I woke today at 04:00, and was inspired to write this draft of a letter (on my phone, so there are likely to be typos). Do you guys have any suggestions of changes it might need in content?
Hej Mark and Drew!
Thanks so much for making the time to talk with me yesterday. It was nice to get a better sense of exactly what it is that your team is looking for than I got from the job ad.
Before my interview I spoke with a variety of friends and family who work in tech and who have been involved in a lot of hiring for their teams, about how best to prepare for the interview since my experience hitherto has been focused on academia. Their advice unanimously said that I should be ready with specific examples from my past experience, as questions for corporate interviews tend to be behavioural in nature “tell me about the time you…” (one even suggested I google the STAR interview approach).
They suggested that businesses most want the answers to include quantifiable results “by replacing the Laser’s Mass Flow Controller myself one December I was able to get our lab back on line and usable weeks earlier than if we had waited for the laser service tech to fly up after their vacation”.
Given that the invite had suggested that we would discuss my “strengths and experience”, their advice sounded spot-on, and I spent time trying to think of examples of things from my years as a half-time combined lab manager and technician for a very tiny ore geology department that would demonstrate how I went from a couple of hours experience as a LA-ICP-MS user during my PhD to being the one who had to do all of the lab set up, develop our methods, and keep the lab running, with very little actual training.
Therefore, you can probably imagine my surprise when, instead the questions focused on what I would do in future situations; not what I have done, but do I already know how to do what need to have need done? Giving me a sense of “studied for the wrong test”.
However, one of the cultural differences between Sweden and the US is the approach to tests. Growing up tests were a one-time shot. One studies for the final exam and hopes to ace it. If one were to fail one enrols for the course (and pays tuition) and starts over from the beginning (I never had to do that). Here in Sweden, where university students pay no tuition at all, it is common for students not to pass the exam on the first try. However, every term during finals week there are chances to re-sit exams from previous class, without having to re-do the whole course. Some of my friends here have sat the final exam for the same course three or more times before they finally finished the degree.
While I managed to do my own degrees with one final exam per class, the Swedish mindset of giving everyone as many chances as they need to both learn the material and demonstrate that they have done so inspires me to reach out to you now and ask if there are resources you would recommend for learning about quality control protocols and the other aspects of the Senior Analytical Chemist role that I do not yet have experience with?
Alternatively, since Northvolt is currently facing some serious pressure to transition as quickly as possible from a small start-up to a productive gigafactory, I wonder if there is a possibility for my application to be considered for a lesser role on the team, with the possibility of working my way up in the company as I demonstrate my abilities to learn the skills needed to do so? If so, do you have a sense of what that role would be?
Thanks again, it was lovely to meet with you.
Cheers,
—Riia
(the two comments I got on that post over on Dreamwidth said “Seems like a good idea to me.”, and “I like this approach!” )