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[FT]

I have been invited for a 30-minute phone interview for a tenure-track assistant professor position at a university.  Any advice? (What will be the main topics? Who will be attending? ...)

Thank you.

F.T.

[B.F.]

If you use the search function (click on "search") and enter the phrase "phone interview," you will find many responses to your question.

[BlueSky05]

Congrats on the phone interview! When the phone interview was scheduled, you should have asked with whom you would be speaking and what you should prepared to discuss. If it's not too late, you might e-mail or call the person who did the scheduling and ask these two quick questions. This might diminish some of the nervousness you may be feeling due to uncertainty about what to expect. You could then gather your thoughts in advance so that you are very well-prepared for the questions. If contacting them is not convenient, be sure to review the components of the job description and be prepared to answer questions about those.
 
One of the best pieces of advice I've read about phone interviews is to smile while you talk. Sounds funny, but I have tried this and found it effective because it gave zest to my answers. Speak clearly and do not speak too long in response to a question. Thirty minutes during a phone interview goes by very fast.

Do a Google search for "phone interviews" and you'll find career sites that provide useful tips. The participants are usually the chair of the search committee and the committee members that are available at that time.

At the close of the interview, be sure to find out about their timeline and when they expect to take the next step in the process.

Good luck!

[MFA]

I have done the phone interview and can give some insight. I did all the research of who was on the committee, their degrees and positions, everything I could find on the net.  I had notes taped all around my phone as to possible questions and responses. I had typed up everything, including a long list of my strengths and teaching philosophy, style etc. I thought I was prepared.

What I wasn't prepared for was the fatigue of the search committee. They were burned out by the time they got to me.  So I guess try to schedule something early, even if you have to take off work. Then there was the question of why was I applying for a community-college position over a position at a 4-year college -- I didn't think of that. Jeez, I am trying to get a job! Duh, but I stumbled there.

I even followed up with e-mail contacts to all who were on the committee. I didn't prepare for the search committee being intimidated by my teaching style or questions. So, don't ask them any hard questions. And I guess don't appear too enthusiastic, and the more scholarly the better, even if they ask for innovation, they are more comfortable with known procedures than new ones. I didn't pass the phone interview, and I knew it when I hung up by the tone of their voices. They were too tired.

[B.F.]

MFA,

You are making many assumptions as to why the search committee chose not to offer you an on-campus interview. Are you positive that they really were intimidated by your teaching style and questions? I am not sure what your suggestion to not be too enthusiastic means, but hopeful a candidate will appear to be enthusiastic about the job.

Not having an answer to the question of why you are applying for a community-college position over a position at a 4-year college is the kiss of death for a job candidate. A search committee does not want to hire someone who is not really interested in teaching at a community college, but instead is biding his or her time until they can get another job and leave. My guess is that is what turned them off.

[MG]

The best advice I have received so far seemed to have worked for me. I had a phone interview last year around this time, and I blew it completely. But I have landed a tenure-track position after a phone interview that I thought went just great.

The advice is simply this: You are not on the phone for an interview, but for a conversation with colleagues. Likewise, the committee is not looking for an expert, but for a colleague. If you have completed your degree, your examinations, etc., you are already somewhat the "expert," and just being invited to the phone interview shows that the committee feels that you qualify. Essentially, they are looking now for a colleague, someone they would be glad to see five times a week for many years.

My first phone interview went badly because I gave the panicked "graduate-student-oral-examination" answer to everything, showing off to a degree, with the distinct tone of insecurity ringing through. The second (good!) interview went well because I just covered the basics (answering such questions as "How would you teach this survey class?" or "What texts would you use for this class?"), and tried to slip in a little humility and humor now and then, just like if I were trying to move along in a dinner party conversation. The boost alone to my confidence probably came through and helped also, once I realized that I was there on the phone because I in fact was "worthy" and didn't have to prove it any longer.

Also, don't come across as critical of students or fellow instructors, or even academia itself. Since committees are looking for a colleague, any hint of sourness on your part is amplified in their minds. I think at my last campus interview a couple of committee members complained out loud about students and teaching loads, but I never "took the bait," so to speak. I always made sure that I made every phrase seem positive, without seeming invincible or sounding like a cheerleader.

Hope this helps.

[Sorry]

Best advice worth repeating: smile, be pleasant, positive and, most of all, be yourself.  

Being a little nervous has not hurt me at all. But the best way to avoid getting caught off guard by a question, you did not expect, is to take a moment and pause. Methods that work for me are to ask for the question to be repeated or simply say, "That is a very good question," and then take a pause. This gives you an extra moment to formulate your answer.
Remember, the search committee is usually on a speaker phone and they sometimes ask you to repeat answers and sometimes you have to wait for them as they decide who will record your answers and who will ask the next question.