Earlier this year, I started hunting for another full time position. As much as I love hands-on lab work, the lab and environment of my previous position was not enjoyable. You can read my post on three things you should know before applying to a job or college that I wrote six years ago.

Looking back at the date it was written, I am just amazed at where I’ve been since then. When I wrote that post, I was applying for several internships, veterinary and graduate schools, and was in my last semester for my Bachelor’s in biotechnology. In those following months, I would turn down a full time lab position for P&G and would accept an internship with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. That December, I would move on my own to a tiny little cabin in West Virginia where mice and bugs gave me PTSD. My dad would drive up on a weekend and help me caulk and seal every hole in the state-owned cabin. I learned what diatomaceous earth was and it caused me to grow up pretty quickly. A month and half after I started my internship, I was offered a full time position, which I readily accepted. I loved working in the food microbiology lab. But a month after that, I turned in my resignation. I was moving halfway across the country to South Dakota to pursue my graduate degree.

If you asked me now, my favorite job was food microbiology for the WVDA. I loved everything that job entailed (minus the living conditions). I’m not saying I don’t love my current job, I do – I just miss the hands-on lab component.

But over the six years since I first wrote about finding a job, I have worked for the state of South Dakota in multiple positions, in quality control for a vaccine company, and Lowe’s (minus my current part time jobs). I quit Lowe’s within 48 hours of starting, and I’m pretty sure that’s the only place I’ve worked that I’m blacklisted from. These positions have given me a good deal of experience in interviews, and I felt more comfortable in my last job search than any of my others. Here are the tips that I wanted to share about job interviews:

Pause, it’s alright

Interviews are stressful, I get it! But you don’t need to instantly answer the question. You might feel like if you wait too long, they’ll think you’re just making something up. But it’s perfectly fine to pause and reflect on the question. My least favorite type of question is the one where it’s like: “Tell me about your background, a moment that you got upset, and how you like to plan your day.” I’m not going to remember all of that, so I answer the first one, and then I’m perfectly honest and ask what the rest of the question was. Maybe they ask questions like that to fluster you, but just take a moment to pause, think about what you want to say, and just do your best.

Ask questions

Ah yes, the customary ask questions advice for a job interview. But what kind of questions? I always struggled with this, and now I ask maybe one or two questions and just let them know I’ll reach out with any others that come to mind. Before you start the interview, read over the job description, make a note of anything that’s unclear. This might be answered in the interview, and if it is, tell the interviewers that. You can ask how much flexibility you have in the position, or if the day will be dictated task by task. There are general questions I’m sure you can look up online, but the better you can personalize it to the position (30% of time is trainings, how many per month is that usually?), is great.

Be confident and know your value

I think this was the major point in why this past job search felt so much more comfortable than the past ones. I negotiated more in the interviews. I knew what I wanted out of the position, and I was confident in who I was and the value that I would bring to the job. I told them that I would keep my part time jobs, that was non-negotiable. The thing that showed me that confidence helps is one interviewer told me I couldn’t have part time jobs. I responded and said I’m not the candidate for them, and they told me they’d look into it and see what they could do. Don’t let the interviewers push you around – know what you want and be confident in who you are.

For my current job, in the interview, they gave me 24 hour notice for the second interview in which I had to make a presentation. I used the university template powerpoint, and they remarked on how impressed they were that I used that. They also remarked that they were impressed with me logging into the zoom interview at least five minutes early, and I responded that it gave me enough time to troubleshoot any technical issues. Confidence goes a long way.

If you have any interview strategies, feel free to leave them below!

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