PhD interview questions

This year I was lucky enough to be working in a lab, more than that, I was lucky enough to be working in a lab that was looking for a new PhD student to start their doctorate in September. The reasons I say I was lucky are mainly two: working in a lab has made me realise what I want and don't want from a job in research, and the fact that my lab was looking for a new PhD student meant I was part of the interview process, which allowed me to see the process before I go through it (if I go through it) and from the other side.

One of the things that I noticed when doing interviews (well, I wasn't exactly interviewing, just chatting to the candidates for a while, getting an idea of what they were like, what they had done and what they were expecting from the lab) is that very few of our interviewees asked questions, and much less the right questions. There's two types of questions you want to ask when you have an interview in a lab: the ones you ask the lab leader, and the ones you don't. Lately I've been making a short list for each of them, so here it is.

Questions to ask the lab leader

1. What are your expectations from people working in the lab? (In other words, what are you looking for in the person you hire?)

This is a dangerous question to ask (because it might be taken to mean "I'm lazy, what do you want from me exactly?), but it can give you a hint as to the sort of qualities you might need to get a PhD, and more than that, it can give you a hint as to how the lab works. Is your lab leader looking for people who will collaborate? People who will be independent?

2. What are lab dynamics like?

This is an important question, but probably needs a bit more specificity. When you ask a lab leader this what you mean is how does the lab work. Are stocks shared? Is there a single person in charge of ordering everything every week and each person tells them or is each person in charge of their own stuff? Are there any shared facilities with other labs? How is the relationship with these other labs? Is everyone working on slightly different areas of a bigger collaborative project, or is each person doing completely different projects that fall within the same spectrum of the lab's main aim?

3. What are the resources like?

Here it starts getting a bit tricky, because few lab leaders will like to say that they have no resources, but it's important to know whether you'll be working in a place where you can spend money freely, or in a place where you have to count your pipettes.


Those are the questions I would ask of the lab leader, plus perhaps some academic questions.


Questions to ask anyone else (but the lab leader)

1. What is the lab leader like?

No one is going to say bad things about their boss, but you can glean out a lot by how this question is answered. Usually, people who are happy with their lab leader will answer immediately that it's great to work for them, and then they might mention one or two flaws. People who are unhappy with their lab leader will think for a few seconds and then find some sort of praise, that doesn't really sound that great.

2. Do people in the lab get along? What are lab dynamics like? Do you go for a beer once in a while?

This might sound like a stupid question but you don't want to be working in a place where the environment is tense and people don't get along. Just like in the case above, the answer to this question can tell you a lot about the lab and how people work there. It's also interesting to ask several people in the lab: it will become immediately obvious if there are antagonistic groups within the lab.

3. What are the hours like?

This question is slightly ridiculous in science: you work as much as you need to in order to get your results. But it's important to ask this question because it's very different to work as much as you need to and to work as much as you need to plus as much as your boss and other people in the lab want you to. You want to know if there are certain hours everyone keeps, if everyone comes in on weekends, etc. Some labs have a quite free policy about time, whereas in other labs people keep tabs on each other's hours.

4. What are lab dynamics like?

Although you've already asked this of the lab leader, you also want to ask it of people actually working in the lab. After all, the lab leader is the organiser, but generally they don't do a lot of lab work themselves. It's the postdocs and students that know if things are organised and work properly, and how well shared facilities are managed. They also know a lot more about how collaborative or individualistic people are with their projects, and how willing people are to share materials.

5. What kind of person fits in this lab?

This is a mixture of "what is expected of me" and "who would you like to come in". Answers can come in all sorts of different forms: from purely scientific and "jobby" attributes (hard workers, extremely intelligent, good at x, y or z) to personality traits that would be welcome (quiet, loud, friendly, reserved, assertive) to age (some labs prefer a younger population, others are happier with older people) to gender. It will give you an idea of what the people in the lab want the new "acquisition" to be, and whether you'll be happy to fit into that role, at least partially.


So those are my questions. Any suggestion? Things you wouldn't ask? Things you would?