Prepare and Conduct an Effective Interview for Non-Academic Career (201)

14 June 2024

Luca Allaria

The workshop is intended for PhD candidates who seek to develop their career in the international and/or private sector (for instance multinationals, NGO's…).

It will provide participants with information on:

• The different types of interviews (such as: Telephone, Video, One-to-one, Panel, Group…) and the stakeholders involved (such as HR, managers, headhunters…).
• The pre-interview work, such as research needed, review CV vs the job description…
• How to behave during the interview process:
  • Promoting their transversal/soft skills, not just their technical skill or scientific expertise.
  • Answering the most common questions during an interview process, such as: "why do you want to leave academia", "why did you apply for this position", "what are your weak points", "walk me quickly through your CV".

The training will help the candidates to practice job interviews, benefiting from peers' and trainer's feedback.
The first part of workshop will be conducted with a mixture of presentations and simulation (i.e. one student plays the role of an interviewer and the trainer of a candidate, in order to enhance the learning). In the second part the participants will engage in small-group exercises (3 people) to explore the roles of candidate, interviewer and observer. At the end of the workshop, a full-class discussion will recap and clarify the essential points and possible questions.

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the workshop, participants will have learnt how to prepare for a job interview for non-academic roles / outside the university. In addition, they will be prepared on how to:

• Understand variety of possible interview formats and get prepared for those
• Understand the different perspectives of those involved in the interview process
• Know how to respond to questions concerning their transferable (soft) skills, highlighting both their approach to a problem as well as the outcome
• Know how to conduct themselves professionally during the interview process
• Answer the most common questions during the first steps of a job interview.

Requirements:

English level C1.

Participants are very strongly recommended to have followed one of the CUSO courses focused on preparing the CV and cover letter for posts off the academic track (e.g. "Job-Hunting", "Préparer son dossier de candidature pour des offres d'emploi hors académie" ), and/or skills identification ("Elaborer mon profil professionnel"). Alternatively, they may have sought advice from their career centre on these topics. An application for an academic post (university postdoc or similar) will not be suitable for this workshop.


Preparatory Work:
Participants will be asked to send the trainer one week before the training a description of their ideal job.

University of Lausanne

Date: Friday, 14th June 2024

Time: From 9:00 to 17:30

Location: University of Lausanne

Trainer:

Luca Allaria has worked for almost 15 years in the Biomedical industry, in both large and medium sized companies. In his career, Luca has experience in marketing, sales, education and research. In his international experience, he has been involved in multiple recruitment processes, both with and without the support of head-hunters. He is also cooperating with LHH – leader in the outplacement company in the world – as a consultant. He is also one of the Career Advisors at the University of St. Gallen – MBA Program.

He holds an MS in Biomedical Engineering and an Executive Master in Business Administration (EMBA) from the IMD Business School in Lausanne. He is also certified as an Education Manager/Director and has taken multiple training courses in communication and recruitment. He is also a certified professional coach by ICF (International Coach Federation).

Participants are eligible for reimbursement of incurred travel expenses by train between the city of their university and the location of the workshop (half-fare card, 2nd class).

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