As the title says...
They seemed to ask me very easy questions, all of which I *think* I answered ok. But I was only in there for 20 mins (with 3 interviewers) and they didn't ask me anything challenging, which makes me think they'd already decided I wasn't a good candidate..
Ugh.
Don't think you should necessarily abandon hope. If it was an advertised post (rather than a meeting with just you in response to a speculative letter) the Uni HR will have set in stone that every candidate must be asked the same questions to avoid accusations of unfairness and they wouldn't have bothered interviewing you if they didn't think that you were a plausible candidate, probably they will have had many applications.
I don't think you should be discouraged by the fact they did not pick up on little errors. From my experience it is unusual for this to happen in academic interviews. As an interviewer, I might have asked for clarification of points in a presentation, but I would not have asked you a question and emphasised the errors in your answer. I suspect the interviewers will have made notes on each candidates performance and allocated a score (explicit process insisted upon by HR). On this basis the best candidate will be offered the post. The reason for the nodding etc is to encourage you and keep you going, as the interviewers are aware that interviews can be stressful. By nodding I find candidates feel at ease and will expand a lot more on the point they are making thus showing the depth and breadth of their understanding.
I think 20 minutes is a normal length for an interview so I wouldn't worry about that! Often I've found that interviews have a set of 'key phrases' they want the interviewee to say with each question, perhaps when you said the right things they were all nodding in agreement that you had said the thing on their tick list. It sounds like you had some tough previous interviews and from my experience it's not the norm to try and trip you up so don't worry too much about that not happening in this interview.
PostgraduateForum Is a trading name of FindAUniversity Ltd
FindAUniversity Ltd, 77 Sidney St, Sheffield, S1 4RG, UK. Tel +44 (0) 114 268 4940 Fax: +44 (0) 114 268 5766
An active and supportive community.
Support and advice from your peers.
Your postgraduate questions answered.
Use your experience to help others.
Enter your email address below to get started with your forum account
Enter your username below to login to your account
An email has been sent to your email account along with instructions on how to reset your password. If you do not recieve your email, or have any futher problems accessing your account, then please contact our customer support.
or continue as guest
To ensure all features on our website work properly, your computer, tablet or mobile needs to accept cookies. Our cookies don’t store your personal information, but provide us with anonymous information about use of the website and help us recognise you so we can offer you services more relevant to you. For more information please read our privacy policy
Agree Agree