47. "How do I Nail An Interview Task?"

It is becoming increasingly common to complete a test or task during the interview phase to assess core skills. Here is my advice for how to nail these tests.

My Experience of Interview Testing

I have had to complete interview tasks for multiple jobs. The most common task I have completed assessed basic research skills in the content area of the research job, e.g. data interpretation, data analysis, health data knowledge, and communication skills. Less frequently, I have also completed personality and logic tests.

Test Type #1: Data skills

Full disclaimer, I like data tests. To me all data is fascinating and apparently I thrive gleaning insights from numbers in time pressure situations. My first experience of an interview test was at a start up, one of the co-founders gave me multiple graphs and asked me to interpret the findings.

I was actually quite excited for my data skills to be assessed. I had finished my PhD but no one had formally assessed or reviewed my data skills previously. Also, I had no idea where the bar was, so during the test I didn't exactly how much I should say, or how it was going.

The assessor asked me question after question, with no follow up questions. So I thought I was bombing as every researcher you talk to about data will ask probing questions or more specific questions about an aspct of your answer. I thought I was bombing and thought, this is quite embarrassing!

Finally the assessor sighed, and I thought 'well this has been a big waste of time'.

The assessor said "I could keep asking you questions but I don't rally see the point of continuing. I am sure you will just nail those as well."

I was shocked. Then I smiled. They weren't asking follow up questions because I answered the question thoroughly enough to show my knowledge.

I also given these tasks to potential employees. It really gives you an insight into how that person thinks and if they are able to think about external factors that may influence the data results. This is the best assessor for how someone thinks, more so than any interview question you can ask.

Test Type #2: Overall research skills

I have found the more senior the research role, the more likely I will be given scenario based tasks. I am assuming they use these tasks like I do, to assess research skills and thinking style. I have also found these tasks are quite broad, and you can show off your skills by showing how you might approach the question from different perspectives.

An example may be, you are asked to run a program to increase the incidence of childhood vaccination, how would you run this program and what information would you need?

My approach to these answers is to not give yourself a budget. Pitch all of your ideas but show that you are aware of the potential issues with your approach.

So to respond to the childhood vaccination task, I would say we will enrol all neonatal nurses to give a brochure to all parents about the positives of immunising their newborn, and fund a helpline for the parents to call if they have any questions. However, this approach would be quite expensive and would only benefit parents if they were unsure whether to immunise their child.

Alternatively, we could examine rates of immunisation based on children's health records that are routinely collected to determine the current immunisation rate. We could also compare rates across specific groups of interest, such as lower socioeconomic status, ethnicity, geographical area of advantage/disadvantage. If immunisation rates are low in specific populations, this should be investigated further.

We could run a focus group to better understand what the motivating factor are to immunise a child. What are the barriers to immunisation? Do parents not want to immunise their children, or is there a lack of education, resources etc.

We could do a literature review to see what other programs have been implemented globally that have led to an increase in immunisation rates.

We could also fund an immunisation program for schools to deliver to all students. As school is mandatory for Australian children, this would ensure almost all children are vaccinated.

We would need to know what the current immunisation rate is, and how much of an increase is expected through this program? What is the timeline to achieve this outcome? Why is this of interest now? What age does the program define as childhood? All this information would influence which methodology is appropriate to pursue and implement.

Lessons from Interview Tasks

1. Show off your skills

2. Think about the task from multiple perspectives

Tasks are to assess how you think. So in your answers show how dynamic your brain is. Also pitch to the audience. If they want innovation, tell them your 'outside the box' ideas. If they are conservative, stick to the well known research methods. Make sure you show them you can think about the questions from different perspectives and adapt to different constraints.

For example, you might say in an ideal world I would do this, but if budget was a concern I would do this, if I had a really tight timeline I would do this. This shows you can think through a problem from beginning to end, and still devise a strong methodology to answer the question.

How many interview tasks have you had to sit through? Are you a fan or do you hate them? Tell me by leaving a comment below or emailing me at AuthenticResearchExperiences@gmail.com

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