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[randomlife]

I received details of my upcoming interview in a UK university and had a couple of questions and concerns. I would be very grateful if you guys could help clarify part or all of them.

1) The interview is set on a Friday afternoon. So I guess it would be the only interview session. The selection panel includes Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the faculty, head of department, director of research (dept), director of learning and teaching (faculty), and an HR rep. It didn't mention any details of the interview, e.g. whether there would be a presentation or just Q & A type interview. Would it be able to see from this what the interview process would look like? e.g. multiple candidates answering questions one by one (never been in a situation like this before .. :)? What is the most important thing in such an interview? How should I prepare (I guess I will search this forum for sure)?

1.5) Attire. I guess I couldn't go wrong with a blue suit with a tie?

2) Eligibility to work. In the letter they ask to bring proof of eligibility to work to the interview. They give a whole list of such documents. But I don't see any of them would fit my situation. I'm from a country where everyone requires a visitor visa to even enter the UK and certainly requires a sponsored work permit to be able to work in the UK. In this case, what document should I bring to the interview? A passport with a visitor visa doesn't seem right.

3) Flight. They say they will pay for air fares within the European Union. What does it mean? They know I'm in North America.

4) Hotel. They're booking it for me. Considering the interview is on a single afternoon, does it make sense to ask them book for two nights? The night before and the night after.

5) They don't pay for accompanying spouses expenses. I guess this is just their policy.

Many thanks!

[drspouse]

Best of luck!
1) It would be very unusual not to have a presentation. I'd ask what format your presentation should take. There will then be a Q&A session with you and the scary panel of interviewers. I can remember "why do you want to work here" and "where do you see yourself in 5 years' time" but the rest is a bit of a blur. The presentations may be in the morning (multiple candidates) and the interview in the afternoon.
1.5) Sounds fine

2) HR may have cut and pasted from another letter - check they know you don't have it currently - it does sometimes happen that someone has e.g. a grandparent visa. They'll be applying for it for you if you get the job.

3) Unfortunately this is sometimes the case. You could try and bargain e.g. you can find a flight which is the same cost as a flight from Bulgaria (which IS in the EU) so will they pay for this (or, a flight from Bulgaria is 300 Euros and your flight is 350 so will they pay 300). This is probably a cut and paste job too so worth checking. I had a flight paid from the US but I think there was a maximum limit (which I squeezed under).

4) Given 3) and 1), yes, two nights.

5) I'm not sure anyone does.

[qrypt]

This does sound like an HR drone just sending the standard stuff.  It might work out that there's nothing that can or will be done about the flight issue.  But I would suggest writing to the head of department, so that she/he can ask on your behalf; it would be a waste of time to write to the HR person who contacted you for the interview. 

If there's to be a presentation, it would normally be arranged separately from the interview, directly by the department -- this would be something else to ask the HoD about.  The interview itself will likely last 1/2 an hour -- have a look at earlier threads in this board to get a sense of what it consists of. 

[expatinuk]

I've actually found that the HR folks are pretty knowledgeable about travel and hotel stuff and they are very willing to work with you within the University's rules and regulations.

[scotia]

This does sound like an HR drone just sending the standard stuff.  It might work out that there's nothing that can or will be done about the flight issue.  But I would suggest writing to the head of department, so that she/he can ask on your behalf; it would be a waste of time to write to the HR person who contacted you for the interview. 

This - I am sometimes worried about how little is conveyed to candidates about the restrictions on what universities will reimburse in this cash-strapped times, and sometimes about how little the people conducting the search are told about the restrictions. My experiences of HR have sadly been less positive than expat's.

[87735501111]

UK interviews usually include 1) job talk and 2) panel interview. Expect very standard questions for the interview. You may or may not also have individual meetings. Those are usually a good sign.

The travel/visa thing is worrying. You want to be sure to contact HR and ask a lot of very specific questions. You especially want to make sure that they will indeed sponsor you for a tier 2 visa if you are hired. The UK has cut back on tier 2 visas, so if the university says "we won't sponsor you" that is a very bad sign, because it has become very difficult to get the self-initiated tier 1 visa. There might be a disconnect here, as the department is only supposed to look at your merits, not your visa status, and I'm not sure everyone is quite clued in about the fact that their universities are not sponsoring people. Top universities won't have this problem, but there are some places that explicitly say they won't sponsor people - you can check their HR page to find out if this is the case.

As for travel, you will probably get this reimbursed without difficulty, if slowly. Keep all your receipts. Also, some places have a clause about not reimbursing travel if you are given a job offer and do not accept. Personally, I find this reasonable - it means you are not doing a practice interview. So you want to look for this clause, ask about the travel amounts, and think about your level of seriousness. I'm not sure you can get them to book travel for you though.

[randomlife]

Thank you guys all for your kind responses. I did ask the HoD and got his reply on more details about the interview.

It's been confirmed that there will be only one interview session, which will last for 45 minutes. Candidates will be interviewed one to one, not all together. It's also confirmed that it will be of Q&A format on research, career vision, teaching and other stuff. There will be no presentation. This seems to be a panel interview (as 87735501111 said). The selection panel consists of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the faculty, head of department, director of research (dept), director of learning and teaching (faculty), and an HR rep, as I mentioned in the original post.

Question: Although there is no presentation, would I be allowed to use slides+projector to support my answers to certain research/teaching/funding questions?

Moreover, the HoD saids he would be happy to arrange for me to meet with some staff members in the department. He emphasized that the decision will be made based on the CV, presentation(which is a skype presentation I did earlier), and interview. The decision will be made on the following Monday, although he also said I would be advised at the end of interview.

Question: I'm not sure what this means though? Would they tell every candidate at the end of the interview whether or not he or she is likely to get an offer?

Considering this level of detail, could you guys give some more comments on what would be the most efficient way to prepare for such an interview?

Many thanks!

PS: I really don't care about reimbursement much anymore as long as I get the offer ;)

[scotia]

Question: Although there is no presentation, would I be allowed to use slides+projector to support my answers to certain research/teaching/funding questions?

I would find such a request strange for a UK panel interview - in my field you should be able to answer questions about your research and teaching without having to resort to visual aids and technology, though I suppose this might vary according to discipline. Bear in mind that there are likely to be people on your panel who are not experts in your area and you need to be able to convince them as well as the experts in your field. This means that you should be able to explain things without resorting to a lot of subject-specific jargon.

Question: I'm not sure what this means though? Would they tell every candidate at the end of the interview whether or not he or she is likely to get an offer?

I have never seen an interview panel tell the candidate what the decision is there and then, particularly when Monday has been named as decision day. I suspect what the chair means is that the timeline for the decision will be explained at the end of the interview. We usually do not have time between candidates to have anything more than a perfunctory discussion before the next candidate is wheeled in (one of the things you should be prepared for is to run into other candidates).

Considering this level of detail, could you guys give some more comments on what would be the most efficient way to prepare for such an interview?

The best advice I can give here is to have an understanding of how UK HE (higher education) works and to be able to phrase your answers so that you look as though you see yourself working in the UK, not some outpost of the USA. There are lots of threads around here on UK interviews, and UK HE issues and you could do a lot worse than read through those. Also, take a look at the 'Education' section on the BBC and at the Times Higher Education website to see what is happening at a macro level. Having sat on interview panels where we have had overseas candidates, while I don't expect such candidates to have a complete knowledge of the system, I do expect them to understand basic things like the REF and broadly how teaching is structured (we do things like 'resits', often have team teaching of courses, and do not have things like extra credit).

We don't expect you to say precisely which courses/modules (classes) you will teach, but at least be aware of the types of courses taught and how you might complement and contribute (see comment on team teaching) to this offering. In my experience many candidates sink themselves by not having looked at how their research and teaching would fits with what is already happening in the department. It is important to be willing, for example, to join the team teaching a first year survey course and to accept that you may end up being asked to contribute to existing courses rather than simply being allocated 'your' courses in your specific narrow expertise: a lot of hiring here is to replace people who have left, and we may need to continue to offer some courses.

These are some ideas (and the product of insomnia, so may not be as comprehensible as they should be). The most important thing I would say is don't obsess. There is no tenure system in the UK, though we do have probation, so we are not usually looking for a perfect lifetime fit, but rather for someone who will make a good contribution to the department and university, and who will be a pleasant and committed colleague.

[totoro]

No, you can't show slides in the panel interview. You already did your presentation as you said. I have been made an offer immediately after the interview in a couple of cases in Australia. But if they said Monday, then it is Monday (unless they can't agree on Monday or something else comes up).

[randomlife]

These are some ideas (and the product of insomnia, so may not be as comprehensible as they should be). The most important thing I would say is don't obsess. There is no tenure system in the UK, though we do have probation, so we are not usually looking for a perfect lifetime fit, but rather for someone who will make a good contribution to the department and university, and who will be a pleasant and committed colleague.

Thanks so much, scotia, for your detailed advice. I don't quite follow this paragraph though. Can you please elaborate a little more why not being obsessed is important in an interview? Does it mean I should relax and behave myself? I'm sure I can be a pleasant and committed colleague, but I'm not sure what is the right way to show this in an interview. After all, this is actually my first onsite interview.

[randomlife]

No, you can't show slides in the panel interview. You already did your presentation as you said. I have been made an offer immediately after the interview in a couple of cases in Australia. But if they said Monday, then it is Monday (unless they can't agree on Monday or something else comes up).

thanks totoro. Now I will focus on practicing how to verbally convey my research & teaching to both experts and non-experts without using slides :) I most likely will spend the weekend in the UK. So hear the decision on Monday is actually not bad.

[randomlife]

These are some ideas (and the product of insomnia, so may not be as comprehensible as they should be). The most important thing I would say is don't obsess. There is no tenure system in the UK, though we do have probation, so we are not usually looking for a perfect lifetime fit, but rather for someone who will make a good contribution to the department and university, and who will be a pleasant and committed colleague.

Thanks so much, scotia, for your detailed advice. I don't quite follow this paragraph though. Can you please elaborate a little more why not being obsessed is important in an interview? Does it mean I should relax and behave myself? I'm sure I can be a pleasant and committed colleague, but I'm not sure what is the right way to show this in an interview. After all, this is actually my first onsite interview.

Actually what exactly does being obsessed mean? Does it mean caring about the position too much? Please pardon my ignorance...

[87735501111]

Um, don't be weird in the panel. Be convivial.

For questions to prepare for - take a look back at the original job ad. Many of these have the specific areas upon which you will be evaluated, designated in terms of application / interview and essential / desired.

If the ad didn't have these, you should do some looking up of standard UK job questions, such as the following.
1. Which modules could you teach?
2. How will you adjust your teaching style to the UK expectations?
3. What research will you have prepared in time for the RAE?
4. What are your publication targets?
And so forth. I think there are a few sets of questions in the advice section of jobs.ac.uk.

Also, what I meant above about interviewing together was not that you would be in the same room while having your panel session, but you might have a nice awkward lunch that day, together with faculty AND the other candidates. I just tell myself that is just like going out with some people during a conference, because if you think about it too much, it will feel strange. You lose nothing by being nice to the other candidates.

[tinyzombie]

These are some ideas (and the product of insomnia, so may not be as comprehensible as they should be). The most important thing I would say is don't obsess. There is no tenure system in the UK, though we do have probation, so we are not usually looking for a perfect lifetime fit, but rather for someone who will make a good contribution to the department and university, and who will be a pleasant and committed colleague.

Thanks so much, scotia, for your detailed advice. I don't quite follow this paragraph though. Can you please elaborate a little more why not being obsessed is important in an interview? Does it mean I should relax and behave myself? I'm sure I can be a pleasant and committed colleague, but I'm not sure what is the right way to show this in an interview. After all, this is actually my first onsite interview.

Actually what exactly does being obsessed mean? Does it mean caring about the position too much? Please pardon my ignorance...

For the love of G-d, do not mention "caring about the position too much."

[scotia]

These are some ideas (and the product of insomnia, so may not be as comprehensible as they should be). The most important thing I would say is don't obsess. There is no tenure system in the UK, though we do have probation, so we are not usually looking for a perfect lifetime fit, but rather for someone who will make a good contribution to the department and university, and who will be a pleasant and committed colleague.

Thanks so much, scotia, for your detailed advice. I don't quite follow this paragraph though. Can you please elaborate a little more why not being obsessed is important in an interview? Does it mean I should relax and behave myself? I'm sure I can be a pleasant and committed colleague, but I'm not sure what is the right way to show this in an interview. After all, this is actually my first onsite interview.

Sorry. I did warn you I had a problem with insomnia....

The answer to the bolded question is 'yes'. Coming across as pleasant and committed is, in my experience, not about what you practice for the interview, or about the specific answers you give, but about your general demeanour. You may be someone who would never dream of starting an argument with a member of the panel (and I am not talking about disagreement among colleagues, I mean argument where you tell a panel member s/he is talking rubbish). Nor would you consider showing up for an interview without having thoroughly researched the institution. In my experience there are others out there who do this. The panel are (mostly - I have some doubts about one dean I have been on a panel with) human and are (with the caveat about said dean) generally trying to give candidates an opportunity to show why they would be good for our department/university.

The obsessing refers to the fact that too many people spend every waking hour trying to second guess what questions will be asked, what does it mean when the letter from HR says Y, if they asked me X does this mean Z? This is time that would be better spent on writing your next article.

Just to update 877.....'s post, the RAE was last time - it has been re-badged as the the REF.