Hello again! Apologies for the long break, hopefully you were having such a good summer holiday that you didn’t miss my blog posts anyway :)
Leading on from the last post, where I talked about some different ways of finding PhD projects, the next stage is to apply for the job, advertise yourself enough to be asked for an interview, and then ace that too!
So, PhD applications. Well even before you apply, it can be a good idea to send the supervisor an email asking a couple of questions, perhaps about the methods or scope of the project. Fabian and Alexandre both exchanged emails with their prospective supervisors and were both encouraged to apply. Hopefully, the answers you receive will reaffirm your interest in the project and can even give you more information on which to base your application. On the other hand, it could help you in deciding that the project is not quite right for you.
Unfortunately, most of us can’t remember what the Intercrossing application form was like (being a whole THREE YEARS ago now!). But, general application advice holds true here.
Give yourself plenty of time. Some applications can be quite lengthy and you don’t want to be rushing to finish in time. You won’t present yourself well, and will probably forget some important parts of your past experience. Keeping an up-to-date CV and cover letter helps a lot here in saving time. (Hmm, there’s another thing to add to my to-do list. I really should take my own advice).
Regurgitate the person specification. Make it obvious to the reader that you meet all of their criteria, but also GIVE EXAMPLES! Anybody can say they have ‘teamwork skills’ (and I’m pretty sure everyone does, although many probably shouldn’t), but giving examples shows proof that you are what you say you are. Examples don’t have to be from academic experience either; use some from your hobbies, voluntary work, side projects etc.
Update webpages. If you have any kind of online presence, (i.e. LinkedIn, Research Gate, Twitter) then update it, write some new posts, show you’re an active user!
Sell yourself! You’re awesome. Make sure the person reading knows that too.
Now I’m going to assume that your brilliant and well time-managed application got you an interview. What do you need to prepare now?
As all Intercrossing ESRs were in different countries to where we were applying, many of us had Skype interviews. General consensus is that they are weird, and we don’t like them. It’s very different talking to someone via computer than face-to-face, so be aware of that. Unless you’re on video of course (luckily I wasn’t, but sadly my strategic placing of a nice-looking plant and the bookshelf-of-intelligence was entirely wasted). There are some quite good magazine articles around the web with some tips on skype interviews, e.g. this one and many others you can probably find online.
Language was also something that several of the ESRs had some trouble with, where English was not their first language but is commonly used in international groups (lucky me). I guess there’s a limit on what can be improved in a short space of time, but perhaps reading some English articles, textbooks, or papers could help to familiarise yourself with the correct words and terms. Obviously you need to understand the questions you get asked and be able to answer them, that goes without saying. But more than that, you need to understand the whole topic so that you can also ask questions to the interviewers (this goes for native English speakers too!).
One last piece of advice I’m going to say is to be prepared for anything and everything. We all have nightmare-ish stories of that one completely strange question we never expected. So just prepare for any question you think could or couldn’t be asked, and to defend anything you wrote in your application. Habib, for example, was asked why he wanted to move from studying animals to plants, whereas others were asked to explain bioinformatic algorithms or to critically evaluate a paper. Don’t be afraid of thinking out loud as you work out a problem. But if worst comes to worst and you have no way of answering a difficult question, don’t panic and just say that you simply don’t know. Easy. Making up an answer can be tempting, but the interviewer is very likely to be an expert in the field and will certainly know if you invent some research or explain a method incorrectly. No wingin’ it here unfortunately.
Om and Alexandre also had to prepare a short presentation on themselves or their previous work. This could be a good exercise to do anyway, to practice some basic answers to questions about your experience or methods, on which you can elaborate in the interview.
I’m just going to leave you with some great advice from Fabian, because I couldn’t put it better myself:
“If you get papers to prepare for the interview, read them. Read them in detail. Also the supplementary files. Be aware of your weaknesses or things the interviewers might address (e.g. a bad grade, gaps in your CV, strange career path) and think about how to defend/ explain it.”
Hopefully this helps you on your way to getting accepted for a PhD! Thanks to Alexandre, Fabian, Om and Habib for their great advice and sharing of scary interview stories.
