If you were fortunate enough to score an interview at a community college in the coming months, you're no doubt looking forward to the big day with a great deal of anticipation and perhaps no small amount of anxiety.
But what you do during the interview itself probably isn't as important as what you're doing right now to prepare. Or, to put it another way, if you don't spend your time profitably over the next few weeks, no amount of eye contact or glib posturing in front of the committee is likely to compensate.
The good news for all of you overachievers is that you don't have to sit around in the interim contemplating the meaning of life. Here are some specific preparations you ought to be making right now:
Nail down the logistics. I haven't known many people who missed an interview because they wrote down the time or date incorrectly, or because they couldn't find the campus. But I have known a few. You don't want to be one of those few. Make sure you know exactly when and where your interview is scheduled to take place.
Ideally, you should scope out the site a few days in advance, especially if your interview is on a large campus. If that's not possible, at least make sure you are able to find the location on the campus map, which should be available on the Internet. Arrive on the campus at least an hour early, and show up at the interview room 15 to 20 minutes before the scheduled start.
Speaking of the campus, do you know how to find it if you're traveling from out of town? Do you know how you're going to get there? Are you driving? Flying and renting a car? Will someone be picking you up at the airport? Will the host institution pay all or part of your travel expenses? Those are details that you should have nailed down weeks, if not a couple months, in advance.
Most of those points should be covered in a letter from the search committee chair confirming your interview. But if you don't receive such a letter, or if you still have questions, don't hesitate to call or e-mail the chair and ask. (I'm a big fan of e-mail, but in this case, I would probably call.) Be polite and deferential but not apologetic. No one can reasonably expect you to come for an interview if you don't know where you're going, when you're expected, or how you're supposed to get there.
In particular, don't be shy about broaching the subject of travel expenses—an item that might not be covered in the letter. Many two-year colleges don't pay for candidates to travel to a job interview, but some do. At the very least, before you agree to an interview, you need to know if you're going to be spending several hundred dollars out of pocket.
Determine what to expect. The letter confirming your interview should also offer a brief outline of the process, answering questions like: How long will the interview last? Will you meet just with members of the committee, or will you also "interview" before a larger gathering of faculty members? Will students be involved? A department chair or dean? That information is good to have going in.
It also helps to know how the interview will be conducted. Will it consist primarily of questions and answers, or will you also be expected to give a teaching demonstration? That second point is especially important, because preparing a teaching demo is a major undertaking (and one that I covered last year in a column titled "Demonstration or Demolition?").
If the letter doesn't reveal such details, e-mail the committee chair to ask. I know many job seekers are afraid that asking for such information will make them seem needy or high-maintenance. I say, better that than show up for an interview unprepared. I would also add, as someone who has chaired numerous search committees, I wouldn't think badly of a candidate who cared that much about doing well in the interview. I might also revise my letter next time.
Do your homework. That's standard advice for a job seeker. Yet I'm constantly amazed at the number of candidates we interview who seem to know nothing about our college, despite a wealth of information available online.
If you want to set yourself apart from other candidates, plan to spend several hours on the institution's Web site—and not just on the home page or looking at featured items. Go several layers deep. Look up the college's mission statement and strategic plan. Find information on academic programs, demographics, and on graduation, retention, and transfer rates. Read—or at least skim—the faculty handbook. Click on some Web sites of faculty members to get a feel for your potential colleagues and for the institutional culture.
In short, learn everything you can. Most of what you discover won't be relevant to your interview, but a thorough knowledge of the institution, like a good backstory in a well-written novel, will suffuse your answers with an authenticity that is bound to impress the committee, even if only subconsciously. In addition, your study may enable you to ask some intelligent questions, if you get the opportunity. I've always thought that makes a candidate seem more appealing.
A few words for experienced faculty members going back on the job market: Just because you know community colleges, don't assume that you know everything about the particular college where you will be interviewing. I made that mistake once, a few years ago. Having already spent half a career at two-year colleges, I gave the institution's Web site a cursory once-over and thought it all looked pretty familiar. Turned out the college had some very different ways of doing things that I would have known about had I bothered to delve any deeper than the home page. As a result, I was embarrassed during the interview and, needless to say, didn't get the job.
Do more homework. For inexperienced candidates, it's important that you do research not just on the particular institution where you will be interviewed but also on community colleges in general.
One of the biggest problems we see during faculty searches is that many candidates have no idea what faculty members do at community colleges or how they differ from four-year institutions. Often such candidates appear visibly taken aback during the interview, as the differences become clear. You can spare yourself that shock just by doing a little reading—OK, maybe a lot of reading—before you go into the interview room.
Resources abound, both in print and on the Internet, but let me mention just a few. A new book by Chad Hanson, The Community College and the Good Society, examines the role of the liberal arts on two-year campuses—a particularly timely topic given the current emphasis on "work force development." Community College: Is It Right for You?, by Susan Stafford, offers numerous insights into two-year colleges from a prospective student's viewpoint. The American Association of Community Colleges publishes Community College Times and Community College Journal; the group's Web site is also a treasure trove, especially the "About Community Colleges" section. And, of course, The Chronicle's archives contain a wealth of information, including eight years' worth of free columns in the "The Two-Year Track" series.
Spending time with those books, Web sites, and other sources will give you a good understanding of what community colleges value and how they communicate those values. It will also provide a crash course in community-college jargon, so that when you sit across from the search committee, you will sound like someone who is intimately familiar with community colleges—and not like someone who is applying only as a "fallback" position, in case that big job at the R-1 doesn't come through.
Craft your narrative. What search committees value most—or at least what they claim to value most, and it's usually true—is good teachers. Community colleges are teaching institutions, after all, where you will probably be expected to teach five or more sections each semester.
Before your interview, then, you need to craft a convincing narrative featuring yourself as an excellent teacher, or at least as someone intent on becoming an excellent teacher. That narrative—again, like a good backstory—will inform all of your answers and enable you to present yourself as someone committed to the community-college teaching mission.
When I say "craft" your narrative, I don't mean make it up. I trust that, if you're applying to community colleges, you really are committed to teaching. If you're faking it, the committee members will almost certainly sniff that out. And even if they don't, even if you sell your act and manage to get yourself hired, you're going to be pretty miserable teaching five courses a semester.
What I'm suggesting, assuming you really do consider yourself a good teacher, is that you keep that role foremost in your mind. Think about the experiences you've had in the classroom that led you to enjoy teaching and convinced you it was something you wanted to do. Then weave those stories into your interview answers.
For instance, you may be asked about your experience with diverse student populations. Don't answer by spouting numbers: "My last campus was 43 percent African-American and 17 percent Asian." Instead, tell a brief story about the time a student's cultural differences enlightened your class discussion, or the time you went out of your way to help a student who was struggling with the language. If you're asked about using classroom technology, don't just recite the various types of hardware and software with which you're familiar. Tell about the time you tried something new and how the students responded. That's what I mean by weaving your personal narrative into your answers.
I hope you will come to see the interview not as an oral exam but rather as a collegial interaction. Then you can approach it with confidence, as a professional among professionals, rather than as a supplicant. While there are certainly no guarantees—not in this job market—I believe you're more likely to have success that way. Good luck.
Comments
1. zefelius - January 14, 2011 at 05:10 am
Wonderful, sound advice. Sounds like research is key. I certainly wish I had done mine prior to finishing my Ph.D. During my last couple of years in my program I sent out approximately 150 dossiers, many of them to community colleges. I was foolish and naive enough to think that a Ph.D. from an elite university, along with a couple of publications and conferences, would procure at least a community college position. But out of all my applications to community colleges I received 0 interviews. That goes to expose, perhaps, my presumptions at the time. If I were in graduate school now, I would absolutely follow some of the above advice (such as looking into what faculty members do at community colleges), even before getting a hypothetical interview.
2. sjgraham - January 14, 2011 at 05:31 am
Excellent advice, especially about going several layers deep on websites. In doing so I found on one site, for example, student blogs (hosted by the university) that gave me a sense of the personalities and cultures at the school - but it took some persistent poking around to find!
3. dani4091 - January 14, 2011 at 08:34 am
After I defended my dissertation last year, I had five interviews at community colleges before I landed my tenture track position at one, and a year later I was on a search committee for a new hire in English.
It was fascinating to witness the process from the other side of the table, especially as we discussed our pick of applicants from their application packages to their interview performances.
As we worked through, it became clear how each committee member valued different traits for each applicant, yet eventually we all agreed on the finalists for the same reasons: professionalism, care for and expertise with students (what Jenkins calls the applicant's "narrative" punctuated with specific examples), and of course, we choose the people who gave the best teaching demonstrations. What I was most surprised (and disappointed by) was that at least half of the interviewees did not read the job ad "rhetorically" to prepare their teaching demonstration in accordance with the job ad's description and the search committee's expectations.
Naturally, in the committee's view, the lesson's content should have matched the expertise required for the job: for example, if a job ad asks for a history professor who can teach the period of history from the American Civil War(either as a generalist or an expert in specialized in American history rather than World History), then why, why, why, would an interviewee choose to teach a lesson about the Vietnam war (wrong period) or the war in Bosnian (wrong part of the world)?
Our search committee's job ad asked for someone who could teach a certain kind of literature, and half of the applicants (half!) taught something completely different. I'd imagine this advice would apply to any disciplinary field: if the job ad asks for someone who teaches a certain kind of art, music, history, literature, math, etc., the teaching demonstration should follow suit, obviously.
Also, making risky choices in teaching using gimmicks (passing out crayons and colorful paper, for example) might make an interviewee memorable, but for the wrong reasons.
I'd also advise applicants to write strong cover letters that demonstrate their levels of literacy well; aside from an inconsequential error, like a missing or superfulous comma, a poorly written letter (either because it lacks adherence to conventions or because its content is lacking)won't get an applicant any further along in the process than the submission of application materials.
Whether or not an applicant is applying to a position in English, being able to demonstrate that one can write is critical, especially because of writing across the curriculum initiatives in colleges where all professors are expected to teach writing to a certain degree and also for pedagogical reasons: have someone else read and help edit one's letter engages that person in peer review and collaboration, so if I read a well written cover letter, I might imagine the applicant is either a good writer, a good pedagouge, and a good collaborator. In any case, this person took the time to do a good job, and that speaks volumes.
Although my committee members did not seem bothered by the fact that one applicant had a recommendor offer unsolicited praise before being asked (via email or by telephone), I found that move to be made in poor taste. If the ad states that names of recommendors be given rather than letters, than one sould assume that recommendations will be asked for at a later time; sending them prior to that time, in my opinion, is pretentious. I'd rather see someone prove him/herself without riding the coattails of big name in the field.
Persistence is key. If at first interview you don't succeed, try, try, try again with more and more applications at the community college level. Those Ph.D.'s lusting after a Research 1 school may feel CC's are below them, but there are no small teaching jobs, only small minded professors. Important work is happening at CC's and positions keep opening up in that realm while their more esotertic counterparts (institutions and disciplinary fields alike) are scaling back. Ph.D.'s should position themselves for CC jobs by doing their research (something that should come naturally to them!) to prove that even though CC teaching jobs only require a Master's degree, their level of expertise can only help, not hurt, their chances at landing a teaching gig and excelling at it for the benefit of the students. Personally, I think more Ph.D.'s should teach at the CC and the high school levels; teaching is a field that needs to be professionalized in the disciplines and in the public eye.
4. music_librarian - January 14, 2011 at 09:00 am
"There are no small teaching jobs, only small minded professors."
An excellent observation that can be applied to so many professions!
5. redweather - January 14, 2011 at 10:14 am
This column is a welcome return to the kind of advice and opinion you typically offer your readers.
6. raaron - January 14, 2011 at 10:24 am
CHE Editors:
The author's earlier article "Demonstration or Demolition?" cited and linked above appears to be for subscribers only. Was that intended? I thought the job-hunting advice was usually free access.
7. aephirah - January 14, 2011 at 11:46 am
@zefelius - For better or for worse, sometimes a PhD from an elite institution can be an obstacle to landing a teaching job at a smaller institution or for a position where only a Master's degree is required. I have heard committee members wonder aloud whether someone with very stellar credentials will only use a given job as a stepping stone to a R-1 position and then leave the program in the lurch in the near future. They are often very concerned about attracting someone who will stay and be committed to the program I would suggest that such candidates be explicit in their cover letters and during the interview process about what attracts them to this particular position and institution and why they would find it rewarding to work there.
8. bowl_haircut - January 14, 2011 at 12:54 pm
Great advice, but can I just say something? Some schools have dreadful websites.
9. 11161452 - January 14, 2011 at 09:26 pm
Yes, some schools have websites that are decidedly "not ready for prime time", and that in itself should reveal a lot about the institution to the potential applicant (do you really want to go there?) These days every school "has" to have a site, but many of them are worse than none at all.
*****
I have never taught at a CC, but I did teach at a nonselective small liberal arts college for several years. When I was offered the job I had no other offers on the table, and I was already a year out of my doctoral residency period, so I felt pressure to accept the position even though I knew from the outset that it was a poor fit for my interests and aspirations. I suppose my professional competence got me the job, and apparently I was convincing enough at the interview to assure the hirers that I'd be OK there. But teaching in that setting proved a long exercise in frustration for me, and probably for my students as well. I realize that a lousy market forces people to apply for "everything that moves" but if I were job hunting now, I wouldn't apply unless I thought I could thrive in that position.
10. andromida - January 15, 2011 at 05:47 am
Youre examples are really helpful to understand the variety of interview questons and answers.Thanks a lot.
11. mindnbodybuilding - January 15, 2011 at 11:29 am
Great article Professor Jenkins!
@dani4091
Thank you! As our college will begin the hiring process this spring, I hope our cindidates read your response! So thoughtfully written and presented!
@aephirah
I too experienced this! In my second year of teaching at a CC, I was asked to serve on a hiring committee. I was shocked by the comments made by some of the members concerning Ph.D. applicants! "Why would a Ph.D. want to work here?", "I give 'em a year or two before leaving", "We need to hire someone who will stay for a while", etc. That was back in 1996. Thankfully it appears that those attitudes have changed over the years...at least at our college. Imagine!...penalizing an applicant for holding a Ph.D.!
12. robjenkins - January 16, 2011 at 08:40 am
Thanks, everyone, for your kind words and contributions to the discussion. I agree that some college Web sites are very difficult to navigate. It's especially frustrating to be looking for a colleague's e-mail address on another institution's site and not be able to find it because the directory is either hidden too deep or else doesn't function logically. Surely, with all of the enormous brains we have running around our campuses, someone can create an easy-to-find, easy-to-use campus directory. Another problem, for job-seekers, is finding a salary schedule. Is it too much to ask to put that information on the Web where people can find it? Or is it a state secret?
Rob
13. books4jocks - January 16, 2011 at 11:15 am
Thanks for another great column for me to obsess over while I apply for positions at community colleges. I appreciate the advice always. Sometimes, I find it hard to rhetorically "read" job ads so I can best position myself in the letter. The ads are sometimes steeped in HR jargon (a job I'm in the process of applying to tells me one of my duties is to "respond to the functions of the position in an environmental setting which might include cold, heat, odor, dampness, dirt, fumes, dust, oil, grease, noise, or vibration on a frequent basis."). These generic descriptions make it tough to know what a program might be looking for.
I do think that looking at course descriptions in the catalog can be helpful in terms if tailoring a letter to a program's needs, and understanding the philosophy informing the curriculum.
Of course, I've applied to ten jobs with zero bites, so what do I know?
14. tcli5026 - January 17, 2011 at 07:51 pm
To dani: I wonder, if half the candidates taught on the "wrong" subject, shouldn't the committee have been explicit in letting candidates know on what topic they should focus? I'm guessing CCs bring in more candidates, but in my department--on the committees I've chaired--I've e-mailed candidates regarding the topic of their teaching demonstration. We find a mutually agreeable topic so that there aren't any unpleasant surprises.
15. dani4091 - January 18, 2011 at 08:33 am
To tcli5026: Yes, the chair was specific about which genre to teach and the job ad was specific about the literature. Those who taught the "wrong" subject went against both genre and literature. It was just bizarre that they didn't read or choose carefully enough to demonstrate thay they knew what we were looking for specifically without our telling them or guiding them in any way. BTW, this reminds me of an interview for which I did a teaching dem for a job I did NOT get, but a good friend of mine did. After we both interviewed at a small, four year, liberal arts school, we talked about the material we used and how we used it--my lesson (which I must say, was good and solid) was focused on rhetocial reading and how to make writerly choices, while her lesson was more focused on critical thinking and cultural/social critique. Honestly, happy as I was for my friend who did get the job, I was a bit sore when I didn't get this position (at my own alma-mater!), but when I compared my lesson to my friend's, I knew why she earned that position over me--her lesson was just so much more substantial than my own--it gave the students more than a task to complete, it made them think in a deeper way--that's what that committee priviledged, and rightfully so. My friend earned her position, and I learned about making better choices in teaching dems which helped me on my next few interviews and finally helped me get my present position. Self reflection and revision is just as important as being preperation in applying and preparing for interviews--live, learn, and do better next time.
16. dani4091 - January 18, 2011 at 08:34 am
*prepared*
17. pedrolorenzomartinez - January 18, 2011 at 01:21 pm
Rob,
Great advice! I'll add that in order to make sense of the amount of information that you find on the web, make sure that it is well aligned with the competencies, skills, opportunities and challenges listed in the advertisement. This is the script that the committee members will use in those rating sheets that they often use. Slow down and give them time to score them as well.
Check the local newspapers of the geographical area for the hidden stories, they often provide a wealth of information and the nuances of the institution. However, there are other obtrusive measures that candidates do not control. In very few instances ,and I emphasize the word "few", committee members might be looking for people very much like "THEM" . If you have a new president or chancellor, this becomes their territorial imperative to resist change. You will also find some "rogues" who want you to know that they are in charge. Unfortunately, I have found this to be more prevalent in four-year institutions and not in community college search committees. For administrative positions, the community college district selects from a wide pool of key-personnel, thus avoiding the clicks that exist within one given institution.
I have been in higher education for over 35 years; my professional advice is "be honest". Do not give answers contrary to your values and believes because you think you are "scoring" from committee members. Let your real personality come through! You have very intelligent people who will pick-up when you are "acting". At the end of the day, if you are selected, you will have to live in that campus community and they will know who you really are! Remember the ancient adage: "To thine own self be true."
18. mhensley1 - January 18, 2011 at 01:44 pm
dani4091~ Made great observations. I am very new in the field of locating an online teaching position. This is all very new to me and I am enjoying the process. Although I have not been a professor yet, I work with many young people as well as a mother of seven and the comment, "but there are no small teaching jobs, only small minded professors," has a wealth of advice in it. Thank you! What I say is, "do well with that which is another man's and you can then be trusted to do more with more." All of the comments were enlightening in one way or another.
19. tcolb01 - January 18, 2011 at 05:54 pm
Wonderful advice! During my rewarding career in higher education, 21 years of which were at a community college as professor then dean, I was on a number of faculty search committees. Fortunately, most of those interviewed were well prepared, which, of course, made the job of the search committee more difficult.
20. gsudduth - January 19, 2011 at 02:50 pm
I think there's some very good information, advice in the article, however, after having been in postsecondary proprietary education for some years and having previously been an adjunct in the community college system, I'm not sure if I totally agree with some of the verbalizations for preparation of the interview.
Having returned to the community college system teaching now in continuing education, I found that interviewing for a teaching position online was going very well right up to the point where the interviewer described the text they were using in the class. I was very glad to hear this in that at this particular time I was also writing a course using the exact same text. I also said that I had taught this particular course for several years in the community college system as well as in proprietary postsecondary education. Interestingly enough the interviewer's comment was'we don't need the course rewritten.'
I really don't know if I learned a lesson by this or not. I hope the interviewer reads these commentaries and puts themselves not only in my shoes but maybe in them than their own shoes.
I was surprised not to at least have had a callback, explanation, or at least some professional courtesy.