Science interview advice

Preparation is key!

So where do you start?

Know your CV

The one thing that ties you to the interviewers is your CV, so how well do you know it?

Look over your CV, can you explain the following:

Why did you leave each role?

Were there any negative reasons for leaving the role? Can you explain this in a positive way?

What were you doing in each job?

What was your biggest achievement in the position(s)?

What products were you testing and what skills and techniques did you learn?

Know the company

I recently saw a video on LinkedIn and it said that interviewers are not looking for you to memorise everything about the company. I agree to a certain extent, but I also believe that if you do your homework on that company it shows that you have taken an active interest in that company and that you want to work for them. This homework will also help you to come up with questions to ask the interviewers.

Things to consider when doing your homework:

What does the company make/do? What do they specialise in?

How long they have been going?

What are their core values – you need to link your answer back to these (so defo. worth a look)?

News articles and blogs. What have they done recently that you can speak to them about at the interview?

Can you get any technical specifications such as MSDS about their products? This will help you prepare you Science knowledge.

Look through the job specification.

Invariably you would have received a job/person spec. You need to ensure you read through this thoroughly and consider the following:

Do you know what the job entails?

Do you have the skills and knowledge to carry out the job? If you have any gaps, can you swat up on the science and learn the theory?

Can you match up your skills and experience to the job spec.?

Are you able to give real life examples that support and match the core competencies of the role?

Competency based questions

Most interviews follow competency-based questions and so you need to make sure you have prepared accordingly.

Things you need to remember as fundamentals:

STAR technique:

Situation - What was the problem or issue?

Task - What options were available to you, what could you do to rectify the situation?

Action - What action you took to rectify the situation?

Result - what was the end result of your actions? (this is the thing that most people forget).

Past Performance = Future indicator. If you have done this in the past you are more than likely going to do this again in the future.

Remember, there’s no I in team, however; for the purpose of interviews you need to state what you did in that team (influence, managed etc). You are selling yourself not all your teammates!

Preparing your answers

When preparing your answers think about the following scenarios:

What have you done when a Science experiment has gone wrong?

Working in a team, how did you get a project done?

How have you shown great leadership?

When have you given excellent customer service? (ABCD – above and beyond the call of duty)

When have you been organised in order to meet a deadline?

When have you been under high pressure? How did you cope/manage this?

When have you been innovative and creative?

When have you had to persuade other people to your way of thinking?

Curve ball questions

What is your biggest weakness?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years' time?
How have you handled conflict previously?

In all of the above questions, you need to think about and write down the appropriate answers in the form of the STAR technique and then practise, practise, practise!

Your questions

Now it's your turn. Remember an interview is a 2-way situation. You are giving reasons why you would be good for that company and so you should now ask why is this the right company for me?

Here are some of things you should consider when planning appropriate questions:

Development and training.
Promotions and career movement.
Company environment and people you are going to working with.
General admin questions like hours of work, transport to site...
Team building exercise
Who is interviewing you?
The company and its future.
External market factors.

In all you should come up with 5 strong questions ready to put to the interviewers. Invariably some of these questions will be answered in the interview process, but you should have at least 3 strong questions to ask towards the end of the interview

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