Common Interview Questions

Common Interview Questions General                    What about our position is particularly attractive to you? What could you contribute to our program? What is your impression of our institutional mission and goal (value) statement? How are these statements related to your goals? If you were a member of this search committee, what is one question you would share with potential candidates? How would you advise a student if s/he were questioning whether or not to major in your discipline? With whom might you be interested in collaborating? What resources would you need to begin? What is the most useful criticism you have received? What professional development activities would you be interested in participating? How would you deal with diversity in race or ethnicity, etc? How do you plan to stay current in your field? Where do you see yourself professionally in about 5 years? What kind of a problem-solver are you (a brainstormer, an idea person, or a detail person)? What are the greatest strengths you think you bring to this job? Tell us about a project in which you've been involved that was successful and one that was not. Why do you think these were the outcomes? There is a strong move to infuse interdisciplinary work into the curriculum. With what other disciplines could you work (teach/conduct research)? Have you done such work in the past? We have instituted a community service requirement for all undergraduates – how would you see yourself interface with such a program. Our institution is dedicated to providing a liberal arts, spiritually-based, holistic education. How would you describe your place in that vision? What questions do you have for us? Teaching-Related             Talk to us about your philosophy of teaching. We have a large teaching load here – 12 hours per term; how do you manage this and still publish and conduct your research? What are your teaching strengths? Which courses would you prefer to teach? Which would you prefer not to teach? Are there other courses that you think we should add as either electives or required courses? Please describe. Share an example of how you could encourage a student to work harder in your class? What courses could you teach in our program? How would you plan a course in? What texts would you use? What topics would you cover? How would you evaluate student learning in the course? Describe your familiarity and experience with different teaching methods such as collaborative learning, learning styles adaptation, and classroom assessment. Describe your strengths as a teacher. How would you improve your teaching ability? If you have a student who is doing poorly in your class, but has not missed classes and appears to be a good student, what would you do? How do you bring diversity into your course planning? Into your day-to-day teaching? Research-Related  Describe your current research. Will you be continuing in this research track? What are your future research plans?          How would you involve graduate or undergraduate students in your research? How can you involve graduates of undergraduates in your research? How does your research relate to your teaching? What are your research strengths? (e.g. quantitative, qualitative?) Why? Your current research requires more technological support than this institution is able to provide. How would you deal with this? We see that you have given a lot of conference papers and presentations; we have limited professional development funds. How do you feel about that as a limiting factor? (Will you continue to go and pay your own way or sop doing research? Resent the limitations?) What does your dissertation contribute to the field? How do your community service and research intersect? Where do you plan to be in your teaching and research in five years? Additional Interview Questions for a Community College Position    What experience have you had teaching at the community college level? How, if at all, do you think teaching at a community college differs from teaching at a four- year college or university? What is your perception of the responsibilities of a full-time faculty member in a community college? …to the department? …to the division? … to the college as a whole? What experience have you had teaching diverse students? (well-prepared, under-prepared, full-time, part-time, students with full-time jobs and/or family care responsibilities, students representing different ethnic groups and races, religions, ages, and genders?) What teaching methods have proved effective with such students? How well-prepared are you to teach the following five basic level courses: (insert appropriate course titles from your field)? Describe your goals and plans for professional development as a community college instructor.   Questions a Candidate Might Ask              What are the students at this institution like? Can you tell me about the various student populations on your campus? Do opportunities for conducting research with students exist? What are the promotion and tenure requirements? What do you hope the person who is hired will do? What is the role of the university and your department in the community? What are the current teaching needs in the department? What is the service component of the position like? Is there a sense of community within the department? How many adjuncts/graduate students are in the program? Where are most of the students from? Are there any research groups among the faculty? Do these groups include graduate students? What is the relation of the university/college to other schools in the region? What role does the department play in other university programs? Potential Questions to the Chair:   How do you define "scholarly activity?" Who in the department has received funding? From which agency? 1. How would you organize a freshman composition course? 2. How would you teach a Beowulf to Milton? Dryden to Yeats? Colonial to Civil War? Civil War to WWII survey course? 3. If you could teach any course you wanted, what would it be? What would you teach next if you could teach two of them? 4. How would you organize an upper division course in your field? 5. How would you organize a senior seminar in your field? 6. How would you organize a graduate course in your field? 7. How do your research and your teaching influence each other? 8. What critical approaches do you find most persuasive? How do they translate into your teaching? 9. What kinds of essays do you want your students to write? 10. How do reading and writing interact in your classroom? 11. How do you feel about teaching composition? 12. How do you teach composition? 13. How do you know you've been successful in teaching composition? 14. What interdisciplinary courses could you teach? 15. How would you teach a major work in your field? (They may name one) The Interview and Background Check: Faculty       Tips for Conducting the Interview Interview Preparation Checklist Good Interview Questions for Faculty Interview Questions to Avoid Tips on Telephone Interviews Background Checks Tips for Conducting the Interview Before the Interview  Book an appropriate location  Review the job description  Draft and agree upon the interview questions to be asked  Review the applicant’s resume, references, and other materials  Agree on a format for the interview  Ensure that you know and can identify the indicators of the applicant’s ability to perform the job. During the Interview  Introduce committee members  Describe the format of the interview  Ask open-ended information, situational, and behavioral questions  Let the applicant do most of the talking  Keep the interview on track  Observe nonverbal behavior  Take notes  Leave time for the applicant to ask questions  Ask if you can check references and pursue references not listed on the resume  Describe the remainder of the search process and the time it will take  Thank applicant for his or her time After the Interview  Give the candidate a brief overview or written synopsis of MSU Employee Benefits  Answer any questions related to salary  Evaluate the candidate  Document the Interview Interview Preparation Checklist             Send Welcome Package to interviewee Confirm travel and lodging arrangements Arrange transportation from airport or other location Arrange tour of local community (if appropriate) Arrange campus tour Arrange meeting with hiring authority Arrange meeting with chief executive, provost, vice president as appropriate Arrange meeting with any appropriate standing committee or group Arrange meeting with Office of Diversity and Equity Programs representative Arrange meeting with HR representative to discuss benefits Arrange interview by search committee Schedule candidate's presentation  Schedule meals and breaks as appropriate Good Interview Questions for Faculty 1. Describe your teaching style. 2. Describe your teaching philosophy. 3. What technology applications have you utilized in the classroom. 4. How do you engage students, particularly in a course for non-majors? 5. Share your ideas about professional development. 6. In your opinion, how should the workload of a faculty member be split and into what areas? 7. What changes have you brought to the teaching of _____________? 8. How would you go about being an advocate and resource for the use of technology in the teaching and learning process? 9. What courses have you created or proposed in the past five years? 10. What do you think are the most important attributes of a good instructor? 11. Where would this position fit into your career development goals? 12. How do you define good teaching? 13. What do you think are your greatest strengths as an instructor? In which areas do you feel you can use some further development? 14. How do you feel your teaching style can serve our student population? 15. In what professional development activities have you been involved over the past few years? 16. What pedagogical changes do you see on the horizon in your discipline? 17. How would your background and experiences strengthen this academic department? 18. How do you adjust your style to the less-motivated or under-prepared student? 19. Have you involved your students in your research? 20. What are your current research interests? 21. What books and articles have you read recently? Assistant Professor / Instructor Tell me about your educational background in Hotel and Restaurant Mgmt.     Where did you go to school? Did you serve any internships? If so, where? Did you earn a degree? If yes, what kind of degree? What courses did you take? This position requires that you supervise the management of a student operated restaurant. Tell me about any experience you have managing a food & beverage facility?        Where did you work? How large was the facility? What were the hours of operation? How many people did you supervise and what were their position titles? What type of food did you serve? What did you find to be the most difficult aspect of managing a food & beverage facility? What was the most rewarding aspect? Tell me about any experiences in which you supervised students/young adults.    What were the age ranges of the students? What did you find to be the most challenging aspect of supervising students? What was the most rewarding aspect of supervising students? As an Instructor/Assistant Professor, you will be teaching courses in Food & Beverage Management to include classes on quality and quantity food production and food service operations mgmt. Tell me about your teaching experiences in the area of Food & Beverage Mgmt.      What have you taught? How many years have you taught or been teaching? What courses in Food & Beverage Mgmt have you taught? How large was a typical class? Do you have any experience advising students? In this position, you will interact with a variety of individuals inside and outside of the University on a daily basis. As a result, it is essential that you interact effectively with people. Tell me about two or three key strengths you have in dealing with people.     Can you provide a recent example of an incident in which your strengths proved to be valuable? When did this incident take place? What possible negative outcomes were avoided by the way you handled this incident? How often has this type of situation arisen? In this position, you will be required to participate on departmental committees. Can you tell me about the most recent experience you had working as part of a group/committee?       What was the task? How many people were in the group/committee? What difficulties arose as a result of working as a group? What role did you play in resolving these difficulties? How successful was the group in completing the task? How often do you work as part of a group/committee?