Every interview heads toward that awkward moment when the interviewer asks, “Do you have any questions?” I have a sense that most folks on both sides of the table think that this is a throwaway question, but the reality is that this is the shining moment when the discerning candidate can gain a grasp on the campus culture with a sharp question such as “What is the most difficult part of teaching here?” or “What frustrates you about your students?”
To some extent, these kinds of questions make a presumption, but it’s a fair one to make. Such a candidate will then watch for body language. There was an old Seinfeld bit where one of the characters said that the higher on the face someone’s hand went, the more stressed he was: touch your chin, slightly stressed; sweep your hair from your face and the discomfort is off the chart. These kinds of nonverbal cues may be present in the wake of such a question. Listen carefully, too, and if the opportunity avails itself, repeat the question in different settings (department chair, dean, etc.). The wise search committee and administrative team will have thought of answers for such questions in advance as well; candidates aren’t the only ones who should do their homework prior to an interview.
Questions like these are not particularly confrontational but rather indicate that the candidate is engaged in thinking seriously about joining the community. One of the values of these kinds of questions for the candidate, though, is that they can uncover any existing cracks in a façade.
Interviews work in both directions. Even in a tight job market, it is wise to pay particular attention to just what the actual working conditions of an institution may be.
What hard questions do you recommend candidates ask during the on-campus visit?
Follow On Hiring through your favorite RSS reader:
9 Responses to That Awkward (but Important) Moment
philosophy - January 27, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Here’s (as best I recollect from 4-5 years ago) a question a candidate asked me (as chair of the search committee) over a beer about an hour after I picked him up at the airport: “What is the worst, and what is the best thing about your experience teaching here?” Later he asked the whole dept the same question. My response: the worst is the large discrepancy between the students who are well-prepared and those who are ill-prepared for college work, and who are all in the same classes; that’s hard to deal with. The best is the opportunity (often available in our dept) to teach Honors Program courses in which almost all the students are outstanding.
BTW, he accepted our offer . . .
westerntc - January 27, 2011 at 5:17 pm
A great question to ask: What is the rate of turnover in this department?
High turnover usually indicates poor administration.
shushufindi - January 27, 2011 at 6:06 pm
In one interview I asked the Dean of Arts and Sciences why the university was on the AAUP censure list. I thought this would show I was a sharp candidate. Instead, the dean was offended and the interview was soured. I did not get an offer from this institution. Fortunately, another school hired me. I don’t think interviewers want to be put on the defensive – they want candidates who show enthusiasm for their institution.
crixus - January 27, 2011 at 7:46 pm
Shushfindi is exactly right. Before you go and try to show how clever you are by uncovering dirt, you better be sure you don’t really NEED the job. Otherwise, it’s far better to try to develop a relationship/friendship with an existing faculty member in the department and do a little informal digging that way.
totoro - January 28, 2011 at 10:34 pm
At the interview I just had I asked (the Dean): “What is your vision for this department” as they had been asking me that in different ways through the (formal panel) interview. Often I ask about evaluation for promotion etc. and how important they see the different components of the job in that evaluation. Or if it hasn’t come up and about teaching load etc. (at research institutions).
juvenal - January 29, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Being on several SCs in the last few years, it was, at first sight, depressing for us to get so little depth in the “Do you have any questions” part of the interview.
But, on the other hand, I’m at a CC, where the situation is different than it is (I suppose–never been there) at four-year and beyond schools.
So, teaching load questions, service/committee requirements, and salary questions are most common. I have no recollection things more abstract being asked.
I’d liked to have had some.
crankycat - January 31, 2011 at 9:06 pm
I asked someone I trusted in a different department if the department I was interviewing in had any weaknesses. He was honest in his answer. It made a difference.
librarydirector - February 3, 2011 at 11:44 am
In my experience as an interviewer, I find that I can learn as much about a candidate by what s/he asks (when prompted, “Do you have questions?”) as by what s/he says (in response to our questions). Some questions posed by candidates are extraordinarily astute and add to their candidacy by being asked. Others are mindless boilerplate.
When I am asked for questions I try to shoot for the middle distance between “gotcha” (a la shushufindi and the AAUP question) and mindlessness. I find that questions posed in the following manner are generally acceptable, seen as reasonably astute, and provide me with needed information:
“I note that in the faculty senate minutes posted on the University website there has been substantial debate on X topic during the last semester. Could you please give me some of the context of this discussion and how it affects the department and how I would be expected to do my job?”
Expected outcomes of this question: a) shows I prepped for the interview, b) shows I can interpret data as being relevant to the job, c) indicates that, yes, there are “issues,” d) presents a positive, how-do-I-negotiate-this attitude, and e) gives me the scoop on the dirt.
ccenglishprof - February 3, 2011 at 3:08 pm
I think crankycat and librarydirector’s responses are pretty good advice, especially for the neophyte interviewer.
How “cheeky” you get really may depend on your own persona, the energy of the interview, and how well you can read the room.
In 1995 during two interviews at different community colleges in two different states, when presented with this question I replied along the lines of the following:
“While I know that it’s a total employers’ market, let’s say we were in a parallel universe where it’s an applicants’ market and someone like myself faced a plethora of job offersincluding one from your school. [Sometimes there was laughter at this point, and I usually played into that with something like "I know, I know--we're talking total fantasy land here, here but bear with me."] What would you say to someone about why s/he absolutely should come to work here and for your department?” [It was a bit smoother than this, but you get my drift...]
My question really altered the dynamic in the room–some committee members went from their veiled, robotic “interviewer modes” to more spontaneous, “Oh, let’s ger real” or “Hey, maybe we should try to sell this place and this job” modes.
Since it worked so well at those two schools, I did a version of the same question several weeks later, during an interview at a third institution.
All three colleges offered me a position. And I chose college #3.