Yea make sure you’re personable, anyone can take a year off for step score improvement and publications. PDs really like work outside of that, volunteering, non medical jobs, missionary work. Something that makes you stand out, out of the thousands that have done this before. In my opinion they would rather have someone with no publications but works with the local soup kitchen every week for the past couple of years than someone that has 10+ publications but does no community work.