It’s that time of year again. Bright-eyed fourth years have begun wandering our hospital in uncomfortable shoes and fancy suits. They look equal parts nervous and excited, ready to embark on the insane adventure that is being an intern. But first, they have to survive interview season and Match Day: a stressful, expensive, hoop-jumping endeavor that culminates with an envelope containing the result of eight years of hard work. Wouldn’t it be nice if they’d just put match results in a fortune cookie instead of an envelope? That’d be way better.

Something I mostly failed to realize as I waddled through interview season extremely pregnant, though, was how stressful it is for the residents and staff who are on the other side. While admittedly less fear-inducing (and certainly less expensive) from this point of view, I didn’t understand how important it was for the person on the other side of the table to make sure they were finding excellent future residents. The people you work with determine a lot about how easy or difficult your day-to-day life in the hospital is.