My First "Professional" Interview

Today, I had my first interview for a job post-graduation. It was for a research position at the VA Hospital. I have never been on this campus before. I approached the building and my first thought was "Oh, okay I can picture myself working here..." Then I thought about... this building looks like it came from a horror movie:

It's an old brick building with vents sticking out of it. It looks like Halloween H2O could have been shot here. Or it could be one of those buildings where game shows pay people to spend the night. The fact that the lab is a part of the neuropharmacology department, made me start thinking up insane stories. What if this building has a history, like a mad scientist way back in the day started injecting people's brains with radioiostopes or hallucinatory drugs that made the patients even crazier? At that point, I called my best friend to tell her about this. Just in case I didn't make it out alive...

But no worries, because I obviously made it out alive. The lab is tiny. Currently there are four people in the lab, of that four, only two are usually in the lab and one is only a part-time student worker. So, if I get the job, ZCheck and I are going to be BFFs. And, ZCheck seems really chill, so I wouldn't mind spending forty hours a week in a room with no windows with her.

The research itself is very interesting. I mean.. c'mon.. it's part of the neuropharmacology department. Neuro. Pharm. I'm in heaven. I'll spare you the details, but basically they are trying to find a way to package DNA in a vesicle (immunoliposomes) and get that vesicle to cross the blood brain barrier of a baby mouse in utero. They focus on Lafora disease, which is a form of epilepsy.

I think it went well. The interview/meeting lasted for nearly TWO hours. It started off with meeting the PI and he showed me his Powerpoint presentation from a talk that he gave just last week. It was interesting and I actually understood everything he said. Then I met with his partner in crime, Jade. It turns out that during lunch they were trying to determine whether I am a boy or girl because they couldn't tell by my name. PI thought I'd be a boy. Thanks, bro. I proved them wrong! Then I finally got to see the lab and the other researchers. ZCheck showed me around the lab. I met with Stu, she's the part time student who works there. It was small. It was cozy. It didn't feel awkward.

PI walked me out. I was disappointed that I didn't really get to show my real character. It was hard because I was getting bombarded with so much scientific information. BUT I did manage to crack a joke or two with the PI and I got a couple of laughs out of Jade and ZCheck. It didn't feel like an interview at all. The only time when it felt like any thing like an interview was when ZCheck was done showing me around the lab and sat me down. Even at that point, ZCheck only asked questions relating to my previous work experience. I didn't get any what are your long term goals? What about your short term goals? What are your strengths/weaknesses questions...But that's okay.

They will be continuing interviews this week, and if the interviews take about two hours each... That means they would only be meeting with three applicants a day, MAX. Two applicants a day would even be pushing it. So I assume the competition is small, increasing my chances. Whoo! I mean seriously, what are the chances that they will find another student who has experience working with mice and lab experience for more than a year?

PI said he'd get to me by the middle of next week, which means the excruciating wait won't be too long. I really hope I get this job! The lab isn't as fancy and nice as the one I'm used to, but that's okay. I kind of wish there were more people in the lab, but everyone I met today seem to be really nice. The research subject itself is very interesting. And like I said, neuro and pharm... put together!?!? OMGosh I could just pee my pants right now.