Scientific Skills Workshops

A face to face interview is something every student will go through at some point in their career. In the academic job market, it is the central process to convince potential employers of your future research prospects. Outside academia the focus is less on research, but performing well in the interview is nonetheless essential to get the job you want. Handling a job interview successfully is not an easy challenge, but the skills needed to present yourself in the best light can be practiced. For this reason, this year the Graduate Center will again offer job marketinterview training in the form of a ‘mock interview’.We will simulate the interview based on a fictive job vacancy in your field of interest. The“selection committee” will consist of at least two senior researchers in your field, e.g. your supervisor and post docs. Moreover, we have invited Sigrid Pearson, an English job interviewcoach. She will assist in preparing your talk during the days before the interview; she will also attend the talks and give detailed feedback on your performance after the simulation. As part of your preparation, we will also ask you to compose a short fictive job ad for the type of job youare planning to apply for (post‐doc position, position in an international organization etc.).

Rough schedule of each session:

1. Presentation of your job market paper (5-10 min)
2. Question and answers session (20 min)
3. Feed-back of all participants
4. Working session with the coach: Analysis and exercises

Please register with Laura (lstarck@diw.de) to allow for individual preparation time and early booking of the senior researchers who should attend your session.Please send Laura your suggestions for the “selection committee” and bring it up to the people in question as soon as possible.

About the coach:

Sigrid Pearson, MA (Dubl.), MA (Lond.), BSc (Hons), CTEFLA Sigrid Pearson coaches students and professionals in job applications and interviews, business English and academic skills at the Leuphana University Lüneburg and previously at the University of Hamburg and in international businesses. She also worked in a business psychologyresearch institute for several years translating and editing academic texts. Earlier in her career,she was a manager at Times Mirror International Publishers in London. She now applies her management training and experience in interviewing and direct sales to help students ‘market’ themselves to employers.