The employer gives a job, but asks for a “plan” of work with a horizon until the end of summer

Question

So, this is a continuation of my topics :) This and this.

I need to consult specifically with the academic community.

I found a scientific group (part of a large scientific institute). The lab staff includes several dozen people, about half permanently live in another city, but periodically they gather in the parent organization.

I sent my resume, they were interested in it, the head of this laboratory contacted me and told me that they could use someone with my experience, what the laboratory does, what I have to do, what software to work with, they sent me by mail some equipment for the software debugging stage. In addition to the manager, I also communicated with a heating engineer, an electronics engineer and a mathematician. In principle, everything is consistent.

The trick is that I have programming experience, but not in their industry. That is, it is understood that I will still gain the necessary competencies on the spot.

Today we again called the head of the laboratory and discussed what to do next. In short, “he started the process, but in organizations like ours, things can slow down due to bureaucracy, but tomorrow they promised to send him a draft agreement” and “in the meantime, I would like to see from you a rough plan with control points with a horizon until about the end of the summer on the topic you will be studying"

Usually, when I used to get a job somewhere, I went through a full interview, passed a medical examination, collected a package of necessary documents, applied for a job and started working.

Here they ask me for some kind of plan (despite the fact that I still don’t really know anything about them, in fact), they don’t conduct a typical interview. And I just want to get to work first. For a regular job. I don’t know anything yet about future grants, articles, etc.

In short, a lot of strange things...Can anyone help me with this and share similar experiences, what do you think about it?

Answer 1

This is a standard project management task --- treat it as part of the interview process and do a good job

This is not a particularly unusual request when an organisation considers hiring a professional who is expected to plan and drive their own work independently. The task serves two purposes: (1) to ensure that you have a reasonable plan ready to "hit the ground running" when you start working there; and (2) to demonstrate that you have the executive skills to undertake project management. A small amount of preliminary unpaid labour of this kind is not unusual for applications for executive positions or research positions where there is some significant component of managing your own work.

If you have not previously undertaken a task like this, I recommend you familiarise yourself with standard planning tools often used in project management and use these to create your plan. This is an opportunity for you to impress the hiring panel by showing them that you are a skilled project manager so err on the side of being too detailed and formal rather than doing it in a perfunctory manner. At a minimum, write up a proposed schedule using a Gantt chart and make sure it includes all necessary elements of the work and reasonable timelines for completion. If needed you can augment this with a work breakdown structure and network diagrams, though these are only likely to be necessary if you have a large and complex project. You can also mention estimated resourcing requirements or costs for any parts of the project where these can be reasonably estimated.

If it were me, I would write up a full set of powerpoint slides giving a project management plan with a Gantt chart and work breakdown structure. I would also mention estimated resourcing requirements and costs. For anything that is impossible to estimate reasonbly due to lack of familiarity with the organisation, I would include space for this but leave it labelled as "[To be discussed]" or some similar notation. I would then present this as a formal draft plan for the project, with the expectation that it will be refined and finalised upon commencement of employment.