Top 20 Research Scientist Interview Questions and Answers for 2022
12. How Do You Organize, Plan and Prioritize Your Work?
The interviewer wants to know how you handle well you can handle all the tasks that come your way and meet the set deadlines. How do you prioritize and plan your Work? You can mention some of the things that you use, such as a planner. All in all, convince the interviewer that you are a good organizer and planner.
Sample Answer
I normally list all my activities in my planner at the beginning of the day. I then prioritize them by beginning with the most urgent before progressing to the ones with flexible deadlines. I also set alarms for every task, which I always strive to achieve. Therefore, I normally meet deadlines.
6 Briefly Describe Your Experience
This is a common question in different interviews that attempts to find out some of the places you have worked in, the accolades you have gathered and the roles you have occupied in your line of Work. However, since most of this information is captured in your CV and work resume, make your answer short and direct to the point.
Sample Answer
I have been in this field for the last ten years. I began shortly after completing my Master’s degree, which taught me teaching skills, research paper writing, public speaking and advanced mathematics. I have worked in five labs in my years of practice and a record five schools. I also pursued a doctorate which made my dreams of being a leading research scientist come to pass.
We were surprised to learn about the tough questions Klodjan was asked and wanted to share them with all PhDs applying to industry jobs.
The following questions are the toughest ones he was asked and how he successfully answered them (successfully because he received several lucrative offers from great companies).
10. Mention a Time That You Failed In This Role and the Lesson You Learnt
Can you be accountable, admit that you made a mistake and learn from it? This interview question is testing your accountability skills and ability to learn from your mistakes. Please do not treat it as a trap; give an experience that bettered your career.
Sample Answer
During my early days as a research scientist, I failed to use peer-reviewed articles and resorted to a common search engine. Most of the information turned out to be inaccurate, and my boss was really mad. However, I managed to convince him and redid the article, this time with peer-reviewed articles. I learnt the importance of using credible sources when conducting research. I haven’t looked back since.
How To Handle Tough Interview Questions
Klodjan Stafa was in the middle of a postdoc at the University of California in San Diego and was starting to feel like he was on a dead end career track.
He felt like there wasn’t a future for him in academia anymore.
The problem was he didn’t know how to do anything else.
6 Interview Questions PhDs Need To Know
Next, we asked Klodjan to describe the interview processes that he went through.
Among others, Klodjan interviewed for Roche and Estée Lauder Companies before deciding on the latter.
