Dear Molly Cule,

I am a new assistant professor, and I need to hire people for my lab. But I have seen and heard horror stories of surly techs who don’t play well with others, graduate students who do all their scientific reading on Facebook, and postdocs who don’t actually have the skills they said they did. How can I recruit and interview to select the best people for my lab?

Sincerely,

Now Hiring

Dear Now Hiring,

First, congratulations on your new job!

While it’s exciting to start a lab, it’s also daunting and your question reflects the fact that scientific training does not usually include human resources skills.

Although advertisements are sometimes useful, in general the best recruits come by word-of-mouth. As a new PI, you probably won’t get many referrals by chance, so you will need to actively recruit people. You can put the word out to all your colleagues from your previous institutions that you are looking to staff your new lab. You should also directly court potential trainees at meetings and seminars, at your institution and elsewhere. You need to be friendly and accessible, of course, starting by asking potential candidates about their work (and listening carefully to form an initial impression of their capabilities). You also need to have a sales pitch ready that emphasizes to potential applicants the benefits of your lab: As a new PI you have exciting new directions and there are low-hanging, high-impact projects just waiting for the founding members of your lab! You can also talk-up the benefits of a small lab and a young PI, such as one-on-one training and lots of feedback, compared to a big established lab, where trainees are often left to sink-or-swim on their own and can flounder for years for lack of guidance.

Interviewing is also critical. In a small lab, one bad apple can really slow progress and decimate morale. It’s also really hard emotionally and sometimes logistically to have to terminate people, so it’s important to screen them carefully up front. There are two important components to evaluating a candidate: how they present themselves and how others describe them. An in-person interview lasting at least a half day is essential to get some idea of the candidates’ personality and fit, in addition to their technical and scientific competence. It’s important to articulate to yourself in advance what skills are critical for people to successfully conduct the experimental plan you’ve outlined so that you can assess candidates. Don’t be shy — ask some direct questions and look for clear answers. Sometimes an outright test can even be a good option. For example, if you need your new technicians to be able to calculate solution compositions accurately and in a reasonable time, then give them ten minutes and a calculator during the interview to find out if they really can.

To get the most honest recommendations about a potential candidate, it is best to talk by phone to previous employers. Written recommendation letters can be misleading. Ask the previous employer direct questions, like whether they would hire the person again and whether they think the person has the specific skills to accomplish the work you need them to do.

Good luck!

— Molly Cule