This week’s Chronicle blog ‘On Hiring’ has an interesting entry by David Evans discussing what interview panels are looking for when they call candidates to come to the university for interview. I have not had the chance of being on a formal interview panel yet, although that’s something I am working on, so I thought Evans’s advice would be helpful for all of us!
Evans highlights 8 key points which I paraphrase here:
1. How well does the candidate meet the gap in our teaching/research needs?
2. Is the candidate a good teacher?
3. Does he/she have intellectual curiosity?
4. Has the candidate engaged with what type of institution we are/how we do things?
5. Has the candidate behaved efficiently and politely in the period leading up to the interview?
6. Does he/she have a scholarly agenda that can be fulfilled at our institution?
7. Will he/she contribute to the broader community life of the university?
8. Where did the candidate get his or her degrees from?
Evans claims that the last point is often a difficult one because some interview panels will take on a good quality scholar from a weaker institution. If you did your degrees at a university with a less than stellar reputation, don’t worry, this is not necessarily a deal-breaker.
Although Evans is talking about the US academic job market, I think much of what he says is relevant here and can help those of you who are active jobseekers and who might be attending interviews in the next few weeks and months. In my experience, point 1 on the list is by far the most significant. If your research and teaching interests fit with the needs of the department then you have a good chance of serious consideration at interview.
So perhaps the most important thing a jobseeker can do is to work out how to tailor his or her profile to fill the gaps in the department to which you are applying. And network like mad with contacts inside the institution to find out what those gaps are!
I found that last point quite worrying, it also could link to the debate on weaker schools & exam results. I gained a First from what some would term a ‘weaker’ university. Not because I couldn’t get a place anywhere else, but because I am a mature student whose travel is limited by family commitments. I am now doing an MA at a top university. I wonder how will I be perceived? (I am aware it is from an American point of view).
Hi Jan,
Thanks for your comment. I think that’s a really valid point. I think that your first class degree and your subsequent MA will be what interests interviewers, and not the so-called ‘weaker’ university which you attended because of personal circumstances. And the author of the American article did point out that the candidate’s university would be the very last point considered by interview panels all other factors being equal. Does anyone else have any personal experience on this point?
Catherine
I haven’t gotten a job yet, but the advice of my UK friends is that the prestige hierarchy is less important in the UK, and the focus will be on the quality of the research papers. In the US there is a large problem of people “cascading down the prestige hierarchy” meaning that you are likely to go from the level of your program to one slightly lower (or sometimes significantly lower) when getting tenure track employment. Because teaching obligations increase as you go down the food chain, one is not able to spend as much time on research and so gets locked in to this level of university.
Single class adjuncts have the worst lot, because they are only paid on a low, per-class basis, and so must cobble together a living wage out of several teaching gigs, which makes it impossible to spend enough time on research. In my opinion, a person is actually better off taking a different 9-5 job for a while, especially if you can get higher pay, rather than doing this freeway flyer routine, because then you may actually be able to have time to do some research on the weekend. And then maybe adjunct one course to get a university affiliation. So much the better if you can find a day job in a research center, nonprofit or other related area. (Also note that US student loans will begin to come due 6 mos after finishing, rather than being based on income levels as in the UK.)
Whereas I hear a common story of people in the UK who take a less than desirable first job and are able to work their way up more easily. This is anecdotal evidence, but seems possible, given a few people I know.