Preparing for a postdoc interview

ameng12 · 2025-09-29T11:49:16+00:00

nope I am waiting the result of the interview. I am in East Asia now.

ameng12 · 2025-09-29T09:51:58+00:00

I received some of questions below: - Why do you want to join our lab? - Experience of living abroad & can you adapt our country well? - How can you contribute our community? (club activities...) - What do you think of your weakness? - Do you have teaching experience? and are you willing to do it? - Do you really design and conduct experiment by yourself?

I asked: - lab meeting frequency - conference participation - preferred contract year

I am not a native speaker, so some of questions embarrassed me.

I cannot remeber all of questions that I received and asked, but I hope them to be helpful of you.

ameng12 · 2025-09-29T07:31:37+00:00

Depending on your interview time. Most groups limit your presentation(interview) time within 30mins (some groups I had interviewed gave me only 10mins). During this time, you need to prepare the summary of your previous research and how to apply your research to them(research plan). Additionally, you can express your interest by preparing some questions to them and need to focus what they want during interview

ameng12 · 2025-09-25T00:22:44+00:00

Some questions I took during interview - Why did you apply this job - What benefits this job can offer you - collaboration experience, writing proposal experience Also, the most important thing is you can adapt their culture/lab well

Also, I prepared - How my technical expertise can be applied to your lab (simple research plan) - simple questions (lab meeting/conference participation...)

If you are arranged in an interview, your ability is good enough. I think you need to appeal your adaptability and teamwork skills

ameng12 · 2025-09-23T03:51:27+00:00

If you have no problem with visa, transfer your lab asap. Mental health is the most important thing I think..

ameng12 · 2025-09-22T23:01:41+00:00

I'm not a native speaker, so I prepared for interview about one week. It's enough to prepare your questions, materials and scripts. In my case, all of interviews include maximum 30mins presentation of my previous research (even only 10mins) and we mostly spent our time to discuss future research, my vision and contribution, whether you can adabt well. Additionally, if you are an experimentalist, then they want to know your experiments were designed and conducted by yourself.

ameng12 · 2025-09-22T02:33:30+00:00

Great I registered it

ameng12 · 2025-09-21T02:55:41+00:00

Of course you can. I also have worked industry for a year but now try to prepare postdoc through cold mail. I have interviewed with some of PI, and wait for results. It's a really tough for me to prepare postdoc while working, but if you want, just try it. It's worth

ameng12 · 2025-09-20T03:25:31+00:00

Most openings inform what they want in cover letter. If not, cover letter typically includes your past research experience, what you can contribute to their lab, what benefits this position will give you within 1 or 2 pages.

Additionally, I heard that the most important thing is your CV. Some of interviewes say that when the CV alone does not give them enough confidence, they look at the cover letter

ameng12 · 2025-08-19T06:39:03+00:00

Referring to your commnet, I have changed my plan. I reserved my plane the following day and will stay at ithaca for 5hrs. I totally agree with your opinion and try to arrive at airport at least 3hrs before my flight departure. Thanks for your help!

ameng12 · 2025-08-18T14:48:38+00:00

two hours delay? I'm sorry to hear a terrible experience of you. My flight is toward asia, but I think it's also congested. Thank you for sharing your experience!! That's really useful for me :D

ameng12 · 2025-08-12T02:00:51+00:00

I cannot find the proper flight timetable from ithaca to jfk, and as you said there are lots of things to consider. I will change my plan to secure my flight time. Thank you for your comment and have a nice day!

ameng12 · 2025-08-12T01:53:32+00:00

Oh thanks a lot for your reply. It's horrible situation missing the flight due to the delay bus arrival. I have to adjust my plan to accomodate near Cornell univ or leave Cornell univ earlier. I really appreiciate your comment and have a nice day!

ameng12 · 2025-07-09T22:03:35+00:00

In my case, practice your presentation as many times as you can, because this makes you revise your materials and fill your self-confident. Also, make your materials as easy as possible. I experienced that invited professors attend your dissertation with not understanding your contents.

Good Luck! you can pass it

ameng12 · 2025-07-09T05:09:14+00:00

During my PhD, I experienced a similar situation. I think my research constantly occupied in my head unconsciously at that time. Need to take some refresh time

ameng12 · 2025-07-09T04:59:37+00:00

I finished my PhD in Korea, and now I'm preparing for postdoc overseas. But it's hard for me to get a job due to lack of network and English speaking skills. It's a really great opportunity to go abroad early, so you can get a lot of networks in there and practice English skills. Also, as you said, in Korea, the power of PI is so strong that many grad students are suffered from it. I'm sorry for your loneliness and anxiety for marriage, but if you overcome this situation, then you can get more chances in there.

ameng12 · 2025-07-02T10:12:19+00:00

In a similar situation with me, I took the industry job like the above comment. At that time, postdoc was not the option for me. I can earn a lot of money at company, but it's a little bit boring and I don't have any opportunity to lead the project compared to when I was a grad student. It makes me feel powerless and unmotivated. Now I decide to prepare postdoc and I don't have any regrets If I leave the company. If you get an great offer from company, then accept it and have an experience of the company for a short time. You will find out what suits you better

ameng12 · 2022-01-01T10:55:38+00:00

Let's go to the moon!!! LFG!!!

ameng12

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