What is PPS?
If you find PPS *very confusing*, you are not alone! Or maybe you have never heard of PPS, which I had not either until I was a PGY-1 resident thinking about PGY-2.
PPS = personnel placement service, held at ASHP Midyear every year
PPS is for applicants and employers to interview one another and facilitate networking prior to a formal application and interview
PPS is available for jobs, residencies (mainly PGY2 and HSPAL), and fellowships.
More about PPS:
- PPS registration opens in the fall
- candidates or programs can request interviews with each other
- interviews are typically 30 minutes and 1:1
- typically available Sunday – Wednesday during Midyear
- required to register for Midyear AND pay a fee to participate in PPS (~$130 for residents)
Who should participate in PPS?
- if you see programs or jobs you are interested in
- PGY2 or fellowship candidates
- if you are only interested in PGY1, likely PPS is *unnecessary* as most do not offer PPS interviews and its not expected!
Why participate in PPS?
- I felt like there was an unspoken expectation to reach out to PGY2 programs in some form prior to applications (which is unlike PGY1 process which this is not expected)
- great for narrowing list of interested programs
Special tip about PGY2 programs: Not all programs will do PPS but may have PGY2 spots available. I recommend checking the ASHP directory for your PGY2 specialty by state, then going to the website and social media to see. If it’s not clear and you are interested (and don’t see them in PPS), reach out via email to the RPD to ask. I had many that let me know they early committed but were very friendly about it!
I also had multiple programs that were not doing PPS but were doing something else like their own 1:1 interviews you had to sign up via their website or email to schedule.
Preparing for PPS?
Before PPS:
Set up your PPS profile
- Do this as soon as you can! Programs will message candidates within CareerPharm (the platform PPS uses) to request an interview but they can’t do this if you don’t have your profile up yet.
- Fill out your entire PPS profile including about me section and state what position you are looking for (PGY-2 specialty, fellowship, job, etc)
- Attach your updated CV (most programs referenced my CV when they reached out to me so I assume they are reading them)
- Be sure to use an email you check often. Some programs only reach out via email from your PPS profile but don’t message you on PPS itself, so can be easily missed!
Interview Invites
- I was not expecting to have so many different places to update/check for PPS interviews.
- Programs can message and schedule in CareerPharm but they may also email you or send you calendar invites (or both). Because of this, it is important to stay organized (see below about keeping your calendar updated).
Keep your PPS CareerPharm calendar updated:
- Keeping your PPS calendar updated prevents programs from double-booking you.
- Also recommend to put in any other obligations you will be unavailable for. Consider blocking off time before and after PPS interviews to avoid multiple back-to-back interviews in case one runs behind.
- To keep track of all the different invites, I personally made a master copy week view of my calednar on paper, filling in interviews as I scheduled and confirmed them.
- I updated my PPS calendar as often as I could, daily the week before PPS at least. And I put all the interviews into my outlook calendar and included the name of the program (and webinar link since it was virtual when I did it in 2021). I also included some VA residency showcases I was attending in my calendar which were separate from PPS. See below for what my calendar looked like.
Requesting interviews:
- Scheduling PPS interviews can happen up until Midyear. I would recommend finishing your scheduling prior to Midyear starting so you have enough time to prepare for the interviews.
- Avoid overbooking yourself to avoid burnout. I scheduled way too many PPS interviews as you can see above, which I regret. I would recommend limiting to 8-10 or less, use your own judgment.
Example of PPS interview request message:
Hello,
My name is [First Name] [Last Name] and I am a PGY-1 resident at [Hospital] in [City, State]. I am applying to PGY-2 Ambulatory Care programs and was interested in your program.
I would love to learn more during a PPS interview. I can provide times I am available otherwise my PPS calendar is also up to date. I have attached my updated CV for reference. I look forward to discussing further!
Best,
[First Name] [Last Name], PharmD
PGY-1 Resident
[Hospital Name], [City, State]
- Research programs in advance so you understand what you are interviewing for
- Prepare questions for the interviewer. You likely won’t know who exactly you will interview with but most of the time it is RPDs for PGY-2 programs in my experience. Have questions ready for different groups just in case (RPD, residents, preceptors, etc)
- Some programs use the interview entirely for YOU to ask questions (and they don’t ask you any) so be prepared for this with plenty of questions to avoid awkward silence prior to the time ending
- Example questions to ask at PPS:
- RPD
- How flexible are rotations?
- Any recent or unexpected changes to the program? Any based on resident feedback?
- How often do you check in with the resident?
- Where do residents typically go after finishing PGY-2?
- How do you support residents in their career goals?
- Resident
- What is your interaction like with your residents? Do you spend time outside of work together?
- What is your research project and how is it going so far?
- How is your work/life balance?
- Teaching/precepting opportunities
- Is the program receptive to feedback?
- Where do you feel like you had the most impact as a resident?
- Difficult experience or time when you struggled, how did the program support you?
- Preceptors
- What is your level of autonomy or interaction with the healthcare team like?
- What is the role of the resident with you on rotation?
- What is your feedback style?
- If a resident was struggling on a rotation how do you help them succeed?
- Relationship with other pharmacists in the department?
- Other – any specific questions you have regarding unique opportunities or things you are wondering about that is missing from their website
- RPD
- I recommend practicing answering questions as well. Typically these are the most common interview questions. Less common but possible they may ask behavioral/scenario-based questions like “tell me about a time when you worked on a team” or “tell me about a time when you were stressed and how you managed that”.
- Be prepared to answer these common questions:
- Why this program or position (ie why this PGY2 specialty)
- Why their program or position specifically (ie why this program at this institution)
- Short-term and long-term goals (received this question a lot)
- Strengths and weaknesses
During PPS
- Dress business professional, as you would for an interview
- Smile!
- Make appropriate eye contact
- Bring copies of your CV, and business card if you have them
- Bring paper and pens for taking notes
After PPS
- Send a thank you email – keep it short and simple, include a comment on something unique discussed if possible to personalize your thank you. There is no set deadline on sending these but I would say ideally by the next day, no later than the end of the week.
Example for program you may apply to:
Dr. [Resident/RPD/Representative]
Thank you so much for meeting with me during PPS to discuss your residency program. I appreciate the time and effort you set aside to answer my questions and allow me to learn about your program. {{Something personal here}}.
I am impressed by the information that I have learned, and believe you have a very strong residency program.
I look forward to completing an application and hopefully hearing from you in the coming weeks.
Sincerely,
[First and Last Name]Example for program you may not apply to or not sure yet:
Hello,
Dr. [Resident/RPD/Representative]
Thank you so much for meeting with me during PPS to discuss your residency program. I appreciate the time and effort you set aside to answer my questions and allow me to learn about your program. I was very impressed and believe you have a very strong residency program.
Sincerely,
[First and Last Name]
- Have a plan for reflecting as soon as possible after. These short interviews can easily blur together. I recommend doing a voice memo to yourself if you don’t have time to write out your thoughts.
- What you learn from PPS can be utilized to decide to apply vs not apply to a program. It can also be really useful for making your letter of intent more unique based on what you learned about the program during your PPS interview.
- Take some time to decompress! PPS can be stressful, so congratulate yourself for going through that process!
Note: I can’t speak to specific PPS experiences for other programs like fellowships or jobs but would recommend speaking to mentors and others you know to get their experience on this!
I hope these tips were helpful and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions!
