The Nerve Racking Phone Interview ;)

The seemingly cluster bombing strategy of looking for a postdoc will not be successful. In my case, after writing an insightful and accurate cover letter I was offered a phone interview, three of them.

As the saying goes when it rains it pours and in my case it was not just rain it was thunder and lightning too. A few days earlier I had broken my cell phone. How the hell was I going to do the phone interview? Luckily a friend offered their phone and I had to wake up at 7am to make it to their house for 8am for my scheduled 9am phone interview. 

During your phone interview you should be ready for anything. The form of a telephone interview can be as various as the funding sources PI’s use to run labs. I had two phone interviews prior to this one and both of those were very different, so it was safe to say this would be too. I remember one PI was very interested in whom I knew in the field and the other was more concerned with the data in my papers. The common thread that I seem to have gathered from the phone interview was that PI’s tend to want to know your ideas, your thoughts on concepts, and what you think of yourself. One PI asked me what my greatest achievement was during my research so far and another how I dealt with conflict, so expect a range. 

Key things to keep in mind are to get plenty of sleep beforehand and be prepared to talk about a range of topics about working, science and who you are. I’d also research a few topics about the institution itself, it can’t hurt. It goes without saying but use a good quality phone, landline if possible otherwise a cellphone that has a clear speaker and microphone. Also goes without saying find a damn quiet place to talk. When I went to my friends place they were kind enough to give me some privacy and went to the bedroom while I stayed in the living room. I also love to pace when I talk so I had room! Also because you’ve never heard this person speak, how do you know what they’ll sound like? Accents, sickness, random noises on their end, be prepared for anything and everything. 

Can’t stress this enough, speak within your means and be truthful, don’t try to impress a PI by speaking some half-baked idea, if you feel solid about your thought and have some sort of evidence to back it up, the conversation will go smoothly. Even if you end up being wrong, if it’s with genuine thought it will come across as sincere and insightful. In this regard I don’t think PI’s expect you to know their research inside out, but at least have some opinions. There are exceptions like maybe if your collaborators, then you should have a bit more insightful knowledge. Be polite and straightforward, say “pardon me could you say that once more”, if you don’t hear something, not, “what” or “what did you say”. Hopefully that also goes without saying. 

I was lucky in that the PI told me at the end of the interview, they would call me out to give a talk and tour the place, I was ecstatic! It is such a rush to be offered a postdoctoral fellowship. For someone like me who has worked the gamut of jobs, from fast food worker, to housekeeper, to salesman, to lab-tech, it is a massive validation to be considered for a postdoctoral fellowship. My parents were regular blue collar workers before they retired and had absolutely zero knowledge of science or math beyond high school AND they are immigrants! It was an extremely proud moment to just be considered (helped that the institution was also highly reputed). 

I’m currently about to learn about the TN visa application process and I’ll write a detailed post about that once it’s all settled. Basically I have learned this visa can be applied for at the port of entry, does not require an interview for Canadian citizens and costs $50. The other option is the J1 but as far as I can tell so far, it’s easier to get a spouse on this visa compared to the TN. More to come later.

Well I hope that this gets you thinking about how to prepare for a phone interview and the physical and mental space you should be in before it happens. Wish you all the best!

Next post will be about The Visitor aka the scary visit to the lab and what awesome things you learn regardless of the outcome.

The Love of Your Life?

There comes a time in every scientists life where you have to consider your greater future. Not just your future career and aspirations as a career scientist but the future of your life. Sure some of us who are finishing graduate school have a spouse and that can make life decisions a little more focused because there are two of you. Sometimes you may even have children which narrows down the decision making options even further. But for those of us who are single and fancy free, we have decisions, choices, and long term planning to consider. 

The average age of a postdoc these days is 34 years old and after that your looking at 6-7 years before your on a tenure track position, its safe to say that life is not going to wait for you to settled into a nice comfy job before you find the one. Sure, I'm first to admit that dating and carrying out concentration demanding experiments can seem like a dichotomy and sometimes dating a fellow scientist makes the dichotomy even more obvious. However you have to try, and you have to plan your life. There is no sense in loosing out on a good portion of your early days as a mature adult, slaving over every whim and worry your supervisor has, and potentially missing out on making real deep and lasting connection with someone, potentially a lifelong partner. 

Deciding to move to the U.S. has its cons in this regard since, if you have a sweetheart here in winterland, you will leave he or she behind if they are in a career building position or they may move with you. If your single, well then your a free bird and my concern is with you my singlets......

The people who aren't "tied down" by a significant other may feel like they are free to build their career and work as hard as they can to achieve the perfect publication record, build a network of colleagues, work at the best institutions, and spend their earnings at their discretion. But your doing so alone. Moving to the US should be looked at as an opportunity to not only develop your research skills but to also find a partner or start making some serious commitments to someone you already have. Your mature enough now that you should know what works for you and what doesn't. What you can deal with and what you cannot. Make some personal decisions before making the big move and start thinking about your personal life, you've probably neglected it long enough and its starting to get a bit moldy. If you have someone in your life, now's the time to talk about your relationship, not a few days before you leave. If your single make it a priority that you'll start meeting people and learning not only about the skills you are gaining but also the people around you, take interest in developing your social life. There's also the benefit of finding a partner when your more mature and comfortable with who you are. People who are a bit older tend to have a more logical and down to earth view of themselves and the things around them, and can find the commonality between you, sometimes you are this person.

Whatever your case is, as you make this transition into the next stage of your scientific career start thinking about more than just your science life, think about your personal life too, make some commitments, and don't worry your not alone!

More data on Canadian postdoc's!