21 Interview Tips: Make the Right Impression—and Find the Right Fit
Research varies on just how quickly hiring managers form an impression. Some studies suggest opinions can begin taking shape within the first few minutes, while other research indicates that many hiring decisions develop later in the conversation. Regardless of the exact timing, one thing is clear: putting your best foot forward throughout the entire interview process matters.
Just as importantly, remember that you’re interviewing the employer, too.
Your goal at the end of every interview should be twofold:
Leave them excited about making you an offer—and walk away knowing whether you would be equally excited to accept it.
As you prepare for your next opportunity, consider these 21 tips to help you make a strong impression, ask thoughtful questions, protect your professional reputation, and determine whether the position is truly the right fit.
1. Keep a High-Quality Résumé or CV Ready at All Times
Your interview may begin before you ever speak with a hiring manager. In many cases, your résumé or CV is the employer’s first impression of you, so make sure it represents you well.
Keep an updated, polished version ready at all times—even when you are not actively searching. Opportunities can appear unexpectedly, and periodically updating a strong document is much easier than trying to recreate years of accomplishments when an exciting position suddenly becomes available.
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Know the Difference Between a Résumé and a CV
Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they serve somewhat different purposes.
A résumé should be concise, targeted, and no longer than two pages. Its job is to quickly communicate the experience, skills, accomplishments, and measurable results most relevant to the position you are pursuing. Every item should earn its space.
A curriculum vitae (CV) can be as long as necessary to accurately represent your relevant professional and academic history. Depending on your background, it may include:
- Education, internships, residencies, and fellowships
- Board certifications and professional credentials
- Employment history
- Professional speaking engagements and invited lectures
- Conference presentations
- Research projects and research experience
- Publications, journal articles, or book chapters
- Teaching and academic appointments
- Clinical interests and advanced procedural experience
- Professional leadership positions
- Committee participation
- Awards and honors
- Professional associations
- Mentorship and training activities
A CV does not need to be long simply for the sake of being long. Include information that adds meaningful context to your professional story.
Whenever Possible, Show the Numbers
Focus on quantitative information rather than relying solely on qualitative descriptions.
Don’t simply tell an employer that you are experienced, productive, or successful. Whenever possible, demonstrate it.
Instead of:
“Experienced veterinarian with strong surgical skills and a busy caseload.”
Consider:
“Manages an average caseload of 18–22 patients per day while performing 5–7 surgical procedures weekly, including routine soft-tissue surgery and dentistry.”
Think particularly about revenue-generating activities and measurable contributions when deciding what to include. Depending on your role, examples might include:
- Average daily or weekly caseload
- Annual or monthly production or revenue, when appropriate to share
- Production or revenue growth
- Number and types of procedures or surgeries performed
- New services or revenue streams introduced
- Client or referral growth
- Improvements in appointment capacity or efficiency
- Leadership responsibilities and team size
- Workflow, scheduling, inventory, or labor improvements
- Mentoring, training, or onboarding responsibilities
- Business development accomplishments
- Programs, protocols, or services developed and their measurable results
Revenue isn’t the only number that matters. Metrics can also demonstrate quality, efficiency, leadership, growth, clinical impact, and mentorship.
Most importantly, remember:
Your résumé or CV should not simply describe what you were responsible for. It should demonstrate what you accomplished.
A few additional basics:
- Skip the objective statement. It is generally antiquated and takes up valuable space
- Leave references off. There is also no need to write “References available upon request”
- Consider a cover letter. A thoughtful, customized cover letter is rarely a bad idea and gives you another opportunity to explain why you are interested in the position
- Tailor your résumé when appropriate. Make your most relevant experience easy to find
- Proofread everything—and then proofread it again
- Keep a running list of accomplishments. Record measurable achievements as they happen rather than trying to reconstruct them years later
Before considering your résumé or CV finished, ask:
“If I were the hiring manager, what information here would make me want to meet this person?”
Make sure your document answers that question.
2. Remember: Your Interview Starts Before the Interview
Long before you walk through the hospital doors or join a video call, an employer may already be forming an impression.
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- Make sure your voicemail inbox is not full and your greeting is professional and clear
- Make sure you can receive text messages
- Use a professional email address and monitor it regularly—including your spam or junk folder
- Be mindful of your public social media presence. Highly controversial, inflammatory, or otherwise unprofessional public content may be seen by prospective employers
3. Keep Every Communication Professional
Your communication by email, text, and phone should reflect the same professionalism you plan to demonstrate in person.
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4. Stay in Communication With Your Recruiter
You would be amazed at how often an interview invitation gets caught in a spam filter, an email address is mistyped, or a phone call goes to the wrong number.
If you are expecting to hear from an employer and haven’t, let your recruiter know.
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- How interviews went
- Changes in your level of interest
- Additional interviews you have scheduled
- Offers you receive
- Questions or concerns
- Changes in your availability or timeline
5. Be Ready for “Tell Me About Yourself”
It may be the most predictable interview question—and yet many candidates are caught off guard by it.
Prepare a polished, natural answer ahead of time.
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- What you have accomplished
- Skills and clinical interests you have developed
- What you particularly enjoy doing
- Areas in which you hope to grow
- What you are looking for next
- How those goals align with the opportunity
6. Practice How You Say It—not Just What You Say
Body language matters.
Your goal is to convey warmth, confidence, and competence through both your words and your presentation.
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Practice out loud and consider recording yourself.
- Sit up straight
- Relax your shoulders
- Smile naturally
- Make eye contact
- Slow down
- Pause when appropriate
- Don’t rush to fill every silence
Practice until you sound comfortable—not memorized.
And most importantly, remember to breathe.
7. Prepare Quality Questions That Go Beyond the Website
An interview should be a conversation, not an interrogation from either side.
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Consider asking:
- Why is this position open?
- What are the top three goals you would like this person to accomplish during the first year?
- Are there barriers that could make those goals difficult?
- What are the biggest challenges facing the team or organization?
- How would you describe the culture, and what does that actually look like day to day?
- What differentiates this organization from its competitors?
- What does a typical day look like?
- What are typical appointment lengths, caseloads, scheduling practices, and case types?
- How are emergencies, same-day appointments, and walk-ins handled?
- What do you wish you had known before joining?
- What surprised you most after joining?
- How would our roles interact?
- What could someone in this position do to make your job or the team’s work easier?
- If you were in my position, what question would you ask that I haven’t asked?
The answers matter—but so does how people answer them.
Pay attention to whether answers are consistent among different team members.
8. Never Go Negative
Everyone has experienced a difficult boss, colleague, client, or workday.
An interview is not the place to relive it.
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Instead, translate negative experiences into positive statements about what you learned, how you handle challenges, and what helps you perform at your best.
If asked about conflict, consider:
“I make it a priority to interact professionally with everyone, even during stressful situations. I work particularly well when expectations and resources are clear, I have appropriate autonomy, and there is open communication with colleagues and leadership.”
If asked about a difficult client:
“I try not to take difficult interactions personally because I rarely know everything someone is dealing with. Rather than matching their stress, I remain calm, confident, and empathetic. I focus on understanding the underlying concern and helping the client feel heard while moving the conversation toward a solution.”
You don’t have to pretend every experience was wonderful. Demonstrate professionalism, maturity, and good judgment in how you discuss it.
9. Never Be Late
Be ready for phone and video interviews before the scheduled time.
For in-person interviews, plan to arrive in the area early and walk through the door approximately 10–15 minutes before your interview.
Allow extra time for traffic, parking, weather, unfamiliar buildings, and unexpected delays.
Arrive calm, collected, and ready.
10. Don’t Overschedule Your Interview Day
Whenever possible, allow at least two to three hours for an onsite interview.
Give the employer time to talk with you, provide a tour, introduce you to the team, and potentially allow you to observe the practice.
If you’re invited to lunch or dinner, go if you can.
The longer you spend with a prospective team, the more everyone relaxes. They get a better idea of who you are—and you get a better idea of whether these are really the faces you want to see on a Monday morning.
11. Dress One Level Above the Position
When in doubt, err on the side of being slightly overdressed.
For clinical interviews, consider bringing a lab coat and keeping clean scrubs and appropriate clinical or surgery shoes available.
If you’re invited to shadow or observe procedures, you’ll be ready.
12. Put Your Phone Away
Your interview does not begin in the conference room.
It begins with the first person you encounter and continues until you walk out the door.
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Put your phone away and silence your smartwatch.
Be polite, engaged, friendly, and warm with everyone—from the receptionist to the medical director.
When appropriate, engage naturally with team members, clients, and patients. Something as simple as acknowledging a nervous pet or saying hello to a puppy in the waiting room can communicate a great deal about how you naturally interact in a hospital.
13. Come Prepared
Bring:
- A professional padfolio or notebook
- At least two working pens
- Two or three clean copies of your résumé or CV
You may never need them.
Being prepared anyway is the point.
14. Engage With the Entire Team
Speak with everyone you’re introduced to.
For team members who cannot stop to talk, a smile, wave, or friendly hello still matters.
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Ask people:
- What do you do here?
- How long have you been here?
- What do you enjoy most?
- How would your role interact with mine?
- What makes someone successful on this team?
Also be prepared to talk about what you enjoy outside of work.
Teams want to hire a person, not simply a résumé.
Show genuine interest in them as people, too.
15. Be Ready to Talk About Professional Development
Keep learning throughout your career and be prepared to discuss it.
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Be ready to answer:
- What have you learned recently?
- What skill are you currently developing?
- What would you like to learn next?
- Where would you like additional mentorship?
- What areas of medicine particularly interest you?
Curiosity, self-awareness, and a genuine commitment to continued development are tremendous assets.
16. Turn “I Don’t Know How” Into “I’d Love to Learn”
You aren’t expected to know how to do everything.
If asked about a procedure you haven’t performed independently, don’t become apologetic
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Try:
“Actually, I haven’t had the opportunity to perform a cystotomy independently yet, but I would absolutely love to learn. What kind of surgical mentorship could the hospital offer in that area, and approximately how frequently does the team see those cases?”
Never exaggerate a skill you don’t have. Be excited about developing it instead.
17. Say Thank You—More Than Once
Before leaving, sincerely thank the hiring manager and team.
Then follow up.
For many professional positions, send a thoughtful thank-you email within 24 hours.
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Use it as your final sales pitch:
- Mention something specific you learned
- Identify something you particularly appreciated
- Explain why the interview increased your interest
- Briefly reinforce why you could be a strong addition to the team
For senior leadership and executive positions, consider sending both an email and a handwritten note.
If you met individually with several people, consider thanking each person separately and referencing something specific from your conversation.
And always proofread everything.
18. Know When You Plan to Make a Decision
Before interviewing, have a realistic idea of when you expect to make a decision.
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Talk with your recruiter about:
- How competitive the position is
- Whether other candidates are interviewing
- How urgently the employer needs to hire
- How quickly similar positions tend to move
- How your other interviews fit into the timeline
Whenever possible, schedule interviews close enough together that you can fairly compare opportunities.
If you receive an offer before completing previously scheduled interviews, don’t panic or feel pressured to immediately accept or decline.
Consider saying:
“Thank you very much for the offer. I’m genuinely honored and excited to have the opportunity. I do feel professionally obligated to complete the interviews I’ve already committed to out of respect for each team’s time. I expect to have those conversations completed by [date]. Would you be comfortable with me getting back to you shortly after that, or does your hiring timeline require an answer sooner?”
Be transparent and respectful—but recognize that employers may have other candidates and may not be able to hold an offer indefinitely.
Keep your recruiter informed so they can help coordinate timelines whenever possible.
19. Approach Compensation Negotiations Strategically
Working with a professional recruiter leaves you the option of either negotiating directly or having someone negotiate on your behalf. Don’t hesitate to ask for help with either evaluating the offer you’ve received, or replying with a counter-offer. Recruiters often have additional insight on how challenging the market is in your area for the employer to fill the vacancy you’re considering. They can also help you understand the benefits and drawbacks of different compensation packages.
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As your career progresses, evaluate the total compensation package, including:
- Guaranteed base compensation
- Production or incentive structure
- Realistic ability to achieve bonuses
- Sign-on or retention incentives
- Paid time off
- Continuing education
- Health and retirement benefits
- Professional dues and licensing
- Schedule and expected hours
- Weekend, holiday, overnight, or on-call requirements
- Parental or other leave
- Mentorship and professional development
- Leadership and advancement opportunities
- Restrictive covenants and contractual obligations
A high theoretical earning potential means little if the caseload, staffing, schedule, or compensation structure makes it impossible to achieve.
20. Never Ghost an Employer—or Your Recruiter
Career paths have a funny way of crossing again.
Hiring managers, medical directors, recruiters, and other professionals change organizations, too—often while remaining within the same industry.
If you decide you no longer want to pursue an opportunity, that’s completely okay. Disappearing without communicating that decision is not.
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A simple message is enough:
“Thank you again for your time and for the opportunity to learn more about the position. After careful consideration, I’ve decided to move in a different professional direction and would like to withdraw from the interview process. I sincerely appreciate the time you and the team have invested, and I hope our paths cross again in the future.”
If you’re working with a recruiter, let them know as soon as your interest changes.
The same applies if you:
- Accept another position
- Decide to remain with your current employer
- Change your geographic plans
- Determine the schedule or compensation isn’t right
- Simply realize the opportunity isn’t the right fit
Closing the loop takes only a few minutes, but the professional impression you leave can last for years.
You never know when you may want to reconsider that employer—or when the same hiring manager or recruiter may appear somewhere else in your career.
You can always close a door without slamming it.
21. Remember the Two Goals
A successful interview is not simply one that results in an offer.
Your first goal is to leave the employer thinking:
“We want this person on our team.”
Your second goal is to leave with enough information to answer:
“Do I want to be on theirs?”
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Prepare well. Be professional. Stay curious. Ask thoughtful questions. Engage with the entire team. Pay attention to what people say—and what you observe when they aren’t specifically trying to impress you.
An interview is not about convincing every employer to hire you.
It’s about presenting the best, most professional version of yourself while gathering enough information for both sides to determine whether working together is the right fit.