Tuesday, June 17, 2008

RBOC: the catching up after vacation version

  • Vacation was FABULOUS. I slept a lot, even tried to sleep through thunder and lightening on the beach, my sisters thought this was a bad idea and woke me up.
  • I wish I could have had another day or two, once I was done sleeping off my exhaustion it would have been nice to do something other than sleeping. :)
  • The thing about vacation is that it makes me want to plan my next one. Maybe if I can get a job (or a grant to stay in my current job) DH and I can go somewhere in September. Any suggestions?? :)
  • Came into work yesterday to meet our 20 summer interns. They're great but it's going to be a shit load of work to get them all trained and get our studies up and running. I've worked 10 hours each of the last 2 days, just training these guys, and I have two more days of this ahead of me.
  • Post doc advisor told me yesterday that she had a breakthrough on PD MS 1 and now we have a game plan for which journal we are going to target. She's still working on it and will send it to me soon.
  • Job Interview #2 is on Friday. I received an email from the director on Friday asking for a writing sample (sent MA thesis manuscript that was just published in Feb) and then gave me a question that they're going to ask all interviewees. It required reading material they have generated in the past and coming up with a future analysis plan. It's a good way to get a feel for stuff I'd be doing in this position, however I have no friggen time to deal with this right now so I've been trying to read their past materials during any and all free time.
  • No word from the people from Job Interview #1. I have had a chance to skim through the 200+ page documents they sent me, and sent an email yesterday saying I had some general questions and wondered whether I should email them or set up a call. Frankly, if I'm not going any further in their interview process I'm not interested in discussing the reports. Of course they're isn't any nice way to say that so I'm waiting to see what their response is to the email. A week ago Friday they said they would contact me next week and that did not happen. However, they have been a least a little late in each of their interactions with me so I'm not yet giving up hope that I'll get the job.
  • Post doc mentor has been giving me more and more responsibility lately, supervising new lab manager, training personnel from a collaborators lab, assigning me tutorials for our interns. It makes me wonder whether she's trying to entice me to stay, or just thinks I will if we get one of these grants regardless of my non-academic options.
  • Speaking of the grants, no word yet but it should be VERY soon.

Ok, I have a collaborator phone meeting in 15 mintues and have some stuff I have look through. There is my update thus far, I promise to post more as soon as I hear.

3 comments:

PG said...

The idea of having to do further work/reading after an interview is very unappealing. I spent 3 full days preparing for an interview when I could have been working on my thesis. It's an investment, but potentially has no benefit.

I'd be curious as to whether there is anything you can say to send the message that you won't be reviewing their materials without being offered a position. Though, it might just disqualify you.

Seeking Solace said...

Glad to hear you had a nice and relaxing vacation. Best of luck with the intervie. :)

Psych Post Doc said...

I agree Psychgrad about having to do more work after the interview. I can barely do the work before the interview. There is no appropriate way that I know of to say what I want without hurting my chances.

Thanks seeking solace, I can use all the luck I can get.