Timing

• When do I conduct interviews?

  All applicant interviews should be completed before the Rank Order List deadline.

NMS Interview

• What is NMS Interview?

  NMS Interview is a module in the NMS Match System that allows residency sites to setup their interview schedule online, send invitations to candidates, and allows candidates to instantly self-schedule themselves into available timeslots.

  Related Links:

  • About NMS Interview

• Do I have to use NMS Interview?

  No. Residency sites are free to schedule interviews in any manner they like. NMS Interview is an optional service that can be used by registered residency sites if they choose to do so.

  Related Links:

  • About NMS Interview

• How much does NMS Interview cost?

  The NMS Interview is included as part of a residency site's registration for the APPCN Match. There is no cost for using the service.

  Related Links:

  • About NMS Interview

Scheduling Setup - Interview Types

• If the expectation is that an applicant needs to sign up for 3 different meetings (faculty interview, director interview, and meeting with current trainee), does it make sense to have them sign up for an interview day
  or for them to sign up for each meeting separately?

  The choice is up to you. Most residency sites have candidates book interview days and then the residency site manually assigned candidates to their meetings outside of the system. However, some residency sites may find it more efficient to have candidates book themselves directly into the individual meetings.

  To create an interview day:

  • Create 1 interview type (Interview Day)
  • Add the available events (e.g., 10 candidates from 9am-5pm)
  • Send invitations to your candidates
  • Once booked, create each candidate's itinerary manually, and notify each candidate of their itinerary

  If your training site offers an Interview Day, but wants to limit the number of candidates from a certain group that can schedule that day (e.g., your Interview Day can accommodate 8 total candidates, but cannot accommodate more than 4 Adult candidates and 4 Pediatric candidates on any one day), you should create two Interview Types (Adult Interview Day and Pediatric Interview Day) and create events for each type with 4 available slots. That way, for each Interview Day, no more than 4 Adult Candidates and 4 Pediatric Candidates will be able to book themselves into that day.

  To create individual meetings:

  • Create 3 interview types (Faculty, Director, current resident)
  • Add the available events for each type of interview (e.g., 1 candidate from 9am-10am)
  • Send invitations to your candidates for all interview types

  Please note that in this example, if you create individual meeting events, you would not necessarily be able to enforce a sequence of these meetings or ensure they happen on the same day. For example, if the available dates for the three interview types overlap, one candidate may schedule Faculty → Director → Resident while another candidate may schedule Director → Resident → Faculty.

• I have panel interviews and individual interviews. Would those be set up as different event types?

  If each interview type can be scheduled independently, you should set these up as different event types. You can create one interview type for individual interviews and one for panel interviews, and then invite your candidates to both types of interviews. The candidates would schedule themselves into one individual interview and one panel interview. Within the system, the only difference between an "Individual Interview" event, and a "Panel Interview" event is the name. The training site would still need to decide which faculty are attending each event.

• We prefer to do 3 individual interviews simultaneously (in different virtual spaces). Is there a way to set that up?

  In this scenario, when creating the event, you should set the number of candidates that can attend the event to three. That way, three candidates can schedule themselves into an interview timeslot (e.g., 9am-9:30am). Once you know which candidates have signed up for the timeslot, you can send them an email with the specific link to their personal virtual space (e.g., Zoom, Teams, Webex, etc.).

  Related Links:

  • NMS Interview User Guide - Add Interview Events

Managing Events

• Can I book candidates into interviews directly, without giving them a choice of dates?

  Yes. If you don't want to allow applicants to schedule themselves, but still want to use NMS Interview so your candidates can see your events in their schedule, and both you and the applicants can gain the benefit of importing rankings from scheduled interviews, use the following procedures:

  1. Create an interview type (e.g., Interview). If your residency site has multiple programs, you might create a separate type for each program.
  2. Create your interview events.
  3. Add your candidates.
  4. On your Calendar or Event List, select View for an event.
  5. Use the Force Schedule feature to assign a candidate to the interview.
  6. Repeat for all events in your schedule.

  
  

  Please note that the Force Schedule function does not trigger an automatic email from the system notifying the candidate of the interview. If the candidate logs in to the NMS Match System, they will see the scheduled interview on their calendar, but you should still send a personal email to the candidate informing them of their interview time.

  Related Links:

  • NMS Interview User Guide - Manually Schedule a Candidate

• Can I add a different PDF for each interviewee or is it only the same PDF for everyone interviewing in that slot?

  You can create and upload a PDF of instructions that you would like to provide to candidates for each event. The PDFs are attached to individual events and are available to all candidates scheduled for that event. If only one applicant is scheduled for the event, the PDF is available only to that applicant. If 5 applicants are scheduled for the event, the PDF is available to all 5 applicants.

  If you have an event with multiple scheduled candidates and you want to provide each candidate with their own unique information for the event, you should email the information to each candidate directly.

  Related Links:

  • Edit or Change an Interview Event

Sending Invitations

• Can we customize the invitation or rejection emails?

  No, you cannot customize the invitation or rejection emails in the NMS Match System. Those emails are simple notification messages. Samples of those emails are available in the NMS Interview User Guide.

  If you'd like to send your applicants more detailed or personal communications, in addition to the interview invitation sent from the system, you can use the Email function on your Candidate List in the system to select and populate candidates' email addresses directly into your email client, then send the communications using your email client.

  Related Links:

  • Invite a Candidate
  • Reject a Candidate

• Is there a way to set deadlines for when applicants can reschedule an interview?

  Yes, residency sites can specify a Lockout Date when adding or editing their events. The Lockout Date is the date when no further bookings, changes, or cancellations can be made to the event by applicants. Applicants who want to make changes to an interview event on or after the lockout date has passed will need to contact the residency site directly.

  Related Links:

  • Add Interview Events
  • Edit or Change an Interview Event

Managing Candidates

• Can each applicant be assigned to more than one group (e.g., they have applied and are being considered for more than one program)?

  Yes. If some candidates belong to more than one group (e.g., have applied for more than one program), it is recommended that you assign a group name to those candidates that combines both groups. For example, if you have two groups, “Group1” and “Group2”, and a candidate belongs to both groups, you should assign the candidate to a group named “Group1-Group2”. This will facilitate sorting and filtering of your candidates by group name. When you filter for applicants in Group1 you will get both the applicants who belong only to Group1, as well as applicants who belong to any group that includes Group1.

  Related Links:

  • NMS Interview User Guide - Assign Candidate to a Group

• Is there a way for an applicant to request 'waitlist' for a specific interview date, so if that slot becomes open the applicant is notified and can make the swap?

  NMS Interview does not have a waitlist feature at this time. However, candidates can sign in to the NMS Match System to get a real-time view of interview availability. If a candidate sees an available timeslot that they prefer, they can reschedule themselves into that time.

How To Videos

NMS Interview is a module of the NMS Match System that allows residency sites to streamline and automate interview scheduling. The following videos provide an overview of how NMS Interview works: