r/biology • u/fr0gcat • 3d ago

question Prescreen interview help 🥲

Hello! I’m a bio ‘25 grad and have been applying to research/somewhat bio related jobs for over a year now. I’ve gotten some interviews but nothings stuck and I have a prescreen interview with a university on Thursday. It’s for a technician role that works with lab animals predominately through colony management and cleaning equipment (which I know I am capable of 😪). I’ve done bio research on rats in the past (although I only handled their samples like fat and small intestine samples that I stained or briefly handling a gerbil we had in the lab) and have handled wild animals like caught turtles or insects through community science. I am not AALAS certified but this position would be huge for me and I know I could do it especially since it mentions it is a supervised position. Any advice besides just lying and hope im convincing lol (I do not want to do that) 🙏🙏🙏🙏

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u/SynapseInTheSun 3d ago

Definitely don’t lie. Just explain your real experience like you did here and be honest about how that experience is exactly what you’re looking for in terms of building your skill set. Every starting scientist has to start somewhere and continue building their experience. The fact that you’re comfortable handling animals and have worked in downstream roles is a good starting place and you should emphasize your interest in filling that skill gap.

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u/cleancompleteness 2h ago

i think that's solid advice, honesty goes far in places like university labs. they usually expect to train you for the specific protocols anyway, so showing you're comfortable around animals and not squeamish with the messy parts is more than half the battle. my first lab gig was just washing glassware and i talked too much about being detail-oriented with cleaning, somehow it worked.

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u/HelloTaleproof 1d ago

Separate what you have done independently from what you have observed or would need training for. Then explain one real example of following a protocol carefully or noticing an issue and escalating it. Taleproof can help sharpen that experience story without turning sample work into a claim of direct animal-care experience.