1. Getting a call back and preliminary interviews by phone, Skype, or in person
- These interviews tend to be short, 15-30 minutes in length.
- The hiring committee will have likely seen or spoken to a number of others on the same day, so keep your answers clear and concise.
- Questions tend to focus on cover letter themes: Discuss your PhD research, discuss your 5 year research plan, what courses are you prepared to teach, etc.
- If skyping, make sure you have a nice backdrop behind you for them to look at (for example, your office with your bookshelf behind you).
- It can be disconcerting to not see the entire interview team but typically you are introduced to everyone in the room at the start of the interview.
- You may not know who will be interviewing you ahead of time. It’s usually at least two faculty on the search committee and perhaps the graduate student representative.
2. The on-campus interview
- The components will vary based on the type of institution (SLAC versus Research State School versus Community College).
- At all: expect to 1) give a job talk 2) be interviewed by the search committee 3) speak with undergraduate or graduate students at a lunch or on a tour 4) have dinner with the Search Committee or other faculty and 5) have individual meetings with some of the faculty, the Chair, and the Dean. At more teaching focused institutions you might be asked to teach a class.
- All of these components are important, but some are more important than others (i.e. the job talk).
- For each component you must be “on”: do not let your guard down, remember at all times that you are on an interview.
- At the same time, try not to be too nervous. They want to get a sense of who you are as a person. Be yourself, within professional limits. Imagine that you got invited to give a great on campus talk and that you have this chance to meet and network with new people who are interested in your work, and show how you are interested in their work.
- 1) The Job Talk: This is the most important component of the on-campus interview.
- Must be only 40-50 minutes in length (ideal is 45 min) and no longer.
- Stick to what you know best and what you are comfortable with.
- Clean powerpoint with no typos or serious bells and whistles.
- If using multi-media, make sure it will work or have some sort of backup.
- Practice, practice, practice.
- Anticipate Q and A questions and have answers ready for things you don’t know.
- 2) Interview by the Search Committee
- More questions about your research and teaching and how you will fit into the Department.
- Be able to speak clearly about how you will teach specific courses, what your teaching pedagogical style is.
- Be able to speak clearly about your dissertation research and your post-dissertation research.
- Have your own questions ready- What are they looking for in this new hire? Where do they see the department in 5 years? What is the particular student body like?
- 3) Student Lunch
- Be present, ask them about their research, what they are reading, their courses
- Tell them how you can serve the student population- work in your lab, in your field projects, mentoring, etc.
- Don’t act like a graduate student (pertains to the entire visit!).
- 4) Dinner
- Show how you can be a good colleague, that you are easy to get along with.
- Do expect some research questions, perhaps from non-sub field faculty.
- Don’t act like a graduate student.
- 5) Individual Meetings with the Faculty
- Get list in advance, make a cheat sheet for each faculty in chronological order. But note that this might change so leave space to move things around.
- Know their research interests, read or skim 1-2 recent articles.
- Talk about your own research/teaching, how fits with the department, or how fits with that particular faculty member.
- Expect questions if your PhD granting institution is different than the one you are interviewing at: how will you handle teaching to this sort of student body when you only have taught classes with 20 students, how will you teach to a quarter based system
- 5) Chair and Dean meetings
- They will discuss the specifics of hiring, tenure etc.
- Have questions- about internal funding, student funding, etc. etc. but not specifics about what the salary would be.
Other:
- Scheduling the day or 1.5 day: you will get a schedule a bit in advance (maybe only one day). Make sure in advance to ask for at least 30 minutes of quiet time before your job talk and to notify the committee of any food allergies.
- Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners- order food that is easy to eat and that you don’t need to pick up with your hands. It’s often hard to find time to eat because you are talking so much, so bring energy bars or snacks to eat in the bathroom.
- Order a beer or wine with dinner, but stick to only one drink.
- No texting or looking at your phone or email at any time in front of any committee members, students, etc. If you smoke you might consider using nicotine gum during the visit to the extent that you can.
- Wear comfortable shoes, you will be walking all across campus.
- Wear professional clothing suitable to your discipline.
- Bring your laptop as a backup with your presentation on it, also have your presentation on a data stick.
- Bring a bottle of water for your job talk.
- Be careful for “warning signs”, if someone says something that gets your interest piqued “You know, this campus really is a good atmosphere for women”, don’t respond with “Well, since you have to bring that up there is obviously a problem for women on this campus.” Ask another colleague later about the issue or do an online search to follow up.
- You don’t have to answer questions about spouses, children, etc. In fact, you don’t want to bring up spousal hire issues now, it’s too early.
- If someone critiques your university, your dissertation advisor, or something of the like, do not agree with them or offer your own critique. Only say positive things.
Resources:
The Professor is In
Inside Higher Education
Chronicle of Higher Education