Bodewits, K. Working from home because of COVID-19? Here are 10 ways to spend your time.  Science Careers.

Giltner, D. M., Gramlich, P.  How to get research funding from industry. Chemistry World. 

Bodewits, K., Gramlich, P. The time, life, and career management workbook for natural and life scientists. eBook.

– How do you get along with your current boss/ colleagues?
Of course, never talk negatively about your ex-colleagues.
You can talk about them in a general sense, as long as you don´t mention names or give revealing details this is fine.

– Why do you leave your current employer?
The challenge with this question is to not talk in any negative way about your old environment while giving a credible motivation for your application. It is not a satisfying answer if you just say that you follow your partner to a new town. In such cases, leave the private part out and tell what you like about the new employer and how you think that your personal development will profit from this step.

– Tell me about your current work, what do you (dis-) like about it?
Do not give any confidential info away, this is a nice question for the employer to see if you can react relaxed yet professional.
This question inquires several things from you at once. Can you explain your work in front of people from other environments or even in front of a lay audience? Up to which level of detail did you go into during your last job and was that appropriate for the position? What fascinated you most, the big instruments, the processes at molecular level, the commercial applications or the interaction with your colleagues? Imagine you talk about your last position, in which you were leading a large team. If you focus too much on the detail level in your description of this leadership position, you´ll give the impression that you couldn´t let go of your scientist´s tasks and didn´t live up to the expectations towards you as a leader. Before beginning with your reply you can ask the interviewer into which direction the answer is supposed to go. Thereby you show that you target your explanations to a specific audience, and don´t just focus on yourself and your own work.
“In an interview with a large producer of vaccines I was asked to explain the product I developed in my last position. Before going into the explanation, I asked about the audience of my explanation, “Am I to imagine your role as technical co-worker in an analytics lab, as pathologist working on the diagnosis or as patient, who speaks with the doctor?” This query of mine came across very positively in the interview and I was told that this was exactly the right approach for the position. In the future job I would also constantly have to adjust to various target audiences.”
Please be extremely careful not to relate to any company secrets or internal info from your old employer. Nobody wants to hire an information leak.
Do you describe the situation predominantly positive or negative?
Do you seek mistakes predominantly with yourself or with others?

– How would your boss/ colleagues describe you?
Always have a few quotes from former colleagues and bosses in mind, which might be relevant for the position you apply for. “A former boss once remarked that it is a pleasure to read my reports, even if they are about the driest of topics.” Or, “My colleague Sarah recently remarked that she admires my interactions with customers, very direct yet always polite.” When you are able to “bring someone into the room”, if you manage to describe your advocate in a credible and authentic way, you can leave a strong impression. Some people find it harder, some easier to put words into the mouth of others than describing themselves directly. Your answer will also allow the interviewers to draw conclusions about you: do you believe the positive judgement about yourself or do you even let this judgement be heard? Each person can find positive examples of remarks about themselves when thinking about it hard enough and in turn bring them across in a credible way if they are authentic examples. Don´t go alone into the interview and rather believe in your best friend Sarah, she surely didn´t just say her compliment without meaning it!

– With which type (personality) of colleagues do you prefer to work together?

– Did you already encounter problems with a boss or colleague?

The career columns we write for Nachrichten aus der Chemie are published in German. We are in the process of translating them to English, see the small but growing selection below. 

Online and offline 06-2020

I quit my PhD! What now? 02-2020

Decide: If, then how 01-2020

Don´t think 8-8-8 07/08-2019

Research funding from industry 04-2019

Landing on your feet 03-2018

My professor, the career advisor 07/08-2017

Biological age or academic age 09-2016

The pregnancy issue: Don´t ask, don´t tell 08-2016

The girl with the gun- hobbies in your CV 05-2016

See here the list of the German originals:

Fragen Sie jemanden, der sich auskennt (Heft 09/2021)

Aufschreiben statt vermuten (Heft 07-08/2021)

Bittere Lektüre (Heft 06/2021)

Erzählen Sie mal über sich (Heft 05/2021)

Chatten funktioniert immer (Heft 04/2021)

Geht es nur darum, wen Sie kennen? (Heft 03/2021)

Geht es nur ums Geld? (Heft 02/2021)

Professionell auftreten im Jahr 2021 (Heft 01/2021)

Kein Kolloquium (Heft 12/2020)

Vorbereitung ist machbar (Heft 11/2020)

Von der Gehalts- zur Vertragsverhandlung (Heft 10/2020)

Nur Jobs für Spezialisten? (Heft 09/2020)

Wettbewerb und Kooperation (Heft 07-08/2020)

Online und Offline (Heft 06/2020)

Ehrlich und kritisch (Heft 04/2020)

Zeugnisse und Referenzen (Heft 03/2020)

Wohin mit der abgebrochenen Promotion? (Heft 02/2020)

Entscheiden: erst ob, dann wie (Heft 01/2020)

Soziale Medien (Heft 12/2019)

Was bedeutet Mobilität (Heft 11/2019)

Geschichten, keine Romane (Heft 10/2019)

Eine erfolgreiche Promotion (Heft 09/2019)

Denken Sie nicht 8-8-8 (Heft 07-08/2019)

Wie man es dreht und wendet (Heft 06/2019)

Das Bewerbungsparadox (Heft 05/2019)

Forschungsgelder aus der Industrie (Heft 04/2019)

Show, don´t tell (Heft 03/2019)

Blinde Flecken (Heft 02/2019)

Angebot und Nachfrage (Heft 01/2019)

Zuerst einmal zu Ihnen (Heft 12/2018)

Sichtbarkeit, Glaubwürdigkeit und dann erst Profit (Heft 11/2018)

Aktivieren Sie bitte den Flugmodus (Heft 10/2018)

Berufswahl (Heft 09/2018)

Wo sehen Sie sich in fünf Jahren? (Heft 06/2018)

Sie langweilen mich (Heft 05/2018)

Auf den Füßen landen (Heft 03/2018)

Wie ich ein Gespräch beende: die Exit-Strategie (Heft 01/2018)

Das Urteil ist gesprochen (Heft 12/2017)

Alles nur ein Spiel (Heft 11/2017)

Konferenz für Gewinner (Heft 09/2017)

Meine Professorin, die Karriereberaterin (Heft 07-08/2017)

Aufhebungsvertrag (Heft 05/2017)

Strategisches Netzwerken (Heft 04/2017)

Headhunter oder Kummerkasten? (Heft 12/2016)

Das Bewerbungs-Timing (Heft 11/2016)

Lebensalter oder akademisches Alter (Heft 09/2016 )

Schwangerschaft: Don‘t ask. Don‘t tell. (Heft 08/2016 )

Die Frau mit der Knarre (Heft 05/2016 )

Eine typische Falle (Heft 04/2016 )

Versteckte Schätze (Heft 02/2016) 

The short storys in Labjournal are only available in German

Vorstellungsgespräch (12-2018)

Doktorprüfung (11-2018)

Die Bewerbung (10-2018)

Wir, die Wissenschaftler (09-2018)

Zwei Nippel verwirren ein Labor (06-2018)

Verstehen Sie mein Projekt? (05-2018)

Die Massenspektrometrie-Bibel (04-2018)

Beim Arbeitsamt (03-2018)

Verrückter Montag (01-02-2018)

Was ist mit dem Chef nur los? (12-2017)

Verbriefte Unsicherheit (10-2017)

Praktikum (9-2017)

Wann ist Zeit für den Absprung? (6-2017)

Konferenz mit Schwiegermutter (5-2017)

Explosive Proben (4-2017)

Autoren-Geschacher (3-2017)

Emotionale Inkontinenz (1-2-2017)

Weihnachtsfeier (12-2016)

Rede mit niemandem (11-2016)

Homer goes Nature (10-2016)

I will break your fingers (09-2016)

Der Alte im Labor (06-2016)

220 Shades of grey (05-2016)