Conflict Of Interest?

[johndough123]

Hey, I was wondering what the protocol would be if one of the interviewers (in a traditional style interview) knows you.

 

[Que]

Wouldn't the onus be on the interviewer to raise a concern? If he/she didn't say anything, then you need not worry.

[Arztin]

You usually can request the interview to be done with someone else who doesn't know you. In MMI it does happen and when it does, they just redo that station with other actors/evaluators.

[johndough123]

You usually can request the interview to be done with someone else who doesn't know you. In MMI it does happen and when it does, they just redo that station with other actors/evaluators.

 

 

Would this be viewed as rude? Is it as simple as saying "I know so and so, would I be able to get another interviewer?"?

[rmorelan]

Would this be viewed as rude? Is it as simple as saying "I know so and so, would I be able to get another interviewer?"?

 

you just state it as it is - "I know so and so very well and I am afraid that would put him/her in an awkward situation of conflict of interest. I would hate to do that, so just for everyone's comfort and to make sure the interview rules are followed I would suggest it would be best for another interview team to assess me"

[duggar99]

you just state it as it is - "I know so and so very well and I am afraid that would put him/her in an awkward situation of conflict of interest. I would hate to do that, so just for everyone's comfort and to make sure the interview rules are followed I would suggest it would be best for another interview team to assess me"

 

We won't be shown the names of the interviewers or anything prior to arriving to the interview room, I'm assuming? 

 

As with the first poster for this thread, I'm also worried about knowing/being familiar with the interview team as I have quite an extensive network (albeit positive connections, I believe) at my undergrad school. I'm worried about not being sure how to handle this situation should it arise. 

 

I worry that even if I did state right away in the interview that I was familiar with one of the panel members (even if they didn't raise it), and said that I felt that a switch would be best, I'm concerned how this would impact the flow of my interview and how it may result in a sub-optimal impression, even though it is unrelated to the actual interview etc..

 

Thoughts? 

[ploughboy]

Your interviewers will almost certainly have a list of interviewees in advance, partially for this reason.  The onus is generally on the interviewer, not the interviewee, to identify any potential conflict so that the schedulers can work around it.  Happens all the time, don't worry about it.  I've seen interviewers shuffled around to avoid conflict in med school interviews, residency and fellowship interviews.  Heck, it even happened in my Royal College exam.