I’ve scheduled this interview for a postdoc. A few months ago PI called to ask me if zie could put my name on zie’s grant. I said that would be fine. At that point in time the PI mentioned that zie would like me to visit, even if I didn’t have a job talk prepared. A bit startled I stammered something about that I think I’d like to visit over the summer and should have something to talk about by then.
A few weeks later, I realized that I was busy every weekend in July and at this point in time graduating in August was still a possibility. (The not graduating in August thing has more to do with the thesis submission deadline being very close to the start of the semester.) I discussed all this with Advisor and he felt that the middle of the summer would be a good time to talk. He assured me that completing my entire thesis was unnecessary before going out on interviews. So, June was the time to schedule it. I called and talked to the PI and the end of June was decided on. Over the past few weeks travel plans were arranged and I was finally starting to relax.
I was confident that I’d finish the last couple of experiments by the end of May and I’d have a decent story to present. I felt that everything was going to be ok. That was until Advisor called. He wants to meet on Monday to discuss the final experiments that need to be done. He said that two months out is about the right time to start thinking and preparing for this talk. All that sounds reasonable, right?
Now, though, my stomach is all tied up in knots and I’m convinced that I won’t finish the last few experiments (and they’re nothing major or new-- a few Westerns, some activity assays, and some strain construction) and I’ll bomb the talk. And why, oh why did I not wait until I had every single experiment done for my dissertation to schedule this? And what in the world made me decide that I could possibly interview and get a postdoc?