Have you ever heard the phrase, face for radio?

I'm Angela Duckworth.

I'm Stephen Dubner.

And you're listening to No Stupid Questions.

Today on the show, is it better to have the first job interview slot or the last one?

Sorry, Woodcoming interview can't. It looks like drizzle. Also, Woodcombe and interview can't.

It looks like drizzle.

Also, why does one of our listeners intentionally avoid learning what Stephen and Angela look like?

I've been told I look like a cross between Paul Newman and Charlton Heston.

Yeah, I was going to go with Robert Pattinson.

Angela, we've got a question here from a listener named Nuna Mensa.

Nuna writes to say, I'm a doctoral candidate applying for postdoctoral positions.

I recently got invited for an interview that I'm so excited about.

In the past, I have chosen the earliest

available interview slot just to get it over with. However, I am starting to rethink this.

Are you more memorable just because you were the last candidate to be interviewed? Any research

on this? None, no, no, no, no, no. Is there any research on this? There's a lot of research on this, and Angie, can you tell us all of it right now?

I don't know what to say first, and I don't know what to say last, and whether it matters.

But I will say that these ordering effects have been studied extensively.

However, less so for the very specific question of which interview slot I should take.

The first and most robust thing is that there are order effects when you try to remember things.

And I know that if you are an ambitious, soon-to-be postdoc, you want to be remembered.

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