During an on-campus interview, I was once asked, “Outside of your specific specialty area, which two classes would you most like to teach?” At the time, I thought it was a question that sought to see how well I knew the department’s cataloged offerings. I joyfully chimed in with two courses that I would have loved to teach, ones where I knew the material and had taken comprehensive examinations in the minor areas of my doctorate.
When I didn’t get the job, I talked at length with one of my mentors, and when I mentioned this question, he said, “Ooh, you didn’t catch that it was a poison-pill question. They wanted to see if you were going to be a threat to anyone’s territory. Let me guess: The courses you cited were ones currently taught by senior members of the department, right?”
I shook my head affirmatively.
“You took the poison, then. Next time just say ‘Anything the department needs!’ or ‘I just love teaching general-education courses!’ Those are safe answers.” In hindsight, I had naïvely trespassed into an area that was tacitly staked off. Most on-campus interviews include these kinds of questions. Some are tricks to see how agile candidates are with their answers. Some are starkly plain (and often illegal) litmus tests of politics or collegiality. Others are philosophical questions. Almost anyone on the hiring side of the table has at least one of these questions that is asked in every interview. Have you ever been asked a poison-pill question? Do you have one that you ask that can kill a candidate’s chances in the search vote?
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48 Responses to Poison Pills
22004901 - April 28, 2010 at 3:50 pm
My poison pill question was under what circumstances would I flunk a student.
bemusedprof - April 28, 2010 at 4:03 pm
I was once (many years ago) asked what I knew about police community relations. I honestly said I didn’t know even the first thing about it. THe questioner wiped sweat off his brow, and said “whew, great, that’s my course!” I got an offer, although I didn’t take that job.
kmessina - April 28, 2010 at 4:06 pm
A frequent poison pill question is with regards to technology and distance education. Which classes in your discipline would you see as most suitable for teaching online? If the candidate responds in any way positively, the candidate just failed the interview due to low academic standards…Of course, the opposite could be true as well, depending on the department.
rthull - April 28, 2010 at 4:11 pm
My poison pill question was, Do you think that someone can teach excellent courses without doing any original research in the field? It was asked by the dean, who I later learned (after I didn’t get the job) had never published. Obviously, any answer other than “Of course! Original research has no bearing on teaching excellence” was the wrong one, including mine.
goodeyes - April 28, 2010 at 4:26 pm
To Kmessina,Faculty today that can’t teach on-line are outdated. Departments that refuse to use modern and effective technology as part of many teaching methods are outdated.
puretoo - April 28, 2010 at 4:32 pm
To goodeyes,Plenty of departments and individuals are outdated but still in command of the hiring process. There may even be a strong correlation – though one that’s hopefully weakening.
tattletale_heart - April 28, 2010 at 4:36 pm
A poison pill question that is asked by hiring committees here is, “how would you deal with diversity in the classroom?” The wrong answer, which we hear often, includes teaching techniques and other ways of working around a significant problem. What the hiring committee is looking for is a much more positive response that includes ways to celebrate a significant opportunity.
athlwulf - April 28, 2010 at 4:46 pm
One of my favorite poison pill questions comes from a movie, “She’s Having a Baby” where the interviewee was asked, “So, what do you think of alcoholics?”
22235933 - April 28, 2010 at 4:55 pm
As a librarian in an academic library, I learned (after I was hired) that the poisen pill question was “What do you like to read?” “Stephen King” was the wrong answer.
watermarkup - April 28, 2010 at 10:26 pm
You know why so many job seekers are angry and bitter? This. There’s no way to know what the correct answer to most of these questions is. You might as well be asking people to guess your favorite color.
velvis - April 28, 2010 at 11:49 pm
What is your name?What is your quest?What is your favorite colour?
bondage2 - April 29, 2010 at 1:59 am
You know, it’s sad that with all the legitimate questions a hiring committee ought to ask, and so many questions they are precluded from asking by law, there is any such category as a poison pill question.
joseangel - April 29, 2010 at 5:57 am
The question was not a poison pill and you (the author) and your advisor have over-analyzed the question. If you hypothetically were treading on someone’s territory, which I doubt, that would not cost you a job. Job searches, like Fellowships and entrance into very high quality graduate programs, are crap shoots. All the stars have to line up, and answering one question in a particular way matters little in the larger scheme of things. Why not just confess that someone else did a better job talk, that the other candidate was a better fit, etc…
tuxthepenguin - April 29, 2010 at 6:06 am
How’s the job market?That’s more of a dirty diaper than a poison pill, but either way I really hate it. If you say the market is good and you have lots of interviews, some schools will conclude that the competition is too great and lose interest. If you indicate that you only have a few interviews, some schools will conclude that you’re not a strong candidate and lose interest. I still haven’t figured out the correct answer.
tattletale_heart - April 29, 2010 at 6:12 am
To watermarkup and bondage2: poison pill questions ARE legitimate questions. All questions are designed to tell the hiring committee something about the interviewee, and these tell quite a lot BECAUSE the candidate has to answer without the benefit of knowing what the “right” answer should be. In our case, the answers to our question about dealing with diversity in the classroom tells us how candidates view our culturally and racially diverse campus and, by extention, our culturally and racially diverse students in a way that might actually bring out a truthful answer. If we simply asked, “so what do you think about diversity on this campus?” we would likely get the canned positive answer.
frankiesull - April 29, 2010 at 6:31 am
Mine was at a Catholic university with a philosophy dept. divided between old-line followers of St. Thomas Aquinas and younger philosophers more sympathetic to my own analytic-philosophy background. One of the Thomists asked me what philosopher had influenced me most; when I mentioned several people at my grad school he replied that it had to be a dead philosopher. Grasping at straws, I suggested David Hume: the worst answer I could have given, since he has long been regarded as a nemesis of Christian–esp. Catholic–philosophy. The “correct” answer, of course, was “Aquinas”! I did not get the job, and learned later that half the department hated me and the other half were supportive.
megginson - April 29, 2010 at 7:07 am
I am sympathetic with the situation frankiesull describes, and would only add that whenever one is asked a poison pill question designed to detect on which side of a bitterly divided department one would land, it is a blessing to give a bad answer, particularly one that annoys everyone.
22086364 - April 29, 2010 at 7:48 am
I was asked during the interview for a Deanship “how will you know if you’re doing a good job?” My reply was “everyone will be angry with me.” One of the interviewers sneezed Yoohoo out of his nose, and I didn’t get the job offer.The thing is, my answer was right.
isugeezer - April 29, 2010 at 9:01 am
My poison pill question was, “How tolerant are you of colleagues who smoke and curse?” My answer that these weren’t behaviors that gave me concern (thinking that I was being tolerant and minding my own business) was wrong, wrong, wrong. I’m glad I didn’t get the job. Sometimes, failing the poison pill test is a good thing.
copesan - April 29, 2010 at 9:10 am
Dear 22086364,I love your answer, and it was indeed entirely right.
williamray - April 29, 2010 at 9:29 am
Not exactly a poison pill, but here’s my story. On one interview, the person who gave me the community tour paused at every (Christian) church in town and recited which faculty members attended. He would pause expectantly, and then drive on to the next one. He never asked which church I’d go to, but he was obviously fishing. I never rose to the bait, and I didn’t get an offer. Oh, and this was a state-funded university.
mcphslibrary - April 29, 2010 at 10:49 am
A college president, interviewing me for a tt job looked at my beard and last name and ask, with a big smile: “What do you on Saturdays?” (translation: “Jew?”) I stared him down and said “Sometimes I work in my garden and sometimes I go to synagogue.” I took this as a litmus test of collegiality. I took the job and never was quite comfortable there.At another institution, the search committee chair came with me to my interview with the dean because other candidates had been asked what kind of Christians they were.
crunchycon - April 29, 2010 at 11:10 am
“Do you think students can learn a language solely through immersion, without actually being taught the grammar, etc.?”My answer: In my 17 years of experience teaching language, I have found very few students who have been able to get a communicatively competent grasp of a language solely by immersion.Wrong answer – dept. head’s current research project at the time (not listed in his online bio at the univ. under his research intests) was a rehashing of this previously discounted methodology of teaching language. Didn’t get the job.
bizdean - April 29, 2010 at 11:24 am
No, 22086364, if as a dean you were increasing the school’s resources, raising the quantity and quality of incoming students, and being transparent in budgeting, the faculty would not be angry with you. If you were not doing these things, you were not doing your job. And you were lucky to avoid an Amy Bishop type incident. What were you thinking?
sanjoaquin - April 29, 2010 at 11:32 am
As at least one previous poster has noted, it can be a very fortunate thing to not swallow the poison.
22086364 - April 29, 2010 at 11:47 am
Dear Bizdean:I’ve done enough administrative work to know that doing one’s work well does not preclude people being angry with you. I’ve had adminstrators angry about my transparency with faculty, and faculty members angry because I wouldn’t fight administrative realities on their behalf. And raising the quality and quantity of students isn’t a neutral, unambiguous task, either. More students come in, and resources are strained. Better students come in, but they’re not in particular majors, which makes faculty members from those departments unhappy.Doing the job well means doing the job well, which means that at any given time, some people aren’t getting what they want. This makes them angry.Perhaps you live on a happier planet than I do, but this is the reality I see and work through daily. That’s what i was thinking. And the fact that I was right is why the interviewer spewed his Yoohoo.
marka - April 29, 2010 at 11:50 am
#13 seems a bit naive, or defensive? All one needs to do is look at the many other responses — there are indeed ‘poison pills’ or ‘gotcha’s’ out there. Academic hiring is like most other hiring — many folks are looking for a way to ‘weed out’ the many applicants: some use ‘objective’ criteria when reviewing the vita, etc.; others try to ask questions now barred by law, because they do indeed have a variety of prejudices — look at the law case reports for examples; and yes, some will try to protect their own territory at the expense of others. There might be ‘clean’ processes in which you are involved, but please don’t deny others’ experience.
tegareg - April 29, 2010 at 11:56 am
Poison pills go to the heart of what I believe and fear is what is meant as ‘best qualified’ or ‘cultural fit.’ Might you have designs on my job OR on the job I myself might have designs on? Or, ideally, will you happily stay in the professional black hole we’ve dug for you?A Dean at the ‘largest employer’ in New York (you figure out the name of the school) spent the entire interview pointing out how similar our backgrounds were, that she was not necessarily looking for someone like herself and that she would not be concerned if I ended up taking her job. ‘Heck, what do I care?, she protested. Long story short, she hired a librarian from down south for a job not having anything to do with libraries… or with the south, for that matter.
judithryan43 - April 29, 2010 at 12:22 pm
To rthull, on the question “Do you think that someone can teach excellent courses without doing any original research in the field?” The abolute best answer to this question is to say that constructing a course syllabus and developing the material *is* a form of original research. This works with both people who have published a lot (because many of their ideas may have emerged from their teaching) and with people who haven’t published much (who are thrilled to know that teaching is a sort of research).Judt a suggestion.
tegareg - April 29, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I read somewhere that the ‘best qualified’ candidate is the applicant who meets no more than 70% of the job requirements, leaving 30% for ‘room to grow’ once hired. Most of us, however, are hellbent, and understandably so, on demonstrating how we exceed by a mile the stated and implied requirements of the position. Impressive BUT unfortunately, someone else already has that job, i.e. the interviewer(s).
newmath - April 29, 2010 at 12:47 pm
While interviewing for a position in mathematics, I was asked how I would explain a word problem involving distance, travel, and time to a class. I went up to the board, drew a picture and went on to explain the answer to the question, and how to visualize it. Apparently, this was the wrong thing to do as the department had recently embraced a new educational paradigm where visualization in solving mathematics problems was not considered pedagogically up to par. I was subsequently informed by someone in the hiring committee that this had been the reason for my rejection. My take on the rejection was different; I was a young Hispanic candidate and had too many publications, something the hiring committee found distasteful, specially since most of them had never published. I recall coming out from the interview with the impression that they wanted someone that would live-up to their stereotype of Hispanics as under-achievers, something they indicated through many indirect questions about problem students in math classes.In another occasion, I was interviewed for a position in a religious college. One of the questions I was asked was what I thought of Jesus. Because I didn’t want to lie, I replied that I was open to religious experiences and mysticism. Needless to say, a terrible answer, and I was rejected.
pjrichardson - April 29, 2010 at 1:25 pm
What’s really disheartening, is that none of the comments I have just finished reading above, directly name and deconstruct the elephant in the room. Are there no remaining believers, who are still faithful to the ideals of truth-chasing? Are there no knowledge-seekers, who still hope for an ivory tower, where a few egg-heads still value integrity and virtue over commercialization, materialism, and petty politics? Is the assimilation of all remaining idealists now complete, such that we can now just assume that the ‘game’ of lying and counter-lying, and other all-too-common values from society (and Hollywood) at large — might I add here — a society that appears to be morally devolving into broad clans of moral-lip-service elites and Neanderthal bible-wavers? Are no eye-brows raised at the assumptions of universal cowardice and dishonesty of academic role-models?.. at the apparent lack of noteworthiness concerning the self-centered elevation of one’s own job-security above and over that of the “best interest of the students”? Are the class-rooms and halls now, no more or less than mere stock-market floors, where might and cunning are most highly prized, and all else is but smoke and mirror?
hmlowry - April 29, 2010 at 1:33 pm
During the interview process a member of the committee called me on the telephone to pose several “ex parte” questions. A few days earlier he’d sent me a campus newpaper which had devoted quite a few column inches to a “gender” issue. His sole purpose apparently was to ask me a number of poison pill questions. None were related to the position, but were rather I suppose to ascertain my “politics.”
mpetroch - April 29, 2010 at 3:26 pm
In one of my husband’s interviews, the Dean prefaced his question with a poison-pill warning: “I am going to ask you a question, and no matter what you answer, the answer will be wrong.” Thanks, Dean!
tridaddy - April 29, 2010 at 3:35 pm
To 2208634: Is it actually correct that all of the faculty would be angry with you or that only half would be angry? I state this “tongue in cheek” in a way but having been in a few administrative roles it seems that it was never all of the faculty that were angry but half (the particular half was dependent upon the issue of the day). And as you state, it is possible to be doing everything you are supposed to be doing as an academic administrator and still have faculty angry b/c they don’t like your method of dealing with an issue.
schachte - April 29, 2010 at 3:42 pm
I was asked if I wanted to have my degree behind my name (Jane Doe, PhD) on my office materials/correspondence/contributions by a potential future supervisor who had no PhD. When I said, “well, sure…” she became nasty and mocking…and I received a hateful letter about my poor-fit due to “my personality”. Jealousy has no place in hiring/interviewing.Period.
tsteofilo - April 29, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Although this is not entirely related, I find it an interesting hiring anecdote: I was hired to my first adjunct position by a woman who’d recently been demoted and was not a part of the department that was actually hiring me. I worked the job, to be sure, but only after new contracts were drawn and a second interview with a qualified administrator was conducted. Sometimes the poison pill is not just a question, but a person, situation, etc. ;-)
shales - April 30, 2010 at 3:04 am
Regarding the poison pill question asked of the author about what courses he would most like to teach: he was actually fortunate to have answered as he did, because it would be hell in any case working in a department with senior colleagues who were so selfish and self-centered about “their” courses.
economics_hamburger - April 30, 2010 at 11:23 am
OK, I have a question (asking for some public opinions) about my poison pill question. The thing is I am not that much into where I am currently working at (low salary and very boring atmosphere) and I want to find a better job. I suppose I am sort of well-qualified for similar or even better faculty positions. However, what has been killing my opportunities so far is this question: “Why do you want to join us instead of staying where you are right now?”. I can explain well why I like their institution, but I cannot be clear enough when it comes to a compariosn between here and there. If I say I am not happy with the atmosphere of the current institution, then they often think I am a nagger in general and would not stay at theirs either. If I say I am not satisfied with my income, then they think I am unprofessional. Can anyone please help me answer this question properly such that I can explain myself as clearly as possible while keeping their interest in my application? I have had very many unsuccessful phone interviews and a few campus interviews and every time I have been rejected because of that question although I think I could be a finalist in at least a couple of cases. Thanks.
ellenhunt - April 30, 2010 at 12:25 pm
it happens in industry too. a long time ago i worked for a company in the east bay of the SF area. it was right after that famous commercial came out that was on john stewart last night for apple. the company hired this very nice man (who was, sadly, married). getting to know him we found out that he was the very man who had conceived that wonderful advertisement. we wondered aloud why he had come to our company. (we were young and so forthright then)he told us that he had been fired afterward. the advertisement was so good that the board of directors wanted to know who had made it. that threatened sculley, who was the great marketer brought to apple. so sculley got rid of him and blackballed him out of the silicon valley. we goggled in disbelief. he was such a nice man.
redretriever - April 30, 2010 at 12:47 pm
To economics_hamburger: I would focus on the positives of what attracted you to the new institution rather than mentioning the negatives of why you are looking to leave.I know that asking one’s age is illegal for academic jobs in the US, but I was once on a campus visit in Canada. The secretary asked my age, explaining that it was required in order for me to be reibursed for my trip. I was taken off guard when she asked (knowing that it was an illegal question in the US but not knowing if it was an illegal question in Canada). Meanwhile the chair was in earshot and joked, “We’re all 25 around here.” I answered honestly. Maybe I should have said I, too, was 25. I have no idea if this had any bearing on why I did not get the job. Does anyone know if this is a legal question to ask in other countries such as Canada?
wilmadague - April 30, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Be yourself. Answer honestly. If you take the poison, so be it. Do you really want a job you have to get by trying to determine what the “right” answer to every question is? Some questions are honest. Some aren’t.
maysong - April 30, 2010 at 4:04 pm
I recently applied for a position in the United States and age was a required section of the optional form on demographics. Most of the questions on this page were optional. On the same page was the are you a felon question. Is this legal?
humprof72 - April 30, 2010 at 4:24 pm
I can tell you the Universal Right Answer. I heard a Columbia professor use it, applying for a big job (which he got). The Dean sitting next to me physically relaxed when he heard it. I used it myself afterward, elsewhere. “Ha, ha, listen, folks, I don’t know, because I don’t know your institution. And you do. Every department has its own culture, there’s no One Right Way. And [here's the money quote] it’s a funny thing about institutional cultures. Everybody’s always coming in with bright ideas and trying to change them, but they just don’t change! Ha, ha!” Everybody powerful in that room is understandably satisfied with the status quo. They do not want anything to change. Nothing. No new ideas, no new course titles, nothing. The Columbia prof assured them he was a pleasant fellow who wouldn’t pressure anybody to change. And he respected all their ways of being a prof– researcher, classroom teacher– whatever. Just subtly promise to respect everybody and not change a thing. The people in power in that room are very happy with things as they are. Next to me, the Dean’s body relaxed in the chair.
rear_view_mirror - April 30, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Poison pill from a newly elected chair in the department where you’ve been working: “Please feel free to e-mail me with any concerns.”Translation: Do you love having grossly inadequate resources for your job, or are you a complainer?
bjgeorge - May 1, 2010 at 6:36 pm
I have been on both sides of the equation in hiring and seeking a position. When hiring, I have always used a committee to hire a person. With input from others, I have formulated questions about how the candidate prepared for the position and how the candidate would perform in the position. The questions are numerical weighted on a scale of poor to excellent. After the interview questions, a test or a short essay is to be completed to demonstrate a person’s thinking, or skill, on a matter. I never have put in a “poison pill” question in. I have found that after the interviews are done and when candidates are being evaluated as to the best one, there is usually disagreement on who is the best candidate and there can be candidates who polarize the committee, either by being liked or disliked. I suspect interviewing committees approach interviewing differently and no candidate for a position really knows what happens behind the scenes to any large degree on how a hiring decision was made.As a candidate, I make sure I establish my qualifications for the position at the beginning of the interview. This to establish why I am applying for the position. I have had unexpected questions that have thrown me off, but over time I have decided that maintaining equanimity is best and not to dwell in the interview on how a question was answered. And, I have had distasteful questions such as have you ever fired someone and explain what happened. No one wants to fire a person because it is not pleasant experience and demonstrating alacrity to remove people from their positions is not something positive. I answer such a question as it is unpleasant to fire someone and provide some generalities as to why I had to do this. Sometimes, I believe you do not have to provide specific answers, despite what the question requires.
hadeernagah - May 3, 2010 at 3:50 pm
i was interviewed many times, never got any offers for despite my qualification and strong list of publication, i did not think of the right answers i just tried to be my self. Being a Muslim and visually clear that i am a practicing one helped many insitutions to make the descison , i am not poltitically and culturally the right fit for any no matter how qualified iam.
mhick255 - May 4, 2010 at 1:51 pm
In healthy companies, a hiring supervisor often (not always) gets credit for being the one who hired a great employee, raising her/his own profile as having a “great eye for talent.” Is there any similar factor in academic hiring? So far, most of the comments reflect a fear from faculty of losing status if the new colleague is “too good.”