Practice, Practice, Practice

We’ve covered a lot of ground so far. After all this information, you are probably wondering how to put it all together and interview smoothly. This has a few components, the most important of which is lots of practice beforehand.

Practice does not mean memorization, but instead means preparation leading to comfort with various interview questions. Practice these concepts enough, and they’ll feel more and more natural. This will allow you to answer spontaneously with your personal experiences. This will make the interview much more relaxed and turn into a dialogue between you and the interviewer.

Important: don’t be afraid to ask the interviewer questions about what inspired them and what kind of projects they’re working on now. Get to know your future colleagues and make a personal connection. As an added trick, research your potential interviewers beforehand and read some of their latest publications so that you have an idea of who they are and what their goals are.

If any of these doctors genuinely inspire you, mention this to them and discuss some of your ideas as well.

However, make sure not to pretend to be interested in something if you truly aren’t interested. Authenticity is very important, it’s hard to fake, and your interviewer can instinctively feel it.

The question now is, how often are you practicing in front of a mirror at home? Are you recording yourself? Ideally, you should spend time each day practicing in front of a mirror or with friends or family to hone your interview skills and build an unconscious level of comfort with the process. Analyze not only your words, but your nonverbal communication as well. Ask yourself what improvements you could make? What are your strengths? How much have you improved on a weakness since last time? Could you have said something slightly better? Apply these answers to future practice sessions and interviews.