Some tips for your scholarship interviews
For higher studies or scholarship interviews, I often advise PhD or master degree aspirants to be confident and curious, and ask your interviewers the questions that are in your mind — not stupid questions though.
Now this is a very general statement I have realized; and observed that many students don’t actually understand what do I mean by that. I sometimes assume they would understand, but unfortunately that is not the case. And they don’t ask me to clarify because I have already told them not to ask stupid questions ;) I am not talking about all of them, of course. Therefore, I am writing this to explain it a bit more. And NO, it won’t be a stupid question if you ask me to clarify what do I mean by that.
First of all, you should all know that for a technical interview you need to be prepared, and everyone should know the technical parts of their respective fields. It is important to be prepared for the subject-specific or research project-specific questions and I will assume most of the students know this part. If not, the next advises are not going work!
What really highlights you as a person is when you are confident in your interview. What does this mean? It means that you know what you are talking about and looking at things objectively. How does it works in the interview? It’s simple! If you’re asked something; you give the answer as specific as possible. If you do not know the answer, just say that you don’t know about it. Overconfident behaviour and trying to give an answer even if you know you don’t know; it will give you away. Not everyone knows everything about their field and at this stage, you are not expected to know much anyways. You could provide a partial answer but in that case, you should make clear the part you know and which part you don’t. However, you could mention that you will look into it. I usually ask the interviewer after such situation so that they can explain it to me :) This is being curious! Being confident helps you to create a frank environment with your interviewer, which in turn helps you to be curious. But being curious doesn’t end here.
After the Q&A session, they usually ask you if you have any questions. Always and always use this opportunity to ask whatever you’re curious about regarding anything related. ‘No questions’ might show that you’re not really excited about the opportunity (though its not always the case.) If you’re moving to a foreign country for your studies, you must have tons of things in your mind. Ask away! Start with asking your concerns about your stipend, if you have any. Ask them about the working environment — how many people are there in the group and how do things work in the organization. Ask them about how many holidays you can have. Ask them about the city or area where the organization is — the living quality or the weather and food etc. Anything related that you’re shy about asking, you could ask in a professional way. If they don’t know the HR related issues, they could ask someone else to help you. Believe me, most of the students don’t do this and it presents you as a positive and energetic person who is interested in this job and taking it more seriously. At the end, it will make you feel good about yourself.
PS: Some interviewers or advisors might not be as frank so you should be adaptive and careful. For instance, interviewers from South Korea might be very different than interviewers from European countries. For that, you can just prepare yourself a bit more in advance. If you’re applying in Europe or for Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA), the above techniques would definitely highlight you. However, it still doesn’t guarantee your admission.
The key is patience and perseverance.
Good luck!
