ICONS-KTT workshop on Interview Skills

Tell me about yourself…?
Why are you interested in joining our team as a project manager?

For the second time ICONS and KTT have joined forces to put together a hands-on experience in professional career development for ICFOnians, this time on Interview Skills.

In this workshop on Interview Skills, we provided an in-depth insight into the basics of interview skills together with practical training on how to excel in interview panels for a position in and outside academia. All began with a rough workshop draft for a SPIE activity grant proposal triggered by the request for hands-on training by fellow ICFOnians. With a successful grant application in our pocket, the idea crystallized over a couple of brainstorming meetings with KTT. Once the email on behalf of ICONS asking for workshop participants was sent, the 24 available spots were immediately filled, mostly by the target group of finishing PhD students.

The workshop was split in two sessions three weeks apart. In the first session on Friday November 8^th, 2019, the eager participants received an introduction into the basics of interview procedures by Agata Komornicka, a HR Specialist in Recruitment, Selection, Training and Professional Development. Then we had an interactive round table discussion with Rob Sewell, from ICFO as Coordinator of Academic Programs, David Paredes working in AISTECH Space as Head of Ground Segment and the Scientific Manager at Iris Technology, Laura Rodriguez and Agata as well. Alastair Cunningham as KTT Project Portfolio Manager and partner in crime for the whole workshop did an amazing job in moderating the discussion. Prompted by questions from the moderator and the audience the panel provided insights into common interview practices and recommended strategies. Personal anecdotes from memorable interview situations highlighting Do’s and Don’ts rendered the discussion highly lively and authentic. It was great to see that the audiences seized the chance to ask any sort of question, for advice and cleared their doubts. Besides the more standard recommendations for the “Dos and Don’ts of interviews, also specific questions such as whether a LinkedIn profile is essential for the job search or not, or if it is a good strategy to try to pass many interviews for practising purposes before applying for the “real job”. Also one panel members made everyone think about which car one would buy given the budget was unlimited.

The second session, three weeks later on November 8^th, 2019 consisted of staged interviews. At the end of the first session, we introduced four actual job offers, namely of a postdoc position, a project manager in an international consortium, and two industrial R+D positions.

Beforehand the 24 participants had already chosen between being either the interviewee, the one giving the interview, or being on the other side of the table forming the panel of interviewers together with two experienced experts and which of the four positions they were applying for. During the three weeks of preparation time, the interviewees had to send their CV and motivation letter and to get ready for the interview. The rookie interviewers were given guiding material to read about how to lead an interview. All the participants could always ask questions to the organizers.

For the interview day the timetable with exact timings and place indications were sent by Outlook invitations. Each of the four panels had to quiz four candidates in 20 min interviews to select the successful candidate. The workshop was wrapped up by a feedback session in which Alastair gave feedback of the whole procedure from the submission of the CVs and cover letters until general comments on the interview day. Then each chair of the panels provided summarizing feedback and announced the successful candidate who won a book as a reward. Over some coffee and pastries, pictures, individual feedback in one-to ones and networking the second session faded out.

For the second session the idea was to offer the most authentic experience with equal benefits from both roles, the interviewee or the interviewer despite entailing different challenges.
Based on the participant’s feedback we succeeded to deliver an insightful workshop on Interview Skills not only regarding the hands-on experience of staged interviews but overall with its content. Especially the finishing PhD students confirmed that the workshop was the perfect preparation for their upcoming job search.

From the organizers perspective it was a highly enriching experience starting with conceiving the workshop until leading it all through until the last email. So it can be called a successful workshop and should be repeated. 🙂