Assprof, Part V: The interview, or what do you think is fun?

As you saw in the previous post, someone thought it was a great idea to organize a workshop one week before Christmas (I don't think she'll do that again). Fine, I'll have to travel home anyway, so I can just as well travel a bit SouthWest in France before heading NorthEast. That was before I was invited for the interview. I wasn't so calm anymore. I had to skip the last day of the workshop to go back to Sweden to have at least half a day to cool down before the interview. I was still pretty high from adrenaline from the first ever modelling talk and certainly needed the time.

My interview is at 8 in the morning. I walk there listening to my usual power song. The interviewers are the head of the department and three professors of which one I know superficially, and two others I've never met. All really good researchers with impressive publication lists. Not exactly in my field, but adjacent. I'm a nervous wreck. I had prepared for questions about funding, my research and why they would miss a great opportunity if they do not hire me (not that easy when my inner voice says if you're smart stay the hell away from me, you got much better applicants I'm sure!).

The first question I get is "What area of -ology do you think is most fun?". They were probably trying to relax me, but I had no idea what to say. Actually I think OtherResearchField is more fun. I don’t say that obviously but try to come up with some blabla on the interface between -ology and OtherResearchField. The rest is a bit of a blur and I wasn't very happy afterwards. The only thing that did go well was a discussion about what I'm currently doing and how I could potentially collaborate with one of the interviewers. After 45 minutes they sent me away because they had three more people to interview that day. No talking to other people at the department, no looking at labs or other research facilities. No small talk over coffee even. Weird again. And more waiting. At least it was holidays.