Professors only....?

Question

If any are out here. Describe how they interview candidates for a teaching position at a college/university?

What does it take to get that very first/initial job?

Answer 1

It works in much the same way in the humanities and social sciences.

The annual scholarly association meetings are generally the place where interviews occur. (Each field of study has its own scholarly association: MLA for English, AAR for Religion, AHA for History, APA for Psychology, etc.) Scholars from across the nation in the field attend the annual meeting, and interviews are also held during these meetings.

Candidates must keep an eye on the scholarly association's job listings, and apply for positions for which they are qualified. To each job search committee, they must send a CV, three letters of reference from scholars who know them and their work, an example of their scholarly research, and a cover letter explaining why they are a good candidate for this particular job.

The search committees then select the candidates they want to interview at the meeting of the scholarly association. These interviews last about a half hour each, and usually, 10 -20 candidates are interviewed over a period of 2-3 days by a panel of anywhere from 2 - 10 faculty members.

The top 3 candidates are then usually "short-listed" and are flown to the campus for longer interviews, which often include a presentation on one's research, and sometimes also a guest lecture in an ongoing course taught in that department. This phase of the interview usually takes 2 days, including visits with various faculty one-on-one, meetings with majors and/or grad students, a campus tour, meetings with the Dean and with the benefits office, etc.

What does it take to get the job? Well, assuming all other things are equal (degree from top-tier institution, impeccable recommendations from other scholars, solid research and record of publication, good teaching skills), then basically, it's all about FIT. If the search committee thinks you're a good fit for their collective enterprise, (and if they think you're the candidate least likely to turn out to be a huge jerk), you'll get the gig.

Answer 2

It works differently for different fields. I can tell you how it is done in Finance.

There are two main conferences in finance -- one (the FMAs) takes place in October and the other (the AFAs) takes place in early January. The top schools interview at the AFAs and smaller or less selective schools interview at the FMAs.

Candidates put together a packet containing a cover letter, a research paper and three letters of recommendation & send it out to dozens of schools. If the schools are interested in talking to you, they set up an interview.

The interviews take about a half hour each and have anywhere from two professors to ten professors in the room. The very top schools ask you to talk a little about yourself and then talk about your research. Schools that are below the very top level might schedule the meeting for 45 minutes so that they can also give you a sales pitch about why you should be interested in them. One school (University of Michigan) had me do a 15 minute Powerpoint presentation. This was rare.

Schools may talk with thirty or more candidates. If they like you, they will invite you to fly in for a presentation. They may invite three to ten candidates in for a visit. For me, the procedure was to fly in on the afternoon before the presentation. Two or three professors would then take me out to dinner. The next day was spent going from office to office talking for about a half hour with each faculty member. In the afternoon, I would give a 90 minute presentation. Depending on the school, they may be accepting of what you say or may be brutal with their questions.

At the end of the day, someone takes you out to dinner & you fly home. Depending on how hot you are in the market, you get an offer right away, much later or never.

The timing is brutal. The AFAs are in the beginning of January. Offers for flybacks arrive in the next few weeks. Presentations go from the end of January to early March. Many of the top candidates are made offers in January -- but wait until all offers are in at the end of March -- so there is a mad rush in March for offers to clear.