Freud's Insights is a new blog series from our resident Freud, Johnna, a search consultant in the surgery permanent placement division. Interviews are like dating. Quite often, dating starts with an exchange of emails or telephone calls. The goal is to find out if there are enough significant common interests and attractions between the two parties for a personal meeting to take place. A first job interview with a new prospective employer, often a telephone interview, is similar. It has the same goal. The candidate and client have a conversation to see if there is enough mutual interest to meet. It is not a time to start negotiating. Assuming the telephone interview goes well, here is some advice for you when you visit a potential employer. Invest time in planning for your interview. The CompHealth website has very good advice on this. For complete details, go to this interview strategies guide. Here are some additional insights. While on a site visit, keep in mind that unless you are in the privacy of your hotel room, you and your personal brand are being evaluated at all times. From your personal hygiene (or lack of), to the way you dress, to how you behave (perhaps while sitting in a patient waiting room for the interview to commence or while at dinner with prospective employers), to how you treat your family that is on the visit with you, to what you say while on a real estate tour. I never thought I would have to advise doctors to bathe and dress appropriately for a personal interview, but since I am mentioning this, you may assume I have been proven wrong. We advise candidates to dress in business attire; slacks or a skirt and blazer, a suit, or a business dress are all safe choices. Scrubs, shorts and flip flops, and tuxedos have been worn on interviews and, based on the negative results from these choices, are discouraged. Although the "official interview" may be with a medical director or group partner, the staff is also watching you and sometimes provides input. There was the candidate who spoke to his wife in an abrasive and demeaning way in the waiting room. He was not offered the job because when the office manager mentioned this to the practice owner, he considered these actions to be a more accurate indication of the candidate's personality than anything this doctor said in the interview. And there was the couple who, while out on their real estate tour, made uncomplimentary comments about the owner of the practice with whom they had just met and interviewed. They were unaware that the real estate agent escorting them was related to the owner of the practice. Needless to say no job offer was extended to this candidate! Oops! The second part of this blog topic will appear in two weeks. It will address additional key preparation steps and interview techniques that will help you stand out among the other doctors who are interviewing for the same job as you are. And here is why you need to do all you can do to stand out. As one of my colleagues likes to point out, job seekers have a less than 25% chance of getting any job they apply for: 25% of the time the job seeker will like the potential employer but the feeling won't be mutual; 25% of the time the potential employer will like the job seeker but the feeling won't be mutual; 25% of the time neither one likes the other and the feeling is, of course, mutual; 25% of the time the job seeker and the potential employer will like each other, but even under these circumstances the job seeker has a less than 25% chance at scoring the job because, as with doctors too, quite often there is more than one applicant who is interviewing. Do you want to improve your chances of getting the job you want? Then my next blog is a must-read for you!