Phone Interview Example Questions

XYZ, Assistant Professor-- PRF#xxxxx

Spring 2013

**Below are examples of questions to ask during a phone interview. You do not have to ask all of the questions below, but you must ask each interviewee the same questions.**

Names of interviewers: ______and ______

Candidate name: ______

Second phone call: Date and time of call: ______

(Introduce ourselves). Thank you for agreeing to talk with us about the ______, Assistant Professor position. Our conversation should last 10 to 15 minutes.

First, allow us to provide some information about our institution and department. Minnesota State University, Mankato has approximately 16,000 students. The Department of Biological Sciences has 700 majors. We offer BS and MS degrees. The Biology Department currently has 20 tenure track faculty who are well-represented by a faculty union. Both teaching and research are important, but our research component is smaller than our teaching component. In general, faculty teach 12 contact hours per week. Currently each lecture and laboratory hour equals one contact hour and supervision of teaching assistants is counted as contact hours. The position for which you have applied includes 7 contact hours of teaching and 5 contact hours for duties associated with the administration of our Biological Sciences Program. Tenure decisions are based on teaching, scholarly achievement, professional development, student development, and service to the department and community.

  1. Describe how your skills and goals match our open position? How would your skills and experiences enhance our program?
  1. What experience do you have in developing undergraduate/graduate course?
  1. What topics or activities do you believe should be included in a 1-credit course introducing students to biology?
  1. What is your ideal ratio of time devoted to teaching, versus time devoted to research or scholarly activity?
  1. Briefly, what research or scholarly activities would you pursue at MSUM?
  1. Describe what and how you have obtained funding for curriculum innovation and/or research? How would you utilize that experience here at MSU Mankato?
  1. What major equipment is essential for your research?
  1. Please describe how you have incorporated undergraduates into your research or scholarly activity program. What worked well and what might you change in the future, if necessary?
  1. What areas for improvement do you have in regard to this position, and how might you overcome those areas?
  1. Please describe an incident in which you encountered a difficult situation and what role did you play in resolving that situation?
  1. The start date for this position is August 19, 2013. Would you be able to start on that date?
  1. (If ABD): Ask the candidate to predict the date of degree conferral.
  1. What questions do you have for us/me?

On behalf of the faculty at MSUM, we want to thank you for submitting a high-quality application and for taking time to talk with us.