Dr. Thinker: Phone interview

-          Some programs might do a phone pre-interview first before they select you for an actual in person interview.

-          Otherwise, phone interview is common during SOAP.

-          It’s just like a regular interview. It’s a little easier as you don’t have to dress up, don’t have to worry about your expressions.

-          But, you have to take care about the length of your answers and your tone.

Some suggestions:                   

-          If you are in a loud place, excuse yourself to a quiet room. Even if you are already in a quiet room do this so that you can buy some time to prepare yourself.

-          Use ear phones or Bluetooth.

-          Don’t walk around – you might sound out of breath.

-          Keep a couple of browsers open on your laptop. Ideally one of those should be google and the other one be program’s website.

-          When you type, do it slow. Make sure it’s not audible to someone over the phone.

-          Keep your answers ready. They might ask the usual ones like “tell me about yourself, why medicine and so on”.

-          Your answer’s content should be the same as you would give during an in-person interview, but the length has to be short. No one would like you talking for long about something. Most importantly, they won’t have time to listen.

Usually during soap they might ask you one or two medical questions, as they have to select the candidate based on that few minute phone call.