How do I get a post-doc? It is a process of trial and error.

How do I prepare for an interview?

Applying for jobs is time consuming and will lead to a thicker skin the more you get rejected. But applying for positions is essentially the easy part. The hard part is nailing the interview. Let the stress begin.

For my first interview it took me a week to prepare for it. I had a coffee break discussion with an associate professor in my group who was super helpful. Her summarised advise (with a few of my own) is the following:

It is okay to be nervous (expected even) so don't stress about being stressed or nervous. Dress professionally but not to corporate. In an academic setting it is pretty casual and looking too professional may not make a good impression. For woman I would also advocate for minimal make-up and probably no perfume. Make sure you know what the job is and what they expect. Prepare answers for questions you are likely going to be asked (see below). Prepare a statement about yourself 2-5 mins that you can call on when your nervous and asked to speak about your research. Research the publications of the contact people for the jobs and extend this to others in the group who may interview you or are doing work that interests you Know the research the group is doing, where the group sits in the department hierarchy and where their funding is from. Prepare questions you want to ask (see below). Research the science that may be expected. For example, for a model development job I researched the model grid, its resolution, the convection scheme etc. For a job looking at the trop-strat coupling I would review the large-scale circulation of the stratosphere, what influences the tropopause height etc. My memory recall is not very good, especially when nervous, so I spend a bit of time on this task.

Questions I have been asked in an interview:

For each post doc I was asked to present previous research. This varied from 5 to 30 minutes. Generally over Skype (more on Skype interviews below). Job specific things from the selection criteria such us the following: Can you expand on your experience running the GFDL aquaplanet? How independent were you in developing the ideas, performing the research and writing the paper on ...? Can you describe how multiple linear regression is different to the method applied in your last paper? Why do you want this job, to work in this group, at this uni or in this city/country? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? What is the piece of research that your most proud of and why? What was the biggest challenge of your PhD? When would you be able to start the position? Give an example of a task you independently did?

Questions I usually prepared for but can't recall ever being asked:

Who would you like to work with in our group or collaborations you would like to start? Can you describe how you and your previous supervisor interacted on this project? What is your teaching experience?

Questions I have prepared for interviews:

Can you tell me more about the position? Who would I be working with (or who is your supervisor if its not clear)? Is there freedom for 'free research time' in which I can explore my interests outside of this role? What is the size of the team I will directly work with? Is there flexibility to work from home? Are there opportunities to attend conferences? What version control and data interpretation languages do the group use? Are there opportunities to teach or supervise students? Is there strong female leadership or support for women in academic in the group/uni?

Skype interviews

With the exception of one interview in person, each interview I had was over Skype. These are generally more difficult but in some ways easier than in person.

Interviewing from Australia for jobs in Europe is difficult due to the time zones. Most of my interviews were between 20:00-22:00, which for me was very difficult. I am not an evening person so I generally don't think too clearly at this time of night. But stress for the interview will keep you awake.

I interviewed in a few locations. From my office at work, in a motel during a conference and from my parents house when I was on annual leave. Each time the quality of Skype was a major obstacle. Voice only Skype was often needed and at other times it was shifted to a phone interview (so make sure you know a landline number and the country code!).

I naturally speak quite fast. I often interviewed over a slow connection. So when I speak fast because I am nervous and with a thick Australian accent, so I am told, it is not surprising that it was often difficult to be understood. It was often difficult to hear questions from their end too. My best advice would be keep calm and find a lot of patience when you interview over Skype as it will not turn out as well as you hope.

When giving a seminar over Skype you should send your slides to the interviewers ahead of time, even if they don't ask for them. If the internet connection is slow it wont work very well sharing your screen. Plus it wastes interview time if you then need to email them once the interview has started. It could also be embarrassing to open your email client to find an email from you mum wishing you luck for the big interview! For each Skype presentation I gave, I ended up using the slides that I sent ahead of time.

I would advise that when you practice your presentation you factor in how to present over Skype. For example practice describing the slide: 'On slide three titled The MJO in an aquaplanet you well see a control simulation ....'. Always include: 'Next slide' as you move from some slide to the next. If you fail to keep your audience on the right page you will get interrupted and asked where your at. Take this as a warning that your not giving enough slide transition information.

One nice aspect about interviewing over Skype is that it saves you a lot of time. Flying to Europe to interview and returning home takes about a week. A Skype interview takes about a hour. Other benefits include: less stressful settings, minimal travel anxiety (finding buses, buildings etc), you don't appear as nervous unless your voice gives you away and if you end up having a voice only Skype interview its more like a conversation and I found this a more relaxed environment.

Some of the difficulties include: lack of body language to assess how your answering questions, you will not be looked at as they are looking at the screen, this can feel sometimes like your boring them, when you are interrupted it can be hard with a time delay to give responses and it can be hard to hear questions from everyone in the room. I would also give a bit of thought to how professional your setting is. Don't interview from your desk if it looks like your bedroom for example.

The biggest problem for me is that you don't get a sense of the community, the environment, the size of the group, funding, facilities etc. I am about to start a post-doc in a country I have only spent three days in previously, in a town I have never been to, working in a research group in which I have not meet a single person. That in itself is a daunting thing to do. It is also exciting.

A story or two from my interviews.

Presenting a research proposal in an interview

One position I applied for I was asked to write a one page research proposal in addition to answering selection criteria. I found this easy enough to do but it did take a lot of work. In the interview for this position I had to give a 10 minute presentation on my proposal. I thought I had prepared well for this component on the interview. I had thought about the context and motivation. Address the what, why and how components of the proposal and included a small animation to describe what I wanted to work on. I wanted to look into an aspect of jet dynamics I did not have a lot of experience with. The methods I could use for the project I either did not understand or the methods did not seem to suit to problem. So I proposed to look for new method.

Problem was I did not think much beyond the descriptions I had on my slides. I think it was the 5 minutes after this presentation during the question time that I lost this interview and I never got it back on track. I was asked quite detailed questions about the method that I would use. Far beyond what I had prepared. So if you find yourself in an interview like this I would over prepare the proposal component. To the extent that you could apply for funding if you had to.

I also did not ask for feedback on my proposal. I know now this was a big mistake. I had about two weeks notice to make travel plans, organise winter clothing (it was summer in Australia and winter in Europe so needless to say I had to borrow clothes to interview in), prepare for my first interview, plan and write the proposal presentation.

I was pretty overwhelmed at the time because it was just before Christmas, we were packing up our house because my husband was soon to move to Germany, I was in the final months of my PhD, I did not know anything about a post-doc interview and I did not know anything about what a good research proposal looks like.

A lack of time is no excuse but I know now I should have better planned the proposal before I heard back about the position. But there is always something else you should be doing while your trying to finished your PhD. This was one of many.

Where are the female permanent staff hiding?

As a female early career researcher I was surprised by the number of male only interviews I was a part of. In one interview I was interviewed by six men. I initially found this quite intimidating. Being interviewed by Skype (voice only) is a little difficult and six people in general is a lot to be interviewed by. I should also point out that four of them were professors. I was intimidated in this interview, and in others, by the overwhelming male presence.

This interview with the six person panel ended up being one of the better interviews I had but I initially needed to get over my anxiety in the situation. I can't really identify why I found it harder. I also can't offer any tips for dealing with this type of situation but I would advise mentally preparing for this in your own way. Perhaps if only to acknowledge that interviews are intimidating, people will be judging you and that's okay because its the process.

Interviews get you more interviews

An unexpected benefit of starting to get interviews is that people talk about who they interview to their colleagues. At the end of 2013 and start of 2014 I was interview twice in the UK and each time my name was passed on for similar positions. The last two interviews I had, each occurred because someone had passed my name along as a suitable candidate and I was then contacted about the position. It is a nice ego boost when you get contacted for a position. It was through this method I got my post-doc at Exeter.

Try to manage interview anxiety

Dealing with the anxiety of an interview can be difficult. After I watched a Ted talk on how your body language influences your hormones and your performance in stressful situations by Amy Cuddy I changed my approach to preparing for these type of situations.

As an undergraduate physics student I would always read my study notes right up until the last second before I started an exam. I felt the last minute preparation would complement the previous study I had done. I used to do the same for seminars, practising what I wanted to say until I needed to give a talk. Little did I know that I was just psyching myself out. Now I stop the pre-event stress. Instead I think about positive aspects of my presentation, how I enjoy the work I did, how suitable I am for this job or how its not the end of the world if it does not go to plan. Generally I just think positively and identify that the current situation is part of a career that I love. Thinking positive thoughts like this has improved my presentation and interview anxiety and made me perform better.

Once you get a job offer you then need to work out if the job is for you. You also need to negotiate your contract.