/our-people/member-groups-sections/minority-affairs-section/transitioning-residency/writing-your-personal-statement.page?

We have published this link before, but from time to time they update the information.
Thanks!
Elizabeth

For what it's worth - PS Tips on Youtube Video about writing your Personal Statement for a Medical Residency

Good morning Medical Residency Applicants and Medical Fellowship Applicants,

I came across an interesting video this morning about writing a personal statement for your ERAS application.  "Undergroundmed" brings up some good points. 

Remember the audience...program directors who have read 1000's of personal statements.

Avoid a CV type of information in your personal statement.

Make the PS about you.  Be yourself, because you do want a program who wants YOU, not some fabricated version of yourself. 

A catchy beginning helps.

Have a POINT in your personal statement. 

I'd like to add that having one "point" to your statement is often difficult.  Of course your aim is to obtain a residency in your target specialty, and there are roundabout ways of making this clear, whether it's an internship patient example, a personal characteristic you have or role model who has influenced you.  So I would have to disagree with sticking to ONE POINT.  You are a multifaceted individual and a unique individual who has multiple assets to offer the program. If there's any one "point,"  the point is that we want to convey your ability to do well in the target specialty program.

Before you write your first draft, scan specific programs online to see exactly what it is THEY have to offer YOU.  That would definitely help with the paragraph about what kind of program you want.

We can help you with your essay.  We do not WRITE essays.  "That won't work," as my grandmother used to say.  Even in our questionnaire based essay, we select from your answers to construct your statement. 

It's time to start if you haven't.  Relax, find a couple of hours to sit down in a quiet place and start on your draft.







 

Medical residency interviews, personal statements and sounding like yourself

Dear Med. Residency and Med. Fellowship applicants,
There is almost always a fresh and authentic quality to the original draft you send to us for editing.  Our goal is to bring out the best in you and to clarify what you have said, while keeping the original feel to your statement.  WE DO NOT WANT YOU TO SOUND LIKE ERNEST HEMINGWAY.  I can't emphasize enough that your personal statement needs to reflect the best you, but the best AUTHENTIC you, with your own examples and unique experiences. For our questionnaire-based personal statement, we ask you many questions about such examples and experiences, and draw exactly on those for your essay.  Bottom line is: You definitely want to live up to your personal statement during your interview.  Be yourself, soul search into your bank of experiences, include what made you decide on your particular specialty, and why you think you are suited for that specialty.
Thanks, and we hope to hear from you soon!
Elizabeth