If it’s conference season, it must also be time for the first-round of academic job interviews. Advice on the academic job market and on interviewing is legion; see, for example, The Chronicle’s useful guide to being on the job market for the first time, posts on the job market by Tenured Radical (especially useful for historians), or Michael Gamer and Anne K. Krook’s “Job-Interviewing Handout.” Yet given the current ongoing never-ending crisis in the academic marketplace (at least for humanists), we at ProfHacker HQ wanted to do our part to make more explicit what can still be unofficial knowledge about the process of interviewing. After all: you won’t be able to be quite as productive if you don’t have a job.
Get your facts straight. Know what time the interview is and know where it will be. It will be hard for you to do well if you don’t actually show up on time. The chair of the search committee will likely give you his or her cell phone number so that you can call and find out where the interview will take place. If he or she does note, don’t be shy about asking for it. And then don’t be shy about calling this number! You have it for a reason. Remember, these are potential future colleagues. Colleagues place calls to one another without feeling that they are somehow inconveniencing the other party. Colleagues also never shouldn’t inconvenience one another by being late. Be on time. Be on time. Be on time! You are one of several interviews for the day, and even running late a few minutes can throw off the committee’s schedule. Besides, you don’t want your own interview to start late. Karma, friends. Karma.
In addition to knowing the time and place, you should also know how long the interview will be. Interviews are frequently 30 to 45 minutes, but they can be both radically shorter and longer depending on the school and department. You want to know, however, going in how long you will be there. It can help you to prep yourself mentally for the experience and also to pace your answers (see below). It will also allow you to keep an eye on the time. Don’t let yourself make the interview go longer than it is scheduled for. The committee will appreciate your ability to stick to a schedule.
Finally, you want to know who will be in the room for the interview. This will allow you to do a little research on these future colleagues. It’s useful to know things like their fields, large projects, and recent publications. Finding out about people will help you to remember their names once you’re in the actual interview. It’s of course possible to cross unspoken barriers by knowing way too much about interviewers. The main point is that you want to convey that you have done your homework about the job and the department.
Keep your answers short and foster conversation. While it can be tempting to launch into a 10-minute disquisition when asked about your dissertation–after all, how often do you get asked about something you spent X-number of years on, where 1
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9 Responses to Tips for Hacking Your Academic Interview
Brian Croxall - January 16, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Andrea, I’m going to assume that you’re talking a position in higher education (as opposed to the secondary school system). If that’s the case, I don’t believe that contacting a school will be particularly helpful. Schools will run ads for positions starting in Fall 2011 in the Fall of 2010. At this point, schools won’t know how many vacancies they will have nor whether they will have any. In higher education, everyone lists positions in ads. There aren’t hidden ones out there.
Perhaps someone else will have a different perspective…
Grendellion - December 22, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Sometimes this question backfires, causing lots of confusion as the interviewers try to work out amongst themselves how to answer. If a department can’t articulate what their vision is for their future, though, it tells you something very useful.
One of the better questions I’ve heard are variations of “tell me more about your students.” Everyone likes to brag about how smart, innovative, involved, etc. their students are. This one often sparks a good conversation, regardless of the type of institution.
Kathy - December 22, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Please also remember that narrowing the field to three is difficult, really difficult. By the time they get to the MLA, every candidate deserves a job. For the most part, the committee wants to see you succeed, be brilliant, engage them, inspire them to contact you even if you don’t make it to the campus visit. Think of it as a moment to network. Yes, it’s very nerve-racking, but remember that the committee is looking at you as one of their best. Take the compliment and let them know how wonderful you are in person. It’s a sucky, sucky year in all fields — go forth and be great. (Oh, and not getting an offer to campus or a job is NOT a marker of your future success or your value.)
Chad - December 22, 2009 at 3:07 pm
I always used the question, “Where do you see your department in 5 or 10 years?” It’s a question that can elicit a good discussion amongst the interviewers. It should also be a sincere question, because there is always a likelihood that you will be spending that much time at the least in that department if you get an offer.
Julie Meloni - January 16, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Brian’s comment is generally true, but I would add the following caveats: it depends on the discipline, the type of position (TT vs adjunct), and whether or not you have contacts in that department. For instance, if I found myself moving back to the city in which I got my MA, and I was looking to pick up some courses to teach as an adjunct, I would not hesitate at all to reach out to the folks with whom I had a relationship just to make it known that I was around, available, and would very much like to pick up a few classes. While it is true that there are still hiring procedures and issues of seniority to work around, it never hurts to add yourself to the “keep me in the back of your mind” list. But all of that assumes a prior relationship and a knowledge of how things work in that specific department and discipline.
AndreaGenevieve - January 16, 2010 at 10:11 am
I have a question, what do you suggest about contacting a specific school that you are very interested in working at? Also, how early would you suggest contacting them say for example if I was looking to move to the area and look for a teaching position in Fall 2011?
Thank you for the great resource I keep finding more and more articles to read on this blog!
Andrea
jmcclurken - January 17, 2010 at 10:42 am
In response to Andrea, if you are looking for a tenure-track position, then Brian is right. However, if you’re looking to pick up some adjunct classes, then absolutely talk to the chair (via email and/or in person) about potential opportunities. We build our fall schedules over the next month and our spring schedule in early September. That’s the best time to bring your c.v. to a chairs attention. [Note, however, that 1) there will likely be others who are doing the same thing and 2) the hiring of adjuncts may not happen until just a few weeks before classes begin (after budgets and enrollments become more clear).]
AndreaGenevieve - January 17, 2010 at 10:49 am
Thanks for all of the tips! Yes I am looking for Higher Education, specifically at a school I am applying to attend to get my Ph.D. From what I can tell, since I am currently adjuncting now at a different institution, I may be able to get my foot in to door by applying for a Teaching Assistant position while I am enrolled or adjunct position. I see that Fall 2010 is going to be the time to start contacting the chair and also looking at ads for positions. Any other advice or suggestions? I thought about scheduling a time to meet with the Chair or Dean of the program when I visit for an open house this Spring of 2010.
Scott McLeod - January 21, 2010 at 2:22 pm
We made this academic job search handbook a few years back for prospective Educational Leadership faculty:
http://www.ucea.org/job-search-handbook
(handbook navigation menu is on the right)
Might be helpful for some folks…