Thursday, December 25, 2008

Questions for them

When the interview is winding down, it is pretty common for the interviewers to encourage the candidate to ask them a question or two. Obviously, this is yet another opportunity to impress them or to fuck things up. So, what are good questions to ask at an interview? Should one get down to brass tacks (tenure requirements, course load, salary), or should one use the question to make oneself look good? What are good questions to ask, and which questions are off-limits?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

OM,

I suppose it's best for the members of the interview committee to say, but I've been told that it's best to stick to safe questions (e.g., questions about the students (e.g., Who are they? What do they go on to do?)), questions about what the department would expect of me concerning teaching, research, and service, and I suppose that it's best to avoid questions that both sides know the other sides know will have a negative answer. Maybe it's a good idea to ask questions that suggest a willingness to make life better around the department (e.g., about working with undergrads to have a philosophy club that can recruit majors and bring in speakers).

See you tomorrow,
JA

Anonymous said...

From a former SC member at a SLAC: As long as you seem interested in us, we don't really care whether you have specific questions and we don't judge you by what you ask (unless you ask something really boneheaded). If you told us you read our website (or that you talked to so and so who spent a year visiting with us)and it answered all your questions at this point, we'd be fine with that. In my view, it's too early to get into details about tenure standards or salary -- plus, at many schools, salary is something that can only be discussed with the dean. If not answered already, questions about the process from here (how many flyouts are being planned, when, when will you be contacted about flyouts?) would be fine.

Anonymous said...

Good question. When I was a graduate student interviewing at the Eastern, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what sorts of questions I should ask.

As a member of a SC at a SLAC, I have to second the comment above. Anon 2:15 seems to be exactly right: as long as you seem genuinely interested, having questions or not, and the types of questions, isn't that important.

You could always ask about the classes members of the interview committee teach. How often do they teach their favorite classes? How many upperdivision/lower division classes do they teach? Do they conduct directed readings with students? What courses, specifically, do they see the person filling the position teaching? What sorts of good experiences they have with the students at institution X? (In general, you want to find neutral ways of phrasing these sorts of questions. Don't say: "Are your students good? Do you have lots of majors?" In short, these types of question may leave the SLAC reflecting on how their institution might be perceived in a negative way. Instead, "What good experiences have you had with your majors? What are the more active, engaged majors like?"

I don't know. Just some thoughts.

Anonymous said...

My grad school advisor said it is best not to ask questions, although something regarding the expected timeframe for the SC to make decisions is acceptable.

Anonymous said...

With all due respect (and I mean that honestly), in my experience, many grad school advisors (at least at Leiter-ranked top-20 programs) function as an excellent resource for how to conduct oneself in interviews for positions at comparable institutions.

On the other hand, they can be singularly clueless, without realizing it, when it comes to how to conduct oneself in an interview for a SLAC, a "state school", or any institution that places a stronger emphasis of teaching. Take what your grad school mentors say with a grain of salt.

Anonymous said...

Is there a blog that gives updates on the shenanigans going down now at the APA Eastern? Inquiring minds want to know!

Anonymous said...

Well, not too much to report for my part. Here are the highlights. I'm pretty certain after last night that I didn't land the job I had an interview for, I think I met a referee for a paper of mine who liked it but is not sufficiently "in like" with it to give it an accept, I heard a heartbreaking story about the interview I almost got from my adviser, and we'll have to see how today's philosophizing goes. I'm heading now to get coffee and get ready for this morning's book stampede.

Best,
JA