Nine Tips for Success on the On-Campus Interview for Faculty Jobs

December 10th, 2010

I recently posted some thoughts and advice for landing a faculty job.   I didn’t mention much about what to do, and not do, on the actual live interview short-listed candidates get.   I’ll try to stay general, but my expertise is based on experiences on both sides of the process in the field of astronomy and physics.   I did six interviews when I was in the job market, and have seen at least a dozen as a faculty member.

Usually the top 2-5 candidates will be invited for an on-campus visit, to interview 1-2 days.   This takes a lot of the department’s time and costs thousands of dollars.   That’s a small investment in order to make an informed decision about a colleague who may be around for 30+ years, but still a big deal in terms of departmental budgets and busy schedules.

During the on-campus interview, the candidate will get to meet the other faculty, students, office staff, and relevant deans or other officials who may be interested in the hire (e.g., VPs of research).   The visits always include a presentation of some sort, usually a research seminar, but could also include teaching a class, presenting a research plan and budget (e.g. justifying a start-up package), or some combination of these.   It’s a pretty grueling couple of days, bracketed by travel, that has high stakes: landing a job or not.

I’ve thought a lot about this, for when I was the job seeker, and a lot more when I was sitting in faculty meetings voting to rank our candidates.   I’ve seen some candidates who were impossible to hire after their interview, and some who nailed it and pushed themselves to the top of the list.   Here’s a list of tips based on what I’ve noticed.

1. Before the visit, ask this key question of the department chair or your primary departmental contact.   Who is the audience for my seminar? Consider this information very carefully in crafting your presentation.   Don’t just use your default talk.   Let me explain.   For astronomy jobs, there are often physicists in the audience without a lot of background in astronomy.   Likewise, there may be a lot of undergraduates in the audience, or others without strong expertise in your subfield.   Some of these people may be deciding whether or not to vote for you, and you should avoid as much jargon and assumptions about background as possible.   Many times these talks serve as an opportunity to judge your potential as a teacher, so starting clear and basic is a must.

2. Plan your talk to be five minutes less than your allotted time, and be sure you know exactly what that allotment is.   Sounds simple, but I have seen at least two faculty candidates totally destroy their chances based on this alone.   They had 50 minutes, and talked for over an hour and a half, with a dwindling and pissed off audience toward the end.   Also, given the stakes here, faculty tend to ask a lot more questions than during run-of-the-mill seminars, and the talks tend to run a little long anyway.   This tip really must be followed or you risk doom.

3. Ask to have at least half an hour of free time to be scheduled before your talk.   This lets you check technical issues, which can sabotage or delay a talk.   This lets you review your talk before you give it.   This lets you make last minute changes to your talk in case you’ve learned anything important during your visit you didn’t know before you prepared at home.

4. Put your best foot forward but be yourself. This is a matter of style and personality, really.   You should have some, and try to be social and connect.   I’ve seen candidates so worried about making a mistake that they wind up reserved, distant, and that counts against them.   Again, the job is for decades and both sides should be striving to connect and figure out if they’re comfortable.   Being scared or nervous is natural, but don’t let it drive you into a turtle shell.   Similarly, if more formal attire isn’t your thing, you might get away with skipping it as academia is not usually very formal, but ask first.   Even in a laid-back department you might need to meet a dean who might care (although to be honest, the dean is going to follow the department’s recommendations in most cases).   I’ve seen the advice given not to drink if offered the opportunity, but I think that’s off base; decline if you’re not a drinker, but if you are accept, keep it in moderation, and don’t miss the opportunity to connect with other faculty who may have mutual interests in beer, wine, or liquor.   Don’t ever lie about anything, but put positive spin on anything that might sound less than enthusiastic or a good fit to the job.

5. If you really want a job, be enthusiastic and tell the people interviewing you and tell them why! This is one of those intangibles that can have an impact.   I’m probably more sensitive to it being in Wyoming, a place that is a dream for some, but not the first choice of many.   I’m told back in the 1990s we had some folks hired that didn’t quite take — a few years and they were looking for new jobs.   I had a brief bout of that myself after my divorce when I was reconsidering a lot of things.   It’s kind of stupid in a way, since it can be presumed that anyone interviewing is interested in taking the job, but a visit goes both ways and a candidate can lose interest, too.   Someone who really wants to be in the department for decades and shows it is likely to be a better and more dedicated colleague that someone who feels like they’re settling.   Corollary: ask about the local housing market.   This is something folks already planning to accept a job offer will ask about, and uncertain folks usually won’t.   Follow-up your visit with a friendly email continuing to express your enthusiasm.

6. Don’t be afraid and ask tough questions.   I recall feeling uncertain about broaching some subjects like salary, start-up, teaching loads and release, tenure expectations, internal politics, etc.   Now, salary and start-up are things to be negotiated, if possible, after an offer is extended, but you want to know something about what to expect before facing an offer.   Keep in mind that the department is probably your ally on these matters, as higher amounts will reflect a higher value for the department from the administration authorizing the expense.   On the matter of departmental politics and any department-specific issues you may become aware of, it’s better to ask before you take the job than figure things out later.   I’ve known departments with horrible feuds, incompetent or evil office staff, an excess of deadwood (post-tenure faculty who do the minimum and bring down the energy and enthusiasm), and other things you want to know about.

7. Don’t ignore the students and office staff.   They’re part of the reality of a job, too, even if they don’t get to vote on who gets hired.   And they may well be solicited by for their opinions by those who do.

8. Be prepared for inappropriate questions, and don’t take them personally.   There’s a whole list of things that candidates aren’t supposed to be asked.   For instance, about spouses, kids, religion, and anything else that might be a reason someone might discriminate against someone.   I’ve seen situations where a faculty member has explicitly asked “what is your religion?” or “are you married?”   In the cases I’ve seen, it’s just been faculty clueless about the rules (way common unfortunately) trying to be helpful about churches, job opportunities for spouses, and the like.   It hasn’t been bigots looking to rule someone out, or an attempt to ferret out potential hiring problems like a spouse who might be resistant to moving, although I’m sure this sort of thing sometimes happens.   Don’t be shocked, but be ready with what you consider an appropriate and friendly response without being alienating.

9. Be prepared for appropriate questions and practice answers in advance.   There are a lot of books out there, and websites, too, that talk about standard interview questions and good answers.   Here’s one.   Now, few faculty members will ask the classic job interview type questions.   They don’t do this often and don’t prepare to do it, frankly.   It’ll be more freeform, but a lot of classic questions will come up.   Like, “What is your research about?”   “Where did you get your PhD?”   “Where are you from?”   You can give one or two word answers to these questions, but that’s boring and won’t make a connection.   Have some standard responses that are interesting and personal and go beyond the exchange of information.   You want the people interviewing you to connect with you and feel positive about you as someone they’d want around for years to come.

OK, that’s the stuff that comes to mind today.   A lot of this may seem obvious, but after seeing a number of folks interview, and flubbing a few things on my own interviews, I take little for granted any more.

I’m likely to write one more post on this general topic in the future, about what to do when you get an offer, which is something few people get much experience doing.   I don’t have a lot here myself, but have some advice I think is good.

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