Networking is a strategy used to cultivate relationships that you can leverage as you develop your career. By being genuine and proactive, you can gain connections who provide you with information, support and job leads as you embark upon your profession.
Interviewing can be one of the most nerve-racking experiences for job seekers. First impressions are everything and achieving a successful interview takes intentional preparation. The best way to prepare for an interview is to think through answers to the most frequently asked questions and practice ahead of time. This will help you appear positive, polished and genuine.
When preparing for an interview, candidates tend to put a lot of time into preparing solid answers to the questions they will be asked, but few spend that same amount of time thinking of questions to ask the interviewer.
As May 18th approached, I began receiving the “don’t forget PASS opens” texts from my parents. Like I needed the reminder: I already had nightmares of the application process. One night, I actually herniated a disc in my neck from the stress and insomnia that came from applying. Thankfully, I can laugh at that now.
While my application process was atypical, I feel many of my experiences are relevant to those using the American Dental Education Association’s Postdoctoral Application Support Service (ADEA PASS) and even the Match system. There are plenty of things I wish I’d known or done better, and I’m happy to share them below:
“We already know you’re qualified. We don’t want to ask you about your interests in dentistry or your academic achievements. Today, we want to test your critical thinking and communication skills.”
That’s right. More dental schools are using new interview styles, not only to get to know you better, but also to test your ability to make ethical and informed decisions. Every school is unique in how they conduct the interview, so know what to expect for the different interview styles and don’t be caught off guard.
