Which field you are talking about being easy to get postdoc? I am in materials engineering and it is very hard to get postdoc not only in UK but also other countries. I found my current position after long search and came to europe from Canada for that. I also know of other PhD students in my lab who struggled hard to get postdoc position. Another PhD student in my lab (who was better than me I know, had more publications than me, finished earlier than me), was jobless for 2 years. Finally he got one postdoc position in other country after 2 years and he went there. So it very much depends on field. In our field, having 4 publications minimum till PhD is considered a norm. I wonder if it so hard to find just postdoc position then how hard it will be to get academic faculty position. Academics has become hugely competitive and there seems a hard way after PhD for future career.

@mathcomp , which field you are in? How did you get your upcoming interview?

Thanks all for the replies. I don't have any contacts to get the position. Whatever I had, I had tried them all but in my experience for myself in my field, no one gave me position by asking or though contacts. Whatever interviews I had till now, I got them all by applying to advertized positions. It really seems like these interviews are all show off. The point many of you have made that they already have someone in mind seems very true. For one of the interviews recently, they first had interview with me on skype. They ahd a committee of 7-8 people, the project leader seemed very positive. Then they called me even for campus interview where they seemed even more positive and everything looked like they were going to offer me the position. And then, they did not contact me at all. I had to ask them for the result few times. And then they replied that position had been offered to some internal candidate. What the hell ! This is really frustrating to get rejected at positions where you are a perfect match. It dents your confidence a lot. I have PhD degree from high ranked university, six first author publications , 2 more first author publications coming soon, but nothing seems to work !

Hello friends,

I would like to know your views from the people who have got postdoc position after interview. This mostly includes people who applied for advertized positions and also those who got the position through some contact and contacting supervisor directly etc.

I am doing my first postdoc in Materials Engineering now which I have got after long and stressful job search (actually it is second one , the first one lasted for only 6 months). I am looking for another postdoc position now. Through my job search I had many interviews and got rejected at several places. I am wondering how much importance does hiring committee give to interviews. I have got shortlisted at so many places but didn't get position finally. Many positions were so close to my research, I get shortlisted for interview but not finally selected. I feel that I can not provide full explanation of my related experience during the interview. The questions keep coming and I later feel that I could not tell them many things which were related to the job position. They don't even ask to elaborate much about it. So, in the final decision to hire someone, do committee take into consideration your CV and interview together? Or once they have shortlisted candidates, they decide based on only interview, how well one told them about all the research experience and skills they were looking for? Also, how important is it to tell in interviews in detail about the particular technique when they ask about the experience of that technique. Should I tell them the steps, I did this, I did that? I have been mostly telling them that I have experience of this technique and these materials. Do they naturally expect that I should tell them all the details of how I did that? Lately, I have been feeling that they select the candidate based on only interview once they have shortlisted. They would not go again to your CV and publications to check what kind of research you have done. what techniques you have used and in how much detail you have used it.