0.3 How to stand out in the interview

You've gotten the phone call

Congratulations!

A committee has judged you as a potential good fit.

The interview is your chance to seal the deal.

• Lots of details arranging a visit.
• Have a calendar at hand.
• Being asked to interview first may be a very good sign.
• If you are fortunate enough to be asked by several institutions to visit, think carefully about conflicts.
• What if you interview on Jan 8 and get an offer good for two weeks, and your first choice interview is on Feb 12? (You can only say “yes" once.)

What is going on behind the scene?

• A search committee has selected 3-4 candidates.
• The entire faculty agrees.
• The chair calls the candidates and schedules visits.
• An itinerary is constructed for each candidate.
• The interview occurs.
• The chair and search committee re-evaluate the candidates. A recommendation to the department is composed.
• The department votes to make an offer.
• The Dean must sign off
• You get the call.

Start your preparations

Putting together your talk is the most important item. Emilia Morosan will tell you how, in a few minutes.

• Preparation (and practice) are key.
• You may meet fifteen or twenty faculty.
• You may have one-on-one interviews with
  • Department chair
  • Dean of the School
  • Ten senior faculty (and junior faculty)
  • A selection of graduate students
• Read everything you can about the department.

How should you prepare to meet faculty?

Focus your attention on the Chair and on key faculty in your research area.

• Read CV's carefully and thoroughly.
• The conversation will not just be about your thesis research.
• How will you complement the department's current work?
• What new area(s) of expertise will you offer?
• Read several papers by these faculty. You can suggest possible collaborations. You can ask probing questions.
• Do not be passive or overly deferential. You are not a graduate student, but a faculty candidate!

What should you expect?

• Some faculty will view their role as educating (“selling") you about the department, the university, and the town.
• Some faculty will focus on your teaching interests, and curriculum development.
• Some faculty will probe your understanding of the "big picture." What directions interest you? What do you plan to undertake in the next ten years? (Hard)
• Some faculty will ask probing questions about your research.
• Have answers ready! Ask for clarification rather than ramble. It is OK to say “I don't know," or qualify your answer.

Prepare your questions

You do not want to leave after two days uncertain if you would take the job if offered. You should ask about

• the tenure process
• teaching expectations (and load)
• how I will fit in
• research/publication expectations (which journals?)
• external funding expectations
• startup benefits (lab, reduced teaching)
• would it be OK if I write a large software package

The generational issue

The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2014

Most students entering college for the first time this fall–the Class of 2014–were born in 1992.

For these students, Benny Hill, Sam Kinison, Sam Walton, Bert Parks and Tony Perkins have always been dead.

• Few in the class know how to write in cursive
• Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail
• "Go West, Young College Grad" has always implied "and don't stop until you get to Asia…and learn Chinese along the way."
• Al Gore has always been animated.
• Los Angelenos have always been trying to get along.
• Buffy has always been meeting her obligations to hunt down Lothos and the other blood-suckers at Hemery High.
• "Caramel macchiato" and "venti half-caf vanilla latte" have always been street corner lingo
• With increasing numbers of ramps, Braille signs, and handicapped parking spaces, the world has always been trying harder disabilities
• Had it remained operational, the villainous computer HAL could be their college classmate this fall, but they have a better c folks on Parents' Weekend.
• Entering college this fall in a country where a quarter of young people under 18 have at least one immigrant parent, they involves "real" aliens from another planet.
• John McEnroe has never played professional tennis.
• Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry

Seriously, does it matter?

The interview does not end with interviews and your talk. Conversations at meals/receptions are just as important.

• You probably have been incredibly busy with your research and writing.
• You may have given up reading the newspaper or watching TV news.
• You need a crash course on current events.
• It is OK not to know which TV series Clint Eastwood was in: Wagon Train , Rawhide , or Gunsmoke .
• It is not OK to have nothing to offer on current events.
• Be prepared to engage in a conversation about hobbies/activities you enjoy. The total package.

As the interview ends

• Typically, you will have a final meeting with the Department Chair
• “Do you have any last questions?”
• Don't be disappointed if the signals are ambiguous
• “We'll be in touch.”
• It is appropriate to express your appreciation of all the work and time spent on your interview.
• If someone drives you to the airport, keep the conversation going. “I was very impressed by the questions the graduate students made...”

After the interview

• A thank you note to the Department Chair is a good idea.
• If you promised Professor X a copy of your paper, be sure to follow through.
• (Keep notes. You will be completely exhausted by the end and your memory may blur important details.)
• Think critically about what you learned during the interview.
• If during a later interview, you realize you did not cover a particular topic, you can contact the Chair.
• Or maybe you should wait for “the phone call."
• Good Luck!