Seeing as quite a number of us are looking for jobs at the minute I thought I'd start up a thread to share tips for interviews - mainly because I'm rubbish at them and need all the help I can get.

The one that always gets me is when people ask what the hardest part of my PhD was. I never know what to say :$

I had an interview recently and was just pipped to the post. Not a job I wanted as such and it may have involved a move but I applied because any job is good in this climate but in a sense I was glad the decision was made for me. I'm not just saying this but I'm rubbish at interviews as well and some past employers have told me that but since they knew me or knew of some of my work it all worked out.

If that question is asked a lot, you'd be best having an answer and just wheeling it out when necessary.

Difficult times for us all and so take comfort in the fact that you're not alone.

Keep trying!!!

This is a great idea - I can definitely do with all the help I can get as I'm rubbish at interviews too! 

I think the most obvious point is to prepare and research your area well so that you know your topic/proposed topic inside out and show your knowledge of the wider topic area as this was flagged up at a postdoc interview I had. I think being confident is a major selling point so I need to work on that so that I can answer the questions better! 

I think practice is important as it does get easier the more interviews you do although in current climate we may be rather limited in that one which is a real shame! At least we know what to expect though according to all the friends I asked in academia about their interviews they all said that each one they had been to was different so it's kind of hard to generalise.

Hope this helps.  ;-)

I often hear people ask "what do I do if they ask me something I don't know!". The answer is say "I don't know but I could easily find out and get back to you" or something similar. Lots of people end up trying to answer something they don't know the answer to and tie themselves in knots.

Obviously you need to prepare by looking over the job spec and by ensuring you are up to date with the relevant advances in the field/business (you may have researched some of them, which would help!).

Remember to have a set of questions to ask them. You can write these down if you like, they won't mind you saying "I have some questions written down if that's ok?" and then you get them out your bag/pocket. Stops you from forgetting them. There's usually a point in interviews where they ask "do you have anything to ask us/me".

Good questions:

"Where do you see my role progressing to in 1 year/2 years/5 years?"
"I've read about your work in x, will I have the opportunity to work in that field?"
"If I was to be offered the job, what reading material would you suggest I read in preparation?"

The other thing that is hard to do if you don't naturally do it, is to appear very confident and above all, get on well with the interviewer.

Hope some of this helps.

For "hardest part of my PhD"...

There were a number of times where I had to overcome difficult problems, but one that stands out is x. [Choose any part that was hard even if it didn't stand out massively]. However, by doing y and z [make these things that exemplify your skills e.g. by consulting with my professor and working through the problem as a team] I was able to progress past this etc.

As the previous poster says, have a stock answer waiting for the question. Do the same for any other common questions.

You could be a little more smarmy I guess and say something like "There were quite a few parts of my PhD that were challenging, but then that's why I undertook it as I like to be challenged" then add the bit above.

I had an interview recently and went to the careers service beforehand as I'm so out of practice and have a habit of having total mind blanks in interviews. they really helped - told me to think in "signposts" so have 3 or 4 main points prepared for an answer to a question, eg hardest part of your phd. and then flesh your answer out around these pre-prepared signposts so it doesn't appear over-rehearsed but you have some sturcuture rather than just mumbling away which is what I normally do! Not sure I have explained that very well but it really helped me. I also used a grid with expected questions and 3-4 key points for each one.

For me, I think I need to learn (and am trying to) to come across less like meek-student, but confident-early-career-lady. To do this I focus more on my 'research interests' rather than 'what I did on my PhD' talk about other projects, ideas for future reserach, how I will contribute towards the REF, even if they don't ask - so it looks like I've got clear strategy, I won't need babysitting etc.

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Thanks all - there's some really useful advice here :-) I would love to come across as confident career lady... if only I was one!!

yeah, no I find it really difficult - I fall back in to the whole meek thing far too easily. I find it very difficult to boast or at least confidently talk about my research - I generally prefer to be modest so it feels alien to me. I think I've lost some jobs cos of it, so trying to improve!

Don't be meek, don't boast but do be confident and market your abilities as best you can as that's the ideal. If you can't be confident, try to ACT with confidence!

The whole interview thing is difficult. Lack of interviews doesn't inspire our confidence and I think it shows in interviews. The more knockbacks we get the more we lack confidence in our performnance at interview and so the circle continues.

My theory is that bribing the interview panel or panels to make the 'right' decision is our best bet but since we are looking for jobs mainly because we are not in employment and are skint we don't have the money to do that:p

Life just isn't fair...:-s

see I've obviously got a great CV as I get the interview every time, but then I have a thing of "omg, my cv *looks* really good, but really I'm actually just rubbish and don't deserve to be here" - cue panic and then acting really shy and downplaying my achievements on the day.

That sounds like the old imposter syndrome playing up - we need to believe we are as good in person as on paper!  Though this is tough as I'm usually have foot in mouth syndrome and feel like a rabbit in headlights as I'm prone to going blank as well but I think this is due to a lack of confidence!

The key is preparation and have a list of possible questions and answers as well as questions which you ask them written down so if you forget you'll have something to ask.  As it has been mentioned if you haven't had an interview for a while you may be rusty so practice really does help.

I really like Sneaks ideas about showing you are a early stage researcher rather than meek student which is an important transition than we must all remember!  We can do it!