Hi, I'm Bill Lindstaedt. I'm the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Career Advancement, International and Postdoctoral Services at UC San Francisco. And we're here to talk about interview skills for industry scientists positions. So, what we'll talk about is, first of all, sort of what happens in an interview and why questions come up when they do. And then we'll give you some frameworks for how to address different types of questions. There are opening questions that are almost guaranteed to be asked -- tell me about yourself, why do you want this position?, those kinds of questions. We'll go through those in detail. And then, we'll also talk about interpersonal and team skills questions. So, the further you move through your industry interview, and the longer you're talking to people and the farther you go through the process, the more the questions move from, can you do the job?, so, do you have the technical skills and the scientific know-how to be successful in this position?, to, are you the person we want to do this job? And we'll talk about how to succeed with those interpersonal, difficult questions as well. We'll talk a little bit at the end about phone interviews and tips for site visits and job talks, and then a little bit at the end about a couple of typical questions that often come up. So, the goal, really, for this whole workshop is to provide graduate students and postdocs with a set of frameworks for responding effectively to common industry interview questions. There's a slide deck that we'll share on the website that will help you go through some of these questions and prepare for... to be successful in these settings. So, first of all, how does the hiring process work in an industry setting? And it's... the first thing that happens is you'll apply for a position and your application materials will go usually to a website, where a Human Resource person will screen the different applications that come in and determine whether you should be interviewed or not. And typically, that decision will get made in concert with the hiring manager, who is a scientist. The Human Resource person is almost never a scientist, but the hiring manager, who would be your boss in a scientific setting, is also gonna look at your documents, and they'll come to a decision whether to give you a phone interview or not. Sometimes there are a series of phone interviews before the company actually invites you in for an in-person interview that typically lasts, you know, a half day to a full day, sometimes even more. It usually involves a job talk as well as lots of meetings with different people in the company. And following that experience, they decide whether you're going to move on to a job offer or not. And then, sometimes this is helpful for people to think about... it's the sort of flow of how the applications and the applicants move through the process. We hear from Human Resource people in industry settings that sometimes they get hundreds of applications for a scientist position, and that... that data can be very discouraging to our candidates. However, the information we hear if we really talked to these HR professionals is that some small fraction of the hundreds of applicants that might come in are actually really qualified for those positions. And so, you'll move from a very large pool of people to those who are really qualified for the position, which may be a few dozen. The folks that get through the phone interviews and into the finalist level are sometimes three or five people. Or sometimes companies do this, you know, in... process in serial. They'll interview their first candidate, and if that person turns out not to work out, they'll move on to another candidate. Other companies do it in parallel, and bring in several people in a short time, and then decide which of those will be best. So, companies have different strategies, but at the end they boil it down to one person who gets that job offer and moves into the position. So, it's important to remember as you approach this interview process that there are two parties in the process, the employer and you, and there are two sets of priorities. And the employer wants to find out, at the beginning of the process, especially, if you can meet the technical and scientific requirements, the priorities of the job. But as they move down the process, as we've said before, they'll move more towards questions designed to find out if you're going to be a good addition to the team, if you're a good interpersonal fit for their role. And so it moves from, can you do the job?, to, are you the person we want to do the job? But your priorities are, first of all, to get the job offer. And if there are doubts that you have about that question -- you know, do I really want this position? Is it going to be the best role for me? Is it in the part of the country that I want to be in? -- our suggestion is keep going in the process, and it'll help you discover if you want to take the job offer or not. And if you have too many doubts at the beginning, and those come through, you might never get to the point of being able to make that decision yourself. So, approach the position... the interview process positively, keep moving through it, and decide after you get the job offer if you want to take it or not. So, what happens in an interview? It's usually a fairly consistent format. They'll start with some opening agenda... agenda-setting questions that are pretty typical. Why don't you just start telling... start out the interview by telling me about a little bit about yourself? Why do you want this position? Why is this company interesting to you? What are your career goals in the future? So, you'll have to be prepared for those, and we'll talk at length about the preparation for those questions. And then they'll move into a sort of scientific discussion about what their priorities are. They may have technical questions for you. And then they'll move towards interpersonal skills and team fit questions. So, we'll talk about behavioral-style interviews and how to respond when they ask you about your past successes and past behaviors. And then, they'll give you time for your questions. And if you structure your interview preparation time with these four categories in mind, you'll be as well prepared as you possibly could be to succeed in these interviews. So, as we move forward through this seminar, we won't be talking about scientific questions and how to answer the specific questions they ask you about your technical skills. I'm not the best person to prepare you to succeed in those anyhow. But the feedback we get from students and postdocs was that was actually the easiest part of the interview. I actually enjoyed talking about the problems that they're facing, and they were asking me how I solved these problems in the past, and upon reflection that was actually kind of fun. The parts that people had the most problems with are these opening questions and the interpersonal and team fit questions, so we're gonna focus most of our time on those items. So, these almost-guaranteed questions that you'll be asked to... you know, at the beginning of interviews -- tell me about yourself, why are you interested in this position or the company?, why do you want to leave academia?, where do you hope you'll be in five to ten years? -- these are questions that you should just be prepared to respond to, because they will be asked. So, we'll jump into some frameworks or suggestions for each of these typical questions, and then move on to some of the other interpersonal questions. So, this most common of all interview questions is, tell me about yourself. And the trap that people fall into is talking too much, going far... too far back, talking too much about their science, even the part that isn't... that are not relevant to the position you're applying for. And really, you should just be prepared to provide 15-30 seconds... even 30 seconds gets long... of response that follows this general framework. You know, what's your academic training, very broadly, then drilling down to the type of background that you have that's going to be relevant for that position, maybe mention a couple of the technical skills, and then do what we call the pivot, which is you're turning the response back to the position that you're applying for. So, tell the employer why you're a good fit for that particular job, and why you're interested in that job. So, either/or. Why you're a good fit, or why you're interested. And that tends to be the best possible response for this type of question. So, it might sound something like this. Well, you know, I'm a PhD-level biochemist. I'm currently a postdoc at UCSF, and for the past five years I've been studying cancer biology (and maybe a little bit more detail if that's the type of position it is). And then the pivot, I'm really interested in this position because it will allow me to build on this skill set or this background that I have that I feel like I can really contribute. So, you're turning the story about yourself to just what's relevant to that position. And then you stop talking. And sometimes, that will have teed up the next question, which is the best possible situation. Or sometimes, they'll just move on to the next question, but you will have gotten in and out of this agenda-setting, first question that they typically ask very gracefully. So, a good thing to do as you're preparing for your first industry interview is get ready to respond to this question, and learn to tailor it to every type of job that you... every actual job that you're gonna get interviewed for. So, make sure that the pivot is tailored to the job description that you're interviewing for. Another question that often gets asked is, why are you leaving academia? And this gets asked more stringently, or stridently, the longer you're in your training position. So, sometimes our graduate students who are moving into industry don't get asked this question. But if you've been a postdoc for a long time, you might have signaled by your CV or by your resume that you were going for an academic position, and so they're like, why are you leaving that track if you were a postdoc for five, six, ten years? And don't fall into the trap of responding directly to the question with a negative response. Certainly don't tell them that you are looking for industry positions because you couldn't find a faculty position -- bad idea. But instead, focus towards what you're moving towards. You know, what's attractive about an industry position. Maybe, you know, we hear people typically talk about the applied nature of the research in that company, the team-based approach rather than the individualistic academic approach, fast-paced, milestones -- these are things that motivate you, and that's what you want to focus on. It's okay to be realistic about academia. So, you might say, you know, I'm really eager to work in a team-based environment. I've found my academic research, which is very individualistic, being isolating sometimes. So, you can say realistic things about what you're... why you're moving towards industry, but it shouldn't be, you know, very negative things about your academic setting. You don't want to sound naive in this process, and that's why you want to kind of be realistic about what you're moving away from, but don't focus on that. So, here's an example of how it might go. You know, I've realized how much I enjoy working toward goals as a member of a team, and while my time in academic research has been rewarding and productive, the further I've progressed and the more independence I've gained at the bench, the more isolating my work has become. I've had several long conversations with others who have moved from... at UCSF... to industry settings, and it's clear to me that moving to an industry environment will allow me to balance my love for research activities with the opportunity to work more closely with others. So, you'll have to come up with the real reasons that you want to move to industry and focus on those, but you can see how a response like this might flow. A point to make here is that it's really useful to have talked to several people who have moved into industry settings before so that you can make this response real for you. I've talked with these people. Here's the things that they've talked about, you know, in terms of why they find industry rewarding. And I see those same things for me. They'll also ask you questions about why you're interested in this position, or that company, and this is really a question about what motivates you. And part of the... some of the items that you respond in this... to this question might also be built into your "tell me about yourself" response. But you'll find yourself able to be more clear and more interesting with this response as you move towards... through the interview process. So, as you approach... as you begin your interviews, it'll be a pretty basic response about why you're interested in the position -- the science, you think you can contribute -- but further on, you'll be able to mention the previous interviews you've had and talk about what you've learned from those earlier interviews. So, I was talking with, you know, Jane last week on the phone -- the future boss -- and she mentioned that these are the things that you're working on in this group, and I'm really excited about being able to contribute in that way as well. So, you'll be able to refer back to the people you've talked to in the past and make your responses more nuanced as you go through this process. Another question that's really difficult for people to respond to, often, is the career goals question. So, where do you want to be in five or ten years? And I think it's a mistake to focus on job titles. So, if you're applying for a scientist 1 position, and you say, well, in, you know, five years, I'd like to be a senior scientist, and in ten years I'd like to be an associate director, that's a very specific response, but it might either sound overambitious, or it might sound like the same job that the person you're talking to was going for. So, I'm comin' for your job, is probably not the approach you want to take. Or it might sound underambitious, and you can't really know at this point, because these job titles are very specific per company. So, we think it's a better idea to focus on the characteristics of an ideal job that you want in the future. For example, focus on career-related values that you want. So, what are the intrinsic rewards or outcomes of a future position that are most important to you? And if you don't know what those are, you might go to the website myidp.sciencecareers.org and go to the values clarification tool, and rank your values, and pick the ones that you think are most important in terms of outcomes that you want from your future work, and build your response around those. So, maybe you find, you know, you like being considered an expert in a particular field, and so you talk about how that's going to be really important to you. But build something that's authentic for you around this, and it'll sound more mature and honest and interesting than you want to be a certain job title in a certain number of years. So, it might sound something like this. Where do I want to be in five or ten years? Well, it's difficult to predict the exact title or position I'll have in the future. I hope I'll be playing some sort of leadership role within the research group. But whatever that role is, it's really rewarding for me when I'm recognized as an expert in a skill or knowledge area. So, I hope that within five years, I can build a reputation for deep expertise in one or more areas. And then it would be really rewarding, also, if, in the span of five or ten years, I'll have realized a connection between my efforts and a product that's going to make a difference for patients. That's why I got into science in the first place. And then remember this pivot idea. So, one thing that draws me to this particular position, and this company, is that it seems like all of those goals are possible to achieve in this role. So, your pi... you're again tying your goals to the job description and getting that idea repeated in the... in the listener's mind. So, again, this might have sounded like something you wouldn't say, or maybe it's an appropriate response for you, but tailor your own response, and write it out and practice it in advance. So, we talked about the further that you go through the interview process, the more likely it is that they'll start asking you these interview... interpersonal or team fit questions. And usually, those come in the form of behavior questions, so they're asking you about past behaviors that you've had in a work setting, because those are the best predictors of future behaviors. And so, these are typically not questions about the science or a technique that you know how to do, but basically how you... how you interact with other people or how you achieve things in a work setting. And there's a lot of research out there in the social sciences and business literature that demonstrates that this method of selection in a hiring process... if we ask people about their past behaviors and they can tell stories about behaviors that are gonna be critical in their future position for success, we're more likely to pick candidates that stay and succeed. And so, these questions that you get asked that are behavioral-style interview questions tend to start with something like, tell me about a time when you were in this kind of situation. Give me a past example of a situation when you did this. And they're looking for a very specific story for you to tell from your past work situations, where you have successfully reached whatever goal it is that they're talking about. Some of the typical questions would be, you know, give me an example of a time when you had to manage competing priorities effectively. Give me an example of a crisis situation you've handled successfully. Tell me about a tough situation where you had to get cooperation from others to help you. What was the issue, and how did you go about delegating these tasks? So, difficult questions to come up with responses to in the moment, but you will get asked these questions. What we've seen is that if a company is large enough to have a structured Human Resources process, they're probably gonna be use... be using a well-structured interview process like these behavioral interview questions. So, you might visit the Career Office's website from UCSF, career.ucsf.edu, and follow the links on this slide to find a list of questions that are typically taken... are typically asked in biotech company interviews. And we got this list from doing a quick survey of our graduate students and postdocs, and just asked, if you've been out interviewing for industry jobs, tell us some questions that you were asked that, you know, you had a hard time answering, and then we compiled those into this list of behavioral-type interview questions. And so, you'll see that they all start with that, give me an example of a time... and they're invitations to tell a story. And it's really useful to read through those questions and get some practice. But one thing people find helpful with this challenging interview approach, these behavioral interview questions, is to take a question like, give me an example of a time when you had to manage competing priorities effectively, and use this device, this framework -- situation, task, action, result, we call it the STAR framework -- to structure your response in a way that is clear and concise and doesn't ramble on. So, an example might be using this framework, the STAR framework, to structure an answer to that question about how you managed competing priorities. So, it might sound something like this. You know, as a graduate student, I've had to manage multiple projects at once. Sometimes they were my own projects and sometimes they were projects which I was working on collaborators with. And in the past year, I was wrapping up a set of experiments for a first author paper. At the same time, I was collaborating with a postdoc in another lab on some animal studies. In both cases, there was a sense of urgency to get some results. So, you've set up a fairly detailed situation, and then you boil down for the listener what it is that you're going to tell them. So, the task was that I knew I had to carefully organize my time. I knew I wouldn't be able to hit all my deadlines if I didn't. So, you're gonna tell the listener how you did that, how you organized your time. And that's the behavior part, the action part of the story, which is the most important. And that's why it's usually the longest and the most detailed. So, you might say something like, you know, these animal studies were time-consuming, requiring daily measurements. Therefore, first I met with my postdoc collaborator and set a schedule that divided up the responsibilities for that project and set sub-deadlines for each step. Then I sat down and managed my manuscript-related deadlines on top of that other list. This ensured that we would complete the experiments in a timely manner and allow... still allowed me the time that I needed to complete my independent experiments and draft a manuscript. So, a lot of detail in that behavior section, but the listener really gets a good mind picture of exactly what it was that you did. And then you move on to some positive result. So, the manuscripts for both sets of experiments were submitted with a month of... within a month of each other, and now both have been submitted for publication. One is even going to be in a top journal. So, every one of your STAR stories doesn't have to end in a science paper or a top journal, but you get the idea that every story should be something that ends, you know, with a positive result. So, that last section of an interview that we talked about was a time for your questions. And the first piece of advice is to go in with lots of questions, and you can write them down on your tablet or on a notepad, carry them with you, and it's okay to refer to the questions. And when they say, you know, do you have any questions for us?, it's fine to say, well, I have a lot, let me check my list. That makes you look like you're well prepared and enthusiastic about the job if you have those all down. In the interview setting, it's not appropriate to ask self-serving questions. So, it doesn't benefit you to ask about the salary at this point. It doesn't benefit you to ask about vacation time. Stay away from those kinds of questions, but focus more on the job description and things that are unclear to you, or reflect on previous interview questions you've had... you've dealt... developed from other people you've talked to. But try to focus on questions that you... that are honest for you and real, that you really want to know about this position, even the business of the company or what's happening in that unit from a business perspective are okay. When you move into the phone interview process, after you've applied for the job, people stumble a lot. And the first thing to do is realize that if they've surprised you. So, typically they'll email you and say, can we set up a time to talk?, but we have had graduate students and postdocs say, I got called from this company that I applied to out of the blue while I was in lab. I was really busy, and it was awkward because it was loud and I wasn't prepared. Well, it's okay for you to just say, I'm really glad you called. I've been looking forward to the possibility of interviewing. This is not a great time for me. Could I call you back? And then you set that time to talk. And then when you do have a conversation, do your best to find a good signal for your cell phone, or find a landline, go to a quiet place, and focus on brief answers when you're on the phone. And you can even stop sometimes and say, you know, did I answer the question sufficiently, or should I say more? That way you're not dragging on for a long time. And then, also realize that when you're in a phone interview setting, if it goes on more than 15 minutes, that's a great sign. If it's shorter than 15 minutes, that's not a bad sign. But the longer you sit in a chair and talk to someone, the more you slump down, and your voice becomes less interesting and flatter, and so it's always a good idea to stand up and walk around, look in front of a mirror and smile, and it makes you actually sound more buoyant and interesting and enthusiastic. So, try those things, because they really help. And then, when you get invited to the site visit, make sure you know as soon as possible what the whole schedule of the day is. We have talked to students and postdocs who get the schedule when they arrive at the company, and that throws you for a loop, and you don't know... who you have to talk to, so make sure you ask the recruiter that you're working with to send that information in advance. And then, something that people don't think to do, but is really useful, is, once you get invited for this whole-day interview, ask someone at the company... the recruiter or your future boss, maybe it might even be better, after you've talked to that person a couple times on the phone, you've gotten to know them... ask them, here are the things that I think I'm getting the signals that these are the priorities for those positions. I want to be prepared as best as possible to succeed in this interview. Are there other things that I should be prepared to talk about? What are the main challenges for the position? What's the... what are the bosses... what are your future boss' priorities for the role or the department? And that way you can refer to those items as you go through interviews. As you prepare for your job talk, you can refer to those priorities that the unit or the boss has. And it can really make you sound like you're already trying to be part of the group. People think that this is bothering the employer, and I think instead... you know, you don't want to badger them, but if you send one email in advance and ask for some help prepping, and you make it sound like you're paying attention already -- so, here are the things I think are the priorities, what other things can you help me with? -- it'll just make you look like you're enthusiastic and serious about the position. And then a couple tips for a job talk. We've talked to a number of industry employers -- scientists -- who have said that they dislike it when a postdoc or a PhD student comes in for a scientist position and basically gives their... the job.. the talk that they gave at a recent conference. What they want to see is less about your research data and more about you in the context of that job description. So, by the time you get to this point, you'll know a lot about that job, and you can begin to talk about, what's the thread of my background that I can weave into this story? If it's a particular skill set, make sure it's really clear how... at the different points in your background or the different projects that you're describing in your talk, how it is that you used that skill set, for example. You'll have less data than in an academic talk and more focus on what your role was. So, be careful... be careful not to make it look like... you've said you did everything. But oftentimes in an academic talk, "we" is the language that is used. But in this case, the employer needs to know what you did, because they're not hiring your whole research group. So, make sure... make sure that you balance "we" language with "I" language. And then, many academic talks end with a fairly deep description of what's gonna be happening in the future with that project or with the person's role. In this case, if you're leaving your academic research post and moving to this new company, that research won't be something that you're doing, so you'll want to sound excited about the research that you're describing. So, in my postdoc research, we're doing this. In the future, this is what might happen from this role or from this work. But instead, focus on what you've learned about the job at this company and what their challenges are and what the group is facing, and build the last part of your talk around that. So, based on what I've learned from, you know, talking to the other scientists in the group, here are the challenges that I think the group seems like they're facing. And based on what I've said about my background before, here's where I think I can help in the future. So, that's the future section of your job search talk. Then we'll just wrap up with a couple things about first and last impressions, and a very important difficult question that gets asked. Be sure that you have prepared well to make a first impression, especially when you're going into this interview day, where you're gonna talk to 10 different people. Practice your handshake. It's really important, and people who think they have goods handshakes sometimes don't, but get some feedback on how you introduce yourself and how you greet people, because you'll be doing that a lot during that day. Also, people tend not to think about the last impression they give in an interview. And you prepare so hard for what's gonna happen in the interview that you forget to think, oh yeah, this is gonna end, and I have to figure out how to get out of this gracefully. And so, in your own words, prepare a ten-second response for how you're going to get out of these interviews. So, if they ask you, you know, if you have any more questions, and you might say, well, I think you've answered all my questions now, but I'd just like to say I really appreciated the chance to talk to you, and I hope that I'm able to move forward in this process because I find this job really interesting. So, figure out what it is you're going to say to get out of the... each of those interviews. You might say the same thing ten times during the day, and that's okay, but preparing for it ahead will make it a little more comfortable. And then, always make sure that you send a thank you note to each employer that you've talked to within 48 hours, a quick email that can just be a couple of lines that thanks them for their time. So, we'll wrap up with a very common but difficult interview question that often gets asked and makes people very concerned about how they're going to respond, and that's when people ask, what's your greatest weakness? Sometimes the question asks... gets asked, which I think is a more constructive way of asking it, you know, what is something that you're working on to improve? And while some people very rarely would say something that's so bad about themselves that they disqualify themselves from moving on in the... in the process, most people resort to stock answers that may not really even be real for themselves like, you know, I work too hard sometimes. Well, how is that a problem, right? Or I'm a perfectionist. And the employer might say, does that impact your ability to get things done? You know, how is that a weakness? So, I think instead of going to the web and looking for, you know, stock answers for these questions, think about what the motivations for the question might be, which are, are you... they want to... an employer wants to know when you identify... are you able to identify something that needs to be improved? And when you identify an area for improvement, can you self-correct? And that's really what they're trying to find out in these situations, because everyone knows they're not gonna get a perfect employee. So, our suggestion is, come up with something that's real for you, that you're working on or that you have worked on, in terms of a work habit, and then describe what you did to fix that, and perhaps even use the STAR approach, and tell a behavioral-style story that demonstrates that you identified something that you needed to work on, and you are working, or you did work on it, and now it's less of a problem. So, I've seen people use, you know, task prioritization. Something I'm really working on is, you know, prioritize... prioritizing my daily tasks. And currently, these are the things I've been doing to make sure that I, you know, approach that better, and here's why it seems like it's already working. So, you've told that in a semi past tense way that lets the employer know the answers to the questions. I knew I needed to improve on something. I worked on fixing it. And yet you've told it in a way that doesn't raise a red flag about... you're not gonna be able to get anything done in that case. So, that's a good approach that's solid and honest and transparent for you. So, we hope you've gotten some useful information from this workshop. I'll just wrap up with a reference to a website that might be useful at the UCSF Career Development site, career.ucsf.edu. If you click on non-academic careers, there's a pretty deep list of other resources that might help you prepare for your industry interviews. And then I'll leave you with some assignments, a checklist that you might work through: first, practice with others, make sure you have a good introduction, a good last impression speech; prepare responses to all of those opening and agenda-setting questions that we talked about at the beginning; be ready to tell stories about five or ten different behavioral... behavioral... behaviors that you've been able to demonstrate, and have them all prepared in this STAR story; and then, before you do your site visits, do your best to try to learn as much as you can about the priorities of the unit or of the... of your boss' priorities, and the challenges the group is working on, so that you can build those... that knowledge into your... into your responses and make you sound like you're already part of the group. So, that's our advice for preparing for interviews. I hope you found it useful, and I appreciate you listening.
