Administrative Fellowship Interviews

We primarily use this blog to post about family life and updates at home.  I think it would get kind of boring if I was posting about school or work all the time, but every once in a while it spills over into family life.  I started my second year of the MHA program, ending my summer internship with Methodist and starting a graduate assistantship with them.  All that means is I am doing the same thing with them, just part time while I go to school.  Part of the second year experience is stressing out over getting a job after graduation.  

The more I have learned during my program, the more I have realized that an Administrative Fellowship is probably what I should try to do, and what would be best for my career.  An Administrative Fellowship is a post-graduate experience meant to give the fellow greater exposure to the complete continuum of healthcare administration.  It is kind of like a practical capstone to the degree.  I wanted to apply to some because I thought I could get more experience and greater exposure to different aspects of the industry.  I also thought it was the way to go because people have described it as a springboard for an early careerist.  Organizations bring on fellows not only to teach them, but to groom the future leaders of their organization.  During your time as a fellow, you shadow and work with the top executives of the organization, so naturally when opportunities in the future come along, it is beneficial that they already know who you are.  Taking an entry-level job at an organization isn't a bad thing, but I suspect it would take a lot longer to advance your career, because very few senior executives know you.  I was excited to look into the possibilities, but was also cautioned by numerous people that fellowships are extremely competitive, and there are a limited number of them for the 1000+ MHA graduates every year.

Long story short:  I applied to fellowships around the country.  I sat down with Cory and we looked at locations of different fellowships.  We then whittled it down to places we could actually see ourselves living, and I looked into the opportunities.  Mostly, we knew we didn't really want to go further East, away from family, but if the opportunity was there, we would consider it.  I applied to 11 fellowships across every time zone.  It felt like applying to schools all over again.  I wrote personal statements, cover letters, updated my resume, got letters of recommendation from Marty Keith (my boss at Methodist), Dr. Carlton (my academic advisor), and Dr. Gentry (the Division Director of the School of Public Health).  I sent off all my packets and waited to hear.  It was an exciting and anxiety-inducing wait.  Right off the bat, the first place I applied to in Fort Collins, Colorado emailed me and said thanks but no thanks.  Super great feeling to start off the process.  My mind was flooded with thoughts about it being too competitive for me to even get an interview.  I then had to remind myself that I couldn't be a fellow at every organization, and would need to be patient.

Fast forward two months from sending in my applications and of the 11 organizations, 5 had asked for a phone interview.  Each rejection to my application was a blow to my ego, but I had to just forget it and keep moving forward.  I had phone interviews with Salem Health in Salem, Oregon, Multicare in Tacoma, Washington, UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas ,Texas, IU Health in Indianapolis, IN, and Methodist Le Bonheur in Memphis, Tennessee.  I work for Methodist currently, so I was thinking I would at least get a phone interview.  Salem emailed me pretty quickly afterward saying they were going with other people.  It was my first phone interview for a fellowship and I knew I didn't perform as well as I could have.  They ended on a curve-ball questions that I just floundered through.  It was a good learning experience.

 The other four phone interviews went really well!  I advanced to the next round with all of them.  UT Southwestern then had me do a Skype interview, which also went well, and then they had me do a two hour leadership assessment test online to send in for them to analyze.  It was kind of intense, but I kept making it through to the next round so my confidence was building.  The four remaining organizations all contacted me to fly me out for on-site interviews.  Cory and I were very excited, but bummed that my first interview would be over Halloween.  The day before the holiday I got on a plane to Tacoma, Washington, for a two day interview with Multicare!

It was my first trip to the Seattle area.  Tacoma was overcast, but I guess that is to be expected.  My hotel room had a view of downtown and the water.  Once I got there I found out they were going to hire two fellows and five of us were at the interview.  They told us over 80 applied, and we were their top five.  It felt good, but I also thought how if you were their #3 greatest candidate you still got nothing.  They talked to us a lot about "fit", and how at this point they knew we had the credentials and whatnot, but just were looking for the greatest "fit", which more and more became some ethereal, abstract unknown that flowed all around us, like the Force.  

That evening they took us to dinner at the Lobster Shop down on the water.  I hate seafood, and was worried that they would already sense that the Fit was not strong in me, but I got the salmon and everything worked out.  The dinner was with about 12 of their past fellows, dating back the past 6-8 years.  It was a really good sign to me that the fellows were all still working with Multicare after the fellowship and had great positions.  After dinner they took us back to the hotel.

The next day was a marathon of interviews.  They started at 7:30 in the morning and every thirty minutes I rotated to someone new.  That lasted until about 4:30.  It was crazy, but I enjoyed it.  The more I met people and learned about the organization, the more I was excited about possibly working there.  After the interviews I had some time to kill before my flight home, so I drove around town with the current fellow and another candidate.  The weather was a lot nicer and we went down by the water, which was beautiful.  I thought about the possible reality of moving my family to the Pacific Northwest.  It was definitely closer to family and more familiar to our Western roots.

After just a day at home, I was on another flight to Dallas, Texas for my next interview.  It was my first time flying on Southwest and I did not know about the whole seating arrangement thing.  The gate agents saw me coming a mile away, looking confused as I gazed at my boarding pass.

Dallas was a very different experience from Tacoma.  It started out similarly.  I headed to the hotel from the airport and hung out dinner.  I then was picked up by George from UT Southwestern.  In the lobby of the hotel I met another candidate for the fellowship.  It was from George we learned that there was one position being offered and we were the two candidates.  No one else was bring brought in.  It may not seem like it, but it felt like a very different dynamic.  The odds were definitely better, but competing head to head felt more confrontational, like I needed to constantly be measuring myself against the other guy.  He was extremely nice though, it wasn't uncomfortable talking with him.

We went to Avanti Ristorante, a fancy Italian place. UTSW started their current fellowship program just a year ago, so there wasn't a large group of alumni to eat dinner with.  It was just us, the current fellow, two directors, and the Vice President who acts as preceptor to the program.  The VP spent most of the dinner asking us questions.  It was clearly part of the interview process.  

The next morning was very relaxed compared to Tacoma.  They didn't pick us up until 11:00 AM, so the morning was completely free.  Then we got a tour of their brand new hospital, and it looked massive on the outside.  Everything is bigger in Texas, right?

After the tour, I had just one panel interview with four people.  It lasted about 45 minutes.  I felt very at ease.  Then it was over.  Nine hours of interviews in Tacoma, 45 minutes in Dallas.  It was after the interview that this whole process started to become a whirlwind.  I was sitting in a room with the other candidate, chatting about the day and our MHA programs, when the preceptor VP came into the room and explained to us that we both did very well in the interviews and they wanted to expand the program and bring on two fellows this year.  In other words, we both were going to be offered the position!  I was a little bit in shock.  I had only come out of the panel about 25 minutes before.  HR reps came in and explained the details of the offer to me, and said they needed an answer by the end of the week.

I was so excited to call Cory and tell her the news.  What started out as me thinking I was just going to apply to places to see what happened, assuming I was not going to be offered a very competitive fellowship slot, was now a concrete offer.  It was exhilarating and a relief.  I got on the plane home and offered some prayers of gratitude.  Cory and Emmy were actually out of town in Utah when I got home, but that was fine because the next morning I was supposed to be on another plane to Indianapolis for an interview.

At this point, I was trying to figure out what the appropriate course of action was.  I emailed Tacoma and explained that I had received another offer, and would need to decide by the end of the week.  If that was too soon for them to make a decision, I understood, but I would wait to hear back from them.  Then I had to decide how to handle the Indiana interview.  It was too late to cancel the interview. I was supposed to be on a plane in about 8 hours.  I thought, "Maybe something similar to the Dallas interview will happen, and they will give their decision right after the interview."  There was no dinner scheduled when I got there so I walked around Indianapolis for a while and saw some cool things, like where the Colts play and where the Pacers play.

I also saw Monument Circle.  The weather was uncharacteristically warm.  In my hotel room that night I got an email back from Tacoma saying they were going with other candidates.  I weirdly felt sad about it, even though I had another offer and I really liked Dallas.  Then about 10 minutes later I got another email from one of the people I interviewed with in Tacoma explaining that they heard I didn't get the fellowship, but they thought I was an excellent candidate and wanted to fly me back out to interview for a position in their department.  It was flattering, but I wanted the fellowship experience.  The next morning I ran the gauntlet of interviews, similar to Tacoma.  Nine hours of a new person every 30 minutes.  I loved the people and the organization, but knew that I probably wasn't going to work there.  

I got home from all the travelling and waited until the end of the week.  I didn't hear from Indiana, so I accepted the Dallas position and contacted Indiana to inform them of my decision.  I also had to tell Methodist about my plans.  Their interview wasn't for another two weeks, so they were really out of the game.  

All of that was just to let you know:  We are moving to Dallas, Texas next summer!  We are super excited.  Dallas was at the top of my list when I started the process and I can't believe things worked out the way they did!