Communication

• Can I tell an applicant that our program will rank them?

  Programs may voluntarily inform applicants as to whether or not the applicants remain under consideration for admission (e.g., whether or not the applicant will be ranked), but are not obliged to do so.

  Programs must never request ranking information from any applicant, and applicants must never request ranking information from any program. Furthermore, prior to the release of the Phase II Match results, programs must not disclose to any applicant the position of any applicant on their Rank Order List(s) for either Phase of the Match, and applicants must not disclose to any program any information about their rankings for either Phase of the Match.

  Related Links:

  • Rules of the Match

NMS Interview

• What is NMS Interview?

  NMS Interview is a module in the NMS Match System that allows training 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

• Can I use NMS Interview?

  Yes. NMS Interview is being made available by APPIC at no cost to all training sites registered for the Match. APPIC encourages training sites to consider using NMS Interview, even if they previously used a different interview scheduling system.

  Related Links:

  • About NMS Interview

• Is the use of NMS Interview required?

  No. Training Sites are free to schedule interviews in any manner they desire. However, APPIC is encouraging training sites to use NMS Interview and has made it available at no cost because it can simplify the process for training sites and applicants.

  A pilot of NMS Interview with select APPIC programs found that it saved programs an average of 5 hours in assigning/scheduling their interviews. Applicants strongly preferred the use of NMS Interview compared to other scheduling methods, and by using a common system for scheduling, both programs and applicants found efficiencies in managing their schedules and creating their Rank Order Lists.

Scheduling Setup - Interview Types

• Should I create and schedule interview days or individual meetings?

  NMS Interview is designed to allow candidates to book themselves into events. The events set up by the training site may be individual meetings or a full interview day. The only difference in NMS Interview between setting up an individual meeting event and an interview day event is the name, likely the duration, and how many candidates can book themselves into the event. Each training site must decide for themselves whether they want candidates to book individual meetings or an interview day.

  Interview day:

  Most training sites in the pilot used NMS Interview to have candidates book interview days. Once the candidates selected their preferred interview day, the program created an itinerary and sent it to each candidate, outside of the system.

  If your interviews involve multiple events on the same day where candidates are occupied for most of the day, or if there is a specific sequence or rotational set of interviews that must take place on the same day, booking an interview day is an easy way to block the necessary time with the candidate that is needed to complete the different meetings. Creating an interview day may be simpler for the training site to setup and for the candidates to schedule.

  However, your training site would still need to put in the effort to manually assign the candidates booked on each day to their individual meetings and send an itinerary to each candidate. Furthermore, this approach may reduce the flexibility for candidates to exercise control over their schedules.

  Individual meetings:

  If your interviews are structured around a discrete set of individual events that can be booked independently, either on the same day or potentially on different days (e.g., Training Committee interview and virtual open house), then creating different interview types and a set of individual events for each type may be more efficient for both the training site and the candidate. Using this approach, candidates would schedule themselves into specific meeting times, and the interview schedule would be finalized within the system. Training Sites would not need to create and send individual interview itineraries, as candidates would be able to see their own intineraries within the system.

  This approach may be somewhat more complex to set up. However, it can significantly reduce the effort required by the training site to schedule individual meetings and communciate itineraries to candidates. It also provides the most flexibility for candidates to control their own schedules.

• If the expectation is that an applicant needs to sign up for 3 different meetings (faculty interview, TD 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 training sites in the pilot used NMS Interview to have candidates book interview days and then the training site manually assigned candidates to their meetings outside of the system. However, some training sites may find it more efficient to have candidates book themselves directly into the individual meetings. The pros and cons of each approach are discussed in the response to the previous question.

  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 Child candidates on any one day), you should create two Interview Types (Adult Interview Day and Child 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 Child Candidates will be able to book themselves into that day.

  To create individual meetings:

  • Create 3 interview types (Faculty, TD, 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 → TD → Resident while another candidate may schedule TD → Resident → Faculty.

• We have 7 different tracks that each have their own ID number. Would we just set up the interview days for each track and the applicants would only see the options for their track?

  Yes. You should create seven interview types, one for each of your tracks. Add the interview days (events) available for each track (interview type) and then invite the candidates to the interview days that they are eligible for. Candidates will only see the events they have been invited to.

  Related Links:

  • NMS Interview User Guide - Interview Types

• We need to have the candidates schedule an interview in the morning and a meeting in the afternoon,
  and they need to be on the same day. How do we make sure that they book both on the same day?

  Assuming you offer interviews on more than one day and candidates must attend both their AM and PM interview on the same day, it is likely simpler to have candidates use NMS Interview to select their desired interview day. Once you know which candidate is attending which day, you can notify them of their specific AM and PM timeslot. That is how most training sites used NMS Interview in the pilot.

  Alternatively, if you want to use NMS Interview so that candidates schedule themselves into specific time slots, you could send a preliminary email outside of the system to your candidates asking for their preferred interview day. Then, create AM and PM interview types for each day (e.g., Day1-AM, Day1-PM, Day2-AM, Day2-PM, etc.), and set up the appropriate interview timeslots (events) for each type of interview. You could then invite candidates who preferred Day1 to the Day1-AM and Day1-PM events and they would schedule themselves into specific timeslots. Candidates who preferred Day2 would be invited to Day2-AM and Day2-PM events, and so on.

• 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

• Can we use candidate groups to schedule interview teams? So that we have control over who is interviewed by which team?

  Candidate groups are labels that you assign to candidates to distinguish them from other candidates on your list. Candidate groups should be used to organize and categorize candidates, for example to differentiate between candidates applying to different tracks. If you want to restrict specific candidates to certain interview teams, you should use Interview Types.

  1. Create an interview type for each team.
  2. Add events reflecting the availability of each team.
  3. Use groups to categorize which candidates are eligible for which team(s).
  4. Invite candidates to the interview teams (represented by interview type) for which they are eligible.

  
  

  Related Links:

  • NMS Interview User Guide - Interview Types
  • NMS Interview User Guide - Assign Candidate to a Group

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 training site has multiple tracks, you might create a separate type for each track.
  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 you explain more about how forced scheduling can offset the potential problem of candidates not being available for any of the slots that are still available when they go to schedule?

  Training Sites should try to accommodate the needs of candidates when possible. If a candidate notifies you that they cannot attend any of the available spots, you have a few options:

  1. Create a new event and use the Force Schedule option to assign the candidate to the event. If the candidate is currently scheduled into an event that they cannot attend, you must cancel their scheduled interview before you can Force Schedule them into a different event.
  2. If you can make an additional slot available at an existing event, Force Schedule the candidate into the event. If you Force Schedule a candidate into a timeslot that is currently full, the system will automatically increase the number of slots to make room for the force-scheduled candidate.
  3. Contact one or more of your scheduled candidates and ask if they would be willing to change their interview to another available time. The candidate(s) can either reschedule themselves, which will free up a spot for the candidate that needs to be accommodated, or you can cancel the interview with a scheduled candidate and Force Schedule both candidates into their new interview times.

  
  

  Related Links:

  • NMS Intervieww User Guide - Manually Schedule a Candidate
  • NMS Interview User Guide - Edit or Change an Interview Event
  • NMS Interview User Guide - Cancel an Interview

• 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. This can be done before or after candidates have been invited or scheduled. 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:

  • NMS Interview User Guide - Edit or Change an Interview Event

• Are Interview Settings carried over year after year?

  No. Interview Settings are reset each year to accomodate potential changes in track offerings and interview structure. For example, a training site could have candidates book an Interview Day this year, and then choose to switch so that candidates book individual meetings next year.

Sending Invitations

• Should I notify candidates of when our training site will send out invitations?

  Yes, we recommend doing so. Applicant feedback from the pilot of NMS Interview conducted last year was that they greatly appreciated training sites notifying them in advance of the specific date and time when interview invitations would be sent. From the perspective of applicants, this approach was instrumental in making the process as fair and equitable as possible.

• I have concerns about the "first come, first serve" approach of interview scheduling, and that it may not be fair for some applicants, especially those who are last to schedule. What are some ways of making this process more equitable?

  One of the challenges with any type of interview scheduling is that, regardless of the type of process you use, some applicants will be among the last to attempt to schedule. Here are some suggested ways to improve the experience for those applicants (and you might even implement more than one of these options):

  1. Provide advance notice of when interview scheduling invitations will be sent by your site, as outlined in the response to the previous question.
  2. Let applicants know that they may contact you for assistance if they run into scheduling problems and you will work with them to find a mutually-convenient time.
  3. Open up a few extra slots to ease the process for applicants who are the last to attempt to schedule. For example, if you invite 30 applicants to an interview, you might place 33 (or whatever number you choose) interview slots on the calendar. This approach guarantees that every applicant will have multiple options, even the last applicant to schedule in this example would have four available slots to choose from. Once scheduling is over, only 30 of those 33 available slots would be filled.

• Should I use NMS Interview to notify applicants of their interview status?

  Not necessarily. Notifying applicants of their interview status and sending invitations for specific interview events can be separate actions. We recommend that you notify applicants using a personal email of their interview status and the timing when interview invitations will be sent out prior to actually sending the invitations.

  The standard invitation and rejection emails sent from within NMS Interview are short, simple, and impersonal. Samples of the emails are available in the NMS Interview User Guide.

  While an interview invitation could be used as an interview status notification, many training sites prefer to send a more customized or personal message to their applicants in advance, notifying them of their interview status prior to sending invtations. To send a personal message to the candidates you intend to interview, you can use the Email option on your Candidate List in NMS Interview. This will allow you to compose a personal email to the selected candidates in your default email client (e.g, Outlook, webmail, etc.).

  Once you have sent the personal notification email to your candidates, you can use NMS Interview to send interview invitations.

  For candidates you do not intend to interview, you do not need to add them to your Candidate List. Rejection emails can be sent to these candidates outside of NMS Interview. You might, however, wish to use the rejection email within NMS Interview for candidates you decide to reject after their interviews.

  Related Links:

  • NMS Interview User Guide - Invite a Candidate
  • NMS Interview User Guide - Email Candidates

• 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 on the Match website.

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

  must send interview invitations from the system to enable applicants to schedule their interviews. Rejection emails do not need to be sent through the system. Some use the rejection email to notify applicants they are no longer under consideration after the interview, but that is not required.

  Related Links:

  • NMS Interview User Guide - Invite a Candidate
  • NMS Interview User Guide - Reject a Candidate
  • NMS Interview User Guide - Email Candidates

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

  Yes, training 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 will need to contact the program directly.

  Related Links:

  • NMS Interview User Guide - Add Interview Events
  • NMS Interview User Guide - Edit or Change an Interview Event

• I don't want applicants scheduling themselves. I want them to rank their preference for interview days and then I create a schedule that accommodates everyone as much as possible.

  To replicate this process with NMS Interview, you would need to email your candidates separately asking for their date preferences and then manually schedule them into interviews as described in the section on Managing Events.

  However, the problem with this approach is that a candidate's preferences at one point in time may change when they receive interview invitations from other training sites. That is why NMS Interview is designed to empower candidates to take control of their schedule and book themselves. Training Sites can set a Lockout Date to ensure no cancellations or rescheduling occur on or after a certain date, but giving candidates the flexibility to choose their own schedule increases candidate satisfaction, reduces cancellations, and minimizes manual effort associated with rescheduling, both for applicants and training sites. If a candidate cannot find a suitable date that is available, they should be encouraged to contact the training sites to discuss alternate options.

  Related Links:

  • NMS Interview User Guide - Manually Schedule a Candidate

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 track)?

  Yes. If some candidates belong to more than one group (e.g., have applied for more than one track), 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 do I create a CSV file of candidates for importing into NMS Interview?

  A CSV (Comma Separated Values) file is a plain text file that stores data by delimiting data entries with commas. CSV files can be created from Excel, AAPI, and many other spreadsheet and text editing programs. More information about CSV files is available here.

  Acceptable Format

  The CSV file for NMS Interview should have the following format:

  • The first record in the file must be a header record that provides the name of each field.
  • Each candidate must be on a separate line in the file.
  • Fields that contain a space or comma or single quotes must be enclosed in double quotes.
  • The file must have a .csv extension (e.g., candidates.csv).

  
  

  Two acceptable formats for the CSV file are provided below. Note that the example on the left only lists the email address, which is the only field that is required in the file. The example on the right has other fields in addition to the email. The other fields are optional and are not required.

  email
  Kong,King,kkong@gmail.com
  cchaplin@gmail.com
  sjones@gmail.com
  
  

  “Last Name”,”First Name”,email,group
  Kong,King,kkong@gmail.com,Adult
  Chaplin,”Charles George”,cchaplin@gmail.com,Child
  ,,sjones@gmail.com,

  To create a CSV file from Excel:

  1. Open a Microsoft Excel file that contains the email addresses of the applicants you want to interview. The first record or row in the Excel file should have the name of each field in the file.
  2. Click on File in the top left corner and click Save As.
  3. Underneath the file name at the bottom of the save screen, you will see the option for Save as type. In this field, select CSV (Comma Delimited)
  4. Name your file and choose where to save it. Click Save.
  5. Two dialogue pop-ups will appear alerting you that formatting is different. Click OK on the first dialogue box to appear and Yes on the second. You have then successfully saved a CSV file to your computer.

  
  

  To export a CSV file from AAPI:

  Log in to AAPI and go to Settings. Click on Import/Export > Create Export > Select Tabular/Spreadsheet as the export type > Select Comma Delimited as the column style > Click on Email from the available fields list > Click Create Export.

  Consult the Liaison Outcomes AAPI Quick Start Guide for more detailed instructions. If you have questions about creating an export file from AAPI, contact AAPI Support.

How To Videos

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