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瑞典博士申請經驗分享-面試篇

瑞典博士申請經驗分享-面試篇

前情提要，我的瑞典博士申請時間線如下:

  • 2023/4 開始準備
  • 2023/5月底 看到 Lund University PhD 職缺並投遞 (主題: 中東火災)
  • 2023/5/30 面試通知
  • 2023/6/5 第一次面試
  • 2023/6/8 第一次面試結果
  • 2023/6/13 第二次面試
  • 2023/6/15 拿到OFFER!!

收到面試通知當下，我真的很驚喜也很開心! 但我的英文面試經驗有限，是第一次也是唯一一次的博士面試機會，所以既緊張又期待。

(這邊小小補充: 我當時的簽證是6月底到期，6/9碩士論文報告、6/15畢業典禮，6/18的機票回台灣。因為沒有錢繼續用找工作簽證留下來，當初的想法是找不到工作的話就回台灣繼續找。但不知道自己會不會找到工作，因此瑞典家裡的行囊都在一個不知道該不該打包的狀態哈哈。好險回台灣前三天拿到offer, 就先把搬家的箱子都寄放在朋友家)

回顧面試當時，老師只有請我準備碩士論文10分鐘報告。不過我還有另外準備PhD project ppt, 主要是藉由閱讀老師過往的paper，大概了解一下這個主題，做一個ppt分享我預計用甚麼方法解決問題。由於是跟中東火災相關的，我也問了一下中東朋友們，看看他們的想法是甚麼。簡單來說，我就只有準備兩個ppt為面試做準備。

第一次面試

​第一次面試主要有我的指導老師以及另外一位co-supervisor，以下是面試流程:

  • Self introduction
  • 10 minute Master thesis presentation (但我竟然講到20 分鐘...)
  • 針對碩論的問題
    • Can you tell me a bit about how you work with this project with IKEA?
    • What is the main challenge, and weakness of your work?
    • What about the quality of the ground truth from SFI?
    • Why did you decide to present for 10 min instead of 20 min? (說真的我被這個問題有點嚇到了，因為老師的臉真的很嚴肅😦，一時腦袋空白只好說我想呈現研究的細節，但也承認自己不該超時)
  • 針對博士研究主題的問題
    • The figure I don’t think it’s made by a person studying political science, for me it’s a bit like a joke, but I mean… (這邊其實我也犯了一個錯，就是抓了一個網站的圖想呈現中東地區的政治複雜程度，想呈現這個議題可能的挑戰。但完全不學術嚴謹所以被老師噹了...我老實說也嚇到了，就承認自己不該引用這個資料來源...)
    • Do you think if it would be better to focus on one country or the whole region?
    • Do you foresee any challenges with this project?
    • Regarding the fieldwork, have you done any fieldwork in your education?
    • Do you mind doing fieldwork in the Middle East region?
    • Are there any specific countries you want to go? (這裡我回答敘利亞，我後來才知道這個答案有加分，因為老師主要研究敘利亞+伊拉克地區)
    • I’m wondering about your motivation for pursuing a PhD, why? (這裡其實我就坦白我想找工作，但我也對研究、發揮影響力有興趣，因此覺得可以試試看)
    • You know it’s hard work to do Ph.D.? Are you hard-working? (這裡我就用我兩年拿到兩個碩士學位，同時還做了兩份實習為例，來說明自己是個認真工作的人 😝)
    • Do you have any other hobbies apart from working? (這裡我回答來瑞典的新興趣-烘焙，我說我喜歡烤蛋糕給別人吃。後來才知道這個回答也有默默加分，因為老師也喜歡烘焙)
    • During a Ph.D., you are required to have a close relationship, how do you think the responsibility should be divided between you as a Ph.D. student and the supervisor, also regarding to the communication with your supervisor? How did you want that to work out when writing your master’s thesis? please try to elaborate on this because it is extremely important for a Ph.D. student and the supervisor. (這裡我回答" 我覺得妥善的溝通能解決多數的問題，只要有一直對話與討論，解決問題就會比較有效率"等等，我應該有舉一個自己和瑞典碩士指導老師的例子說明)
    • Are you stubborn in your idea? if there’s a conflict between you and your supervisor, how would you solve it?
    • Have you been teaching in the university? Are you interested in teaching?

面試之後其實我感覺很挫敗，覺得自己犯了許多錯誤...而且很多問題也沒有回答很完整。不過我決定趕快在面試後做一些問題補充，寄一封信給老師把一些我回答不夠好的地方做更好的解釋。雖然不知道有沒有用，但就抱著一個放手一搏的心態試試看。

很幸運的是，三天後，老師說我通過了，進入第二階段面試。

第二次面試

第二階段面試有很多人，多了一位co-supervisor, 還有一位系上的HR。他們問的問題相對沒有那麼刁鑽，而多了許多工作、生活、個性(適應性、抗壓性)相關的問題。

  1. Why are you interested in a PhD position?
  2. How would you describe yourself as a person?
  3. What would you say the most important thing when you start a new job or a new education?
  4. The darkness and snow in Sweden are different from the weather in Taiwan, how do you feel about the weather?
  5. When you have a specific task, how do you structure your work?
  6. Did you come up with the research questions by yourself? or they are all defined by IKEA?
  7. How do you make sure that you have finished all the parts of the thesis in time?
  8. Have you ever had a situation where you couldn’t perform the way you wanted to?
  9. When you first realize that you have a problem with processing the data, how do you feel and react?
  10. Can you describe a situation in which you are proud of yourself?
  11. What would you say is the thing that stressed you?
  12. Except for the limited time, does anything stress you?
  13. When you are stressed, what would you do to become not that stressed?
  14. How would we notice that you are stressed?
  15. If you were to be offered this position, what would you expect from your supervisor?
  16. How would you like your supervision to be?
  17. If you have a high-quality map showing the correlation between fire and the population, you made an analysis, and you go to the field to do the interview, and people tell you that there's been no fire in the past 10 years. How will you do?
  18. What kind of researcher are you when you are facing problems? Are you easily lost with the method, or a leader that is strict to the one way?
  19. What kinds of courses would you like to take?
  20. Doing a Ph.D. also means that you may get a lot of rejections, and you will also get a lot of feedback from your supervisor. What will you do if you get these rejections?

OK! 老實說我對這部分的問答沒有太大的印象，我記得我的回答算是中規中矩。但我大概能感覺到他們想要找的是一個配合度高、有解決問題能力、適應性高、抗壓性高，且正向、好溝通的人。整體來說，我覺得第二次面試相對第一次容易許多。

這邊需要小小補充一下: 我的指導老師們在面試我的時候，表情都是撲克臉，而且毫不吝嗇地且直接指出我的不足之處。我當初蠻震撼的，因為印象中瑞典人大多比較傾向避開衝突，所以我腦袋非常困惑又覺得很挫折，覺得自己應該是能力不夠好，讓他們太失望才會這樣。當時我也在思考，如果真的拿到這個職位，我會想跟這群個性非常嚴肅的人工作嗎? 我不知道...當初把我的面試經過分享給周邊的朋友，他們也覺得如果面試都是這樣的氛圍，不見得是一個好的工作環境，建議我再思考看看 (但其實我也沒有其他選擇)。

後來老師郵件發我offer 我真的很訝異。我們進行了一個小咪挺，老師跟我說他們最後選擇我，而我有幾天的時間可以思考這個offer。但她瞬間變成一個友善的面孔，講話也很有親和力 (跟面試時判若兩人!) 我就決定接下啦!

開始上工後我才親自認識這些老師們，一開始我還很膽小，有點唯唯諾諾的，後來才發現老師們本人都是超級好相處的好人! 指導老師後來跟我說，他們是故意裝兇的，因為想要測試我的抗壓性，所以才會變得比較harsh。恍然大悟後也感到有些慶幸，好險我有通過這些測試，順利拿到offer!

同時，老師當初也有打電話給我留的兩個推薦人- 一位是我的IKEA主管，另一位是我的瑞典碩士指導老師，兩位推薦人也說了各種好話，才讓老師比較沒有顧慮地給我offer。我知道後也有點小驚訝，老師竟然真的會連絡他們，也很感謝兩位推薦人願意推薦我。這時候我也才知道，推薦人其實真的很重要呢!

最後，謝謝大家閱讀這篇長文! 每個老師的風格不同，因此我也很難提供一個面試指南給大家，不過希望這些問題及經歷可以給讀者做一個參考，祝大家面試順利!