What to Await When You're Expecting an Academic Job Interview, Part Iii: The Campus Interview

by Justin B. Moore, PhD, MS, FACSM

The Scholarship of Public Health addresses topics relevant to scientific publishing, dissemination of evidence and best practices, and the education of electric current and future professionals. This post offers advice on getting an academic job interview.

If you're still reading these posts subsequently part one (getting the interview) and role two (the phone interview), then chances are that you're (at least) hopeful that y'all'll get an on-campus interview. The campus interview is where you'll take a risk to shine (or crash and burn), a chance to kick the tires on the institution and your potential colleagues, and check out the surrounding expanse. All iii are important, so delight don't retrieve that the interview procedure is all nigh y'all impressing them. They need to testify yous something, too. I know that this is pretty difficult advice when you don't have any electric current offers and imposter syndrome has you convinced that you lot'll never get one. Nevertheless, it's of import that you interview your potential employer with the same vigor that they volition interview y'all. Information technology shows that y'all're interested, and will enable an informed conclusion when the time comes.

Setting up the campus interview

When the time comes, the search chair (or possibly the section chair) volition reach out to y'all to invite you to the interview. This commonly will be in the class of a telephone call but could exist an email if you or the person contacting you are travelling. Don't read anything into either method of contact. Next, someone (probably an administrative person) will reach out to you to brand arrangements. Some thoughts on that process:

  • The interview has already begun. If you're hard, or rude to the administrative person, slow to respond, or a diva, you will begin to brand a poor impression. This is particularly true of how you treat the administrative person. He/she may become a colleague in the near future, and so lay a expert foundation. Be prissy.
  • The university may book all of your travel, and you may just be responsible for telling them when you're available. However, information technology's not unusual for a academy to enquire you to book your travel and submit for reimbursement. This is where having some room on a credit card may exist crucial, as those flights aren't inexpensive and can add up if a few schools inquire y'all to volume your own flying. Have a plan for this if it comes up. At a minimum, you'll take to pay for incidentals (eg, luggage fees, parking, maybe taxis). When you lot're a broke doctoral educatee, several $25 bag fees tin be brutal.
  • Endeavor to exist flexible when booking travel, but don't put yourself in a bad state of affairs. I once booked interviews back-to-back, where I returned from the westward coast on Dominicus dark, only to get out for the east declension on Monday morning. I don't recommend this to anyone. Information technology'due south a good idea to give yourself a few days to catch up on your work, reboot, etc. between interviews, even if it ways pushing the next ane back a week. Again, try to exist accommodating but fair to yourself. Tired people interview poorly.
The campus interview

When the large twenty-four hour period comes, try to go a proficient night of sleep (proficient luck), endeavour to become some breakfast in, leave for the drome in plenty of time, and pack well. Some specific advice in one case you arrive:

  • Wearing apparel professionally and conservatively. Some people will tell you lot to be yourself, but if yourself is trendy, casual, and/or provocative, yourself might turn off people who might offer you a job. I'grand not saying that you tin can't limited your sense of fashion, but remember that yous're going to see with people from many walks of life, generations, and backgrounds who might pre-judge yous on your attire. I advise playing information technology safe.
  • Be prepared to say the same thing over and over again. Have a thirty-second, two-infinitesimal, and ten-minute version of your teaching/service/enquiry philosophies prepared. The former is good for those brief interactions (think elevator rides), the slightly longer is good for grouping meetings (like lunches or meetings with students), and the long version is good for one-on-one interviews. Polish these so you can be consistent.
  • Meetings that yous should expect:
    • The research talk – You'll be expected to present your electric current and futurity research. Err on the side of fewer slides than you think yous'll need. Be sure to necktie it to funding opportunities if the position has a funding expectation.
    • The didactics talk – At a teaching intensive institution, you might exist expected to give a guest lecture. Accept this very seriously and gear up simply as thoroughly as you lot would a inquiry talk. This is your take chances to put your teaching statement into action, and so be consistent with what you said yous believe in doing.
    • The search committee – Hands the almost intense. Usually an 60 minutes long. There may be ii of these during a two-twenty-four hour period visit, one at the beginning and one at the end. Accept your ten-minute pedagogy/service/research talks ready for this group. Accept good questions about the expectations for the position and the resources available at the academy ready for this grouping.
    • The department chair – A chance to see your futurity dominate and guess leadership mode. Asking about his/her leadership style, his/her vision for the department, and his/her expectations for the faculty is a skilful idea.
    • Departmental faculty – In a small department, information technology may exist all of those that are available. In a large department, it may be those who are available or who have like interests. You may as well meet with other faculty in the university who the search committee thinks might become your collaborators.
    • Students/trainees – If the department has a teaching mission, you might exist asked to encounter with students. They can be an invaluable source of information since they're less likely to be motivated to continue a shiny veneer on things. Information technology might also give y'all an insight into the quality of students you'll be working with in the department.
    • The dean – This meeting doesn't always happen in bigger places but can be a good risk to impress the person who will make the final decision. In a lot of universities, the search committee presents ii-3 candidates that they find acceptable, and the dean makes the final decision. Take your time with the dean to make a strong case for why your teaching/service/research/personality would be a good fit for the college.
    • Other administrators – You might be asked to encounter with other administrators (eg, acquaintance deans, inquiry office directors) as well. Treat these like yous practise the meeting with the dean, as they often carry considerable influence with the dean. They are also great sources of information virtually the resources available to you lot, such equally mentoring, teaching resources, and grant preparation support.
    • Meals – They volition have to feed you regularly, potentially more regularly than you're used to eating. Oftentimes, y'all'll eat with faculty, students, or authoritative staff. Meals are a landmine waiting to happen. This is where y'all might allow your guard downwardly and say something stupid and/or off-putting. I would strongly suggest using this fourth dimension to ask questions about the university, the city, and the piece of work that they do. Accept a few go-to stories well-nigh yourself that are illustrative of characteristics that you're interested in portraying. For example, I am very proud of my working class, blue collar, outset-generation-college roots. That said, I have a few stories set up nearly how I struggled to navigate college as a first-generation student, and how it helps me sympathise with other first-generation students. Those stories have played well at state schools that serve a lot of first-generation students. Regardless of how yous want to present yourself, have something prepared.
    • A tour of the town/metropolis – This might exist conducted by a realtor or a faculty member. It's a keen fourth dimension to inquire about the identify you lot might air current up living.
  • Meetings you lot should asking – In add-on to the ones that the search committee will schedule for y'all, you'll probable be asked if there is anyone else you lot'd like to see with. You should definitely accept some answers:
    • Any of those meetings in a higher place that your hosts don't automatically schedule.
    • Someone in the research office for the college and the office of sponsored programs for the university – These are the offices that will work with yous to submit grants. They should be able to give y'all an idea of how much ease or problem you'll encounter in the grant-getting process. Have a list of questions about resources that y'all will take access to equally a faculty fellow member.
    • Directors of centers that y'all might like to join – Many universities have research/outreach centers that tin can provide resources to help you do your job and connections to like-minded colleagues you can work with. Meeting with the directors can give yous a practiced experience on how welcomed yous and your work volition be within the centers.
    • Faculty/staff outside the department that do similar piece of work – Do your homework and find others at the academy who publish something in your expanse of scholarship. Note that I did not say, "people who list similar interests on their profile." If they're not producing scholarship of some sort, they're going to exist of express usefulness as a colleague. This isn't to say that they have to be churning out peer-reviewed articles. Colleagues who work in the practice space might exist well continued and very active in producing white papers, policy briefs, etc. that are more than relevant to the practice world. But if they're not producing anything, be wary.
  • General thoughts:
    • Bring a snack and some water in your bag if y'all can. No 1 wants to encounter you get hangry because y'all don't get to swallow until after your lunch talk.
    • Pay attention to the overall mood of the faculty and staff. If everyone is hopeful nigh the management of the section/higher/university, that is a good sign. If they're all nervous or depressed sounding, this tin be a red flag. I in one case got a bad vibe during an interview, but to acquire after my visit that all state employees (including academy employees) were about to get a ii-day unpaid furlough from the governor.
    • Exist pleasant and friendly, just avert making jokes. Not everyone will share your sense of humor regardless of what it is. I once torpedoed an interview with an off-the-cuff joke that I thought was totally safe. I recovered, but information technology resonated with enough folks that an associate dean brought it upwards with i of my references. I was non offered the chore.
    • Ask questions of everyone. Have a mental list of things you want to know and inquire anybody who should have cognition of such things. Not asking questions suggests that you're non interested. It also leads y'all to presume things. Assuming things can touch on your negotiations in a very negative way.

In the next and terminal post, I'll talk about what to look later on the interview and the negotiation process. The time later on interviews are over is an excellent fourth dimension to plan a few days in the mountains, the beach, or anyplace else that will take your heed off things for a few days. Just make sure you take phone and net access because task offers can come at some strange times and in many forms.

Justin B. Moore, PhD, MS, FACSM, is the Acquaintance Editor of the Journal of Public Wellness Management and Practice and an Associate Professor in the Section of Implementation Scientific discipline of the Wake Forest Schoolhouse of Medicine at the Wake Woods Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC, Us. Follow him at Twitter and Instagram. [Full Bio]

Read previous posts past this author:
  • What to Look When You're Expecting an Bookish Job Interview, Part 2: The Phone Interview
  • What to Await When You're Expecting an Academic Chore Interview, Part I: Getting the Interview
  • Writing the Introduction of Your Manuscript for theJournal of Public Wellness Management and Practice
  • Edifice a Global Inquiry Network
  • Choosing a Squad and Beingness an Bookish Team Player: Function 2
  • Choosing an Bookish Team and Existence a Squad Histrion: Role I
  • Achieving Balance Through Work-Life Integration
  • The Dangers of Hunting Industry-Funded Witches
  • Writing the Methods Section of Your Manuscript for theJournal of Public Wellness Management and Practice
  • Teaching Public Wellness Practice For Not-Practitioners
  • Writing a Embrace Letter to a Journal
  • Writing the Results Section of Your Manuscript for theJournal of Public Wellness Direction and Exercise
  • A Few Tips on Avoiding Burnout in Academic Public Health
  • Writing the Word Section of Your Manuscript for theJournal of Public Health Direction and Practice
  • Impact Factor: The Metric You Love to Hate
  • Finding Fourth dimension for Scholarly Writing, Office II
  • Finding Time for Scholarly Writing, Function I
  • Who Is a Scientist, Anyway?
  • Letting Journal Editors Do (Some of) Your Work for Yous
  • Selecting the "All-time" equally an Outlet for Your Work
  • How Tin can Public Health Students Make Themselves Competitive for Employment?
  • Writing an Abstract for Publication
  • When Is Public Health Coming to Students of Public Health?

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