Navigating Job Interviews

A Q&A with Matthew Thompson, Vice President of Systems Engineering, Zap Energy, and Author, The Effective Resume: A Concise Guide to Compelling STEM Resume Construction and CV Conversion

Can you describe your career trajectory?
I got an undergraduate degree in physics at Stanford University, then went to graduate school at UCLA and studied experimental plasma-based particle accelerators (often called advanced accelerator physics). I didn’t think too much about careers as a student. You get a PhD to become a professor, right? I was almost at the end of my degree before I realized that the odds of becoming a professor were about 10 to 1 against, given the number of graduate students and academic positions.

I had no luck in the academic job search, so I worked at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory for a few years, then at a fusion energy startup. There I became a group leader and, eventually, ran the whole experimental program. After that, I tried big defense for a couple of years before transitioning to another startup. I now run the systems engineering division at Zap Energy, integrating the company’s fusion energy technology into a high-RPM “engine” for use in a power plant.

When I talk about these transitions in retrospect, they sound smooth, but the early ones were pretty difficult.

What are some of the challenges of getting a job in industry?
The toughest one is what I loosely call the marketing aspect. That means having the frame of mind and ability to see your experience from the other person’s shoes. I often see students writing resumes that explain all the niche things they did, but outside of a few people in that hyper niche, no one may care about the details. You have accrued a whole massive experience that is relevant to other people, but you have to communicate it to them in their language.

When I started looking for a job in defense, it took me a while to realize I was using the wrong keywords. I had loads of experience with imaging, using high-speed cameras, and performing spectroscopic line imaging, for example. But the people reading my resume didn’t know that working in spectroscopically resolved, high-speed imaging meant I had experience with “EO/IR sensors”—their jargon for cameras.

How can students determine what those keywords are?
You might stumble across the right keywords in 20 hours of doom scrolling and looking through job ads, but you’re probably going to get to them in 30 seconds by talking to an actual human being who works in that industry. Networking is a learned skill and hypervaluable. By talking to someone in your desired industry about their job, you can have a two-way conversation about how what you’ve done applies to that work. That can help you write a stronger resume that increases your odds of securing a formal interview.

What is the interview process like?
There is no universal process, but generally, your first contact is with someone from the company’s human resources (HR) division or an external recruiter. This will likely be a screening call looking for three key things: Do you have the technical competence for the job? Can you get stuff done in a linear and organized way? Are you going to play well with
others?

If you make it past the screening, you may have a call or video call with a hiring manager or potential peer who will be looking for the same three things. From there it varies a lot depending on the company and position level. There may be more screening calls, and there is often an on-site interview. At the entry level, the process is usually more streamlined. If you have a PhD or are applying for more senior-level positions, you’re probably looking at a call with HR, a couple of Zoom calls, and a full-day interview that includes you giving an hour-long presentation.

What are some common interview questions?
There is a lot of variety. Some folks are very formal: Where do you see yourself in five years? Some bigger companies have interview processes with actual tests and logic problems. I personally don’t do a lot of that and haven’t experienced it much. Also, a lot will depend on the skill of your interviewer.

I have a more probing, open-ended style. I focus on leading questions. Tell me about a time when you had an issue with a coworker. What was the issue? How was it resolved? Tell me about a time you applied your electromagnetic force work to a new problem. Here’s one of our problems that you might work on. How would you approach it?

What are you looking for in the answers?
First of all, does the candidate answer in a clear, concise, and communicative way? I’m also looking for the level of their technical knowledge and their thought process, and whether they are applicable to the job.

I’m trying to probe whether the candidate has the depth of knowledge and aptitude for the job. Sometimes I will probe those things through elicitation questions. That means asking questions I already know the answer to as a way of getting to the depth of the candidate’s knowledge.

Sometimes interviewers deliberately ask questions in a way that leads to the wrong conclusion to see if a candidate will follow their lead or show independent judgement. Or they may tell the candidate about a problem they have (or a hypothetical problem) and see if the candidate sheds light on a solution. Everybody wants to hire a solution to their problems. Interviewers want to know whether a candidate would come to the table and solve those problems.

What is a good way to prepare for an interview?
Informational interviews—talking to people in the company or industry—give you on-the-ground intelligence. How do successful candidates show up? What is important to the company? Do they want to see you in a suit? Network and get inside intelligence on what the interview process will be like at that company. The more information you get, the better.

Interview advice often focuses on things like dressing well, having a firm handshake, and sending a thank-you note. How important are they really?

I boil all that down to showing up as a professional. That usually means dressing one notch above how you would dress for the job. Interviews are like first dates. You want to show up with your best self, but you don’t want to pretend you’re somebody you’re not. I like the thank-you note advice, just because sending one is kind of rare and shows some initiative and follow-through.

What else should students know?
When an interviewer asks if you have any questions, the worst thing you can say is no. Show interest, show that you did your homework, show that you’re engaged, and show that you’re a go-getter. I always note what a candidate asks. Their questions give me a window into who they are.

If English is not your first language, know that it’s not as big of a deal as you think it is. Being a poor communicator in general is a bigger barrier. Minor communication barriers related to language are easily bridged.

The sales and marketing industry uses the concept of a funnel to describe how many cold calls you need to make to get x sales. That concept can be helpful for thinking about the job search too. The funnel for cold job applications, sending resumes into the void, starts very big and ends very narrow. When you’re networking, your return is better, and you’ll get a lot more feedback along the way.

During my last job search, my funnel for cold job applications was put in 20, get one call back. That’s an average of 5%, and I’m pretty far into my career and know what I’m doing. Don’t feel bad if this happens to you! It’s not just you, it’s everybody. Sure, you should up your resume game to improve your cold application odds of success, but also go talk to people! Networking will help you get a job more easily. //