The Difficulties of Interviewing

Hi Justin, Your active career hunting shows up a lot in my rare linkedin browsing, and often times I have nothing to offer. However, this publication and cry for help I can speak to, because I have been on both sides of the table. Like any other nuclear industry driven job seeker and project consultant. I have found myself on various types and range of interview, and hope my insight along with the comments below will help those break through. These are the steps I took and give whenever it comes to career hunting. First off, create a list of companies you want to work for, and another list of job positions you want to hold. The product of those two lists should give you a sense of how small of a circle the nuclear industry really is. In fact, in certain country (ah hem, Canada) the list of nuclear companies pretty much sets the limiting step already - I count roughly ten in Canada. One thing that took me a long time to learn is that long-term employment in nuclear is far and few inbetween. This almost made me chase a Unicorn fantasy as rare as DT-DT fusing. That is because the nature of industrial companies (power plants, research facilities, etc.) operate in project life cycles and in some cases product life cycles. Civil construction is a good example of these life cycles. Full-time construction work is very rare and unheard of in fact. It mostly functions as a time duration work (years to months). Coincidentally, the overall economy is also shifting to a more on-demand job environment and employers are modelling their workforce to reflect their operational demand. So I suggest, plugging yourself and networking yourself with placement agencies for short-long term nuclear projects. Never doubt the time invested in reaching out to current physicists in positions for a coffee, lunch, or a chat. As noted early, the industry is small. So when someone is ever looking for a name to fill a position, you will stand out because a face can be assigned to it as well. I recall one time, I took a day off work (as a contractor at the time so no pay) to drive across a city just to a lunch with a fellow. The inside knowledge of current industry direction paid for the lunch itself, even though it didn't directly provide a position. Now as for job interviews itself. I cannot stress the importance of reviewing fundamental concepts to the degree you can easily explain it to a wide range of audiences. From personal experience, health physic interviews aren't at all that challenging (never come across a Bateman Equation that needed solving). Rather it is length and broad. A quick glance at all the streams of health physics (external, internal, shielding, detection, measurement, laser, medical, etc.) shows how much variety there really is. Maybe someone with more knowledge can correct me, but I can't think of a single place or role that will provide all aspects of health physics. So once again, review fundamental concepts and theories of each stream versus in-depth knowledge of select streams. Lastly, my humble advice in interviewing in any industry is to take a systemic approach when answering questions. There are tons of material and information out there for different methods. The simplest is quite literally, taking notes. Jot notes as the interviewer asks the question and don't be afraid to have them repeat it. Before you start blabbing your mouth off and going on a tangent, write down your entire chain of thought and review it's flow in your head before speaking. This will prevent rambling, illogical flow, and unnecessary behaviour. I have heard compliments from this as an interviewee and as an interviewer. It would be truly wonderful if everyone judged everyone based on one's merit and not the fragment of encounters called interviews. Sadly, humans will be humans, and that is how the game is played. You win the game, once you know all the rules - a wise person once told me. I hope this helps along with the amazing feedback from other commenters. Cheers, -Matt

It's not easy to be transparent, especially on LinkedIn for all to see...I applaud you for seeking out advice! On paper, your credentials are strong and the interview panel has likely already determined your potential technical skill fit prior to you sitting down with them, for the most part. Try to not let your passion for sharing your knowledge overshadow who you are on a personal level...give them the ability to envision you as their co-worker. As others have suggested, be genuine...try not to have a preconceived idea of what they want to hear, as you will likely stand out when you aren't doing so! Enjoy yourself, smile often, speak conversationally and honestly. Always take a positive spin...not receiving an offer does not always equate to you performing poorly in an interview, so don't let it affect your confidence. Instead, be grateful for the opportunity to interview that company...after all, it is a two-way street. The more you interview the more clear it will be to you what you want and desire in a company. I hope this helps some, take care!

Thanks to everyone for their responses! It was great hearing from people with such a range of experience!

I've often found that brevity is the soul of wit. I think of an interview in the same vein as an oral board. Let the interviewer do all of the work. I remember one interview where I was asked what I thought the most important aspect of a report would be. I said, "Brevity!" The interviewer started writing notes like crazy. I received an offer two days later. It turned out to be my most enjoyable job.

Very well explained Grant Nixon