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[just_ducky]

As an applicant, what are the best questions you've been asked in an interview?

The interviews I've had have been quite boring in terms of questions.  I'm curious to see what others
have gotten!

[sequoia_sun]

Well, I think irregardless of the questions, are your answers to them. That is what should be the best part of the interview, finding ways to answer that showcase your strengths, creativity and vision. Knowing where you want to go and what the institution can do to support you and how you can support the mission of the department etc. all go a long way in helping you to devise those talks.

Besides that: "When can you start?" and "Would you like more salary with that offer?"

[losemygrip]

What is the future of [insert discipline name here]?

[laurel_knx]

I've only had phone interviews so far this year, but my favorite questions have been the ones I anticipated and had an answer for. For one rural school, I had a great answer to "Your grad program has a lot of data easily available, how are you going to keep doing research here?" With another school, I correctly guessed that they were going to go point-by-point through the job announcement and had outlines of answers ready. In both cases, I was excited to hear the questions.

[takapa]

Best question from my perspective as a candidate many years ago: "What can we do to bring you here?"
Best question from a now long tenured perspective looking back: "You have some interesting findings (from my earlier research), how might you turn those into things that will actually help people?" Have spent years trying to answer that question and actually make a difference!

[mdwlark]

Not to go all pedantic or anything, but "irregardless" is not a word.  The word should be either "regardless" or "irrespective." 

[temporaryname]

How would you react to people who went after you for using "irregardless" in a faculty meeting?

No, wait, that wasn't it--though it'd be an interesting one.

My serious answer: How did you get into [name of my small, rather niche discipline]? with a followup: How would you get students excited about it, too?

[mdwlark]

How would you react to people who went after you for using "irregardless" in a faculty meeting?

No, wait, that wasn't it--though it'd be an interesting one.

My serious answer: How did you get into [name of my small, rather niche discipline]? with a followup: How would you get students excited about it, too?

I got asked your serious question (#2) with the followup in a campus interview, dvf.  It was my first campus interview and I didn't handle it very well.

My serious question, asked by another SC member when I was on a SC for a nonacademic position:  In what way are you still growing as a professional?  Our first candidate answered, "Well, I think I have already arrived."  That told us everything we wanted to know about him.  Our other candidates came up with really interesting answers. 

[sequoia_sun]

Not to go all pedantic or anything, but "irregardless" is not a word.  The word should be either "regardless" or "irrespective." 

ir⋅re⋅gard⋅less  /ˌɪrɪˈgɑrdlɪs/  Show Spelled Pronunciation [ir-i-gahrd-lis]  Show IPA
Use irregardless in a Sentence
See web results for irregardless
See images of irregardless
–adverb Nonstandard. regardless. 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Origin:
1910–15; ir- 2 (prob. after irrespective) + regardless


Usage note:
Irregardless is considered nonstandard because of the two negative elements ir- and -less. It was probably formed on the analogy of such words as irrespective, irrelevant, and irreparable. Those who use it, including on occasion educated speakers, may do so from a desire to add emphasis. Irregardless first appeared in the early 20th century and was perhaps popularized by its use in a comic radio program of the 1930s.

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Besides all that, perhaps I am showing my age?  Irrespective of the irrevelance of the situation, my linguistic idiosyncratic usage if irregardless is indeed irreparable.

[prytania3]

How are you going to live in this expensive area on what we're going to pay you?

I'll never forget that question.

[sequoia_sun]

How are you going to live in this expensive area on what we're going to pay you?

I'll never forget that question.

I wish they had asked me that one!

[history_grrrl]

Alas, it's the question I bombed at a convention interview for a job at a very sexy R1:

"How would you teach the historiography of [your broad field] to a class of first-year graduate students?"

I was fully prepared to discuss how I would teach the history of [my broad field] to a class of undergraduates, but this one? Hell, no. A great question, though, in my opinion.

[t_r_b]

"Why do you want to teach at Way Cool State U?"

On my first interview, that was the first question, and it completely threw me for a loop. I had a very clear idea of why I wanted to teach there, but had overprepared for questions about my work, and couldn't adjust. It never occurred to me that they might ask me what I thought of THEM. In retrospect, though, it was a great question: "tell us what it is about us that makes you think you'd be happy spending your career here."

[seniorscholar]

Alas, it's the question I bombed at a convention interview for a job at a very sexy R1:

"How would you teach the historiography of [your broad field] to a class of first-year graduate students?"

I was fully prepared to discuss how I would teach the history of [my broad field] to a class of undergraduates, but this one? Hell, no. A great question, though, in my opinion.

We always ask one question about graduate teaching and one about undergraduate teaching, even in a very short interview. An extraordinary number of people stumble over one or the other -- but the worst stumble of all is to answer the two questions of the nature of those you've quoted with exactly the same information. Sorry: you can't use the same books, the same lectures, and the same assignments with undergrads in a course that may fill some gen-ed requirements and with students who have been admitted to a reasonably selective graduate program.

[whizzkid43]

I had a telephone interview at an HBCU where a former classmate of mine worked. When I read the job description I was quite certsain I could do the work. In fact they had four courses of information that I taught in one ( real elementary). Well apparently they coddle their students and even let parents get heavily involved in the grading process to the point of being able to challenge the professor about grades on behalf of their kids. I gave the old "students are adults" answers and that knocked me out of the box. I asked a lot of questions about tenure etc...   I knew as soon as this interview was over that I had not done well. But in hind sight from what I heard about that school, I did not miss out on anything. Bottom line: phone interviews suck because you cannot read their nonverbals.