Tangential to this is I have observed one thing. I work in science, and a lot of our hires are fresh PhDs/postdocs. The best question to ask is the limitations

Tangential to this is I have observed one thing. I work in science, and a lot of our hires are fresh PhDs/postdocs. The best question to ask is the limitations of their approach. The more thoroughly they have worked on it, the better they know the limitations. On the other hand, people who are super confident and wave away any limitations of their approach have invariably been problematic hires. There is a cultural aspect to this too, because America for some reasons worships confidence and hates ambiguity.