Virtual Networking, Interviewing, and Salary Negotiation for Industry Careers

The in-pandemic and post-pandemic job market has increased demands on job candidates in terms of their performance during virtual interviews. The virtual interview is the first “real” interview step whereby out of every 525 job candidates who submit a resume, an average of only 6-12 receive a request for a phone screen, and only 3-5 who are screened move forward to a video interview. How quickly and how correctly you respond to a virtual interview request can determine whether or not the interview will go well. Likewise, the questions you ask at the end of these interviews and the very last sentence you say can determine whether or not you will move forward to get a job offer. Thus, from beginning to end, your contact with an employer about a video interview is a crucial process that all technical job candidates must understand. Moreover, the technical candidate must understand *how* to speak with the interviewer, who most often is a non-technical hiring manager and front-line gatekeeper tasked with screening out technical candidates who come across as “arrogant, awkward, or defensive”, or who come across as a “student” or a “people pleaser”. Data from interviews with hundreds of technology, engineering, optical, and biotechnology employers will be discussed, including which 10 questions are most commonly asked during virtual interviews.

What are your salary expectations? If you are not sure how to answer this question, you will want to come to this seminar. In this seminar, you will learn how to avoid being paid what you are worth as a PhD. Most PhDs still fail to negotiate their salary contracts, even though companies expect them to negotiate. However, while companies expect you to negotiate, they will still apply negotiation strategies against you to drive down the cost of your salary contract. Here, we will cover which strategies companies will apply against you and how to combat these strategies. We will show you how companies start negotiations very early in the job search process, even at the resume stage, and how to prepare for it so that you can leverage your PhD to increase your starting salary by 15-20%. Just as importantly, we will show you how to create a 90 day plan for after you are hired so you can successfully onboard during this critical “probationary period.”