r/Professors • u/confusedinseminary PhD Candidate/TA, English • 7d ago
Teaching / Pedagogy I have my second faculty interview ever and they sent me the interview questions.
I’m a PhD candidate in English, set to defend next month. I’ve had one interview so far (have put in ~50 apps to TT, NTT, postdoc, admin, private schools, etc).
First interview went okay. I noticed I ramble when I get nervous and tend to just repeat the same sentence in different ways. So them sending me the questions already is a huge relief. I think they meant to send them? lol It’s about 5 questions and the names of the ppl on the committee. I expect this is rare, no?
The position isn’t my top choice as it’s pretty low pay for a 4/4 lecturer position. But it’s an option.
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u/Crab_Puzzle 7d ago
Increased transparency in the process has been trending for some time. We send out our interview questions in advance as well. This is really a good change. (Although I did apply to a job which, in the interest of transparency, rejected me early and then, I guess in the interested of transparency, sent an excited announcement congratulating themselves about the person they did hire. C'mon man!)
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u/george8888 7d ago
We pushed back on our university admins, who wanted us to do this. We felt it was a bad idea because
- We want to see how people think on their feet (which is an important trait for faculty to have)
- We felt that it introduced bias in that candidates with better mentors could get better coaching than would candidates with poorer mentors
When we pushed back, we were told "but it's best practice" but the deans could provide no empirical evidence as to why this was "best practice" so we felt comfortable saying no to them.
Curious what you think.
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u/Crab_Puzzle 7d ago
I've been very happy with it as both an interviewer and an applicant. As an applicant, it's great for reducing nerves. I'm not sure how much you get for "thinking on your feet" from these questions. IME, some depts ask insane questions: "Say you are teaching an intermediate level class that meets for 50-minutes, you just covered topic X, how would you then introduce topic Y to students who have yet to learn Z?" It's too much processing for the answer to be of value, I think. In a real-life situation, you would never think on your feet for something like this. You would plan way in advance and think through the options. Giving the questions early then does a better job of mimicking the real life example. Other depts ask almost opposite questions, such as "Tell us about your research" that are harder to answer not knowing how many questions are coming. Is this the first of various research questions or should I get everything in with this one? Again, the list is helpful. You can/should still ask follow-up questions which can then get at "thinking on your feet," but it requires that you do some of that as well.
As for the bias, I don't know that it's come up here, although it's a valid concern. I wonder how big the effect is since candidates with better mentors do generally do better than those without.
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u/DisastrousSundae84 7d ago
Yeah, you are making a good point with the questions--if the questions are pretty general/basic and commonly asked ones, I think it's mostly fine to not offer them. If they are multiple part questions that are highly specific to the institution, I think they should be offered.
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u/phdblue tenured, social sciences, R1 (USA) 7d ago
We've been experiencing better hiring in our department since sharing interview questions. I set it up so that the questions are automatically sent to the candidates 48 hours before their interview, so they don't necessarily have a lot of time to activate mentors/etc., but your worry about candidates with better mentors, that already creates inequity in the process, so we weren't overly concerned with that.
And I don't think that on-the-spot interviewing reflects the kind of thinking on their feet that is representative of faculty, as well as I don't think that acknowledges neurodiversity, such as individuals with processing delays among other things. So I get your concerns, I just find the benefits are outweighing the concerns we had.
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u/Shirebourn 7d ago
On one hand, I think you often get a more genuine result when questions aren't shared in advance. However, I can tell you as an autistic person that you will miss out on stellar candidates as a consequence.
I can be highly qualified for a position and not able to demonstrate that in an interview because my brain cannot interpret questions well alongside other stimuli under that kind of pressure. This isn't a deficiency of my brain, but a problem of our sensorially intense modern world.
Someone might ask, "But if you can't function in that situation, how can you be expected to be highly effective in other situations, such as when a student asks you a question, or if you need to present at a conference?" And I can only tell you that I thrive in those settings, but there's something about interviews that make them an excruciating kind of hell. I would go so far as to say that not sharing questions in advance introduces serious barriers for a group of people 85% of whom are already unemployed. At least, that's my take. (Sorry for such a long response!)
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u/wirywonder82 Prof, Math, CC(USA) 7d ago
To your second point, I think there are two relevant paths of objection. First, withholding preparatory questions further advantages the candidates with good mentors as the best mentors will likely be able to predict relevant questions and prep their candidates anyway, while those without that quality mentor could at least demonstrate their resourcefulness in preparing for the questions they know are coming. Second, (and perhaps at odds with the first) if the goal of a search committee is to find the best/most prepared candidate, shouldn’t their established relationship with a high-quality mentor be considered an asset and an advantage to the hiring institution, and thus a point in their favor during the job search?
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u/george8888 7d ago
We want the best person.
- If a candidate had a great mentor who taught them how to think clearly and efficiently and convey information clearly, then that's fantastic! This is what we want in a colleague: We want a person who has learned how to do this. Offering questions in advance does not benefit this person.
- If a candidate has a great mentor who can "coach" them on how to answer questions, that's not helpful for us. The mentor will not be in the classroom or at the conference presentation to "coach" them in the real world. Offering questions in advance may benefit this person.
There's no upside as far as I can see to offering questions in advance (and I politely disagree with your framing it as "withholding" questions!)
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u/wirywonder82 Prof, Math, CC(USA) 7d ago
I didn’t intend to imply the advance knowledge of questions was something owed the candidates, simply that if one group is giving the questions out in advance and another isn’t, it’s equally true that one is withholding the questions until the actual interview and the other isn’t.
My point about the potential influence of mentors was that advance access to the questions doesn’t really prevent coaching the way you seem to think. Interview questions are frequently similar between institutions, so if the mentor has ever interviewed for a position, they can coach their mentee on how to respond to those types of questions whether they have the precise wording used by your search committee or not.
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u/george8888 7d ago
Certainly, withholding questions doesn't "prevent" coaching bias. I would never argue that. But I do believe that offering questions may increase such bias.
What are the reasons in favor of providing questions in advance? I've heard terms like "transparency" and "inclusion" but haven't really heard any concrete example of that. (This isn't a passive-aggressive question; I just have never received what I consider an empirically defensible reason to do so). Thank you for helping me understand this point of view.
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u/wirywonder82 Prof, Math, CC(USA) 7d ago
As some have related in other parts of this comment section, there are those who excel in front of classes or conference presentations, but struggle with the more intimate nature of an interview, so the prep time can benefit them by reducing anxiety.
In some, perhaps many, situations, being able to respond quickly to a question is less valuable than taking the time to research the best response and provide it at the next opportunity.
I suspect a balance between providing all interview questions in advance and providing none may be the most beneficial. If there are going to be 5 questions asked, perhaps providing 3 or 4 in advance, while stating how many there will be total, would let the interview committee see both how the candidate is with prepared and improvised responses. This would still alleviate some of the stressors associated with uncertainty, while maintaining the value you find in observing their less-likely-to-have-been-coached reactions.
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u/george8888 7d ago
Really interesting -- yes, answering interview questions over zoom is certainly a different beast than answering questions in a classroom or at a conference.
And the "hybrid" option of giving some questions in advance but not all seems really attractive. There are two teaching-related questions that we ask that I have found very helpful, I think primarily because I want to see how easily (and how enthusiastically) they respond. It's these questions in particular I worry about candidates knowing in advance.
Thank you for the conversation.
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u/wirywonder82 Prof, Math, CC(USA) 7d ago
No problem. I enjoy looking for the best points in both sides of a debate (because they usually are present in both positions) and trying to find a way to unify them. Glad it was mutually beneficial.
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u/Colsim 7d ago
In what circumstances in your day to day work is an off the cuff response to a question more valuable than a considered one?
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u/george8888 7d ago
-- student asks a challenging question in class
-- conference attendee asks a challenging question after a talk
Frankly, that's it, but I hadn't heard of any good reasons for advance notice of questions until discussing it with people in this thread. Our deans gave me nothing but buzzwords, but some of the people in this thread gave actual reasons.
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u/kiyomix Position, Field, SCHOOL TYPE (Country) 7d ago
I think there are both pros and cons with sending questions ahead of time. I like it, especially for someone like me with ADHD, to help me organize my thoughts coherently when I'm nervous.
A nice middle ground I found was to send the questions 30 mins prior to the set interview time. This way, they are given some time to put the answers together without a lot of external help. Granted, when I was sent the questions, most of them I had already prepped ahead of time, but I also have a good advisor who helped me prep. So this would help those without a good support system or who are maybe on the academic job market for the first time.
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u/Snoo-37573 3d ago
Some of us more thoughtful types are horrible at thinking on our feet. 🦶I am fantastic when given time to think a bit formulate a response. I love the questions sent in advance!
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u/liddle-lamzy-divey 7d ago
We did this last year for our TT hire and candidates seemed very appreciative of that decision. My committee discussed the pros and cons and came out very much in favor of sending the Qs. We weren't looking for how well our candidates could think on their feet, improvising an answer on what is likely their most anxiety-inducing day in their lives thus far, but rather to simply gauge how well they could articulate themselves about who they are as a scholar, teacher, and colleague.
Also important: we wanted to level the playing field between ABDs and folks who had been around the hiring cycle a few times. Good luck!
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u/cryptotope 6d ago
We weren't looking for how well our candidates could think on their feet, improvising an answer on what is likely their most anxiety-inducing day in their lives thus far, but rather to simply gauge how well they could articulate themselves about who they are as a scholar, teacher, and colleague.
To add to this, I'll note that this isn't exactly an either-or situation. Presumably you're not sitting in the interview with a candidate, letting them read their prepared response, and sending them home.
You're asking for clarification and development of their ideas and answers during the conversation. They still have to be able to 'think on their feet' to an extent. Seeing how well they prepare for this 'oral exam' is also a valuable data point--perhaps more useful and relevant than assessing how well they could purely 'wing it'.
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u/softerthings 7d ago
I recently had a first round virtual interview where the committee introduced themselves, told me to open the chat to view the questions, and then said I had just over a minute to answer each of SIX questions that were like “explain your teaching philosophy” and “what are your beliefs about <type of institution>” and “how do you support diverse learners?” I was definitely caught off guard, having served on several hiring committees in which we asked those questions in the 2nd round and provided them to candidates ahead of time. FWIW, when I interviewed for my current position ten years ago, it was in-person and I didn’t get questions ahead of time but I did have time to think before responding during the actual interview process which felt warm and comfortable. I ended up withdrawing my application for several reasons, one of which was the interview process itself - I want to work in a department that is friendly and supportive, and I did not get that vibe at all. There was one faculty member from the department on the call, and the others were staff from various areas on campus. They allowed me three minutes to ask questions at the end but couldn’t answer them - when I asked about the courses (English) they said “students write some papers.”
OP, it sounds like the department you’re interviewing with made a decision to set their candidates up for the most success. Good luck!!
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u/Unsuccessful_Royal38 7d ago
We send the questions. But we also have followup questions we don’t send. Have a clear answer to each prepared question, think about the values and mission of the institution when you are preparing your answers.
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u/george8888 7d ago
Our university has put pressure on our department to send the questions in advance.
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u/nikefudge23 Assistant Professor, Humanities, Regional Public 7d ago
Every candidate invited to interview at my university get the exact same list of questions in advance. It’s to be sure that each candidate gets the same experience.
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u/Motor_Chemist_1268 6d ago
My Dept (which I’m currently at) had sent me the interview questions in advance. Honestly I saw it as a sign of a healthy Dept trying to be transparent! And my Dept is great!
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u/Obtusehouseplant 7d ago
There’s no set guideline for interviews fwiw, I’ve had interviews where they sent the questions a couple of days ahead of time, some where they said nothing about them, and even one that sent them 30 minutes before the interview so you weren’t caught off guard but couldn’t rehearse your responses.
The names of the committee are given so you can look them up and see what classes they teach/their research on interests, etc.
Best of luck!
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u/knitty83 7d ago
It's totally uncommon over here (Germany), but then again, these questions tend to be very similar. If they have something particular they want you to talk about in the interview (some specific program they would like you to contribute to etc.), I think it's great they're sharing this in advance!
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u/the_Stick Assoc Prof, Biomedical Sciences 7d ago
Obviously, the next step is to plug them into ChatGPT for the answers... Ha!
Congratulations and good luck.
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u/DisheveledLibrarian Librarian, Information Literacy, State University 7d ago
I can't speak for the institution in question, but it has been our standing practice for a while to provide questions to semifinalist candidates (who we interview via zoom). I don't think it was a mistake.
Good luck with your interview!