News & Views: Now That Your Foot Is in the Door, Don't Put It in Your Mouth

In a previous article, we reviewed some of the key factors that postdoctoral candidates should do and avoid to secure an interview in a laboratory for a postdoctoral position (1). In this follow-up article, we asked successful Clinical Chemistry fellows and Commission on Accreditation in Clinical Chemistry (ComACC)3 program directors questions to supplement common-sense approaches to handling phone and in-person interviews for fellowship candidates and early-career professionals seeking their first “real” job.The interviews consisted of 11 open-ended questions that were intended to capture the expectations of potential employers, the preparation necessary for an interview, and some questions that interviewees might expect to encounter. The ComACC program directors included the 2003 AACC president, Dr. Thomas Moyer; the 2010 AACC president, Dr. Catherine Hammett-Stabler; the 2011 AACC president, Dr. Ann Gronowski; and recently elected AACC board member Dr. David Grenache. Dr. Nader Rifai, Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Chemistry , also offered some helpful advice. Successful interviewees included SYCL (Society for Young Clinical Laboratorians) members Dr. Steven Cotten, Dr. Mark Cervinski, and Dr. Laura Parnas. The questions were divided into 4 categories: preparation, during the interview, postinterview follow-up, and faux pas to avoid (Table 1).View this table:Table 1. Words of wisdom from program directors and successful interviewees.To prepare, successful interviewees all indicated that job seekers should know as much as they can about the place where they are interviewing and the people interviewing them. Applicants should read the job description thoroughly; if it indicates that a particularly specialty is required, then this specialty will indeed be required. Dr. Hammett-Stabler, Director of Clinical Chemistry, University of North Carolina, advises when applying for a job to “go to department's or business's web site and learn about it. Make sure you are going to be interested in doing the described job. Most importantly, do this before applying. Don't waste your time or theirs if you …