From: merolajs@vtcc1.cc.vt.edu (JOSEPH S. MEROLA DEPT OF CHEMISTRY VPI&SU)
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Re: Interview Experiences?
Summary: Looking for anecdotes so we can know what to expect
Keywords: interview, acadmics, industry
Date: 22 Jul 92 16:24:00 GMT
Distribution: world, local
Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.40

In article <1992Jul22.035300.231@news.acns.nwu.edu>, drt@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Robert Toreki) writes...
> 
> 
>	I'm looking for people's experiences with job interviews.  My interest
>is academia, but given the breadth of backgrounds and experiences, I'm sure
>people want to hear something related to industry.  To keep things succinct
> 
> 
>							Rob

     I will try to answer some of the questions posed here, but always 
remember that this is my view only which is obviously based on my
limited personal experiences.  However, since I have some experience in
both academia and industry (and in both realms have been both
interviewer and interviewee), I think I can shed some light that may
prove useful for those in the field of chemistry.  I cannot speak about
the dynamics of the process for other fields.  Of course, regard
everything I say with a healthy dose of skepticism.  8-).

   I'll begin with the academic process.  For every tenure-track position
in chemistry, there will be about 100-120 applicants for the job.  This
has been our experience over the last 5 years here at VPI.  However, not
all of these are bona-fide applications.  Since most chemistry positions
actually specify a particular sub-discipline (organic, inorganic, physical),
only those people whose background and proposed research fits with the
advertised position will be seriously considered.  For the last position
we filled (this year) some 30-40 of those applications came from people
who responed to an ad without really reading it:  they were not in the
proper area. So, this left some 70 or so applications to consider
seriously.  What went into selecting the top ten?  This will vary 
considerably depeding on the needs of the department.  However, letters
of recommendation from top people in the field are an absolute must.
If we have strong letters from the accepted experts saying that a
candidate is an excellent chemist, then that person will get further
consideration.  Furthermore, the research proposals that a candidate
puts forward will also weigh heavily into the selection process.  If they
are poorly articulated and not well thought-out, then that speaks 
poorly for that person's ability to compete for funding in the
academic arena.  If the research proposals are essentially trivial
derivatives of the person's Ph.D. or post-doc research, then that will
count against the candidate.  So, all of these factors will be weighed 
along with other department-specific needs (such as, does the 
department want someone in a research area that is the same as one
of the current faculty in order to strengthen that field, or will they
want someone with a more or less complementary area of research.)

     The search committee then tries to establish a top ten from the
applications and then looks at them again in order to rank order 
them.  Then, the top three or four are invited for a two-day visit.
During that visit, the candidate will meet with the faculty and also
will be asked to give a seminar.  The seminar should be one that really
highlights your contributions to the work.  If you can fit in nice
stories from both Ph.D. and post-doc work without it being awkward, 
then do so.  If you won't be able to put together a coherent talk that
way, then focus on one or the other so you can put together the
best seminar that you can.  Whatever you do, make sure that the story
clearly tells what you contributed versus what other colleagues on the
project contributed.  One of the biggest turn-offs occurs when
it looks as though someone is claiming credit for other people's work.

     During your talks with faculty, you will be grilled on a variety of
areas depending on the whim of the individual faculty member:  your
philosophy of research, your philosophy of teaching, your equipment
needs, your hobbies, etc.  At the same time, take this as an
opportunity to question the faculty to get some idea concerning the
health and well-being of the department:  do people collaborate or are
they individual domains?  Are they happy?  ...  You will be surprised
at how easy is is to assess the state of the department from these
conversations.

    In addition to one-on-one talks with faculty, you may be asked to
meet with faculty in your sub-discipline and defend your research
proposals.  Here the faculty are trying to assess two things:  can
you clearly articulate your ideas and can you think on your feet.
You need to present a sense that you have carefully thought about
your research plans and that you have some original ideas to
pursue.  You may be asked some very specific questions just to test
how deeply you thought about things.  For example, you might be
asked:  "What is the very first experiment that you will perform 
when you have your lab set-up?"  One candidate did not fare well in
the interview process because that person could talk only in 
vague generalities and when pressed for some specifics could only say
"I haven't thought that far yet."  Also, it helps to have two levels
of proposals:  one or two that may not be the most significant
pieces of work, but that are solid and will probably give you results
that you can publish in a short period of time.  The second level should 
be one or two proposals of real, challenging projects whose outcome
is less predictable, but show your creativity.

    All throughout this (your seminar, defense of proposals, individual
talks) your effectiveness in communicating your ideas will be noted
since this gives a good indication of how well you will perform in a
classroom.  Do not discount the importance of teaching in getting the
appointment (again, highly institution dependent).  Here, we have
turned down some people with top-notch research ideas because they
were disasters in terms of communicating.

    In effect, the industrial interview process is much the same except
that you don't have to propose formal research programs.  The rest
of the process is almost identical.

    I hope this helps a little for those in the chemistry field.  If there
are any more specific questions, I'll be happy to try and tackle them.

Joseph S. Merola
Department of Chemistry
Virginia Tech (aka VPI&SU)

Newsgroups: sci.research.careers