tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post4989233813602532810..comments2024-02-05T05:15:04.759-08:00Comments on Wandering Scientist: Ask Cloud: InterviewingCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-61526374777750254972014-07-22T06:27:19.629-07:002014-07-22T06:27:19.629-07:00Hi SC- I think that unless you are certain you wou...Hi SC- I think that unless you are certain you would NOT take the job under any circumstance, it is fine to go an interview. The practice will be good for you, and maybe they'll convince you that you should consider their position.Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-24010735301512727142014-07-21T09:13:49.379-07:002014-07-21T09:13:49.379-07:00Hi Cloud and other commenters -
I know this post ...Hi Cloud and other commenters -<br /><br />I know this post is a bit old now, but I wanted to throw out a question and see if anyone has any advice!<br /><br />I've had a phone interview for a job that I heard about through a mailing list and applied for somewhat on a whim, because it sounded interesting and I wanted to increase my options. The interview went well, and now they've invited me to come back for a second interview in person. Which is exciting - the only problem is, it's in a location I don't really want to move to, and after speaking to them on the phone, although I had a good impression of my interviewers and the company overall, I'm not sure the position is what I really want to be doing. <br /><br />I'm not completely sure that I wouldn't take the job if they offered it to me, but I have some big doubts. Is it really rude to go to a second interview (they're offering to pay travel expenses, etc.) if I'm not sure I want the job? I don't want to turn it down too soon - maybe I'll love it once I'm there - but I don't really know what the protocol is here. I'm also hoping to hear back from some other places I'm more interested in, but this is the first time I've gotten such a positive response. Thoughts??SCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-16469590961453042122014-04-11T16:40:33.372-07:002014-04-11T16:40:33.372-07:00Though I am in a vastly different industry, I stil...Though I am in a vastly different industry, I still would offer this suggestion to your point about #1: one of my favorite questions to ask the hiring manager is "what are the key projects and benchmarks that you want the person in this role to hit at 6 months? At a year?" I've found that this can be REALLY telling--I've had answers that veer wildly from what the job description implied, and I've had answers that show that the really key things are things I'm not interested in/good at, or that I'm totally jazzed about. I've also gotten answers that show me they don't really know what they're going to do with the role, or that the role is going to be overworked/expectations aren't realistic (I interviewed one place that expected the role to get them 1 Million Facebook likes in 2 months. I...declined a second interview). That can be really useful for you in determining if you want to work for them. <br />If you really listen to the answer, you can suss out a fair amount about the role and the person you'd be working for. It can also be a good jumping off point for being able to further speak to what you can bring to the role, such as: "I recently completed a project like what you're talking about with X, and here's how that went."Gingerhttp://rambleramble.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-84369047423531393142014-04-09T21:39:22.624-07:002014-04-09T21:39:22.624-07:00The biggest things I look for when hiring people a...The biggest things I look for when hiring people are 1. Technical competence, 2. Personality, 3. Dedication. To address 1. I usually ask some simple questions related to problems we're encountering and how they would handle it. So make sure you're confident thinking on your toes. Also, if you have no clue, then say "I really don't know, but I would try...". Even if the first thing you would try is researching the topic on the net. Addressing 2., try and joke around and make things a conversation. One of my favorite questions is "What's been your favorite project?". A candidate answered and once asked me afterwards what MY fave project was. This turned it into more of a conversation. For most lab jobs, you'll be working closely with other people. Meshing personality-wise is really important to that. To address 3., I usually just try to figure out how much fun the person truly has doing the science. If the work seems more like a hobby then they'll be more dedicated. Also, if they're truly in it to help people it comes out pretty easily by how excited about the projects they get. While I've interviewed and filled out the personnel of mine and other research teams, this is just how I operate. But even when I was trying to find work years back I followed this advice and got a ton of job offers. Just please don't forget that you're also interviewing THEM. This is your chance to find out if you want to be spending the next few years with these people!Phindustryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08703926491792767577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-37933124077991809272014-04-09T18:55:31.182-07:002014-04-09T18:55:31.182-07:00I'm early 40s. It is my impression that people...I'm early 40s. It is my impression that people are asking fewer amazingly inappropriate interview questions, but I do still get asked about my kids a lot. The busty thing mainly just means that I can't get away with just wearing a button up shirt and nice trousers/skirt... which makes me favor a jacket as a way to look like I dressed for the interview. I think the skirts vs. trousers thing is mainly an issue in stodgier fields. <br /><br />On the sick thing- I strongly prefer that people stay home when sick, and I always try to do that. However, the practice of just having "paid time off" days instead of separate vacation and sick days means that people tend to hate to waste a day off on a cold. Also, parents often exhaust all of their time off on sick kids, and have little choice but to work through their own colds. I can usually work from home, at least, so that I can minimize spreading the germs. But I think that people coming in while sick and spreading the illness is just one of those things that modern office life makes happen. <br /><br />I wouldn't ask about it in an interview unless it would change your mind on whether or not to take a job. You can ask about the work from home policy and the PTO vs vacation/sick day policy, though. Those are great questions to direct to HR. You could also ask one or two of the more junior interviewers about these policies when they ask if you have any questions. Chances are they won't think to base any opinions of you on the question, and their answers might be quite illuminating about company culture.Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-74347841962792296962014-04-09T17:49:31.806-07:002014-04-09T17:49:31.806-07:00I'm female, late twenties, and it never occur...I'm female, late twenties, and it never occurred to me to wear a skirt when interviewing for jobs. I think I wore a fairly nice sweater and black slacks to my most recent interviews (which were a year ago). I'm large-busted and fairly curvy, but not strikingly so. I also don't remember being asked any inappropriate questions. All but two of the people who interviewed me were men, aged between mid thirties to mid sixties. <br /><br />Your comment about "culture" makes me wonder about how to ask about what the accepted behavior is when people get sick. It seems that in some places, people are expected to stay home when they are sick to avoid getting coworkers sick. In other places, I get the sense that people tend to come to work even when they are sick (say with a cold) because they don't want to be "lazy." Or because they need to be physically present at work, e.g. in a lab.<br /><br />I really don't like it when my coworkers come to work sick and then get me sick, especially when it seems like this is done out of macho-ness and not out of a real inability to work from home (this happened in grad school quite a bit, resulting in the entire lab getting sick). But I also don't like feeling that I might be judged for being lazy when I stay home when sick. I know this isn't strictly related to interviewing, but do you have any thoughts on the topic of sickness at work? Surely it can't be good for productivity to have a whole group catch a cold?<br /><br />YZnoreply@blogger.com