Recently I spent a day doing job interviews - but for the first time in an academic job, I was part of the panel rather than facing it. Being on the other side was very instructive, here's what I learnt:
The panel really want you to do your best. They don't want to waste 30-45 minutes of your/their time. If they ask a question, it's ok to ask questions to clarify what they're getting at, or how it applies to the job. 2/
You're nervous. They know. Frankly, I'm more unsettled by people who aren't. If it helps you feel less nervous to say you're nervous, do it once and don't dwell on it (when I get blood tests I always tell the phlebotomist I'm nervous and then I'm fine) 3/
If all the panel have a pen & they all stop writing for a while, it means you're no longer telling them anything they're going to use in their decision making process (I'm usually too stressed about answering to notice this, but it is really apparent from the other side!) 4/
This sounds obvious... but - listen to the question, write down key words if you have to, and make sure your answer uses the same words back. If they ask about working to deadline, don't talk about working to budget. Writing down looks professional and competent, it's ok 5/
The sheets we used for interviews also included a thing that is probably super-common in job interviews, but I'd never seen before. Situation, task, action, result (STAR 🌟) is a handy acronym for making your answers maximally illustrative 6/
(STAR is going straight into my interview practice technique - it looks like a really helpful way to keep answers on track and to feel like you've covered everything you need to!)
Bring in notes. It's not an exam, it's a chance to show you're a professional. Always have a question ready at the end, if it got covered in the discussion then say s'thing like "I was going to ask about BLAH, I appreciated your great summary of it" 7/
Anyway, I think that's most of what I learned about job interviews by being on the panel side. Whether I'll ever be cool-headed enough in an interview to make use of what I learnt is, of course, a different matter entirely!
