{"id":1207,"date":"2019-03-18T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T07:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/?p=1207"},"modified":"2019-03-18T08:00:44","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T07:00:44","slug":"preparing-for-academic-job-interviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2019\/03\/18\/preparing-for-academic-job-interviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing for academic job interviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dr Gavin Buckingham is a senior lecturer in Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Exeter. His research examines perception, illusions and sensorimotor control during object interaction, surgical learning, and virtual reality.<\/em><\/p>\n

This blog post has been taken from Gavin’s personal blog\u00a0Making it as an Early Career Academic<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This post is about how to prepare yourself for a job interview in a UK psychology department, but I suspect that some of this advice might well generalize to life sciences in general (I, for example, work in a\u00a0Sport and Health Sciences department<\/a>). It will be of most relevance for those applying for a first or second lectureship in a combined research and teaching role (i.e., the majority of advertised positions).<\/p>\n

Originally, this post was going to be about the whole job application process but a quick tally of my application:interviews ratio suggests that I could do with some improvement on that front myself (since 2010, 48 applications:8 interview requests). So I guess all I have to say on that front is that you should only expect to be shortlisted for ~15% of your applications, and closer to 10% if you are applying fresh from a postdoctoral position rather than making a lateral move (as I did in 2016).<\/p>\n

Out of my eight interviews I have been asked to attend, I have attended six of them (one wouldn\u2019t pay my flight costs from Canada, which I felt wouldn\u2019t bode well and one came after I\u2019d already accepted a job). From these six interviews I have been offered jobs twice, both times accepting the offer. So I\u2019ve been through this process a fair few times. It\u2019s worth noting at this point that I\u2019ve never been on an interview panel for a lectureship position, so my perspective is completely naive in some respects (although I do talk a fair bit to colleagues who are on interview panels to prep for these things).<\/p>\n

The process in the UK is startlingly different from in North America. In the US\/Canada, you\u2019ll typically spend several days at the institution during which time you\u2019ll meet individually with everyone in the department, give an hour-long seminar, and perhaps a demonstration of your teaching. In the UK, they\u2019ll fly you from wherever you come from for, at best, a 20-minute talk to the department and a 20 minute interview. And I mean at best. My first interview was a 12 minute (!!) job talk to the interview panel, followed by 15 mins of interview, costing the hosting department about \u00a31000. Better-organized places might have lab tours\/meetings organized for the candidates, but don\u2019t take that as writ \u2013 I\u2019ve had to organize my own \u2018tour\u2019 of the department\u2019s facilities and meetings with staff more times than not. I always found this a bit disheartening but it\u2019s usually just down to the difficulty in getting the interview panel to agree on a day, and that day is rarely convenient for everyone.<\/p>\n

You will be given a title for your talk, and a duration. Stick to the title (don\u2019t just give a research seminar) and get the time correct. Make it engaging \u2013 this talk will be the primary way in which they evaluate whether you\u2019ll be a good lecturer \u2013 a skill increasingly valued by the UK market. After you\u2019ve finished your talk, the people in the room need to understand what you do, where you aim to go, and what you\u2019ll add to the department. Given that the time constraints are so tight, you have the option to give a very broad-brush overview of everything you do, or a deeper \u2018case-study\u2019 of your major project as an exemplar. Having sat in many job talks I\u2019ve seen both work well. I tend to take the (slightly breathless) broad-brush approach, but be sure to include some actual data if you want to go down this road. Don\u2019t neglect to talk about your teaching skills and show you\u2019ve made an effort to identify your fit. Try to come across as friendly and approachable (what helpful advice..) \u2013 a good talk won\u2019t get you a job, but a bad talk can certainly sink your chances.<\/p>\n

Your interview may occur immediately after your talk, later on that day, or a different day altogether. Seems obvious but pay attention to your scheduled slots \u2013 I\u2019ve seen candidates assume that the talk and the interview would be at the same time each day, subsequently missing their interview. The panel will be made up from at least one big shot (head of college or higher), the head of department, and various other important members of the department. They\u2019ll all know the contents of your CV and will probably already have a preliminary (and unspoken) ranking of the candidates they are going to interview. Typically, they\u2019ll invite you in to take a seat, introduce themselves, and then start asking questions one at a time. You will be nervous, and they will be tired. You will want to ramble, but try to resist that urge. Before attending the interview, you will need to do some homework and practice articulating your answers a bit.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Try to identify the first grant you will apply for (funding agency, value etc), along with some detail about the research project. You will be expected to be applying for grants from the word \u2018go\u2019, so worth showing that you won\u2019t have to spend too long finding your feet.<\/li>\n
  2. You will probably have to answer some variant of the old chestnut: \u2018where do you see your career in 5 years time?\u2019 or \u2018what will you hope to have accomplished by the end of your career?\u2019. I have no idea how to answer these well. Try not to say something stupid, and be aware that these are distinct questions (nice little anecdote from my first interview: got asked the 5-year question. Gave a rambling answer. Asked follow up question asking \u2018what I would hope to have accomplished in 10 years\u2019. Totally blanked. Awful).<\/li>\n
  3. Know which of your current papers you\u2019d submit to the REF (you will likely only need to submit 1 or 2, but have four ready to articulate just in case). Don\u2019t know what the REF is, or the criteria for entry? Then spend some time on the internet finding this stuff out.<\/li>\n
  4. Figure out what new course you\u2019d like to develop and what existing courses you\u2019d like to contribute to (stats is always a popular one here). Have a look at the undergrad-facing side of the website so you can get a sense of the course structure and the taught content.<\/li>\n
  5. Figure out who you\u2019d like to collaborate with in the dept because (1) it might come up in the interview and (2) you might like to sound them out for advice before the talk\/interview anyway \u2013 if you want to collaborate with them then they are likely keen for you to get the job.<\/li>\n
  6. Have a think about what administrative \u2018opportunities\u2019 you\u2019d like to take up. A good one is organizing seminars. Another good one (which I\u2019ve always done) is managing undergraduate dissertations. Regardless, come up with something to say.<\/li>\n
  7. For every answer, try to elaborate a bit beyond the question asked. I like to think that the panel are not asking a question to find out the answer, but to find out something about you. Every answer you give should be an opportunity to impress them (bear in mind this doesn\u2019t mean gloating about your accomplishments \u2013 this rarely goes over well in UK academic settings).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Miscellaneous points:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Often a point of contention, but I\u2019d always suggest wearing a suit and tie (advice geared toward gents obviously \u2013 I have no insight into what female candidates should be wearing).<\/li>\n
    2. Bring your passport, even if you\u2019re a UK person who has driven to the interview \u2013 it\u2019ll be needed for admin stuff.<\/li>\n
    3. You may get the opportunity to go for dinner with some members of the department. Don\u2019t get drunk. Don\u2019t voice your edgy views on non-academic topics. You\u2019re still being assessed.<\/li>\n
    4. You may get the opportunity\/be forced to interact with the other candidates. This can seem weird at first, but is actually quite fun \u2013 they are almost all at the same career stage as you are and having a similar set of emotions. Be supportive of them. I\u2019ve stayed friends with several who I\u2019ve met at job interviews, and you are all likely going to be ending up attending similar conferences eventually.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Written By<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0<\/strong>Dr Gavin Buckingham, Senior Lecturer in Sport and Health Sciences. Find out more about Gavin and his research on Twitter @DrGBuckingham<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Dr Gavin Buckingham is a senior lecturer in Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Exeter. 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