Who would you work with here?” I had already done extensive research on every faculty member before an interview, even those not in my field of astronomy. What goals do you have for your research/funding/teaching?” Pretty standard, but good to have specific ideas about how your research/teaching might develop. Get all the details. Really think about where and with what phone you will do the interview with. Let them know when you'll finish, if you have a defense date and time scheduled, et cetera. “Where is the department going in the next few years?” Always fun to turn this question back around on the hirers. “How will you involve students, grads and undergrads, in your. Prepare your space, and prepare yourself, for the interview. Every year graduate students, recent graduates, and postdocs to make the rounds on the academic job interview circuit.When you're looking for a faculty position at a college or university in this difficult academic job market, it's easy to forget that your job … 2. 248 Telephone Interviewer jobs available on Indeed.com. I realize that Ph.D. advisors should provide this type of coaching, but they don't always do it...and some haven't been on the job … Career advice for academics and researchers. You can follow her on twitter at @aristotlejulep. Make sure that the search committee knows that you WILL have your dissertation finished. On the off-chance that they might be helpful generally, I’ve described them below. I understand your spouse is also seeking a tenure-track position. Practice, practice, and practice. The campus interview … 3. How do you feel about living in a small college town like this (in an isolated rural area, etc.)? Here are some tips for having a successful phone interview… Phone interview questions with example answers. The phone interview can be disorienting, distracting, and nerve-wracking, but it also can be an interesting chance to discuss your work with a group of scholars who are interested in knowing more about you. Practice while you're in the shower, while you're getting dressed in the morning, while you're driving, while you're on the treadmill. Script. A Blog from GradHacker and MATRIX: The Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online. If a company has a lot of great-on-paper applicants for a single position, phone interviews … Even if you think you can talk well off-the-cuff, you should script anyway, because when the actual interview happens, you'll need a backup in case you blank out, lose your train of thought, get a question you're not prepared for, et cetera. “How many students are there in the department? 1. Happy Holidays. When search committee members ask you a question that you haven't rehearsed for or that seems to come out of left field, find a way to redirect without dodging the question. I am currently in the agonizing period shortly after an academic job interview at a regional research school and I'm trying to analyze the day to estimate my chances of getting an offer. Find a path that you can take back to the answer you've prepared, and practice getting to that answer from various points of view. I could imagine that being asked by the interviewers or it might be a good question for an interviewee to ask to gauge a department’s commitment to equity issues. While the format of the interview might not be the same for graduate students in every discipline, I believe the advice translates well across different kinds of programs and jobs. I didn’t read the answers verbatim, but the notes were extremely helpful for keeping my answers concise. Academic Advisor Interview Questions. Did I mention you should script? Let us know in the comments below. Academic Job Interview 14 Questions about marital/family status, religion, etc. Again, practice. In my discipline, rhetoric and composition, phone interviews generally happen after a candidate has applied for a job and responded to a request for more materials from an interested program. What did you think of your academic advisor when you were an undergraduate student? Joining the Boise State Planetary Science Research Group, The Short Period Planets Group — S(u)PerP(i)G, a huge fraction of human communicative bandwidth, https://twitter.com/lkreidberg/status/1070389734432743424, Exploring the Universe from the Classroom, Borah High School Career Fair – 2021 Jan 26, Third Thursday Planetarium Show – 2021 Jan 21, First Friday Astronomy – How To Talk So Science Journalists Will Listen – 2021 Feb 5, First Friday Astronomy – The Discovery of Neptune – 2021 Jan 1, CA State University Sacramento Geology – 2020 Dec 1. Find a place that you won't be disturbed for at least an hour--this could be your office, or the office of a colleague or mentor. Why are you applying for this position? If you are on the academic job market, particularly in the fields of environmental studies/geography, I would be happy to share tips and questions from phone and on-campus interviews. Overall the interview seemed to go well. If you're on the academic job market this fall, chances are you will soon be facing the prospect of a phone interview. This can be a good thing or a bad thing for your own chances, but you should not allow the results of your job search to dictate your sense of self-worth. – "If you're concerned that I won't be able to perform the duties of the job… Not that you’ll work with them, but unless you’re interviewing with a department that specializes in exactly your field, you’ll probably have some folks from different fields involved with your interviews. Print all your interview materials out so that you're not goofing around and typing when you're being interviewed--this is especially important when on a Skype call. Research the company/institution; Research the program and the department; Research the biographies and published works of the people who will interview … If you’ve made it through … “How would you fit into this town?” Especially important if you’re. For myself, I was fortunate to have lots of support from family, friends, and colleagues, but the academic job search was excruciating. Website and in the Academic Job Search Handbook •Do a mock interview Set up a 1-hour mock interview with a career advisor (schedule through Handshake or call 215-898-7530) Utilize Interviewstream –it is a great way to practice a video-conference interview … What this means is that before they narrow down applicants to the top three prospective candidates to be invited for the onsite interview, they conduct initial interviews over the phone … What happens to them after they graduate?”, “What is there to do around town?/What’s the town like?”, “How does the department fit in at the university? This Year, King Couldn’t Give a King Day Speech, Educating Future Law Enforcement Officers, Call to Action: Marketing and Communications in Higher Education, From the Rise of the CMO to the Reach of the CMO, The Ph.D. Student and the Alternative-Academic. Usually, the phone interview involves being asked a series of questions (sometimes scripted) from members of the hiring committee at the department to which you’ve applied. OR   Why are you interested in working at our campus? The talk was fine and the one on one interviews … The illustrious Laura Kreidberg (https://twitter.com/lkreidberg/status/1070389734432743424) suggested adding the question “How would you support students from diverse backgrounds and encourage inclusion in the dept?”. 2. Some Typical Academic Interview Questions Carol Ormand adapted the questions below from a list of interview questions compiled by Heppner & Downing in conjunction with following journal article: Heppner, P. & Downing, N. (1982) Job … Make sure to read their website before hand. Sample Interview Questions for Faculty Candidates To help facilitate the search process, the Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and the Office of Academic Personnel have compiled a list of questions that faculty might use during telephone and/or on-campus interviews… It makes sense to ask this question right off the bat … So practice. The phone interview … Scripting is the best preparation one can do for a job interview, because it allows you to be in control of what you say. Usually, the phone interview involves being asked a series of questions (sometimes scripted) from members of the hiring committee at the department to which you’ve applied. Most universities will shortlist the applications to between 5 – 20% for further evaluation, which usually includes two types of interviews: first, a remote interview (via phone … Script, script, script. Answer tip: You should be able to answer this clearly and concisely (aim for three minutes max. The main goal of a phone interview is usually to see if you meet certain requirements and would likely be a good fit for the job—or at least for the next round. … “Why do you want to work here?” I tried to mention specific things about the school and department, not just answer “because you’re hiring”. Try to mention stuff from it. Some academic libraries may contact you for a telephone interview. 3. Have a backup phone … What follows is the best advice my mentors have offered me about phone interviews. If this is a Skype or other video interview, make sure that the space you've chosen to be interviewed in is reasonably clean and tidy. I found that I often struggled to come up with good answers on-the-fly, so, after a few poor performances, I wrote up answers to questions I’d gotten in previous interviews … Practice talking about your research with mentors, with friends, with family, with your pets. What if you receive job 6. Better candidates will do better on average than those with less to offer; but as any statistician will tell you, averages tell you nothing about the specific dynamics of a single instance. Speak at a relaxed pace and pause often. In this video, Kevin Currie-Knight offers advice on preparing for academic job interviews, both by phone and on-campus. You will typically talk to many faculty … The interviewer is wondering if perhaps you were influenced by the career path of academic … Usually the process of getting a faculty position involves a series of interviews, and among them, the phone interview was particularly stressful for me because it often lacked the non-verbal channel that constitutes a huge fraction of human communicative bandwidth — there’s nothing worse than interrupting one of your interviewers while they’re still trying to get a question out. Most people know you can’t know exactly, but they’ll be interested in your broad vision. 5. 4. Also, pauses are valuable, and they give you space to ask the committee if they would like to know more about particular points. Don't prattle on indiscriminately. What about the job description attracted you to this position? Direct the interview as much as you can. Articles include balancing teaching and research, integrating research activity and impact, interviews (including body language mistakes) academic CVs, job … The search committee will be analyzing your answers to determine how close you are to being finished, and you want to convince them that you're there. Try to be up-beat but professional. Be honest, but never, ever, ever, under any circumstances indicate that you somehow aren't close to being done. In my last post, I covered the initial steps of applying for academic faculty jobs, basically preparing and submitting the application material to the universities. If you have more than one job offer, how will you decide among offers? Make sure you leave space for the search committee to get their words in if they need to go back to questioning. Remember that your interview … Share your thoughts ». “How will you balance teaching and research?” I got asked this one a lot, and it’s especially important to have an answer if you haven’t done much teaching before. Be the first to know.Get our free daily newsletter. Re-read the job ad. Describe yourself. Julie Platt is a PhD candidate in Rhetoric and Writing at Michigan State University and a permanent author at GradHacker. I found it very easy to ramble on, trying to find the words you think the committee is looking for. “What are your public outreach plans?” In my case as an astronomer, I looked up and contacted local amateur astronomical societies to ask about what they were up to and how I might help if I came to town. If you’re still reading these posts after part one (getting the interview) and part two (the phone interview), then chances are that you’re (at least) hopeful that you’ll get an on-campus interview. It is of paramount importance in a phone and Skype interview, which are rarely more than 20-30 minutes long, and which do not have the benefit of real human interaction and non-verbal cue … Guide to Answering Academic Job Interview Questions 1) Please discuss your dissertation/current research project. To say getting a job in academia is difficult is an understatement — a recent study showed something like one in 8 PhDs will manage to find a faculty position. Calling people by name during the interview can make you seem all that much more poised and calm. A quite office with a land line usually works best. In my discipline, rhetoric and composition, phone interviews generally happen after a candidate has applied for a job and responded to a request for more materials from an interested program. In my discipline, rhetoric and composition, phone interviews generally happen after a candidate has applied for a job and responded to a request for more materials from an interested program. So here are the 10 questions you should ask in an academic interview: Do Your Homework. Get your assurance points in. All the time that you put in to practicing your script will make you seem that much more poised and relaxed in when the actual interview happens. In prepping for my phone interviews, I came up with a few strategies that I’ve recently shared with friends who are currently applying for jobs. to begin with; if the committee has questions, they'll ask them). Once you have seen in it from the inside, any illusions that the academic job search is a wholly rational process designed to yield the best candidate for the position are burst asunder. So make sure you are prepared to talk about a few things: your dissertation research, your teaching, and your research trajectory (aka the "where will you be in five years" question). “What classes could you teach?” For this question, I sifted through the course catalog so I could point to specific classes they already offered before suggesting new ones, but good chance they’ll ask about both kinds. 1. Try to be on a land line if you can, since cell phone signals can be unreliable. Tell me about yourself/Tell me about your background. 4. 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You don't have to memorize your script word for word, but you should know it well enough that you can talk about your research and teaching in a number of different ways, depending on the questions that the search committee asks you. This is especially important if you're on a phone interview and several people have dialed in for a conference call--simple clarity can be an issue, so you'll want to make sure you don't speak too quickly, even if you're nervous. Preparing for Academic Interviews . You should also have questions for the hiring committee: If you’ve got any comments or corrections, please pass them along. How supportive is the university of the department?”, “Does the university and department have relationships or collaborations with other nearby schools?”, “What is the timeline for hiring decisions?”. You can answer You can answer by saying it won’t interfere with doing the job – “I can definitely work the hours required?" Apply to Telephone Interviewer, Interviewer, Research Interviewer and more! 1. Fortunately, the overall unemployment rate among STEM PhDs is low, less than 2%, so there’s lots of good alternatives. Recruiters and hiring managers will likely start a phone interview by asking about your ... 2. Wear something that makes you feel professional--even if the search committee can't see you, it's not wise to do the interview in your pajamas. When you begin preparing for your on-campus interview, make sure you have all … Are you still interested and available for the job? What other advice do you have for the phone interview? I found that I often struggled to come up with good answers on-the-fly, so, after a few poor performances, I wrote up answers to questions I’d gotten in previous interviews or ones I anticipated. … 3. When the call comes, be ready to write down all the names of those on the call, and refer to them during the interview. What to expect in an interview for a faculty position You may be asked to give a job talk about your prior research, a chalk talk about your future research, or a demonstration of your teaching. “How do you think your research program would fit into the department? “What resources will you need to continue your research?” Especially important when I interviewed with smaller places that didn’t have all the resources of a larger place. A part of the job application process for faculty positions in higher education -- and for many other kinds of professional jobs -- is a phone interview. Why do you want this job? “Where do you see yourself in five years? One advantage of a phone interview is that you can use notes to remind you of points you wanted to get across to the committee (and you can take notes on what you’re learning). Interviewing for an academic job via Zoom is still a professional interview. 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