Question: I am going on my first-ever campus interview soon, and I see
that there is an “interview with the search committee” on the itinerary. But I
already did an interview with all of the committee members over Skype. Will
this next “interview with the search committee” be much different? Are they
going to ask me the same questions? Will it be the same people?
That’s a logical
question for a first-time candidate, as that sequence of events must seem redundant.
But it really isn’t. Everyone knows that a campus interview is a coup that
propels you into the next level of the academic-hiring game. A campus visit
will involve many things that go well beyond the scope of those quickie,
first-round interviews conducted long distance via technology or in person at a
scholarly conference.
In a campus visit, you
won’t have to deal with the technical problems of a Skype interview or face a
screen full committee members who have positioned themselves like a cheer leading
pyramid so they can all fit into the camera view. You also won’t have the
awkwardness of a conference interview where you are seated in a large hall
separated from the other 50 hopefuls— or worse, in a hotel room where seating
is so limited that either you or a member of the search committee has to sit on
the bed.
The campus interview
is a whole different stage of the game, and yet there is that seemingly
redundant “interview with the search committee” on the itinerary. That is
extremely common during campus visits, if not universal. No, the committee
members haven’t forgotten that you already did this, and no, they won’t
necessarily ask you the same questions — because the functions of the
Skype/conference interview and the campus visit are very different.
A first-round interview is best thought of as a screening tool. It’s about ticking certain boxes. By
this point, the search committee has already waded through hundreds of
applications looking for candidates who meet certain things (those things will
of course vary somewhat — depending on the type of institution and the needs of
the department — but will generally comprise some of the following:
well-written job documents, teaching experience in the requisite areas,
research interests that fit departmental needs, and particular experience
relevant to the job, like being able to run a lab.) The committee winnows down
those many applicants to a “long shortlist” of 12 to 15 people for first-round
interviews.
Those interviews are
short (some may last as little as 15 minutes) and uniform (the questions tend
to be extremely standardized and possibly approved by the institution’s HR
department). A Skype or conference interview doesn’t really allow for in-depth
substantive engagement between you and your potential colleagues. It exists to
check another set of boxes:
·
Can you speak
engagingly and coherently about your plans?
·
Can you describe your
teaching vision and a class you would like to teach without stumbling?
·
Are you genuinely
interested in the position.
So even when the
committee is done screening all of the applicants, it is still screening the
smaller pool of candidates via the first-round interviews.
The campus visit is where the real interview happens. Your second “interview with the search
committee” is the substantive one. It’s not a screening tool. Instead of 15
minutes, this time you will speak with the full committee for an hour or 90
minutes, and that meeting will be just one piece of a long agenda. The search
committee already knows you tick all the boxes — that’s why it flew you out.
The substance of the questions might overlap with what the committee members
already asked you the first time around, but the context and depth will be
different.
An important aside
about something I’m often asked: If they do repeat a question, you can repeat
an answer you gave in the initial interview. Because guess what? They don’t
remember the specifics of what you said one or two months earlier. So feel free
to discuss the same proposed course or research project that you mentioned
before — just offer some additional elaboration.
Here are some things
you might be asked during your second interview with the search committee:
·
You have now had a
chance to meet the other members of the department, and get to know our institution
and our priorities a bit. How do you see fitting in with our trajectory? (Translation: Do
you "get" what we're about, or will you want to march to the beat of
your own drum?)
·
Can you think of
possible links or collaborations between your work and that of other faculty
members here? (Translation: Do you play well with others? Will you
play well with us?)
·
You have now had a
chance to guest-teach (and/or have a Q&A session with our students). In
what ways do you think your teaching or mentorship can speak to them and their
priorities? (Translation: Are our students going to be happy with
you? Are your teaching evaluations going to be good?)
·
In your job talk you
mentioned X as the next phase of your priority. What resources would you need for that? Our
campus is somewhat limited in A or B. Could your work be scaled in a way that
we could support at this campus, and still be successful? (Translation: Is
your tenure case going to fall apart because we don't have the budget to buy
the expensive equipment you need?)
·
Tell us about two
courses you would develop for us. (Translation: Yes, we know we
asked this identical question at the preliminary interview. You can use the
same two courses. but this time, can you give us specifics, ideally with
prepared syllabi or course descriptions to hand out?)
In sum, your campus
interview with the search committee will be different from the first go-round.
Expect to be screened against general criteria at the preliminary interview,
and quizzed far more substantively in the context of the ecology of the campus
you are visiting. Keep your eyes open for ways to show that you won’t just be a
successful academic — you will also be a successful colleague to this specific
group of people.
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