Top Five Dos and Don'ts for Interviewing Faculty Job Candidates

Or really, anyone! Introducing Top Five Tuesdays.

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Why Top Five Tuesdays?

I have a list several pages long of shorter topics that aren’t really suited to a longer article. Plus, people both seem to really enjoy quick posts that give them useful tips and they are generally super fun to write. And as a side note, it’s a little homage to one of my favorite books, High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (the movie is fun but the book really captures a Gen X moment in time for both pop culture and romantic relationships, set in a city that will always hold a piece of my heart).

For the first one, I wanted to provide some help relevant to the time of year, so here are some tips for the interview process.

Top Five Do-s and Don’t-s for Interviewing Faculty Job Candidates (or really, anyone!)

It’s tough out there and it continues to be a challenge to fill faculty positions. There are some simple ways you can increase your chances of yielding the best candidate in your pool.

I had a conversation with someone recently about a Zoom hiring committee interview for a senior admin position. The search consultant gave the candidate some general parameters and then said, “But of course, I can’t give you the questions in advance.” Which led us to a conversation about…why not? (and why “of course”?) How does the element of surprise, combined with a time limitation, produce conditions for better candidate evaluation? Guess what? It just doesn’t!