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[canuckois]

My search fu is weak, so perhaps this has been covered in previous threads - if so, apologies.

I'm heading to a campus interview shortly, and I am scheduled to spend an hour meeting with graduate students.  My other scheduled meetings with undergrads are shorter and much easier to handle, but for some reason I'm kind of blanking on what to do for an hour with grad students.  I plan to ask them their impressions of the department and mention some of the things I'd like to teach.....but I have nightmare visions of that all lasting 25 minutes and excruciating awkwardness following.

Any brilliant ideas from those more creative than myself?

[sugaree]

Ask them what they're studying. You can then impress them with potential references or tangentially-related work that you wonder if they've looked at? Grad students don't know what the hell they're talking about anyway (or, at least I didn't - probably still don't), but LOVE to talk about what got them so keen on grad study in the first place.

[ls410]

What types of classes they'd like to see offered.  That question helped someone get a job at my grad institution.  And remember that at many schools grad students have a say in the hiring decision (either informal chats around the department or actual votes).

[watermarkup]

The grad students may well want affirmation about their choice to pursue a Ph.D. at that particular institution. Even if the truth is that you'd take a job anywhere with an opening in your specialty, they might be less aware than faculty members of how the world works. So prepare to tell them what makes their program absolutely wonderful, indeed second to none.

[scampster]

What you shouldn't do when visiting a university in flyover country is mention how much you love living on the coasts and how happy you are in your current position.

(One candidate did that, obviously letting his/her guard down with students.)

I pretty much went to all the grad student meet and greets with prospective faculty. They inevitably descend into boringness and awkward silence. Asking about what classes they would like to see taught is a good one as is asking about their research and who they work with. Also why they came there - this is good info for you to know so you might see how easy/hard recruiting students will be. Worst case, you can talk about the weather and what there is to do in town (especially if you are young-ish). You should expect to be the one keeping the conversation flowing, even though there might be a student or two who will step up to the plate and be proactive about asking you questions.

I always think an hour is waaaay too long for these events, but they always seem to be scheduled for that long. Then you add the crew of students who just come for the free food and there is this silent majority that sits in the corner eating while a few students talk.

One thing I always found interesting was the split between grad students who had done their undergrads at my school and those that came in from outside. The ones who stayed on want you to say how excellent the undergrad and grad programs are, whereas the ones with perspective of other schools want you to say how you can make positive changes in the grad program.

I was in engineering in a top 40 R1. When we were interviewing a new department head, this one dude started talking about how great the program was and how our grads were WAAAAY better than MIT because MIT grads don't know how to do any real engineering. While we are never going to be MIT and we shouldn't strive for that, it sounded so pandering that I wanted to throw up. But those students who went through from their undergrads ate that crap up. Fortunately, they didn't hire that guy.

[shrubbery]

I can't say I'm the average graduate student, so take this with a grain of salt.  I always appreciate it when a job candidate shows that they both understand what it's like to be in graduate school AND has ideas for helping us to build our careers.  In other words, discuss more than which courses you might teach.  Would you like to help graduate students organize a conference and invite a big-shot speaker?  Would you like to hold a monthly workshop aimed at assisting graduate students to turn their research papers into article drafts?  Do you want to help grad students submit conference panels/papers that will make a splash and look great on a C.V.?

To be frank, there's a very selfish question here.  Beyond the courses you'd teach, how would YOU help ME?  What difference will it make to the average grad student that you are in the department?

For me, showing actual investment in graduate students and a desire to mentor them and help them professionalize always earns very big points at these meetings.  On one occasion, I kept asking a candidate the above questions (in different, tactful ways) and their only answer was "I will teach courses on my specialty and I want to encourage graduate students to study my niche specialty and I really want to see more people in the field studying what I study."  Basically, if I didn't study exactly what the candidate studied (which I didn't), there was ZERO reason to support said candidate.  So I wrote to the SC in support of a different candidate.

[ravioli]

To be frank, there's a very selfish question here.  Beyond the courses you'd teach, how would YOU help ME?  What difference will it make to the average grad student that you are in the department?

I second this and I think that this makes the biggest impression on grad students.  Are you interested in us???  I don't think it's selfish, rather, grad students have their own interests in the search, which can be different from the faculty, and this is their chance to express them.  When I have served on the grad student portion of the committee, we have always been impressed by candidates who:

1) Showed genuine interest in our work, not just listening to our spiels but asking questions
2) Had concrete ideas about courses, mentoring, and advancing students (including things like how to get specific funding etc.)  
3) Showed interest in working outside their specific field (esp. if it's the first time we are hiring in a field, where the new person initially won't have their own grad students)
4) Were people who we wanted around.  We did not like the candidate that badmouthed their current school.  Or the candidate that complained about how he was "forced" to use certain materials that he considered inferior when one of the students used those materials at the center of their research.  Negativity gets you nowhere.  
5) Really listened to what we thought of the department, remembered what it was like to be a grad student, and didn't talk down to us.

Ultimately, I think it boils down to a few key things.  Ask good questions (there are good suggestions above - why people chose their topic, their school, what they like about the department, what they would like to see improved, what classes they would like, how they see you fitting in).  Really listen to the answers.  Follow up on the answers.  Find ways to show grad students that you will make the department better for them.  Having participated in four of these meetings, I have to say that being open, friendly, and treating this meeting as helpful (rather than expecting it to degenerate into awkwardness) makes a big difference in helping the meeting to become a real conversation.

[graine]

Be prepared to meet with advanced grad students - possibly even ABDs on the market this year - where talk of classes they'd like won't get you very far (sometimes due to scheduling most of the class-taking students are in classes).  When I was dissertation writing, I got pulled into many of these meetings to make up numbers, and it threw a number of candidates when we didn't care much about the intro-level classes they wanted to tell us about.

If it's after your job talk, you might get some follow up questions that they didn't have the opportunity to ask, so be prepared to explain further. If before, be prepared to summarize your research area - they may not have seen you c.v. or any application materials.

Don't make the mistake of letting your guard down, especially if you're currently ABD, or a recent grad. The grad students aren't your friends - and if you get the job, aren't going to be your friends. Unless there's a vocal student in charge of the session, be prepared to organize the meeting, maybe in the same manner you'd use to lead a seminar.  It works well to ask everyone (assuming it's a small-ish group) to introduce themselves and tell you their research area, stage of their degree and advisers.  You can then open to questions that they have, or ask them about what they'd like to see in this new hire - what sort of research agenda or teaching could be brought to their program - what the research & library support is like, what sort of conferences they attend etc.

Questions you might get asked:
What your ideal advising relationship is like / what sort of adviser will you be? (or sometimes, what was your adviser like -as said below, be polite)
How would you organize your lab/how do you see students fitting into your research program/how would you delegate?
Have you received any grants, where will you apply for grants in the future?
What's the next step for your research?

Treat this no differently from other parts of your interview, and you should be fine.

[pink_]

The candidates who crashed and burned this part of the interview when I was in grad school were those who:
a) Showed up late, didn't apologize, and treated that hour as a waste of their time
b) talked about themselves for an hour straight
c) talked to the grad students as if they (the grad students) were still undergrads
d) talked to the grad students as if they (the candidates) were still a grad student themselves.

Those who did well were genuinely interested in having the conversation with current students.  They asked about our work, they asked what we liked about the program.  They asked about what it was like to be a member of the department.  They asked about what kinds of courses e would like to see offered.  They asked about our teaching load and responsibilities.  In short, they treated us with respect and were truly interested in what we had to say.  They took us seriously and didn't want to just "get the dirt" or see that hour as a chance to let their hair down.

[the_honey_badger]

The candidates who crashed and burned this part of the interview when I was in grad school were those who:
a) Showed up late, didn't apologize, and treated that hour as a waste of their time
b) talked about themselves for an hour straight
c) talked to the grad students as if they (the grad students) were still undergrads
d) talked to the grad students as if they (the candidates) were still a grad student themselves.

Those who did well were genuinely interested in having the conversation with current students.  They asked about our work, they asked what we liked about the program.  They asked about what it was like to be a member of the department.  They asked about what kinds of courses e would like to see offered.  They asked about our teaching load and responsibilities.  In short, they treated us with respect and were truly interested in what we had to say.  They took us seriously and didn't want to just "get the dirt" or see that hour as a chance to let their hair down.

+1 on all of this both when I was a grad student and (worse) in current R-2 Tenure University:

Key to a successful presentation was not only a sense the person was imagining him/herself in a job at *this* school but asking or responding to comments in that manner.   The worst thing I saw (and more than once) was the clear message that the candidate thought grad students at Interview University were so far beneath those at his own grad program to be laughable.   This included asking students at the meeting "why you bothered going to so low ranked a school?"  Asking "do any of you people actually get interviews?"  Telling students not to worry, "I won't expect you to do a reading load in seminar like we did at My University---I'll adjust it for you so don't be intimidated!"  And on and on.  They were completely oblivious to what they were actually saying.

In the "don't let your hair down..." area, ABD candidates in particular often fall into this trap.  Asking students "why X is so weird?"  Joking with them about an eccentric-seeming faculty member.  Criticizing the department or some aspect of the interview.  Trying to determine if this meeting "really matters?"  And, asking about department politics.  Usually its too much identification with the grad students as peers. One memorable guy only wanted to know "where do you go drinking?" in (reportedly) various questions.  The grad students thought he was either a drunk or "wanted to look cool."  Whatever his reasons, he didn't impress anyone.

BTW, the hour usually goes faster than you think. Get everyone to intro themselves with field interests, make a comment on the topic and that can eat up time right there. Then ask what they like about the program and what they might like to see added---not "what is wrong?" but "what else would you like to see added?"   Every grad student can come up with something they want done differently and will tell you at length.

[marigolds]

At our school, people drift in and out, so you wouldn't be talking to the same students for an hour.

And it is usually the more advanced students, so if you get them started talking about their dissertations and tell them how interesting the topics are, you should be fine.

(We're mostly checking to see if people have two heads or smell funny, anyhow.  As long as you're moderately socially competent and aren't a HUGE JACKASS [see the multiple ways listed above that could contribute to the perception of jackassery], you should be fine.)    

[canuckois]

Great advice, everyone - thank you.  I especially appreciate hearing from current grad students.  I suppose I knew a lot of this already, but it's tremendously helpful to have it articulated by others.

[apollo]

AWESOME thread.  I met with a couple of students at my last interview, but it was done with their faculty mentors (as part of small meetings with faculty of various research interest groups), so they didn't get to talk about a lot of what grad students might want to talk about. 
My upcoming interview has a scheduled "informal lunch" with grad students.  This thread is gold, I tell ya...GOLD!  Thanks everyone.

[sheprof]

I just went through this myself. I actually found this part of the meeting to be one of the more enjoyable parts of the interview because I could be more relaxed. I just tried to connect with them by asking about their research, why they chose to attend the program they're in, what they'd do to improve the program, and what they like about attending their school. They asked me about my own graduate experience and how that has shaped my philosophy about mentoring. Additionally, several were interested in my area of specialty and asked about to what degree I'd be willing to work with them right off the bat. All in all, it was a very pleasant conversation where I tried to get to know each of them and make sure they knew how committed I am as a mentor. Good luck!

[ravioli]

Thinking more about this, I think that it would also behoove you to think seriously about funding before this meeting (I am in the humanities so funding is almost always an issue).  All the current financial problems in academia also affect grad students, magnifying what is already a constant concern.  Unless you know all the grad students are guaranteed funding (and even if they are) you might consider asking about how students are funded and coming with some ideas about where they can get funding - grants, fellowships, outside programs etc.  Knowing about funding issues - and having some ideas about how to help with them - would be something that many grad students would appreciate.  Even better, this shows that you would be hands on in helping students find outside funding.