During this brief solo episode, I talk about how to prepare for a first-round faculty interview. I discuss what to expect after submitting your applications and the different types of questions you can prepare for in advance. I also share tips for coming up with your own questions for the search committee and sending thank you emails after the interview.
Transcript
Today I’ll be talking about preparing for first-round, screener interviews for faculty positions. The information I share in this episode is based off of my own experience on the job market. While these first-round interviews can vary, they all seem to have the same types of questions to prepare for.
First, let’s talk about the invite. After you’ve submitted your applications, the waiting game begins. From talking with friends and colleagues, it seems like most universities start scheduling their first round interviews anywhere between 2 and 6 weeks after their application deadline. However, I did experience one case where I applied for an October 30th deadline and wasn’t contacted for a first round interview until late January because the school’s application system had a glitch. So I’d say don’t be surprised if the wait is longer. Especially if the deadline is close to the end of the fall semester. Searches pause over the holidays which delays this process even more.
Typically the search chair will email you an invitation for a virtual first round interview, listing a few possible dates and times to choose from. I did receive one first round interview invite by phone from a search chair so know that could also happen to! But I don’t think that’s very common. They’ll typically give you the length of time for the interview when they reach out which in my experience could be anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. Usually the interview will be conducted by the full search committee or some of the search committee members. If the interview is held virtually, they’re often recorded for members of the search committee to watch later if they couldn’t attend.
After you set the date and time, it’s time to prepare for the interview. The good thing is, once you’ve prepped for one first round interview, there’s little extra work you’ll need to do for others because they all ask very similar questions at this stage. What I would recommend doing though for each school individually is reading through their department’s website and learning more about the programs they offer and their strategic plan. Those are good things to touch on in the interview if you can to show that you’ve done your research.
I suggest finding a system for preparation that works for you-whether that’s typing out your answers or writing them down. And then rehearsing them out loud several times. It can be good to get feedback from your mentors and colleagues on your responses too so you feel confident going into the interview. Your university’s career office may also offer practice interviews with career counselors which could be good practice.
You’ll want to save the notes prepared so you have them for any future interviews since each university often asks similar types of questions. Since many of these screener interviews are held virtually, you can make notes for yourself to reference during the interview, either on a document on your computer or I found it helpful to put sticky notes on the side of my screen with key points I could reference when needed.
There are a few main topics and types of questions that I was frequently asked about in first round interviews.
The first is the classic, please introduce yourself question. Which sounds easy, but it’s good to rehearse a quick elevator speech about who you are and what kind of research you do. Otherwise it’s easy to ramble or leave out key details you want them to know about you.
The next question is typically, what makes you interested in this position? Or why did you apply? I think having two or three points to talk about is good for this question. Maybe it’s the research status of the university. Maybe it’s the potential collaborators or the unique programs in the department. Maybe it’s the department’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. This is one place where your research about the department will come into play and may be an opportunity for you to stand out from other applicants.
The third area they typically will ask about is your teaching. Usually the committees will ask about what classes you’ve taught or teaching experiences you’ve had in the past. And what you could teach for that department. Looking up the department’s courses in advance is helpful for this. You can just search for their department catalogs which are usually posted online. If they have graduate and undergraduate classes, it may be nice to highlight a couple of both you could potentially teach to give them an idea of what you’d be comfortable teaching and what’s in your wheelhouse.
If the university is more teaching focused, they may ask additional questions in the first round interview about your teaching philosophy. I think it’s smart for those interviews to be ready to talk about the key points of your teaching philosophy in case they ask.
The next area that you can expect to be asked about is your research. This will likely be a very broad question like-tell us about your research. For me, I always wondered how long this response should be. I think you want to be concise but also clear about what kind of research you do and what kind of research methods you use (mixed methods, qualitative, etc.). Don’t assume that everyone in the interview read your cover letter or CV. I think it’s likely better to give a little more detail here than not enough. They want to leave the interview with a clear vision of who you are as a researcher and how you may fit in with their department.
If you’re interviewing at an R1 they could also ask something about the funding agencies or mechanisms that you plan to seek funding from. But often times that is saved for the second round interview.
The next area you’ll typically be asked about is your experiences related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. These could be clinical, research, and/or teaching. I think brainstorming a few things in advance could be helpful. They could ask about what experiences you have had and/or how you envision continuing this work in the future.
So to recap-the main question areas are typically-introducing yourself, explaining why you are interested in the position, your teaching experiences and/or what you could teach at that university, explaining your research, and discussing your experiences related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Some committees will ask additional typical interview questions such as your strengths and weaknesses, your biggest professional accomplishment, something that someone wouldn’t be able to learn about you from look at your CV, or other random questions to try to get to know you a little bit more on a personal level.
Typically at the end of the screener interview, there will be time for you to ask the search committee any questions you have. It’s always good to prepare these in advance. I think it’s smart to make these questions things that you couldn’t easily find on the website. Some things I have asked are about mentoring or support they offer for new faculty members in the department, any changes in the department that they anticipate in the next few years, or more information about something I read about on their website. For your own sanity, it’s good, and totally fine, to ask them what their anticipated timeline is for the next steps. If you’re not asked to the next round, you don’t usually hear from them again until after someone has signed a contract for the position. Or never. So it’s helpful to know their timeline so you know if they’ve likely moved on to the next round without you and you can focus your energy elsewhere.
After the first round interview, you’ll want to send a follow-up email to the chair of the search committee and whoever else was in the interview. You’ll want to thank them for your time, express your enthusiasm for the position (if that’s the case), and it’s nice if you can touch on something specific you learned more about or enjoyed discussing with them as well.
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