Zutterfly, just thought I'd pop in to say thank you for suggesting breaking up the chapters per day. It sounds really obvious now, but Yesterday I was completely demotivated and fed up with the thesis, and breaking it up has meant I'm getting my mojo back. I've managed to do a few chapters today and will hopefully finish them all by the end of a week!

How are you all getting on?

That's a really good tip Zutterfly! I'm going to make a plan for reading :)

I paid an academic statistician £20 over payperhour website and got advice and got it checked. It was the best thing I did instead of trying to get advice from a statistician in my department/uni. I'd be happy to send you details if you like.

Hi Teegs, thanks for sharing that, it does help me feel more reassured. However I do feel a bit worried that the examiner might be the first person other person to read it cover to cover

In your situation I would definitely go for a proofreader. Im tired of reading mine over and over again, and I don't think I'd be able to spot mistakes anymore.

The cheaper alternative might be to do a swap with someone else planning to submit too?

Zutterfly, that sounds like a very rude interviewer. I found my research post interview slightly rushed too, and my guess is, they already had someone in mind for that role. They also promised to get back to me and didn't get back to me for ages! Whereas with the non research post they were much friendlier and seemed to be genuinely interested in what I had to say. It's difficult to calm nerves, but I think for me, atm I don't feel pressured to get a job, so I'm trying to think of it as an experience to enjoy, meet new people, leave a good impression and learn from the experience, rather than necessarily get the job. I believe when the job that I'm supposed to get and will be best for me, I will get that one, but it might take some time. I'm also a bit conflicted between academia and leaving academia, so I'm not 100% certain which job will be the best for me atm. I think taking that pressure off yourself does help calm your nerves a lot. Other than that, prep tends to help me, and I think I try to focus on conveying my enthusiasm and passion. I also do think many academics do already have someone else in mind, but are just interviewing to tick the boxes.

With regards to thesis, that's the 1st time I've heard supervisors skim read it! It does make me feel better, but I'm still not sure. I'm hoping I'll have the go ahead to submit in 4-6 weeks. I am so utterly sick and tired of it. I probably should do another second to last proof read of it, but I think I feel a bit physically sick at the thought of it.

Zutterfly, on your thesis, are your supervisors reading it cover to cover? Between my supervisors each chapter has been read by one of them at some stage, but none of them have read the complete thing in one go. I'm a bit worried, do you think it'll still be ok to submit? (They obviously think it's fine).

Zutterfly, I found that the interviews were very structured around the personal specification, so each question about each criteria. It's good to have examples, so I had questions like tell me about your experience of doing qualitative research? Tell me about your experience of doing research in this area. There wasn't a question that was difficult to answer or unexpected. The first question was always why have you applied for this job? For that question I had 4 points I had pre-prepared and I talked through them. I also made sure I had an example for each thing on the job spec, so if for example one of the criteria was time management, I thought of one example where i had managed time well and how. There was also one criteria on job spec that was optional and I didn't have, and I really should have prepared a better answer for that (something along the lines of I don't have X, but I do have X, X and X(

I did find that there were things that I wanted to talk about but the questions were so structured that I didn't get a chance to mention those and I missed those. Next time I'll make a list of things I really want to mention and make sure I just mention it in the interview, even if it means going off topic a bit or mentioning it at the end of the interview.

I did have a non-research job interview where they asked me about a relevant weakness of mine. I struggled with that, and had to come back to it in the end. They also asked how my colleagues would describe me.

Best of luck! My very wise other half always says to me that it's not about the outcome, it's about the process, so just enjoy the process, and don't worry about the outcome. And he is right, I've learnt so much from the few interviews I have been to.

teegs and chickpea, looks like both of you are progressing well, well done! :)

I've also found the most frustrating part is the part I have no control over, like waiting for feedback from supervisors. I have been waiting for almost 2 months now.

Zutterfly, how are you doing? I think we've got similar dates for submission (Dec?)?

I don't think the research council stipend can be increased. But there's no harm in asking I suppose.

What chickpea said.

Also the problem with a PhD is that it isn't just dependent on how hard and quickly you work. If supervisors don't give you prompt or proper feedback, then you'll just be waiting for ages, or have to keep submitting the same chapter over and over again (which takes time). Don't underestimate how important supervisors co-operation is for a finished thesis.

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Many congrats IntoTheSpiral, so pleased for you, you must be hugely relieved.