Students are encouraged to book an advising appointment for a mock interview to prepare for interviews, but you can also use these questions for self-study. You can book your advising appointment on campusBRIDGE.
You can also partner with a friend and they can ask you a sample question while you answer to practice interviewing.
- What can you tell me about this company?
- What skills do you see as crucial to this position?
- In the past, if you have lacked a skill, what steps did you take to acquire that skill? Was your plan successful? Have you used that skill since you acquired it?
- Tell me about any relevant laboratory experience that you have.
- Describe a research project you have completed.
- Tell me about a time when you were assigned tasks outside of your job description. What did you do?
- Describe some of the ethical and privacy considerations a scientist encounters when using human tissue samples. How have you addressed these issues in your research?
- Tell me about a time you had to set up and maintain microbial or cell cultures. What challenges did you face, and how did you address them?
- Have you ever trained someone on lab techniques? How did you ensure they understood the procedures and safety requirements?
- Tell me about a time you identified a safety concern in the lab. How did you handle it?
- Describe a time when an experiment did not go as planned. How did you identify the problem, and what steps did you take to correct it?
- Have you ever encountered contamination in your cell culture work? What actions did you take to prevent it from happening again
- You will be required to present research to stakeholders who are not scientists. How would you explain sophisticated research and scientific concepts to these stakeholders? If we were to ask one of your references about your ability to present research to non-scientists, what would that person say about your abilities?
- Researchers often have to work within a team. Describe a difficult situation in which you were required to establish and build working relationships.
- Tell me about a time when you had to train someone else at work. Do you know if your training method was successful?
- Tell me about a time when you had to secure funding for your research or studies.
- Tell me about a time when you were expected to work independently in the laboratory and your work was stopped because you had questions about how to proceed. What did you do?
- Tell me about a time when you discovered an error in your work but you were under pressure to meet a deadline. What did you do?
- To preserve the integrity of our products and to protect our intellectual property, we take many security precautions. Could you explain one method you use to protect your data?
- Describe a situation that illustrates your ability to pay attention to details. You can select an example from your work, volunteer or academic experience
Updated March 2025 with the assistance of ChatGPT