What not to say in a job interview
I’ve interviewed a few people for jobs at Monash University, and there’s always someone who comes out with something surprising. Here are some real examples.
For a post-doctoral research position:
Q: What would you say were your major weaknesses?
A: I don’t have any.
Q: Really? You can’t think of anything that you could work on, new skills you could develop, anything at all that you might be able to improve?
A: No, I don’t think so.
From the same interview:
Q: Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
A: I think I’ll win a Clay prize.
For a statistical consultant position:
Q: Suppose you have a client who is measuring some characteristic of people. She wants to know if there are any real differences between the measurements from people in Group A and those from people in Group B. What sort of data analysis or statistical models or tests would you use?
A: I know what you want me to say, but what I’d actually do is persuade them to use the method in my latest paper published in xxxx.
For a post-doctoral research position on a project using Bayesian analysis:
Q: Suppose you try out these Bayesian ideas and it is not working out the way you expect. Then your supervisor suggests you try a non-Bayesian method that might work. What would you do?
A: I wouldn’t do it.
Q: But if your supervisor asked you to do it, using a method you have no experience with, what would you do?
A: I would just say no.
I didn’t make any of this up. I appreciate the honesty of these people, but if you are in a job interview, please think about what the employer might be looking for.