Interview tips for postdoc fellowship?

[braaaaains]

I've got a phone interview next week. My only interview (thus far.... heavy sigh) was for a teaching position. This is a research fellowship -- no teaching. Anyone have any experience with what kind of ground this kind of interview might cover? The focus of the fellowship tracks extremely closely with my diss and post-diss research.

TIA!

[useyourtools]

B:

I am currently on a research (no teaching) fellowship, and when I interviewed, most of the questions dealt with two things: what projects (post-diss) am I working on now, and what was my experience with the area (where the post-doc is).

If your interview is anything like mine, it will be more casual than a teaching interview, as well as shorter than a typical teaching interview. Also, post-doc interviews can be especially nice if you do not have to deal with a committee (my interview was only with the director of the post-doc).

Make sure that you have a direction that your research is going.

[braaaaains]

Cool, thanks. It is an interview with the director -- no committee, as far as I know. I was told to expect 45 minutes.

Did you have more than one interview? Was there an in-person interview? (Mine is by phone.) Were you asked about your doctoral research, or just your postdoc?

[useyourtools]

My interview was also only on the phone, and that was the sole interview. I think the whole thing took 30 minutes. In fact, I was told at the end of the interview that I had the position (as you can imagine, this is much more comforting and humane than the traditional search committee "you basically will have to keep your eye on the wiki to know whether or not someone else has been chosen, but it might just be that we wait a month before we make any offers or none at all" interview).

Regarding your last question, the interviewer had read (quickly) through my dissertation ahead of time and knew my general arguments. The questions primarily had to do with the research I was doing now and how that research would fit that of the institute.

As a sidenote: honestly, a fellowship right now would be better than having a number of teaching interviews. You will get more work done than you ever imagined if you get the position. Also, not having to go through the hell of search committee interviews is a kind of bliss. I do not know if you have gotten to the point of having on-campus interviews yet, but they are completely sadistic. Basically a 10-12 hour interview (depending on when you get in, when you go to dinner, etc.), and since this is the blessed world of academia, you're not allowed to call back or email to see what the hell is going on with the hiring process. Search committee members are just too busy and that kind of behavior might be seen as too 'business-like' (although you are sending out resumes, cover letters, being interviewed, and would really like to earn a little thing called a salary - all of which seem to resemble business practices or actually BE business practices).

Trust me. Post-docs are heavenly. Also, by the time you are finished with yours, perhaps the only viable TT-job for you won't just be in Korea.

Best of luck to you with the interview.

[braaaaains]

Thanks! I have not been so fortunate as to have any campus interviews. I'd love a postdoc -- my grad school is not prestigious, I'm not published much, so a research postdoc strikes me as very beneficial and a chance for someone in my position to buff up the CV. Not to mention do work I'm really interested in.