From Understanding Biomedical Research:
Life Science Management
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Sunday, January 3, 2021
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Anatomy of a Bad Interview
True Story: Three
applicants for the same position.
Remarkably similar backgrounds: All three graduated from the same
college; near the top of their class; Each of their cover letters were well
written and their resumes were thorough.
All were approximately 20 years old. Same field of study. All were smartly dressed. All were the same race, which differs from
mine. All were approx. 40 years my
junior. All took public transportation
to arrive at the interview.
All three applicants were interviewed by me. I provided them with a tour of the facility
and covered their job duties and expectations.
In my mind I gave them all the exact same interview. All interviews were conducted back-to-back on
the same day. I shall refer to them as
Jane, John, and Joe.
Here is what transpired:
Jane was 20 minutes early for her interview. She listened intently and nodded throughout
while I was talking. She was clearly an
introvert as she had said very little.
Was I intimidating? I told her
that she needed to ask questions in order to pass this interview. I said “ask me 5 questions”. Question 1: How did your business get
started? Questions 2: “What would me
typical day be like?” Those were good
questions. Unfortunately there were no
questions 3, 4 or 5.
John’s interview was scheduled for 11 a.m. At 11:20 a.m. he had not arrived. I checked my phone and there were no calls or
messages. I then figured that he had
changed his mind about the interview. I went about my routine. 35 minutes more had passed and John had
finally arrived. He apologized for being late.
Clearly John was an extrovert, great smile, asked lots of
questions. EXCEPT, after he would ask a
question he would fidget with his phone just below the plane of the desk. Was he texting? Reading email? Reading notes?
Making notes? Not sure, but I did draw
it to his attention that I could wait until he was done with whatever he was
doing on his phone. He did not get the
hint that it was a hint to stop dicking around with his phone.
Joe’s interview was at 1 p.m. He arrived at 12:20 p.m. Joe wore a genuine smile during the entire
interview. He was delighted to be at the
interview. He did not fully understand all of the things I had described and
asked many clarifying questions. Without
prompting he told me of his interests and that he had become so very frustrated
at a prior volunteer position. “People
just don’t follow rules” he said. “It
really bothers me when people do not follow the rules.”
Which of these three do you suppose is being called back for
a second interview?
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Friday, August 22, 2014
Using Monkeys to Understand and Cure Parkinsons Disease
This article for Using Monkeys to Understand and Cure Parkinsons Disease is linked to a special report by the Hastings Center.
http://animalresearch.thehastingscenter.org/report/using-monkeys-to-understand-and-cure-parkinson-disease/
http://animalresearch.thehastingscenter.org/report/using-monkeys-to-understand-and-cure-parkinson-disease/
Saturday, August 16, 2014
The CDC would really like it's employees to follow protocol.
Not following protocol
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/15/6007915/cdc-researcher-contaminated-bird-flu-sample-while-rushing-to-meeting
http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/15/6007915/cdc-researcher-contaminated-bird-flu-sample-while-rushing-to-meeting
Saturday, June 21, 2014
The Weakest Link: “Proper Procedures Were Not Followed”
The laboratory science world was aghast this
week on the news from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), [Emphasis is on CONTROL] where researchers were
exposed to Anthrax due to procedures not being followed. “Shortcuts may have
been taken” and “untrained staff may have…” were phrases that peppered news
accounts of the incident. In the coming
weeks and months we will hear the extent of their exposure. At this writing the number of researchers
exposed was raised from 75 to 84. The
CDC has been the global standard to protect (and advise) humankind in regards
to health and safety threats. With an annual
budget of $11.3B they seem to be well funded to achieve their mission.
However that organization, along with all others, is only as
strong as their weakest link. Please pardon the cliché’. It seems in this case the weak link is not
following procedures. A few televised
news reports placed blame on untrained staff.
I would like to assure you that there is also a procedure in place to
train staff. So rather than a training
issue, it is actually a not following
procedure issue. Supervisor did not
follow up on the employees? Also a not following procedure issue. I feel confident in saying that a Federal
Investigation will ensue and blame will be officially placed.
The take home opportunity for those many of us who work in
laboratory settings is to use this unfortunate story to reinforce with our
staff the necessities for following Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s). While many SOP’s do not deal with such acute life
and death scenarios they do speak directly to adherence to regulations and good
scientific practices.
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