Does your interview process help yield the candidates you are looking for?  Many programs place tremendous emphasis on academic preparation and abilities when reviewing candidate files.  Cognitive ability is important, as finding students with the bandwidth to handle the academic rigors of PA school is in everyone’s best interest.  But it is equally important to ensure that in the details of the search for the student we want we don’t lose sight of recruiting the person we want to work with daily for the next 2+ years, the person who will serve as a brand ambassador not only for our program but our profession thereafter.  

As educators, we recognize that for us to completely assess our student’s non-cognitive attributes, tools like OSCE and simulation provide opportunities to place students into real-life scenarios where they can apply their skills.  The interview process should be structured in a similar fashion. 

Screening applicants for affective traits doesn’t have to be cumbersome and can actually make the interview process more interesting and informative for all involved.  Begin by ensuring you have identified and defined the traits you are looking for: these may stem from program mission, goals or learning outcomes as a starting point.  Then, ensure your scoring rubrics are set up to award points when these attributes are displayed, as well as including a mechanism to note when they are lacking or when antagonistic characteristics are exhibited. 

Once you have identified what you are looking for and built the tools to quantify it, create interview interactions that will allow applicants the opportunity to share with you who they are outside of academics.  Behavioral interviewing has the potential to highlight affective qualities through example.  Rather than asking a candidate to explain to you the ideal characteristics of a PA, ask them instead to give you examples of times when their actions embodied the ideal characteristics of a PA.  Spinning questions to require examples from the candidates lives allows for more genuine and authentic responses than questions where scripted, rehearsed answers are the norm.