How‐To: Academic Job Interviews (in the United States)

I (EKP) bombed my first interview on the tenure-track academic market. After I entered the Zoom room filled with search committee volunteers, the chair performed a quick round of introductions, and I was told that I would have strictly five minutes to answer each question. I smiled nervously, wringing my hands under the desk, and waited to be asked to derive a diagenetic equation or defend the methods I used in my recent manuscript. “We'll start with something easy. Tell us about yourself,” began the chair. I opened my mouth. I closed my mouth. My mind went blank. “Um …”, I stammered, “Well, I was born in Pennsylvania …” I made it to the point at which I had settled on an undergraduate major when I was told my five minutes were up by a wincing committee member. The remaining 25-minutes were likely equally difficult to witness. Fortunately, the memory holds more humor than embarrassment for me now, but in the immediate aftermath, I realized I needed to devote a bit more time to preparation for subsequent interviews. When I did eventually get another chance, I was prepared, and while I didn't ultimately receive an offer from that academic institution or the institution after that, I did eventually land my dream job. I (KAL) fully admit that I treated my successful interview like a slightly unhinged performance. I stood alone in my office at a small liberal arts college, in full business casual, feet planted in a power stance, staring down my laptop as if I could intimidate it into giving me the job. Two years earlier, I wanted to apply for this exact position, but life circumstances were not in my favor. Now, I finally had the chance: a dream job at an R1 university, doing the inter- and transdisciplinary work I had only read about in other people's papers. I was determined not to waste it. My screen was surrounded by a halo of Post-it notes with one-liners and key phrases I wanted to hit. I had drafted twenty possible interview questions, typed out my answers, read them more times than I care to admit, recorded myself responding, and then listened to those recordings while I drove and worked out. By the time the interview day arrived, I felt as prepared as I was ever going to be. When the Zoom room opened and the search committee appeared, I took a slow breath. With each question, I repeated it back to them, pretended to jot down a few notes, and gave myself a moment to collect my thoughts before answering. As the interview went on, I started to notice heads nodding along. At one point, I watched a few committee members glance at each other and smile in a way that seemed to say, “We might have finally found the one.” Two hours after the interview ended, I received an email from the search committee chair asking if I could come for a campus visit within the next two weeks. Two and a half weeks later, I was offered the job. While our paths to success looked different, both experiences underscore the same lesson: preparation matters, and the faculty interview process is as much about readiness as it is about qualifications. What follows is designed to help you avoid the pitfalls and replicate the strategies that work. We provide a brief description of what to expect in the virtual and in-person interviews, questions to prepare to be asked and to ask (Box 1), and some general advice for the application process (Box 2) based on the authors' experiences. Research program & vision Describe the nature of your research as you would explain it to a non-scientist. What is innovative or novel or impactful about your research? What are the most pressing, unanswered questions in your field? What is your best manuscript and why? What manuscripts have you contributed to as an author that will be coming out in the next year? What future goals are you most excited about? How do you envision your research program evolving over the short-term (5-year) and long-term (>10-year)? How does your research bridge the gap between fundamental research and applied science? How does your research serve society? What are your research's broader impacts? Tell us about how you collaborate. What is typically your role in conducting research? How would you collaborate in our department? Who would you collaborate with? Funding & resources Who are your biggest funders? From which agencies/grant schemes/non-traditional sources will you seek funding in this role? What types of instrumentation will you need? (i.e., Will you include large instrumentation in your start up? Could you cost share? Have you familiarized yourself with the core facilities if available?) What other institutional support will you need to be successful in this role? What is the first grant proposal you will write? Does your research result in patents? Do you work with private industry? Mentorship & lab management What is your mentorship style? How large do you envision your research group being? How will you recruit students? Teaching What is your teaching philosophy? Tell us about your experience teaching (formally or informally through outreach)? What specific courses would you like to teach at this institution? What new class (at the graduate or undergraduate level) would you like to design? Diversity, equity, & inclusion How do you promote diversity, equity, and inclusion into your research, teaching, and service programs (some institutions may call this and related work a different term, such as inclusive excellence, and using the language of the institution will indicate that you have done your homework)? Institutional fit How would you fit into the institution's community in terms of your research, teaching, and values? Why do you want to come here rather than somewhere else? Updates & closing Is there anything that has happened since you applied that we should know (e.g., a new publication accepted)? Do you have any questions for us? Clarification & fit Are there any questions that I didn't answer fully or for which you would like more detail? Department & institutional vision What does success look like in this role (within certain timeframes)? What are one long-term and one short-term issue that the academic institution is working to address? Where do you see this department in five years? What can the institution offer me that I would not find elsewhere? What new positions will you be filling in the future? Research culture & internal support How do you see me and my research/teaching program fitting into the community? How does your institution foster innovative or risky research? Do you encourage transdisciplinary, collaborative research? If so, how? What are some exciting, current research projects at the institution right now? What funding is available for undergraduate and graduate student research? What funding is available for graduate student travel to conferences? What kind of internal seed funding is available for new faculty? How are grants distributed and coordinated? How are resources (e.g., instrumentation, computing support, lab space, field vehicles/vessels, equipment) allocated and shared? What are the primary funders of the institution? Teaching & mentorship How does your institution attract and retain students? What courses do you envision me teaching? Is there room for course development? How is teaching assigned? How does the graduate student recruitment, application, and hiring process work here? How many Teaching Assistantships are available for graduate students and how are those slots assigned? What is the graduation rate? What are the career trajectories of graduates from this institution (for both undergraduate majors and graduate students)? Professional development, tenure, & evaluation How does your institution support early-career researchers? How does the institution support professional development? Is there a formal or informal mentoring program for pre-tenure faculty? What are the promotion phases, and how does one earn tenure? By percentage breakdown, how would a faculty member in this position be evaluated based on research, teaching, and service? (For example, 70%, 20%, and 10% respectively?) Diversity, equity, & inclusion What is your institution's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (some institutions may call this and related work a different term, such as inclusive excellence, and using the language of the institution will indicate that you have done your homework)? Community engagement How does the institution serve the wider community? Quality of life What is the cost of living in the area? Do you feel comfortable living here? What is the faculty community life like? What is the level of collaboration like within the department? What do you like best about your department? Your institution? Interviewers should not ask you questions about your personal life (e.g., marital status, family planning, disabilities). If you feel comfortable, you can volunteer this information to learn about the experience of others, especially early career faculty in navigating their personal life and working at the institution. If your written application is successful, you will likely be contacted for a phone or video interview with members of the search committee, composed of faculty members at the institution. Typically, phone or video interviews are kept to a set time limit—often 30 minutes—during which you will receive questions from the search committee. These questions are often standardized and asked of every candidate at this stage; you may have a time limit associated with each question (e.g., 5 minutes), and you may or may not receive the questions in advance of the interview. Prior to the phone/video interview, you should prepare your responses, either to the supplied questions and/or for questions you expect to receive (see Box 1). Often, the last few minutes will be reserved for your questions for the interviewers—come prepared to ask an insightful and specific question to demonstrate your interest in the position (Box 1). These interviews are particularly tricky because it is hard to engage faculty members who have many demands on their time, and they have likely just sat through several of these interviews. Additionally, some of these interviews may require, depending on the university, that the interviewers do not respond to your answers, making it even harder to engage. Three key tips that served us well were to (1) have succinct answers that included elements of narrative (tell a story and give specific examples!), (2) make your responses a combination of past experiences (it's okay and encouraged to reiterate what is in your application materials) and future efforts (what you will do at that institution), and (3) be personable. Asking “what is your favorite part of working in this department or at this institution?” is an exceptionally easy way to do this—it gets all interviewers interacting with you. Following the interview, send an email thanking the committee for their time and consideration. If you progress to an on-campus interview (that's a big deal so celebrate!), you will be contacted about setting up a time to visit the institution, usually with 2 to 3 weeks of notice. Typically, these visits last ~1 to 3 days, during which you will tour the institution's facilities and see where your office and labs will be located; meet and talk with students, staff, and faculty; and present about your research, teaching, and service programs. Most on-campus interviews will include a research talk (~40 to 60 minutes with time for questions from the audience) open to the entire institution, during which you will present details of your research program, including future directions should you join the institution. Many on-campus interviews will also ask that you prepare an additional talk related to the role. For instance, institutions that highly value teaching may ask for a teaching demonstration. For example, as part of my on-campus interview, I (SSW) taught the Community Ecology lecture to ~50 undergraduate students enrolled in the Principles of Ecology course. Another common presentation type is the “chalk talk,” where you may be asked about your vision for the future in a more informal way. This interactive, often more informal presentation format is commonly used in academic STEM interviews where candidates outline their future research vision using a chalkboard or whiteboard, encouraging questions and discussion throughout rather than waiting until the end. However, don't let the “informal” label fool you; these sessions can be quite intense depending on the composition and engagement level of the committee. Some chalk talks begin with a short (~15 minute) vision statement of your potential work at the institution, followed by informal questions from faculty, while others involve continuous back-and-forth throughout. The chalk talk is meant to demonstrate how candidates think through problems, respond to challenges in real time, and incorporate feedback from potential colleagues. The search committee and other attending faculty use this format to assess not only the scientific merit and feasibility of proposed research, often probing with quantitative questions about sample sizes, budgets, timelines, and statistical approaches, but also whether the candidate would be a collaborative and intellectually engaged colleague. Besides your talks, you will have scheduled meetings to chat with faculty members, the department chair, high-level administrators, and graduate students and postdocs. You will receive your agenda before you arrive, so use the time to prepare questions for each small meeting to keep the conversation moving and to show your interest in their work. You will also likely have the opportunity to request meetings with specific people with whom you may want to collaborate if you join the institution. Consider requesting to chat with folks affiliated with the institution, as well (e.g., Sea Grant offices are often located on or near the campuses of universities with oceanography programs). You will also have lunches and dinners, which may appear to be a more relaxed time to simply get to know your potential colleagues. Do not be mistaken—these meetings are certainly part of the interview, and you will be evaluated on what you say and do during these times. Pro tip: Order something easy to eat so you can focus on conversation rather than wrestling with your food (e.g., avoid spaghetti, ribs, or anything requiring significant manual dexterity). Lunches with graduate students are a great way to understand the culture of the department and receive a (perhaps) more frank description of the institution and its challenges, while meals with early-career faculty can illuminate mentoring and support in the early years. Use these times wisely and keep a professional demeanor. Often, the final meeting on your schedule will be with all members of the search committee, during which you can articulate how your work would complement and enhance the department's existing strengths based on what you observed during your visit. The search committee may ask you additional follow-up questions, and you will be able to ask lingering questions as well. Following your visit, send an email of thanks to each person you met with, expressing your gratitude and ideally referencing a specific topic you discussed. Consider the on-campus interview as a meaningful chance to learn about the research happening in the department and to meet new peers, regardless of the outcome. By treating the process like an exciting conference at which you are giving a talk and meeting collaborators, you can get a lot out of this experience even if it does not lead to a job offer. If you were unsuccessful, remember that not getting a particular job does not necessarily mean anything about you or your skills. The department and university you interviewed with have their own set of priorities and agendas, and these go beyond you as a person. Learn from interviews and improve, but don't dwell on “failure.” If you were successful, congratulations! You made it through the interview! The next bit (negotiating) is also very important (check out these other resources: Cziesielski 2020; https://theprofessorisin.com/2011/08/10/negotiating-your-tenure-track-offers/). EKP thanks Rob Wheatcroft, who told her to start applying early. KV would like to thank Ethan Baxter, who gave her the best advice during interviews: be yourself. SSW thanks David Johnson, who encouraged her to apply for jobs that fulfilled both her personal and professional aspirations.