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.