You should be prepared to answer this question at your interview:

What Is The One Thing You Would Do If Money Was Not A Limitation? 

You need to be prepared to answer this question at your interview for any academic position and beyond. With this question, they want to know your dream, your true passion. If you try to lie and be someone else, it won’t work. This question will get you.

It got me. At Berkeley Lab…

You can pretend you like particle physics more, but the truth will come out. The truth you have been hiding. You have been hiding the truth because of money. There is more money in particle physics, or so you think. So you say you like particle physics more and that you want to learn something about particle physics. But, the interviewer can smell the fear, the uncertainty, the lies… in your answer.

They can smell it even though they are not even on the same continent. They can smell it from Hong Kong. You are in Berkeley Lab in California and you are speaking to the PI of the collaboration that is interviewing you. They aren’t even colocated with you. They are interviewing you over the phone amid their busy schedule. And, catching your lies.

What is the truth then? You like astrophysics. Astronomy, even. If you had unlimited money, you would do the experiment that helps you to learn more about astrophysics, not particle physics. Just because you are standing in a particle physics-heavy lab does not mean that the truth is not the truth.

The truth is there, albeit hidden. And it will come out. It has a way of doing so. Don’t lie, don’t beat around the bush. You can’t lie, you can’t fake true love. Don’t be a closet astronomer. Come out with it. Tell the particle physicist that you like astronomy more. Do it. Because they already know something is not right about you… and your ears are very, very hot. So, why bother to pretend? Just tell the truth and breathe…

If you can’t do astrophysics, what is the point of anything anyway? So, stand in Berkeley Lab and tell the world you like astrophysics, that your dream is to leverage particle physics techniques and particle physics phenomena to study astrophysics. Your ultimate question has to do with astrophysics. If you learn about particles along the way, that is well and good, and a bonus. But, you dream about the night sky. You care about objects, events, and explosions in the sky. Tell them and breathe. Let your face settle back to room temperature.

The above is about me trying to hide the truth at first at the interview for the Chamberlain Fellowship at Berkeley Lab. I tried to downplay my strong feelings for astrophysics at an interview where I discovered I was being interviewed mainly by particle physics experiments. It did not work. The truth came out. If I had not fought it, it would have come out with more grace. So, I suggest, don’t fight it. Own it.

Why should you answer this question at your interview?

If you cannot answer this question, why are you even there? I mean, be there, and figure out why you are there.

A postdoc is not a real job. It’s a dreamer’s position. It’s a “training position” so you can be underpaid while you over-achieve. While you are actively setting yourself behind financially and possibly other aspects of life, the least you can do for yourself is be true to your passion.

So, be prepared to answer this question: What do you care about and why? What do YOU care about and why? The topic you pursue as a postdoc is all about YOUR interest. If you are not interested in it, don’t bother. If you can’t get anyone to fund it, fine. Bad luck. Get a job in the industry. Do anything but a postdoc. If you can’t follow your dream in academia, go elsewhere.

In an earlier post, I shared the research statement I wrote to become a finalist in the prestigious postdoctoral fellowship competition that is the Owen Chamberlain Postdoctoral Fellowship at Berkeley Lab. Many readers have found this post useful so I wanted to highlight it here.

Writing the research statement for your postdoc applications can be overwhelming. Indeed, it was a big question mark for me until I figured out what should go into the research statement.

Feel free to use this research statement as a template and work back to make it apply to your research. Don’t make your statement much longer than what has been shown here.

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