Research Job Interview Q's: Find the Perfect Candidate

[Simfish]

http://www.quora.com/What-are-effective-interview-questions-to-ask-candidates-for-a-research-role

 

[Vanadium 50]

Why do you care? You're not going to be writing your letters. You're not even going to be reading your letters.

Different letters say different things, and different people react differently to what they read. There is no "generic professor" - individuals are all different.

Simfish, I am beginning to worry about you. You are spending an inordinate amount of time fretting about things that are beyond your control. You would be much, much better served devoting this energy to your studies.

 

[Simfish]

Why do you care? You're not going to be writing your letters. You're not even going to be reading your letters.

Different letters say different things, and different people react differently to what they read. There is no "generic professor" - individuals are all different.

That's definitely true. But I do have a general idea of what each professor has seen of me, so this will affect which profs i ask for LORs from.

Certainly all professors are different - but there are some common things they generally look for.

Simfish, I am beginning to worry about you. You are spending an inordinate amount of time fretting about things that are beyond your control. You would be much, much better served devoting this energy to your studies.

While I agree that this was definitely true for me 5 months ago, I've devoted the vast majority of my energy into my studies (again) for the last 3 months. The amount of time I spend worrying/posting here is really a small fraction of what I put into my studies these days.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Good. That additional studying will serve you well.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=500382" discusses a case where a professor - someone with full access to every applicant's packet and knows each member of the committee personally - didn't guess correctly what the committee would decide. You aren't going to get someone more informed than that. That's why the right strategy is to stop fretting about things that are beyond your control and to apply to multiple schools.

 

[Simfish]

Ah yes - definitely true - thanks very much for that thread!