Course Content
Welcome
Congratulations on being invited to an ERC grant interview. Advancing to the second step of the evaluation procedure is an achievement in itself. It proves you have an excellent proposal and impressive resume. Yet, there is still a hurdle to overcome: the interview. This course will support you through the sometimes stressful period that lays ahead.
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Overview
Opening remarks
Preparation and support
Module 1: Strategy
In your research proposal you have tried to fit years of research into a few pages. You managed. The document convinced the panel and external reviewers to invite you to evaluation step 2. In this final phase you have an online interview consisting of a presentation and Q+A at your disposal. Depending on the panel you may present your proposal in only ten, eight, five, or even three minutes and you have time to answer around ten questions. That is it. How do you turn this given opportunity into a success? In this module you create a solid strategy in four steps. In step 1 we first explore the low hanging fruit: what does the panel expect from you? Then we have a look at the panel and show how you can use this knowledge to improve your chances of reaching your goal. Step 2 is all about adapting to the online environment. Then we discuss the core message in step 3. Finally, in step 4, you brainstorm about your unique selling points.
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A foundation for success
Step 1: Audience and Goal
Convincing the panel members to fund your proposal. That is what counts in the interaction you are now preparing for. We first mention the low hanging fruit of checking the boxes and then move on to audience and goal.
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What this step is about
What is expected of you?
What is expected of you?
Mapping your audience
Map your audience
Extra assignment: Interview a panel member
Goal
Step 2: Online
ERC organizes interviews online. Our advice: design for online. Here we hand over a list of things you can do to make it work.
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What this step is about
Online vs in-person
Set it and forget it
Light, camera, and composition
The perfect picture
Background and sound
Cloting and technology
Setting your sound
Other adaptations to the online platform
Step 3: Core message
Audience, goal, and setting: check! Now let us have a look at the actual content of the proposal. We will start with its shortest version: the core message.
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What this step is about
Core message
Testing your core message
Strength and weakness
Step 4: Unique Selling Points
So you have formulated your Big Idea into a sticky core-message. But, why would they buy it? The presentation and the Q+A offer plenty of opportunities to mention (and demonstrate) the reasons for awarding you. Before thinking about integrating them in a storyline, it pays to list your, what marketeers call, unique selling points. These USPs make you and your proposal stand out amongst your competitors. A good way of creating this list of USPs is by brainstorming using five questions. They are: Why this? Why now? Why like this? Why you? Why here? These questions aim at the importance, urgency, approach and methodology, CV, and network respectively. Let’s dive deeper into each of them.
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What this step is about
Why this and why now?
Why like this?
Why you and why here?
Do the Five Whys Brainstorm
Module 2: The presentation
So far you have explored the panel, defined your big idea, listed and prioritized the arguments that will make them buy it, and you learned how to optimally use the online environment. The second module focusses on the first section of the interview: the presentation. In four steps we here help you to translate your strategy into a coherent story and slides. We follow a route that fosters creativity and out-of-the-box thinking in step 5 and 6. They respectively deal with composing a compelling storyline that integrates your best unique selling points and sketching the slides that help you to bring it across. You thus design a storyboard. In step 7 and 8 your translate this sketch in a script (the words you will say) and a slide deck. Here we focus on the practical aspects of text writing and slide design.
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Storyboard, script, and slides
Step 5: Storyline
You have formulated your Big Idea. And, you know why the panel would buy it. Convincing is not a matter of just sharing the facts. It is a matter of creating a story that makes the panel members believe. What makes a story a story? Let us dive deeper into it.
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What this step is about
Story matters
Beginning
Middle and End
Exercise: Storyboard
Step 6: Sketching slides
Thus far you have been approaching your presentation from a textual perspective. Now we welcome a true rhetoric superpower aboard: images.
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What this step is about
Visualizing your ideas
Complete your storyboard
Adding images
Extra exercise: test your storyboard
Step 7: Script
In the previous step you have completed your storyboard by adding sketches. Now we go back to text again. Text and images provide different angles on the same story. Iterating between them allows you to both finetune your texts and images.
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What this step is about
Writing a script
Write your script
Extra exercise: test your script
Step 8: Designing slides
You have finished your storyboard and your script. Now it is time to open your PowerPoint and actually make slides. Here are some guidelines that help you to translate your story-board into slides that do not confuse, but do create impact.
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What this lesson is about
Avoide confusion
Create impact
Create your slides
Extra: PowerPoint tips & tricks
Module 3: Delivery
You strategized in module 1 and compiled your presentation in module 2. Module 3 is about bringing it home. Strategy and presentation are central aspects of the preparation. But, they are useless if you cannot access what you have prepared in the heat of the moment. Due to the nervousness you experience during the interview, your working memory diminishes. It makes thinking clear and accessing your short term (the things you have prepared) and your long term memory. Therefore, we put the working memory at the centre of this module. In step 9 we explain what the working memory does and why it fails you when you experience a high level of stress. Also, we teach you how to regain it and keep it up and running by breathing, grounding, and functional movement. Step 10 builds on that and explains a way to train little behavioural changes that promote connection with you and the content you present. Then, in step 11 we teach you how to stay in control during the Q+A by defining and structuring what we call answer drawers and how to access them in the heat of the moment. Finally, step 12 provides ideas for how to organize mock-interviews in such a way that they help you make the finishing touch.
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Bringing it home
Step 9: Dealing with stress
In module 1, you have been working on your strategy. Module 2 was all about the presentation. Both are essential parts of your preparation. However, a perfect preparation can only be completed by a convincing performance. The most important selling point is a demonstration of genuine enthusiasm during the interview. But, how can you be enthusiastic and authentic during a stressful event such as a grant interview? Stress diminishes your working memory and therefore the accessibility of your memory, the place where all your knowledge is stored. Let us have a look at how this works and what you can do about it.
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What this step is about
What happens inside
Working memory
Breathing
Grounding and functional movement
Step 10: Presenting
What do you like the most: presenting or Q+A? Most people have a preference for one or the other. Some like the presentation better. While presenting you are in control. One can rehearse the script till they fully master it. Others prefer the Q+A part. While in conversation they feel connected with your audience.
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What this lesson is about
Connection
Exercise: Staircase learning
Extra: Understanding your challenges
Extra: Body language
Step 11: Answering questions
Of course the presentation is an important starting point. The Q+A is where you really bring it home. After a mediocre presentation you still can convince the panel with a strong Q+A. A perfect pitch will be ruined if it is followed by a weak Q+A. But, because of the difficulty to predict what the questions will be, many applicants put a lot of effort in finetuning the presentation and almost neglect to prepare for the Q+A. Here we give you the tools to master the Q+A in advance.
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What this lesson is about
Preparing the Q+A
Answering tips
Example questions
Step 12: The last stretch
We are almost there. You have worked your way through the presentation and you know how to present it. But, the proof of the pudding is in eating it. Organizing a few mock-interviews can complete your preparation. These simulations provide the outsider’s feedback on your presentation and answers. With this feedback you can finetune your story, slides, and answers. But even more important is the pre-exposure mock-interviews provide. During the confrontation with the mock-panel member, you will experience the same type of stress responses that the actual interview will evoke. This pre-exposure helps to better cope with the real interview itself.
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What this lesson is about
Organizing mock-interviews
Just before the interview
Keep on learning
ERC StG interview
Preparing the Q+A

Of course the presentation is an important starting point. The Q+A is where you really bring it home. After a mediocre presentation you still can convince the panel with a strong Q+A. A perfect pitch will be ruined if it is followed by a weak Q+A. But, because of the difficulty to predict what the questions will be, many applicants put a lot of effort in finetuning the presentation and almost neglect to prepare for the Q+A. And many candidates look back on their presentations with confidence, but are less happy with their answers.

So, preparing for Q+A is imparative. Here we give you the tools to master the Q+A in advance.

 

Stress during the Q+A

After you said: ‘I look forward to answering your questions,’ or something along those lines, and un-sharing your slides, you step into the Q+A phase of the interview. To some it means stepping in their favourite part of the interview, since it allows them to connect with their audience. They look forward to the friendly challenge of the dialogue. Others are frightened. They will loose the control that they had during the presentation. They are now at the mercy of the panel. They can be friendly and willing, but also hostile and sceptical and bombard you with tricky, mean questions.

 

What you can do

As we promised, you can do many things in advance to prepare for the Q+A. Next to the stress reduction techniques we discussed in Step 9 and Step 10 it comes down to preparing and structuring your answers and learning to access them with greater ease.

By nature we all are question oriented. When someone asks a question, we all have the tendency to listen very precise so we can answer as good as we can. Processing each question, then going back to our long-term memory to seek for the right answer, is a highly demanding task for (there it is again) our working memory. And as you know by now, our working memory is reduced in response to stress. Many applicants think back on their answers with regret. They wish they had provided better answers.

Our advice: flip it. Prepare in a answer oriented way. Most questions orient towards a limited amount of answer categories. We call this answer drawers. You can picture your short-term memory being a filing cabinet with a limited amount of drawers where answers are stored. When you recognize the answer drawer being addressed in an early stage of the question, you can buy yourself time to find the answer. This is as early recognition tool.

 

This is how you keep controll during the Q+A. 1. Apply the tools from Step 9 to keep your working memory up and running. 2. Navigate to your short-term memory where you have stored your prepared answers. 3. Practice this technique using the callibrating in the moment technique from Step 10.

Answer drawers

The core answer drawers we use are:

  • 1 Approach
    • Methods
  • 2 Work packages
  • 3 You
    • Expertise (scientific knowledge and skills)
    • Experience (management, budgeting)
    • Network (fall back knowledge and skills)
  • 4 Results
    • Scientific
    • Approach
    • Societal
  • 5 Curve balls

Depending on the grant, you can adjust the list. Have a look at the main evaluation criteria, make sure that you prepare an answer drawer for each of them.

You will recognize these answer drawers from Step 4 where you brainstormed about unique selling points. Apart from simplifying the art of answering by equipping yourself with an early detection tool giving you more time to think, it allows for inserting your unique selling points during the Q+A. Also, make sure you label and store your biggest strength and biggest weakness (Step 3) in this process.

 

Semantics

Recognition of which answer drawer is addressed is something you can train. Panel members have their own semantics. For instance, if they want to ask about approach, they might say ‘approach’, but also:

  • Methodology
  • Theoretical concept
  • Way to go
  • Scientific design
  • Theoretical grit
  • Paradigm
  • Etc.

And, when talking about work packages, they might say work packages, but also:

  • Steps
  • Phases
  • Objectives
  • Aims
  • Goals
  • Etc.

These terms do not mean the exact same thing. However, all roads lead to Rome. Different semantics do point to the same answer drawer. By recognizing terms like ‘methodology’, ‘way to go’, ‘paradigm’, you know that the question is heading towards the drawer that you labelled as ‘approach’. It enables you to already think into the direction of the answer drawer and exclude other drawers. It makes the scope of where to find the answer much narrower. This is less demanding for your working memory. Thus you can use it for framing your answer.

Hybrid question

Not all questions point to only one answer drawer. There are hybrids. A hybrid aims at two answer drawers. For instance approach and work package (e.g. Can you explain why your approach is innovative and how it plays out in work package 1?) or you and results (e.g. What is your vision on the future of your scientific field?).

 

Preparing questions

Once you have defined the answer drawers, you can fill them. You can coin your answers based on the results of the ‘Five whys’ brainstorm in Step 4 and the questions you receive during mock interviews, or during one-on-one discussions. This usually takes the shape of a Word document with questions and answers organized along the lines of the answer drawers.

While formulating your answers, you can think about their structure. By nature, researchers have the tendency to first give a long list of details, arguments, or reasons before they get to the point. By the time you arrive at the actual answer, many panel members will be somewhere else with their attention. Especially in a humid, low-oxygen, warm Brussels meeting room at 4pm. Therefore, we advise to flip the answer. Start with the core of the answer, and then elaborate. ‘No, because…’ is clearer than: ‘Well, this, and that, but also that, and lest not forget this, thus overall one might be tempted to say no’.

Also you can think about how to support your answers and vary in the ways you do it. Questions about competences (located in the You drawer) required for the project are best answered using the STAR-method. You sketch a Situation in which you had a Task. Therefore you took a certain Action, with a positive Result. Other answers can be supported with an example, a reference to previous research, a citation, or an anecdote. Variation in types of support makes the Q+A a much more engaging experience. Also for the panel members who are not asking questions.

Questions that you do not want to have

Every candidate has questions that they do not want to get. Think about a certain expertise you do not completely have yourself, or your lack of management experience. They make you extra nervous and do consume more working memory than other questions. It is wise to prepare a clear and true answer in advance. Every proposal has its risks. You are a researcher, stick to the truth and the content. It is what it is. Do not try to make it look prettier than it is. By designing (best together with a peer with relevant expertise) and rehearsing an answer you are better prepared. And, you do unload your working memory, which improves overall performance.

Curve balls

Curve balls are questions that catch you off guard, that somehow startle you. For instance, a random question that you cannot answer straight away, a ‘stupid’ or unclear question. You think: ‘I do not know the answer.’ Then you really startle. Startling is bundled fear. Fear is a stress reaction that, as you know by now, diminishes your working memory. What you store in this answer drawer is a way to deal with it. It is a threefold defense line.

  1. Take three seconds (which is nothing in the eyes of the audience), drop back on your breath. Ground. Then probably your working memory is good enough to find an answer.
  2. If for some reason it does not work, then you can say: ‘please can you reformulate the question for me?’
  3. If you still cannot come up with an answer, you can say: ‘Am I correct, is this what you mean: …’ It gives you the possibility to interpret the question into the direction of an answer you want to give.
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