How to: interview after grad school

So you want to be a post-doc. Or more likely you can't get that faculty
or industry job you've been eyeing and need to work somewhere. I
happen to have a few talents, and one of them is interviewing. I
have a lot of ideas for a post on the grad school admission process, but the post-doc/job interview process is more recent, so I'll do it first.

1. CV These can be long documents, so the chances of someone
reading it carefully right away are a little low. I sent out something like 10 copies when it was in a casual format, then one of my advisors gave me a 15 point list of what needed to change. It was that second batch of 10 that landed me my 8 interviews. So format correctly, make sure all the relevant information is listed (e.g. don't make someone guess you're a US citizen - tell them), and highlight particularly impressive points. If you have funding from the NIH or
NSF, list the title, duration, award amount, start date, etc. My take was that the details weren't so important, but it adding length to that section makes it harder to miss.

Less critical but still important is some service listing - whether you served on committees, taught Sunday School, or randomly mentored some younger students, it's nice to have something in that section. Everyone I interviewed with noticed.

2. Know Yourself Once you have a CV that you and some mentors (more than one if you're smart - everyone picks on different things in my experience) are comfortable with, make sure you know what's on it. Remember that summer research you did, the undergrad internship, how you picked your major, the various projects you worked on, any teaching experience, thoughts on mentoring... You want to be completely aware of everything you've done so you can tackle advice point 3.

3. Mock Interview This was the absolute critical factor that landed me an offer for all but one of the jobs I interviewed for. I worked with a professor outside my field for my first try, then continued to go through possible scenarios with friends, colleagues, in my car, walking to work - all the time. And I got good. I was on the east coast in this gorgeous building, looking out over the Boston skyline and waiting for the next person (she was 6th in a series of 12) to
arrive in my little conference room. She came in, asked me to describe a situation where I struggled to be effective in a situation with little time to prepare, and I knew I had her. I smiled, thought about how much I rocked at behavioral interview questions, and answered. Once you have ideas on what you want to say, you get this easy confidence that can be more appealing to people than your actual answer. But if you're fumbling to think of a situation, and frantically organizing your thoughts, the chances of you looking at all charming, funny or prepared are slim.

If you don't have someone amazing who has helped prep people before, write out a list, and have someone give it a shot for you. I had one advisor act particularly disinterested and stoic in one session. It gives you a worst case scenario on how to continue with your answer in the face of boredom, and when people smile and nod in the actual interview, you feel all that much better.

So, my sub-tips for this point -
* Start with the "tell me about yourself" question. Go through this over and over since I haven't yet seen someone who didn't ask this within the first 2 minutes. Have something ready to recite so that you hit some high points of your CV, mention particular job skills that seem well-suited for the position, and ease your way into the interview so that you can get more focused on your answers than any nervousness you might feel. I can't emphasize enough how much it helped me to be ready for this one.

*Then I went through behavioral interview questions. I read through the STAR method. That also links to sample questions and some telephone interview tips. If you like to be crazy-prepared, read the dress and dining pages too. I like to know all I can about how things went wrong for someone else. So if wearing a pastel suit or putting a napkin in my lap too late at dinner is going to screw me over, it's good to know how to not look lame on something simple.

*I was terribly awkward with the behavioral questions at first. I stared at my first "interviewer" and said
"I can't. I'm so surprised that you asked that, and I'm not able to think of a single situation, let
alone present it in the STAR format."
So she suggested taking my CV and a list of questions. Read the question, the find some listing on your CV that would be appropriate. Make notes on general things you want to talk about or type out entire answers. Even if you don't have to answer the exact questions (or behavioral questions at all) you'll have situations fresh in your mind that give the recruiter some idea of your experiences, how you handle problems or challenges, what you learned, and how you reflect on your past work.

*After you're feeling good about yourself, let someone criticize you. Whether it's someone at work or home, most people can say
"that makes you sound like a jackass" or
"I don't know enough background to understand what you're trying to say" or
"You're talking too long about one thing - I'm bored" or
"Don't talk about that particular project again - highlight another area of work so you can showcase your breadth of knowledge".
I actually found family members to be the most helpful and honest at this stage. They're most interested in doing what's best for you, and none of them were too worried about hurting my feelings.

4. Promptness I had to fly to all but one interview and it bothered me. I despise waiting (and will be all kinds of irritated if I know you personally and you make me wait), so I never want to
make a poor first impression by being late. I liked to have time to do some deep breathing, say a prayer and gather my confidence while I waited for the recruiters to arrive. This was critical for me, while other people would probably be less concerned. My point is that if you can do something small to make yourself feel good before you start, try to do it.

5. Meals I had one 3 day interview that included 10 meals/cocktail events. For goodness sake, it was overkill. So definitely be up on current events - pick up a local paper. Also
have some amusing anecdotes from people you know at work. Like, I almost passed out when I was touring the hospital in my first year of grad school. The professor and TA caught me, and then I realized they had put me in a chair down the hall. The professor told me I should drink some water, though I told him I was fine. He returned with a sopping paper towel, dripping all over the floor, and when I looked at him, confused, he said "you could...wipe your face with
it?" So I took it, my hand filling with water, and he sheepishly announced "I couldn't find a cup." So look - sweet story, it shows you're able to laugh at times when you felt foolish and had some sort of relationship with the professors at your institution.

We also like to talk about each other in this academic/professional world. So read up on people's background and figure out who you have in common. That helps conversation flow too. Pedigree is especially important to some recruiters, so if you can work your contacts, I think it's excellent to do so.

6. Stamina I don't know how everyone else's graduate career went, but whether I was gathering data or processing it, I was alone much of the time (and had headphones on to encourage continued solitude). So being with people all day, trying to be witty and charming, professional and smart, was absolutely exhausting. I blew a whole section of my first interview because I got tired at lunch. This guy with a lovely English accent asked what I had thought of the presentations at the last annual meeting, and I went blank. I was just tired - I wanted to eat my salad, drink my soda and rest for a few minutes. But the questions keep coming, so be ready to draw upon some internal source of energy (or continuously drink Diet Pepsi - that was my strategy) so you can keep up.

7. Presentation I was invited to give a talk at each and every interview. Sometimes with a microphone in front of the whole department, other times you're speaking to 5 of the 10 people who later interviewed me. If there was ever an area where I wouldn't tolerate mistakes, it was within that hour. Know exactly what you want to say, and if you tend toward holy-crap-I'm-freaking-out nervousness (like me), then memorize the sucker. Then you can flip out while automatically going through your slides. I had my group go through my presentation with me - moving around images, changing text sizes and styles, making graphs more clear - so that it was visually perfect. Then I went over it (and over it and over it) until I could allow
myself to think "I can't do this with 70 people watching me!" while starting the talk because I knew it so well.

Oh, and if you're not the memorizing type, for the love of God, NEVER look at a slide and act like you've never seen it before. I've seen many people appear surprised when something comes up on the screen, or actually say "I don't remember putting this here". If you didn't put
the presentation together yourself, at least glance through it before you start talking. Moron.

You can screw up the questions all you want though. My pet peeve is restricted to the part of the talk you can prepare for. So I went with a lot of "I haven't thought of that before, but what an interesting idea", or "I don't follow - could you elaborate?" I'm fine with people confessing some ignorance or taking a guess here - whatever's most comfortable.

8. Personality Everyone has friends, and there's a reason those people like you. I'm polite and kind. I went with that - asked about other people's jobs and how they got started, was interested in their insight into the field, asked about pictures if they had family photos up. That's what's comfortable for me, and it eases the situation. If you're funny, do that. If you're obsessed with sports, try to work that in. If there's art on the wall that you like, mention it. Find a way in which you can be comfortable and move the situation to being subtly personal. You're a cool person outside of the fact that you're smart and educated. Try hard to make
that point.

9. Ask questions People almost always pause to see if there's anything you'd like to ask. If you're smart, you'll give yourself a break and ask some questions. There's a chance that you can move on and just talk about everyday topics should you be less than prepared with a question, but often recruiters will bounce right back into the probing questions for you. So I was always ready with something to talk about in case they let me ask something, then I could rest a little
while they talked. My favorites?
*What qualities or skills do you think would make someone successful in this position?
*What's made you good at your job?
*Is there anything you wish you'd done differently?
*What was the critical information you got out of your interview process?

Then you can go from there and not have to think about a specific time that you conformed to a policy with which you did not agree.

10. End My experience has been that you'll wrap-up with the person who will actually decide whether or not you're right for the position. I liked to express appreciation for everyone who took time to see me, let the supervisor know how impressed I was with people in his group, go over any concerns or questions, save your sanity by asking when you'll hear from them
next, then make your last pitch. Pick up things during the day from questions (or answers to you cool "what makes someone successful" question) that you think are important. Then give a quick review of why you're obviously awesome because you have already shown success
in those areas, are confident you could show success in those areas, or just really like challenges. If at all possible, walk out with people liking you.

Obviously there are different experiences for different people, but I was successful with these ideas. And I'll be looking back over these in a couple years again, so hopefully they'll help me at least one more time.