A slightly modified reiteration of a post from last Fall (offering some personal thoughts, directed at candidates, on interviews at the upcoming AALS Faculty Recruitment Conference):
1. The hotel layout may cause you to be a few minutes late for an interview. If you have back-to-backs, let the first school know (in advance of the interview) that you need to leave on time, and let the second school know (in advance of the interview) that you may be just a few minutes late (or more than a few minutes, if the school wants you to teach tax AND commercial law courses). Arrive at all interviews in a calm (and sober) state. Do not run and then arrive all flustered and out of sorts, with beads of sweat the size of silver dollars dripping off the tip of your nose. You'll be remembered, but not for ideal reasons.
2. Knock on the door at the appointed time. (Avoid "shave and a haircut," and do not — I repeat, DO NOT — pound thunderously while screaming "NYPD" or "FBI.") Greet the members of the interview team with a firm handshake, good eye contact, and a genuine smile. Unless one of the interviewers gave you your lowest grade in law school. Then fake the smile.
3. This is an interview. Dress appropriately, and conservatively. Your cologne or perfume shouldn't arrive before you do (and it should exit the room when you do the same). Men: shine your shoes, and wear socks that stay up. Oh, and consider leaving the bow tie at home. (On advice of counsel, I have no particular thoughts to share with female candidates.)
4. Unless you're told to sit in a particular place, take a chair with a firm back and a hard seat. Avoid the cushy sofas, leather recliners, bean bag chairs, water beds, etc. You may get too comfortable, forget that you are in an interview, and ask for a Heineken. Or you may disappear into the furniture and require the assistance of a crane to remove you.
5. BRING SOME ENERGY AND ENTHUSIASM! (Preferably not chemical-induced.)
6. Expect most of the questions to focus on teaching and scholarship. "Teaching" questions seek information about your ideal course package ("All UCC. All the time."), teaching style ("Charles W. Kingsfield is my hero. MY HERO!"), perceived teaching strengths and weaknesses ("I have none."), etc. "Scholarship" questions may be open (e.g., What are you working on now? Would you tell us about your research agenda? Etc.) or more pointed (e.g., What is the thesis statement of your forthcoming article? Would the following factual twist affect your analysis, and if so, how? Do you really think that five Supremes will buy your argument? Etc.). You may find the tone of the questions friendly and inviting. Or your inquisitor's condescending, sneering, and long-winded delivery may leave you feeling as if you're undergoing a prolonged root canal without the benefit of novocaine. Sometimes the questions will come from just one person, while at other times you may be bombarded with flaming arrows simultaneously shot by several members of the committee (each eager to display his or her intellectual firepower in front of the dean). Welcome these questions! This is your moment to shine! (And please, don't begin your response with "So, ….")
7. REMAIN ENERGETIC AND ENTHUSIASTIC THROUGHOUT THE INTERVIEW!
8. You may be invited (probably near the end of the interview) to ask questions. Don't expect to have more than two to five minutes to ask questions (a longer period of time is NOT a good sign!). Frankly, you want to spend the limited time selling yourself as a teacher and a scholar (unless you're interviewing with one of the 300 schools in the "top twenty," in which case ignore teaching and focus exclusively on scholarship). Most of your questions can wait until the callback, or you can submit an email to the hiring chair. Nevertheless, have one or two ORIGINAL questions in mind. Can't think of any? Try this one: "If I need four articles for tenure, and I already have four articles, do I start with tenure?" (And if you don't like this question — because you don't have four articles, or otherwise — visit this link for additional thoughts.)
9. Don't watch the clock, glance at your watch, or check for messages on your handheld electronic device (which better not be in your hand!). Interview teams will stay on schedule and bring the interview to a close at the appropriate time (some break at 25 minutes, some when the next candidate knocks on the door, some as soon as the food arrives or the football game starts, etc.). Do not give interviewers any reason to think that you'd rather be elsewhere (warning: this may require an Oscar-worthy performance on your part, especially on Saturday afternoon, when some older faculty members have been known to listen with their eyes closed). Stay focused on the moment.
10. Depart the interview with another round of firm handshakes, direct eye contact, and smiles all around. Express genuine appreciation for the opportunity to meet with the faculty appointments committee. Then walk out the door, start shaking uncontrollably and sobbing gently (forego this "scare tactic" if the next candidate has yet to arrive), liberally apply the hand sanitizer, and proceed to the next interview, ready to repeat the process!
Thanks for this advice. Navigating the back-to-back(to-back-to-back)interviews seems incredibly daunting. I worry about being late to interviews, but I guess there's not much that can be done. Hopefully faculty are somewhat understanding about something like that. (Of course, this is a nice problem to have . . . .)
I did have one question that I haven't seen addressed anywhere. Roughly speaking, what's the chance for a call back? And relatedly, how much do these interviews really matter? I was previously at a law firm and we usually had a pretty good sense of who would get a call back before the on-campus interview. If we were interviewing 20, there'd be 8 we were pretty sure we'd call back (they just needed to avoid being really obnoxious), there'd be 8 we were pretty sure we weren't going to call back (only if they did incredibly exceptionally would they get a call back) and the last four could go either way. Is it the same way with schools? This is obviously all very school dependent and hinges on factors like how many the school is looking to hire. But I'd be curious — and I assume others would be as well — about how this works.
You may find some online suggestions that "x" number of interviews yields "y" number of callbacks (which yields "z" number of offers). I cannot speak to the accuracy of such information. At best, it is a generality, riddled with exceptions.
By the time that a committee has completed its interview schedule (but before arriving in DC), members may favor some candidates over others. But this pre-Conference favortism may be driven solely by the FAR Form, c.v., scholarly placements, etc. (written evidence). Speaking only for committees on which I have served, we watched these pre-Conference "favorites" occasionally bomb during an interview, and we watched other candidates (perceived, pre-Conference, as less strong, based on paperwork we had reviewed) increase their value as a result of the interviews. In summary, any pre-Conference ranking of candidates can change as a result of the interviews. Candidates should view these interviews as extremely important. Paper credentials may have landed you an interview. But that's all. Instead of being one of 800 candidates, you've narrowed the competition from 800 to maybe 24-30 (or even fewer, if the school is hiring for multiple positions). You should be congratulated for receiving an interview. But you also should assume that the other candidates being interviewed have similar paper credentials. You've still got some work to do to set yourself apart! And the 30-minute interview is the place for you to do so!
The number of callbacks may vary among schools. A school may only invite one, possibly two, candidates to campus for a particular slot. Another school may want to bring three or more candidates to campus. A school may bring several candidates to campus within a compressed time schedule and make no decision until all have visited campus. Another school may exhaust the hiring process for the first candidate to visit campus before inviting any others to campus. And whether you receive a callback may depend on whether "higher-ranked" callback candidates actually accept the callback.
Assuming that candidates receive a post-Conference update from committees (and, sadly, several schools will never offer the courtesy of any such update), a candidate is likely to be told one of three things: we like you and extend to you a callback; we like you, but we like others better and wish to focus our attention on those candidates for the next few weeks before returning to your candidacy; or we have decided to focus our attention on other candidates for the remainder of our hiring process and wish you the best as you seek an academic appointment.
Thanks.
And one other friendly piece of advice to supplement question 6. Re-read all of your published scholarship (even if it is older) and be prepared for specific questions on point. You may not reach this degree of specificity in all interviews, but there's a likelihood in at least one. Someone has been tasked with reading with your scholarship and they may have a question to tease out.
Tim, you should write a book on interview technique!
🙂