UCL Interview Prep

Tell me about yourself - ANS · I have a background in psychology · I completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology and my postgraduate degree in Health Psychology - both at UCL · Both during and after my studies I've been working as a Dispensing Assistant at a community pharmacy · My most recent professional experience has been working as a qualitative data analyst with transport · I'm hoping to pursue a career in research which is why I applied for the research assistant role Why do you want to pursue a career in research? - ANS · I like solving problems - I like having the opportunity to identify something that needs to be changed, and formulating a research question to try to solve the problem · It also gives me the chance to contribute to knowledge in a certain area or field Tell me about a time where you had to resolve conflicts - ANS · We have a colleague at the pharmacy who has been with us for around a year now · She takes more time to learn new things than other colleagues - she needs more support from the pharmacy team · This can cause tension in the team because it can be frustrating to have to explain the same thing to someone over and over · But the way I see it is that everyone learns at their own pace, and there are always going to be people who need more support and guidance · To overcome this, I guide her to learn tasks in a way that allows her to be more independent · E.g. I encourage note-taking and repeating the task over and over so it sticks in her head - this allows her to be less reliant on the pharmacy team Have you ever had to address conflicting priorities? - ANS · When I was working as a research assistant with the Cancer Communication and Screening Group at UCL, I was often working on numerous different tasks at once - e.g. data entry, peer reviews, statistical analyses, write ups