My practice interview from last week went simply as the comments published on this blog regarding the pertinent questions anticipated. As expected, the questions were too narrow and focused on single facts of carbohydrate chemistry. I believe the single thing that went well was the interest my interviewee showed to the functionality of different carbohydrates in the food industry.
The outcome of this practice interview is a complete change of my interview questions and protocol. I believe I have to introduce my interview with a scenario. Given that the interview is on carbohydrate chemistry, this scenario can be that the interviewee is the Manager of R&D for a multi-national food company; the interviewee will be presented with a real-life problem on carbohydrate functionality and presented with possibilities to solve the problem. It is really important to guide your interviewee through this process. The example that would most likely end in my interview is the uses of brown algae cell wall polysaccharides in th food industry (for example, in pimento-stuffed olives).
The trick I learned and that I liked the most was on what to do when your interviewee responds to the question with a: "I don't know". This could represent the end of the interview. By giving the person a package of hints you can trigger the response (correct or incorrect) to your questions. Also, giving different scenarios or examples help in the process.
In the end, it is how the interviewee applies the concept what matters the most, and not only if she or he can write down the fact as it is given in the textbook.
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