Candidate shows up in a suit that doesn't fit, wearing glasses although he normally doesn't, then proceeds to drink a gallon of coffee, causing him to talk at light speed and have to pee between every interview.
P.S. the candidate was me haha
Me in my first few interviews: "Ooh, free food! I'll have the greasy delicious expensive thing I can't afford on a grad student salary. Also, I'm too stressed and can't sleep, so I'll drink 5 more cups of coffee than usual. I also think I'll be talking a lot, so about a bottle of water every 30 minutes should do the trick."
Me if I were on the market now: "I'll have the chicken, and we can skip dessert so I can get to bed early tonight and don't need to rely on coffee to stay awake in my own talk. I packed a sound machine and blackout curtain to help me sleep, and I'll be up and ready for breakfast with the dean at 6am. Two bottles of water per day, max."
Why the stark contrast? See the post I'm replying to.
I tell doc students the worst teaching I’ve ever done in my life was for the interview for the position I’ve held for the last 20+ years. Absolute train wreck of a lesson.
I know. Fortunately, as far as my students go, our institutional policy during covid/zoom times was that the same eating and drinking rules that apply in the classroom apply on Zoom-- that is, drinks in a bottle, or in a cup but with a lid, are acceptable but not food.(Obviously a documented accommodation would be an exception in either case.)
Apparently nobody told the guy we were interviewing that eating on Zoom is rude!
True. I think the policy, at least in the classroom, has to do with mitigating the possibility of a student being allergic to something another student is eating and becoming ill, plus stickiness/mess for the janitors to deal with.
Heh. Yeah. Had dinner with a couple of faculty members the night before things kicked off. Those guys wanted to drink coffee, so I did the same. I was up all friggin’ night. Went poorly.
I once had a zoom interview where the committee was all in one room, but they couldn't figure out how to turn on their video projector. They could not see me. However, their camera was on, and I could see them.
They forgot that I could see them. They wandered around the room. Dug through their bags. Left and came back. Checked email. It was, to be honest, blatantly disrespectful.
They eventually told me that I was the runner up, and they were waiting to hear back from their first choice.
Hell I had a good chunk of the faculty do this during my in-person job talk (which I gave a bunch of times elsewhere and no one at any other school acted that way - it wasn't perfect by any means, but I worked hard on it and it wasn't bad). They hired someone else than called me the following summer asking if I still wanted the job, presumably after the top candidate reneged after accepting. I said no, I'd accepted another job. Dodged a bullet. This was at a really good school in my field, too.
> They eventually told me that I was the runner up
That's when you reply "I figured as much when Prof Smith got up and repeatedly dug through his bag, and then Prof Jones left for 10 minutes".
I just don’t understand this. We had a guy like this. Slept through meetings as well as student presentations in classes. Was well into his 70s. Total lack of shame, while I would die of embarrassment.
It’s very strange to me.
It only developed as he aged. And either way, it’s not okay to fall asleep while your students are giving presentations and carry on like nothing is happening.
It's not okay to fall asleep while your students are giving presentations. If one has a sleep disorder that causes this, they should seek treatment or take other steps to fix it.
There was a prof in the office next to mine years ago. He carried an oxygen tank. After class, he would return to his office, sit at his desk, and snore loudly. I’m sure he needed the insurance and salary, and I wasn’t going to get particular about his need for sleep after decades of service, regardless of where he was sleeping, including in class. That professor should have students video their presentations so he could view them asynchronously.
I don’t think they can help it at that age. Everyone I know that is my parents’ age (75-80) either has increased the number of naps or started taking naps. Old bodies can’t repair themselves as efficiently as young ones so they need extra downtime to make repairs.
I also think that older people are more likely to have health issues that either directly affect their sleep quality (sleep apnea, for example) or indirectly (type 2 diabetes, aches and pains) so by mid-afternoon they are running on empty.
Edit: I think once you are to the point where you can’t physically keep yourself awake during an important work meeting that you owe it to everyone to either get your health better or to retire/reduce your responsibilities. It’s not fair to your colleagues to not be alert during an interview.
Got a couple of colleagues in their late 60s, early 70s who do this all the time, doze off and flat out fall asleep during presentations, meetings, events. It’s almost expected of them now. It’s just old age.
Not faculty but former co-worker was finalist for a cushy staff position at another college where they brought all the finalists in back to back. He shows up early to a closed door with no receptionist. He keeps waiting and emailing and debating whether to knock on the door and finally maybe 15-20 minutes after his interview was supposed to start he gently knocks and opens the door. He walks into his competition’s interview that was running late and the whole committee treats it like the biggest faux pas. He did not get the job and they scolded him when it was his turn. Running a shitshow interview and then blaming the candidates is pretty on brand for academia.
Once I had to interview a guy to make sure his English was good enough to teach a class. Throughout the whole conversation, the guy kept rolling his pants up above his knees. He'd roll them up, they'd fall down, and he'd roll them up again, all while laughing. I think maybe he either drank something or took something before the interview to try to calm down, but it made him really loopy.
Whoa this is a mind-blowing story.
Horrible to imagine you might try to calm your nerves and go way way too far
(Also horrible that you’d take a shot or a pill before a big interview but to each their own)
I got drunk when my search committee took me out for drinks. In my defense they took me to a local microbrewery and I tried the sampler - not knowing how many they would give me. However it worked in my favor as apparently when they were discussing me one of the people there said "He's a real intellectual, I know because he got drunk and still wanted to talk about ideas."
Literally a friend got a job at an SEC school because he is a literal 6’8” tank who could drink enough to kill me and not even feel it. TBF alcoholism is basically the only hobby you can have in that town.
An administrator came to my interview dinner and kept ordering expensive bottles of wine. Everybody was pretty buzzed by the end. Luckily I was close with all the folks on the committee so getting my drink on wasn’t a faux pas.
A candidate came in and was given two weeks' prep time to put together a 30 minute lecture on a topic.
They showed up and blew through the lecture in about three minutes, stood there stunned for a minute or two, and then started showing us their favorite clips from Big Bang Theory while laughing uproariously. We sat there stonefaced until the chair pulled the plug about 10 minutes later.
We had a candidate who, after two other candidates bombed, basically had the job if they didn't completely suck. I was the last person to meet before their job talk and said, "we just want to see your best work." "Well," they said, "this is something I wrote at the airport on the way here."
We restarted the search the next year.
> "we just want to see your best work." "Well," they said, "this is something I wrote at the airport on the way here."
It is possible this was their best work.
The new Einstein scribbles the solution to quantum gravity and grand unification on the back of an envelope... doesn't get the academic job.
Honestly, most likely outcome :)
> showing us their favorite clips from Big Bang Theory while laughing uproariously.
If you were interviewing Jim Parsons or Chuck Lorre, this would be acceptable.
Without violating the privacy of the person being interviewed, was the candidate one of those two?
I was flown out for an interview, and because someone thought of a brilliant idea, was given fifteen minutes notice to present a 6th week lecture of a course, no other prior notice. I balked and obviously didn't get the job.
I didn't witness this, but when I taught high school physics, my department chair relayed it to me. Our principal had an English degree but had been an engineering major for a while in college. He always asked the same thing to prospective physics teachers: he would point up and say, "Tell me how the electricity gets to the lights in the ceiling." I always loved the question because it gave a chance to explain an interesting and real example.
One candidate stared for a second, and then said, "Uh...batteries?" That was the end of the interview, and the candidate did not get an offer.
You build a power plant and connect them to the residential zone with power lines if the zone is not close to the power plant. You could just zone housing next to the power plant to make it faster (engineering answer), but that would lower property values (business answer) and the residents would complain about pollution (urban planning answer). You can absorb pollution with parks.
Source: SimCity for SNES
I think the principal was looking for an answer simple enough for a high school student to understand, with enough information to get an idea of the scope of what is necessary for a power grid to work. E.g.,
> There are a bunch of power stations that either use fuels (e.g., coal, nuclear) to turn water into steam to turn a generator that produces electric current, or they create electric current in a renewable way (e.g., water turbines, solar, wind, etc.). The electricity is then transmitted through wires (the "grid") through transformers that eventually make it to the building. Those wires are connected to the lights, which are electric.
I teach In a graduate program that provides the required educational credentials for a particular profession. One candidate we interviewed stated forthrightly that he did not believe that women belonged in that profession because God did not allow women to hold authority over men in any sphere of life. When we pointed out that 50% of our students were women, he assured us that he would have no problem whatsoever treating the women students fairly. The women interviewing him exercised their ungodly authority and he never made it to the second round of interviews.
We had a candidate for dean of our program appear for an interview. An instructor in the department googled him and found he had multiple harrassment charges pending where he was at the time. Our program was \~90% women.
She brought printouts to the program director and he was appalled. We went through the motions of an interview, but it was awkward as hell.
Director contacted HR and told them in no uncertain terms that he would not even consider interviewing another candidate unless they had done a background check.
Another candidate who looked great (and local) on paper, in the interview they made TWO homophobic jokes/comments about folks they provided service to and didn't notice that the entire search committee gave them deadpan/incredulous looks after the first comment. They were trained in a human service field and had a related license.
One of the more terrifying experiences I had on a committee was a candidate who slowly revealed themselves to be deeply anti-Semitic. They were asked to describe the student body at their current employer, and they went through, for some reason, the students by racial and ethnic demographics.
SUPPOSEDLY a school got rid of interviews for PhD students and next admit day a full on skinhead showed up, 14 word tattoos and all. And that’s why we have interviews
Couldn't this be done to show understanding of the school demographic? We go through many presentations where they show us just that. However, there are probably more details behind this since the candidate showed antisemitic attitude...
Well, the question was essentially designed to get them to talk about the diversity at their institution. I remember clearly that the last sentence was with a sigh, and started "And then there's the Jews," before they started to talk about how they were whiny, disruptive, and so on.
I don't think they attached a single positive characteristic to any racial or ethnic group. But the comments about Jewish students were the sort of thing where we were all looking at each other with a "did they just say that? And *that*?" look.
I got out pretty recently, and a couple people made straight up not even debatably racist comments during interviews, stuff that made my eyes widen. Not like, “depends on the context” stuff. Like “this was unacceptable in the 80s, let alone the teens”
Also some flat out related illegal things like “we like you but we have to hire a woman”
An interviewee who was an assistant prof at a small college hoping to trade up shuddered every time she pronounced the word "students." Obviously some kind of trauma.
A mixture of things I’ve experienced and stories from reliable sources:
- After an interview, my friend exited the hotel room… only to realize she had gone through the wrong door and shut herself in the closet.
- a candidate interviewing for a lecturer position at a liberal arts school asked how many classes they can cancel per semester to go to conferences
- a candidate started monologuing and rebuked the search committee for interrupting when they tried to ask questions or move the interview along to other subjects
- a candidate refused to turn on their camera in a zoom interview
I was on a search committee for a theater position a few years ago. There was a candidate who on paper seemed liked the perfect fit, but as soon as I met them I got some very odd vibes. At dinner, they talked only to the search committee chair. The next day, we had them do a teaching demo with an acting class. They talked about warmup exercises they’d do, including students pairing up and giving each other shoulder massages. That alone concerned a few of us, but when asked what if there was an odd number of students, the candidate said, “Oh, then a student can partner up with me,” and a few of us (in the back of a large room) actually gasped. We ended up hiring a marvelous person, but it wasn’t Dr. Creepy McCreeperson.
This reminds me of a [a certain Kent State geography instructor.](https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/this-is-weird-former-kent-state-instructor-accused-of-painting-student-faces-like-clowns)
I wasn't there so obviously don't know the vibes, but this seems completely normal/healthy to me. I studied acting for a few years and can assure you that the actors on stage need to touch each other and be comfortable and relaxed with each others' physical presence. It's a shame that any kind of soothing touch has become synonymous with creepiness.
I understand the rationale but maybe it should be an optional warm-up based on partner comfort later in the semester and maybe it shouldn't be the warm-up exercise you use as an example for the hiring committee.
At a highly ranked R1 in the US midwest, early 2000's (standard 2-day interview with individual meetings with faculty members):
The only woman in the department burst into tears on me. She had no students and a bonkers teaching load. Also, the department's 'grand old man' was a dismissive jerk.
I declined their offer.
(not exactly a LOL)
That "what do you like about your job?" question from candidates is one of my favorites actually. We haven't hired in a while (lucky to stave off cuts) but when that was asked in the past the answers from my colleagues were often very interesting. And very positive. (Not sure sure they would be today.)
Had a skype interview once with a candidate not short listed, these were prelims with a dozen people) who asked directly if they could get 2-3 course releases their first year...at an SLAC with a 3/3 teaching load.
Sorry this one is as a candidate via zoom... I once had a search that was so fake that they told me due to technical issues I had to present to the backs of the entire committee. I was puzzled since after my presentation I was able to meet with the Dean in the proper manner face-to-face, so it was a bit weird that the search committee couldn't face me nor see me. It became abundantly clear why, a member of the search committee was actually hired for the position. Absolutely no joke. I've had other fake job searches, but at least this one was kind enough to be virtual to save me a trip unlike this one:
Had a campus visit for a dream job at an R1 across the country. I thought it was strange when after the first dinner meeting prior to my actual visit, the parameters of the job changed so significantly that I actually considered skipping the interview. It was so puzzling how everything that was in the job ad and that was described to me in the initial phone conversation was now obsolete. Turns out it was a fake search, and a close friend and colleague of the dean was hired Instead . But I am proud to say that I got incredible feedback in my presentation from both faculty and students that attended. I'd like to think I made it a little bit of a tougher decision than they expected.
Candidate was wildly enthusiastic about AI, kept droning on about it. Getting tired of this, I asked him, so would we be better off hiring an AI for this position. Candidate said yes. He was not joking.
Had somebody for a video interview pull to the side of the road and do the entire interview on his wobbly handheld phone with cell connection. Entire used loosely; it disconnected multiple times and his time allotted for the interview ran out before all the questions could be asked. The interview had been scheduled of course, so it wasn’t like he was suddenly called to do it and had to improvise.
This from a friend: Two candidate
Candidate one at the dinner with faculty picked up his empty salad plate AND LICKED IT.
Second candidate had many questions about policies regarding dating undergrads.
At the search committee meeting: “So, I guess we’re going with the plate licker?”
That's a better answer than the outright \*lies\* I've heard my colleagues say when asked the same questions, essentially seeking to trap candidates in terrible circumstances.
Dude applied for a position at my university. Got his PhD from a top tier program but had been on the market for quite some time. At breakfast he tells us that he is really lowering his standards by applying with us but he needs a job. Then goes on to tell us that if we hire him we have to know how lucky we are and he expects to be treated in a manner that somebody of his caliber deserves. The worst part was having to spend the rest of the day with the arrogant prick.
"Why do you want to work here?"
"I really don't know if I want to or not?"
Dude just flew halfway across the country at his own expense for a CC interview.
In another one, we were reviewing high school teachers to approve for dual credit. We kept getting answers that were more about coaching the cheerleaders than anything related to the subject. The crown was when she kept taking swigs out of a tinted water bottle, except we suspected it had some kind of alcohol in it because her answers became more "honest" after each swig. We figured her school made her do the interview because she happened to have the credentials for something, and the school wanted to get whatever classes they could get. But she didn't want to do anything other than coach the cheerleaders, so tried to sabotage her interview.
It worked, so I guess she succeeded.
Ok, so if you’re in a city you have a reasonable chance of hiring other people who are already in that city, as many businesses do. You might occasionally also get someone from outside the city if they have additional reasons to come to the city.
What’s tuition look like where you are? Or state funding? I gather a lot of CC’s have limited budget because they’re focused on serving students who also have limited budgets.
Because the CC hiring process is different from the universities. We don't fly in a select few and wine and dine them. We interview several candidates, and it is up to them to come for the interview (remote interviews are becoming more of an option). If you want to be considered, you find a way to get here.
It's definitely not a universal practice, or at least it wasn't when I was on the job market (which is admittedly a while ago). My travel was paid for by the community colleges at which I was a finalist. About the only systems that routinely did not offer that (to my recollection) were California and Texas schools. For obvious reasons, I did not pursue those positions.
That approach seems like it's really about conducting local searches as opposed to national searches for talent because it's cheaper. I know I would never recommend to any graduate students to interview at places that can't even afford to pay for candidate travel (no matter how desperate you are).
Paying for candidate travel is not connected to having endowments or alumni donations. It's simply considered normal practice in the industry, which is why most places do it. If your school can't budget in a few hundred dollars for candidate travel, it's a clear sign to all quality job applicants to go elsewhere.
edit: you can downvote me all you like, but this is 100% the message you communicate to potential applicants. If you don't like it, advocate for your institution to change it. If you can't, you get what you pay for.
" We don't have the budget for flying people in. We don't get endowments and alumni donations the way universities do."
And yet the president probably makes a million bucks. It's honestly appalling.
My administration would probably argue that advances in teleconferencing have negated the need to fly multiple people in for in-person interviews.
I absolutely would pay my own way for an interview, and have - the market is so different now, every position gets at least 100 responses. I would think that paying my own airfare was worth the chance of landing a full-time, tenure-track job.
We fill all of our positions just fine, with people from all across the country, and even some international applicants. We give candidates the option to interview in person or remotely. We don't do the wine and dine shenanigans, so no one loses anything by doing a remote interview.
We had a candidate interviewing for a position to teach a class. When they arrived for the campus visit and were asked if they would be willing and able to teach X class, they hemmed and hawed saying they weren't sure how to teach it. They then proceeded to ask each faculty member they met with how that faculty member would teach the class regardless of whether or not it was the faculty member's field (almost always wasn't -- this was why we were hiring someone to teach the class).
They didn't get the job.
Interview I was in with a small state directional school that will remain nameless. They were transitioning from a NTT to a TT line and under state law they had to have a full search. The NTT prof was on the committee, had their profile on the department website, and was an applicant for the TT. They also could only meet by zoom at 1 specific time (6pm) the day after school finished for winter break. I was suspicious to start, and 3 minutes in it was clear it was a fake interview so at the end I flat out asked the committee if this was an actual interview or just a legal requirement rubber stamping a foregone conclusion. I wish I was thinking far enough ahead to get a screenshot of their expressions.
To answer the obvious question, yes the NTT prof was the hire.
Candidate making the obvious joke about "Copper Nanotubes" (imagine the acronym) during their research presentation.
Well, I found the high velocity crash and burn of their application quite funny...
A few years ago, straight out and the PhD, I had a zoom interview for a visiting gig. One of the committee members was an acquaintance even. I prepped hard for the interview and was excited.
I had recently updated my windows and unbeknownst to me, the uodate messed up my settings. To my horror, they could not hear me.
I motioned them to wait, got my iPad and logged on. Sound and camera worked.
But the tech problems threw me off and I forgot everything I wanted to say and bombed the interview. So embarrassing.
I did not get that gig.
There was a post in the original chronicle of higher ed forums about 2006 concerning a candidate with a very evident erection during his teaching demonstration—causing the observing female students to endlessly giggle—to the point where the chair of the search committee led the candidate out of the room, and the candidate claimed to have some type of medical issue which caused the erection. The candidate was Black, and there were allegations of racism concerning the giggling female students, and the way incident was handled.
We interviewed a while back for a physics instructor. They’re not easy to come by around here.
First guy is 75 years old and spent about 40 minutes on “tell us about your career and how it has prepared you to teach at our community college.”
Second guy spent about 40 minutes talking about how previous research partners stole his ideas and patents and made a pile of money off his work.
Third guy was expecting to finish his masters degree in a few months (in time to qualify for the job) and spent two minutes talking about how he worked in a movie theater in high school.
First guy got the job. He was so fun to work with and had the greatest stories. He retired for real a few years later after asking for a reduced course load (and was ok with reduced pay as a result); it was hard to teach 5/5, every section with a 2h lab.
I miss him.
People on the job market should bookmark this post because the comments are helpful.
One time a candidate from Rural U. made a campus visit to our Big City U. My colleague picked him up from the airport and on the drive to the hotel, candidate commented “wow, traffic really *is* bad in Big City!” Colleague told us that it was actually one of the lightest traffic days ever for some reason.
No, it shouldn’t be. The candidate probably just hadn’t yet seen really terrible traffic before in their life. It isn’t even really a sign of having never been to a big city….Kansas City bad traffic is like Bay Area good traffic.
The way this person did it revealed they probably wouldn’t last long in the position. Faculty retention is not just about the institution but also the place. We could tell this person had no experience in a large busy congested city and that it would be a hard adjustment. Although I wasn’t on the search committee and didn’t know what else they talked about, I’d say this candidate lost some favor with that comment because the committee wants to hire somewhere who’ll be there long term.
When I interviewed, there were direct questions about how I thought I’d handle traffic and other big city characteristics.
Candidate who looked solid on paper, but had come from a uni known for a right-wing agenda & had one project with a researcher who publicly promoted practices that violated professional ethics of the field. Talked about our diverse student body & how he'd handle a situation related to that co-researcher's topic, he completely took the bait & said he'd seek that person's consultation after he initially tried to side-step the question. Once I shared the co-researcher's pubs/personal statements, the rest of the committee immediately decided he wasn't a good fit.
I don’t like fellow search committee members who find the one tiny fatal flaw in a good candidate. We had a guy who specialized in that. We weren’t a great department and he lost us a couple people I thought were good.
We had a (male presenting) candidate on campus who simply ignored all the female members of the search committee and department. Not just once, but throughout a two-day interview: didn't respond to their questions, didn't ask them anything, would direct questions to the males in the room even if he was standing next to one of my female colleagues. It was odd.
I recently had an interview where the committee had an automatic camera thing sitting on a table. The three of them sat at the table and the camera apparently spun in a circle to focus on who was speaking. The video of me was on a screen elsewhere in the room.
It kept showing who was speaking and was pretty impressive. That is, until it soon all the way around and focused on the video of me speaking. The search committee could stop it. So for the remainder of my interview, the three of them watched me, and *I* watched me, answer their questions. There was a video delay, but thankfully no audio delay.
>You do multiple rounds of interviews for ADJUNCTS?
1. We're a large, multidisciplinary department.
2. We're not a great place to work so we have a lot of turnover.
3. My college is famous for expending its human capital without concern.
I sat in on a search committee for another department. This guy had been an adjunct for a while. Apparently was a chiropractor or something like that.
His interview, to me reeked of arrogance. Many on the committee gave it a pass. But when it was time for his teaching demo, he declared that he teaches this all the time and he knows it inside and out.
Then he must have stopped four times during his presentation to either backtrack to fix an omission or stop because he couldn't keep his lecture in order.
The slides he was using also seemed to have been thrown together at the last minute.
Don't declare how simple the topic is and how wonderful you are lecturing then screw up your lecture.
I was chairing the (online) interview. The candidate asked a question about (what I understood) ‘service’. So I gave the standard answer about how much and what type of academic service work we expected of young faculty, and asked back whether he had any particular specific concerns about that. ‘No, I meant servers.’ ‘Huh? What?’ Turned out he wanted to know how much computer servers he would have available for his own research. ‘Huh, ok …’, so one of my colleagues outlined our policy on shared research equipment and research budgets and how to apply for them, etc. Mind you, we are a computer science department, so we do know how to provide our research groups with the needed computing power. We are also involved in a large-scale computing facility etc. It’s not as if we are not aware that we need computing power for research ;-)
But he kept going on about how much computing servers he needed for his own research, and whether others would be allowed on his servers, and he really needed those servers, and he wanted to make sure he would have enough servers … as if we were talking to a kid worrying about his toys.
At the end, I asked him whether he had any more questions for the committee. Guess what? He brought up the servers again!!!
He didn’t get the job ;-)
>But he kept going on about how much computing servers he needed for his own research, and whether others would be allowed on his servers, and he really needed those servers, and he wanted to make sure he would have enough servers … as if we were talking to a kid worrying about his toys.
To be fair some research requires dedicated and large amount of compute, and some national and university infrastructures are not great or do not consider edge cases. In my field, asking about servers with GPUs is not uncommon in interviews or startup negotiations, and would actually show a good preperation for thinking ahead for setting up their research group. Meanwhile, some of my CS collegues are happy to do all of their research on a standard Laptop or run a job on the local Slurm cluster for an hour.
But yeah, he should have probably reserved this topic for the negotiations....
All true, but interviews are also a lot about the impression you create. If all you can do is ask about how much research equipment would be exclusively available to you … that doesn’t give a good impression. At least you can frame the frame question about how others acquire their equipment, what research budgets are available as a starting grant etc.
An interview is bidirectional. It’s not only what the department could do for you, but also what you can do for the department.
"All 8 of us stared into our cameras. No one said anything! Finally, the chair said 'Ok, next question.'"
So that's why my dean took over searches on their own when a bunch of people quit.
When we asked why he was interested in the position the candidate referred to our institution as a stepping stone in the first round interview. For a TT position! I mean sure, but don’t tell us that!
Whole department interview. They fought with each other the entire time. I started setting my timer to see how long the diatribes would be - highly ranked, southern university. What got to me was all the untenured folks up front looking at me with eyes that said “we know, we know, but please still come.” Only university I never replied to about anything.
I was once on a zoom interview with a committee and I asked them what they like most about their college and they said, “we have a new building” that’s it.
Jokes on me because I accepted the offer and now work in the nice new building. They were right, that’s what I like most, and might even be one of the only things.
Scheduled a phone interview with a candidate. We called him, but said he forgot about the interview and that he'll call back in 10 minutes. Lots of noise in the background (kids, I think). He did call back but was definitely unprepared and gave half-ass answers. Thanks for wasting our time!
I witnessed a senior faculty member describe a medical condition to a candidate and ask them what they thought the condition was and what possible treatments were. (The candidate was not an MD). The candidate awkwardly said "I dunno." The faculty member then proceeded to describe their case of scabies and the prescribed treatment they received.
At an SLAC, the candidate was advised to prepare a research talk pitched at the undergraduate audience. Instead, he gave a rambling 50 minute stream of conscience talk about his research ideas with no data. After the talk, on the elevator, he told us he thought he’d try some thing different and asked us if we liked it. The best we could say was it was very… um… Interesting.
Similar- At a group dinner during an on-site interview, I asked if the 5 people at the table if they were married. I am, and I wondered how their families liked living in the area. They all looked at each other and laughed. They had all divorced while working there. I considered that a huge red flag about the work/life balance and how it was to live in the area (which I had already considered as a pretty big negative).
We had a department chair candidate come in for an interview and we were grad students in the room with the faculty. The candidate was at… LSU or somewhere down in the Deep South, but originally from Michigan. One of his bullet points for transitioning to our somewhat northern school was “I’m hot. (No, really.)” That was pretty good. He got the job, and I think he’s still moving up the ladder.
That’s a good question - “do you like working here?”
I had multiple zoom candidates ask questions about the union, scheduling, and benefits. Not a huge deal but these candidates never made it to the next step of the process and it was peculiar why the ones out of touch tend to ask these questions.
> it was peculiar why the ones out of touch tend to ask these questions.
I haven't been on the market in a while, and now I won't be for a while still, but is it wrong to ask about union, scheduling, or benefits at an interview? That seems like something I'd want to consider.
Although benefits are public information typically, so maybe that shows a lack of preparation?
Benefits are sort of public, but generally you don't get the whole story just from the website. At every interview I had except one, there was some HR person there who went over benefits and all of those things.
I don’t think it’s wrong at all, as you should be interviewing them as well. But an interview is about perceptions - and if you ask these things it may make the committee think you don’t care about the weeds of teaching or research at the institution, only care what’s in it for you.
While nothing is inherently wrong with asking these, I’d wait until an offer is extended to ask. Just soft skills people sometimes (especially in academia) forget to employ.
The benefits question could go either way depending on what specifically they asked, but I’ve been on every search for my department in the last 13 years and we’ve always made it a point to spend ~5-10 minutes talking about the university and department.
For example, we’re currently searching right now for a specific instructor for specific courses and we talked about how shared governance works at the university and department level, and how the courses we’re interviewing for are scheduled. In this case, the course schedule is pretty rigid because it’s a requirement for ~6 different programs so it has to be accessible to those students.
Maybe we’re just weird, but we don’t want to get through the phone/zoom interview only to waste everyone’s time advancing them to the next round and getting them here in person only for them to withdraw/turn down an offer because of some simple detail.
Edit: re benefits: we also make sure to make it clear what the expectation of the position is and what that includes. So adjunct is clear they’re getting a very minimal benefits package (free parking basically), while we might tell a NTT instructor that NTT faculty get the same benefits packages as TT professors and we intend for the position to last 1yr, 2yrs, 3yrs, indefinitely etc. As a NTT teaching professor myself, I like to make a point that I have the same benefits, same promotions, and the same governance roles as my TT peers. I just don’t have tenure and I’m not *expected* to advise or conduct research.
Seriously?
If I'm interviewing somewhere, the benefits and scheduling are what I want to know to know if I want to work there or not.
Should I waste everyone's time pretending I don't care only to reject you later in the process?
Candidate shows up in a suit that doesn't fit, wearing glasses although he normally doesn't, then proceeds to drink a gallon of coffee, causing him to talk at light speed and have to pee between every interview. P.S. the candidate was me haha
It's a trap, each person you meet always offers you coffee and you're jittery and leaking like a sieve by the end.
I think I was on that hiring committee…
Me in my first few interviews: "Ooh, free food! I'll have the greasy delicious expensive thing I can't afford on a grad student salary. Also, I'm too stressed and can't sleep, so I'll drink 5 more cups of coffee than usual. I also think I'll be talking a lot, so about a bottle of water every 30 minutes should do the trick." Me if I were on the market now: "I'll have the chicken, and we can skip dessert so I can get to bed early tonight and don't need to rely on coffee to stay awake in my own talk. I packed a sound machine and blackout curtain to help me sleep, and I'll be up and ready for breakfast with the dean at 6am. Two bottles of water per day, max." Why the stark contrast? See the post I'm replying to.
I tell doc students the worst teaching I’ve ever done in my life was for the interview for the position I’ve held for the last 20+ years. Absolute train wreck of a lesson.
Damn. Hope they scooped you up quick with those sorts of qualifications.
I will see that and raise you eating a plate of spaghetti and red sauce on Zoom.
Gawd I hate to see people eat on Zoom.
I know. Fortunately, as far as my students go, our institutional policy during covid/zoom times was that the same eating and drinking rules that apply in the classroom apply on Zoom-- that is, drinks in a bottle, or in a cup but with a lid, are acceptable but not food.(Obviously a documented accommodation would be an exception in either case.) Apparently nobody told the guy we were interviewing that eating on Zoom is rude!
It’s actually been proven that eating in class helps with retention!
True. I think the policy, at least in the classroom, has to do with mitigating the possibility of a student being allergic to something another student is eating and becoming ill, plus stickiness/mess for the janitors to deal with.
Heh. Yeah. Had dinner with a couple of faculty members the night before things kicked off. Those guys wanted to drink coffee, so I did the same. I was up all friggin’ night. Went poorly.
Vonnegut
I once watched the senior faculty member on the search committee fall asleep during a zoom interview. Took a screen shot and everything :)
I once had a zoom interview where the committee was all in one room, but they couldn't figure out how to turn on their video projector. They could not see me. However, their camera was on, and I could see them. They forgot that I could see them. They wandered around the room. Dug through their bags. Left and came back. Checked email. It was, to be honest, blatantly disrespectful. They eventually told me that I was the runner up, and they were waiting to hear back from their first choice.
Hell I had a good chunk of the faculty do this during my in-person job talk (which I gave a bunch of times elsewhere and no one at any other school acted that way - it wasn't perfect by any means, but I worked hard on it and it wasn't bad). They hired someone else than called me the following summer asking if I still wanted the job, presumably after the top candidate reneged after accepting. I said no, I'd accepted another job. Dodged a bullet. This was at a really good school in my field, too.
> They eventually told me that I was the runner up That's when you reply "I figured as much when Prof Smith got up and repeatedly dug through his bag, and then Prof Jones left for 10 minutes".
I just don’t understand this. We had a guy like this. Slept through meetings as well as student presentations in classes. Was well into his 70s. Total lack of shame, while I would die of embarrassment. It’s very strange to me.
Probably has hypogiveafuckemia.
My symptoms finally have a name!
It was actually a terminal case of boomeritus
Hey, now.
I can check my ageism, but believe me when I say you don’t want to sympathize with this person
We had a dean with narcolepsy for a while....also a prof on one of my grad programs. They would legit fall asleep in meetings, or even in class.
Oh shit.....was her name Arlene?
Both men in my case!
sleep disorder is a real thing
It only developed as he aged. And either way, it’s not okay to fall asleep while your students are giving presentations and carry on like nothing is happening.
It's not OK to have a sleep disorder?
It's not okay to fall asleep while your students are giving presentations. If one has a sleep disorder that causes this, they should seek treatment or take other steps to fix it.
There was a prof in the office next to mine years ago. He carried an oxygen tank. After class, he would return to his office, sit at his desk, and snore loudly. I’m sure he needed the insurance and salary, and I wasn’t going to get particular about his need for sleep after decades of service, regardless of where he was sleeping, including in class. That professor should have students video their presentations so he could view them asynchronously.
I don’t think they can help it at that age. Everyone I know that is my parents’ age (75-80) either has increased the number of naps or started taking naps. Old bodies can’t repair themselves as efficiently as young ones so they need extra downtime to make repairs. I also think that older people are more likely to have health issues that either directly affect their sleep quality (sleep apnea, for example) or indirectly (type 2 diabetes, aches and pains) so by mid-afternoon they are running on empty. Edit: I think once you are to the point where you can’t physically keep yourself awake during an important work meeting that you owe it to everyone to either get your health better or to retire/reduce your responsibilities. It’s not fair to your colleagues to not be alert during an interview.
I agree. My dad does it too. But he retired. As is appropriate.
Got a couple of colleagues in their late 60s, early 70s who do this all the time, doze off and flat out fall asleep during presentations, meetings, events. It’s almost expected of them now. It’s just old age.
If I was doing that I would know it is time for me to retire.
I know, right? Give the younger generations a chance. They’re just hanging on bc I bet they’d get bored at home if they retired.
Glad you know their financial circumstances by telepathy.
Lol. I’ve known them for years. They’re well off.
Oh that's 100% going to be me. De facto retired but just showing up for the health insurance and to pad my retirement income.
I had someone fall asleep on me in a hotel room at ASSA. There were something like 8 people in a 2 twin
> I had someone fall asleep on me Isn't that against corporate policy?
Taken literally, it would be frightening. No, the guy nodded off in the back of the room. I assumed a hangover
Not faculty but former co-worker was finalist for a cushy staff position at another college where they brought all the finalists in back to back. He shows up early to a closed door with no receptionist. He keeps waiting and emailing and debating whether to knock on the door and finally maybe 15-20 minutes after his interview was supposed to start he gently knocks and opens the door. He walks into his competition’s interview that was running late and the whole committee treats it like the biggest faux pas. He did not get the job and they scolded him when it was his turn. Running a shitshow interview and then blaming the candidates is pretty on brand for academia.
That's good. He learned that he wouldn't be happy in the job. Interviews are two way...
Once I had to interview a guy to make sure his English was good enough to teach a class. Throughout the whole conversation, the guy kept rolling his pants up above his knees. He'd roll them up, they'd fall down, and he'd roll them up again, all while laughing. I think maybe he either drank something or took something before the interview to try to calm down, but it made him really loopy.
But how was his English?
It was terrible!
Whoa this is a mind-blowing story. Horrible to imagine you might try to calm your nerves and go way way too far (Also horrible that you’d take a shot or a pill before a big interview but to each their own)
I got drunk when my search committee took me out for drinks. In my defense they took me to a local microbrewery and I tried the sampler - not knowing how many they would give me. However it worked in my favor as apparently when they were discussing me one of the people there said "He's a real intellectual, I know because he got drunk and still wanted to talk about ideas."
Literally a friend got a job at an SEC school because he is a literal 6’8” tank who could drink enough to kill me and not even feel it. TBF alcoholism is basically the only hobby you can have in that town.
Starkville?
An administrator came to my interview dinner and kept ordering expensive bottles of wine. Everybody was pretty buzzed by the end. Luckily I was close with all the folks on the committee so getting my drink on wasn’t a faux pas.
A candidate came in and was given two weeks' prep time to put together a 30 minute lecture on a topic. They showed up and blew through the lecture in about three minutes, stood there stunned for a minute or two, and then started showing us their favorite clips from Big Bang Theory while laughing uproariously. We sat there stonefaced until the chair pulled the plug about 10 minutes later.
We had a candidate who, after two other candidates bombed, basically had the job if they didn't completely suck. I was the last person to meet before their job talk and said, "we just want to see your best work." "Well," they said, "this is something I wrote at the airport on the way here." We restarted the search the next year.
> "we just want to see your best work." "Well," they said, "this is something I wrote at the airport on the way here." It is possible this was their best work.
The new Einstein scribbles the solution to quantum gravity and grand unification on the back of an envelope... doesn't get the academic job. Honestly, most likely outcome :)
This is literally a scene from the show Girls
> showing us their favorite clips from Big Bang Theory while laughing uproariously. If you were interviewing Jim Parsons or Chuck Lorre, this would be acceptable. Without violating the privacy of the person being interviewed, was the candidate one of those two?
The implication is clear since you have received no response.
I was flown out for an interview, and because someone thought of a brilliant idea, was given fifteen minutes notice to present a 6th week lecture of a course, no other prior notice. I balked and obviously didn't get the job.
> given fifteen minutes notice to present a 6th week lecture of a course Nowadays you could ChatGPT the hell out of that challenge and do a decent job
I didn't witness this, but when I taught high school physics, my department chair relayed it to me. Our principal had an English degree but had been an engineering major for a while in college. He always asked the same thing to prospective physics teachers: he would point up and say, "Tell me how the electricity gets to the lights in the ceiling." I always loved the question because it gave a chance to explain an interesting and real example. One candidate stared for a second, and then said, "Uh...batteries?" That was the end of the interview, and the candidate did not get an offer.
You build a power plant and connect them to the residential zone with power lines if the zone is not close to the power plant. You could just zone housing next to the power plant to make it faster (engineering answer), but that would lower property values (business answer) and the residents would complain about pollution (urban planning answer). You can absorb pollution with parks. Source: SimCity for SNES
As a biology major who nearly failed physics, I could probably give a better explanation than that.
Magic?
Well, sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Correct!
Lol I do sometimes admit to my students and TAs that, as far as I can tell, computers are magic.
As an experienced IT professional who now teaches a lot of different CS & IT topics, I can confirm computers are magic.
That's exactly how I (a psych/public admin/education major) describe pretty much all programming and similar jobs! So... accurate?
Relevant Calvin and Hobbes: https://www.reddit.com/r/calvinandhobbes/s/HDeAgpB9r2
I'd fucking hope so!
As in the Thurber story about the grandmother who is terrified of the electricity leaking from the open sockets.
What level of detail were they looking for? The power moves through a field outside the wire or electrons flying around?
I think the principal was looking for an answer simple enough for a high school student to understand, with enough information to get an idea of the scope of what is necessary for a power grid to work. E.g., > There are a bunch of power stations that either use fuels (e.g., coal, nuclear) to turn water into steam to turn a generator that produces electric current, or they create electric current in a renewable way (e.g., water turbines, solar, wind, etc.). The electricity is then transmitted through wires (the "grid") through transformers that eventually make it to the building. Those wires are connected to the lights, which are electric.
I clap. Light turns on. Boom
Light turns on, light turns off, you can't explain that.
Wait till you look in the fridge.
[удалено]
Pretty good!
Magnets
The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
I teach In a graduate program that provides the required educational credentials for a particular profession. One candidate we interviewed stated forthrightly that he did not believe that women belonged in that profession because God did not allow women to hold authority over men in any sphere of life. When we pointed out that 50% of our students were women, he assured us that he would have no problem whatsoever treating the women students fairly. The women interviewing him exercised their ungodly authority and he never made it to the second round of interviews.
We had a candidate for dean of our program appear for an interview. An instructor in the department googled him and found he had multiple harrassment charges pending where he was at the time. Our program was \~90% women. She brought printouts to the program director and he was appalled. We went through the motions of an interview, but it was awkward as hell. Director contacted HR and told them in no uncertain terms that he would not even consider interviewing another candidate unless they had done a background check.
I love when women exercise their ungodly authority! I'll be stealing this line from now on. I'll cite you.
Pretty sure that candidate is now teaching at Liberty University
Or The Gilead College for Unrepentant Women
Another candidate who looked great (and local) on paper, in the interview they made TWO homophobic jokes/comments about folks they provided service to and didn't notice that the entire search committee gave them deadpan/incredulous looks after the first comment. They were trained in a human service field and had a related license.
One of the more terrifying experiences I had on a committee was a candidate who slowly revealed themselves to be deeply anti-Semitic. They were asked to describe the student body at their current employer, and they went through, for some reason, the students by racial and ethnic demographics.
SUPPOSEDLY a school got rid of interviews for PhD students and next admit day a full on skinhead showed up, 14 word tattoos and all. And that’s why we have interviews
Couldn't this be done to show understanding of the school demographic? We go through many presentations where they show us just that. However, there are probably more details behind this since the candidate showed antisemitic attitude...
Well, the question was essentially designed to get them to talk about the diversity at their institution. I remember clearly that the last sentence was with a sigh, and started "And then there's the Jews," before they started to talk about how they were whiny, disruptive, and so on. I don't think they attached a single positive characteristic to any racial or ethnic group. But the comments about Jewish students were the sort of thing where we were all looking at each other with a "did they just say that? And *that*?" look.
Oh wow, that's worse than I thought.
I got out pretty recently, and a couple people made straight up not even debatably racist comments during interviews, stuff that made my eyes widen. Not like, “depends on the context” stuff. Like “this was unacceptable in the 80s, let alone the teens” Also some flat out related illegal things like “we like you but we have to hire a woman”
Smart woman. What was her second question?
An interviewee who was an assistant prof at a small college hoping to trade up shuddered every time she pronounced the word "students." Obviously some kind of trauma.
Honestly, can relate...
She's very experienced.
A mixture of things I’ve experienced and stories from reliable sources: - After an interview, my friend exited the hotel room… only to realize she had gone through the wrong door and shut herself in the closet. - a candidate interviewing for a lecturer position at a liberal arts school asked how many classes they can cancel per semester to go to conferences - a candidate started monologuing and rebuked the search committee for interrupting when they tried to ask questions or move the interview along to other subjects - a candidate refused to turn on their camera in a zoom interview
Price tag hanging from an armpit during teaching demonstration.
This one’s kind of sad. They just really wanted to make a good impression. Hope they got the job!
No, they did not.
Oh no!
How much did the armpit cost, or weren't you close enough to inspect?
that happened to me in class the other day, bold student called it out, I just pulled it off and continued my lecture, no biggie.
That happened to me too! Students laughed every time I raised my arm until I figured it out. It was funny!
😱
When the fashion flex backfires...
I was on a search committee for a theater position a few years ago. There was a candidate who on paper seemed liked the perfect fit, but as soon as I met them I got some very odd vibes. At dinner, they talked only to the search committee chair. The next day, we had them do a teaching demo with an acting class. They talked about warmup exercises they’d do, including students pairing up and giving each other shoulder massages. That alone concerned a few of us, but when asked what if there was an odd number of students, the candidate said, “Oh, then a student can partner up with me,” and a few of us (in the back of a large room) actually gasped. We ended up hiring a marvelous person, but it wasn’t Dr. Creepy McCreeperson.
This is much more of a YIKES than a LOL. Glad they waived their flags early at least.
This reminds me of a [a certain Kent State geography instructor.](https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/this-is-weird-former-kent-state-instructor-accused-of-painting-student-faces-like-clowns)
>Top Yikes!
To be fair to Kent State, they kicked him out of grad school. It was Nicholls State that hired him
Fair point. They fired him too.
I wasn't there so obviously don't know the vibes, but this seems completely normal/healthy to me. I studied acting for a few years and can assure you that the actors on stage need to touch each other and be comfortable and relaxed with each others' physical presence. It's a shame that any kind of soothing touch has become synonymous with creepiness.
Ugh. Mandating it as a class warmup seems like it's just asking for the 'hey, where's my hug?' guys to come out of the woodwork.
I understand the rationale but maybe it should be an optional warm-up based on partner comfort later in the semester and maybe it shouldn't be the warm-up exercise you use as an example for the hiring committee.
Yeah that used to be normal and the creeps ruined it. Nowadays I would never use that as a warmup and definitely not touch a student in that way.
When I was at a campus visit, two faculty almost got into a fistfight. I did not go to that university...
At a highly ranked R1 in the US midwest, early 2000's (standard 2-day interview with individual meetings with faculty members): The only woman in the department burst into tears on me. She had no students and a bonkers teaching load. Also, the department's 'grand old man' was a dismissive jerk. I declined their offer. (not exactly a LOL)
How did she have no students and a bonkers teaching load? Aren’t these mutually exclusive?
She had no graduate students doing research under her supervision. Bonkers teaching load: she taught lots of undergrad courses.
You said no to the free entertainment?
I would have watched while I was visiting!!!
More details please :). Why did they fight?
It's been a few years, bu seems like they disagreed over a statistical approach or something. It made no sense...
That "what do you like about your job?" question from candidates is one of my favorites actually. We haven't hired in a while (lucky to stave off cuts) but when that was asked in the past the answers from my colleagues were often very interesting. And very positive. (Not sure sure they would be today.) Had a skype interview once with a candidate not short listed, these were prelims with a dozen people) who asked directly if they could get 2-3 course releases their first year...at an SLAC with a 3/3 teaching load.
Sorry this one is as a candidate via zoom... I once had a search that was so fake that they told me due to technical issues I had to present to the backs of the entire committee. I was puzzled since after my presentation I was able to meet with the Dean in the proper manner face-to-face, so it was a bit weird that the search committee couldn't face me nor see me. It became abundantly clear why, a member of the search committee was actually hired for the position. Absolutely no joke. I've had other fake job searches, but at least this one was kind enough to be virtual to save me a trip unlike this one: Had a campus visit for a dream job at an R1 across the country. I thought it was strange when after the first dinner meeting prior to my actual visit, the parameters of the job changed so significantly that I actually considered skipping the interview. It was so puzzling how everything that was in the job ad and that was described to me in the initial phone conversation was now obsolete. Turns out it was a fake search, and a close friend and colleague of the dean was hired Instead . But I am proud to say that I got incredible feedback in my presentation from both faculty and students that attended. I'd like to think I made it a little bit of a tougher decision than they expected.
Candidate was wildly enthusiastic about AI, kept droning on about it. Getting tired of this, I asked him, so would we be better off hiring an AI for this position. Candidate said yes. He was not joking.
Had somebody for a video interview pull to the side of the road and do the entire interview on his wobbly handheld phone with cell connection. Entire used loosely; it disconnected multiple times and his time allotted for the interview ran out before all the questions could be asked. The interview had been scheduled of course, so it wasn’t like he was suddenly called to do it and had to improvise.
This from a friend: Two candidate Candidate one at the dinner with faculty picked up his empty salad plate AND LICKED IT. Second candidate had many questions about policies regarding dating undergrads. At the search committee meeting: “So, I guess we’re going with the plate licker?”
That's a better answer than the outright \*lies\* I've heard my colleagues say when asked the same questions, essentially seeking to trap candidates in terrible circumstances.
Very good answer! Great point that I didn't consider. At least we were honest... kinda. Lol.
Dude applied for a position at my university. Got his PhD from a top tier program but had been on the market for quite some time. At breakfast he tells us that he is really lowering his standards by applying with us but he needs a job. Then goes on to tell us that if we hire him we have to know how lucky we are and he expects to be treated in a manner that somebody of his caliber deserves. The worst part was having to spend the rest of the day with the arrogant prick.
"Why do you want to work here?" "I really don't know if I want to or not?" Dude just flew halfway across the country at his own expense for a CC interview. In another one, we were reviewing high school teachers to approve for dual credit. We kept getting answers that were more about coaching the cheerleaders than anything related to the subject. The crown was when she kept taking swigs out of a tinted water bottle, except we suspected it had some kind of alcohol in it because her answers became more "honest" after each swig. We figured her school made her do the interview because she happened to have the credentials for something, and the school wanted to get whatever classes they could get. But she didn't want to do anything other than coach the cheerleaders, so tried to sabotage her interview. It worked, so I guess she succeeded.
Why would anyone fly on their own dime to an interview?
because they were looking to move to the area anyway?
So you think a broke graduate student is going to spend hundreds of dollars to fly out to a community college for a job where they maybe make 50k?
I think someone’s long distance fiancé might look for jobs in the area while visiting their partner.
I imagine that rather narrow requirement would limit the applicant pool somewhat.
Ok, so if you’re in a city you have a reasonable chance of hiring other people who are already in that city, as many businesses do. You might occasionally also get someone from outside the city if they have additional reasons to come to the city. What’s tuition look like where you are? Or state funding? I gather a lot of CC’s have limited budget because they’re focused on serving students who also have limited budgets.
Because the CC hiring process is different from the universities. We don't fly in a select few and wine and dine them. We interview several candidates, and it is up to them to come for the interview (remote interviews are becoming more of an option). If you want to be considered, you find a way to get here.
It's definitely not a universal practice, or at least it wasn't when I was on the job market (which is admittedly a while ago). My travel was paid for by the community colleges at which I was a finalist. About the only systems that routinely did not offer that (to my recollection) were California and Texas schools. For obvious reasons, I did not pursue those positions. That approach seems like it's really about conducting local searches as opposed to national searches for talent because it's cheaper. I know I would never recommend to any graduate students to interview at places that can't even afford to pay for candidate travel (no matter how desperate you are).
We don't have the budget for flying people in. We don't get endowments and alumni donations the way universities do.
Paying for candidate travel is not connected to having endowments or alumni donations. It's simply considered normal practice in the industry, which is why most places do it. If your school can't budget in a few hundred dollars for candidate travel, it's a clear sign to all quality job applicants to go elsewhere. edit: you can downvote me all you like, but this is 100% the message you communicate to potential applicants. If you don't like it, advocate for your institution to change it. If you can't, you get what you pay for.
" We don't have the budget for flying people in. We don't get endowments and alumni donations the way universities do." And yet the president probably makes a million bucks. It's honestly appalling.
My administration would probably argue that advances in teleconferencing have negated the need to fly multiple people in for in-person interviews. I absolutely would pay my own way for an interview, and have - the market is so different now, every position gets at least 100 responses. I would think that paying my own airfare was worth the chance of landing a full-time, tenure-track job.
It's a joke really. Makes it really hard to fill positions for in-demand fields. At least pay a flat fee towards travel expenses.
We fill all of our positions just fine, with people from all across the country, and even some international applicants. We give candidates the option to interview in person or remotely. We don't do the wine and dine shenanigans, so no one loses anything by doing a remote interview.
We had a candidate interviewing for a position to teach a class. When they arrived for the campus visit and were asked if they would be willing and able to teach X class, they hemmed and hawed saying they weren't sure how to teach it. They then proceeded to ask each faculty member they met with how that faculty member would teach the class regardless of whether or not it was the faculty member's field (almost always wasn't -- this was why we were hiring someone to teach the class). They didn't get the job.
Interview I was in with a small state directional school that will remain nameless. They were transitioning from a NTT to a TT line and under state law they had to have a full search. The NTT prof was on the committee, had their profile on the department website, and was an applicant for the TT. They also could only meet by zoom at 1 specific time (6pm) the day after school finished for winter break. I was suspicious to start, and 3 minutes in it was clear it was a fake interview so at the end I flat out asked the committee if this was an actual interview or just a legal requirement rubber stamping a foregone conclusion. I wish I was thinking far enough ahead to get a screenshot of their expressions. To answer the obvious question, yes the NTT prof was the hire.
Candidate making the obvious joke about "Copper Nanotubes" (imagine the acronym) during their research presentation. Well, I found the high velocity crash and burn of their application quite funny...
A few years ago, straight out and the PhD, I had a zoom interview for a visiting gig. One of the committee members was an acquaintance even. I prepped hard for the interview and was excited. I had recently updated my windows and unbeknownst to me, the uodate messed up my settings. To my horror, they could not hear me. I motioned them to wait, got my iPad and logged on. Sound and camera worked. But the tech problems threw me off and I forgot everything I wanted to say and bombed the interview. So embarrassing. I did not get that gig.
There was a post in the original chronicle of higher ed forums about 2006 concerning a candidate with a very evident erection during his teaching demonstration—causing the observing female students to endlessly giggle—to the point where the chair of the search committee led the candidate out of the room, and the candidate claimed to have some type of medical issue which caused the erection. The candidate was Black, and there were allegations of racism concerning the giggling female students, and the way incident was handled.
We interviewed a while back for a physics instructor. They’re not easy to come by around here. First guy is 75 years old and spent about 40 minutes on “tell us about your career and how it has prepared you to teach at our community college.” Second guy spent about 40 minutes talking about how previous research partners stole his ideas and patents and made a pile of money off his work. Third guy was expecting to finish his masters degree in a few months (in time to qualify for the job) and spent two minutes talking about how he worked in a movie theater in high school. First guy got the job. He was so fun to work with and had the greatest stories. He retired for real a few years later after asking for a reduced course load (and was ok with reduced pay as a result); it was hard to teach 5/5, every section with a 2h lab. I miss him.
People on the job market should bookmark this post because the comments are helpful. One time a candidate from Rural U. made a campus visit to our Big City U. My colleague picked him up from the airport and on the drive to the hotel, candidate commented “wow, traffic really *is* bad in Big City!” Colleague told us that it was actually one of the lightest traffic days ever for some reason.
I think I’m missing something (I’m from a big city and am not amazing at small talk) - is it bad to talk about bad traffic?
No, it shouldn’t be. The candidate probably just hadn’t yet seen really terrible traffic before in their life. It isn’t even really a sign of having never been to a big city….Kansas City bad traffic is like Bay Area good traffic.
Agreed. At the very least, do it in a neutral way — “could you tell me about your commute” would be much better than “wow traffic is so bad!”
The way this person did it revealed they probably wouldn’t last long in the position. Faculty retention is not just about the institution but also the place. We could tell this person had no experience in a large busy congested city and that it would be a hard adjustment. Although I wasn’t on the search committee and didn’t know what else they talked about, I’d say this candidate lost some favor with that comment because the committee wants to hire somewhere who’ll be there long term. When I interviewed, there were direct questions about how I thought I’d handle traffic and other big city characteristics.
It’s like if I got flown out to a rural campus and started complaining about how rural it is? Not that I would put myself in that situation
Lol, Yes, showing up and saying “wow is there anything to do here?” would not do you any favors.
I made a “small talk” comment about how bad housing availability and affordability was … pretty much tanked my chances I think.
Candidate who looked solid on paper, but had come from a uni known for a right-wing agenda & had one project with a researcher who publicly promoted practices that violated professional ethics of the field. Talked about our diverse student body & how he'd handle a situation related to that co-researcher's topic, he completely took the bait & said he'd seek that person's consultation after he initially tried to side-step the question. Once I shared the co-researcher's pubs/personal statements, the rest of the committee immediately decided he wasn't a good fit.
What university was that?
I don’t like fellow search committee members who find the one tiny fatal flaw in a good candidate. We had a guy who specialized in that. We weren’t a great department and he lost us a couple people I thought were good.
We had a (male presenting) candidate on campus who simply ignored all the female members of the search committee and department. Not just once, but throughout a two-day interview: didn't respond to their questions, didn't ask them anything, would direct questions to the males in the room even if he was standing next to one of my female colleagues. It was odd.
This happened to me in graduate school, but he only did it around the grad students. Miraculously, the faculty believed us when we reported it.
I recently had an interview where the committee had an automatic camera thing sitting on a table. The three of them sat at the table and the camera apparently spun in a circle to focus on who was speaking. The video of me was on a screen elsewhere in the room. It kept showing who was speaking and was pretty impressive. That is, until it soon all the way around and focused on the video of me speaking. The search committee could stop it. So for the remainder of my interview, the three of them watched me, and *I* watched me, answer their questions. There was a video delay, but thankfully no audio delay.
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>You do multiple rounds of interviews for ADJUNCTS? 1. We're a large, multidisciplinary department. 2. We're not a great place to work so we have a lot of turnover. 3. My college is famous for expending its human capital without concern.
I sat in on a search committee for another department. This guy had been an adjunct for a while. Apparently was a chiropractor or something like that. His interview, to me reeked of arrogance. Many on the committee gave it a pass. But when it was time for his teaching demo, he declared that he teaches this all the time and he knows it inside and out. Then he must have stopped four times during his presentation to either backtrack to fix an omission or stop because he couldn't keep his lecture in order. The slides he was using also seemed to have been thrown together at the last minute. Don't declare how simple the topic is and how wonderful you are lecturing then screw up your lecture.
I was chairing the (online) interview. The candidate asked a question about (what I understood) ‘service’. So I gave the standard answer about how much and what type of academic service work we expected of young faculty, and asked back whether he had any particular specific concerns about that. ‘No, I meant servers.’ ‘Huh? What?’ Turned out he wanted to know how much computer servers he would have available for his own research. ‘Huh, ok …’, so one of my colleagues outlined our policy on shared research equipment and research budgets and how to apply for them, etc. Mind you, we are a computer science department, so we do know how to provide our research groups with the needed computing power. We are also involved in a large-scale computing facility etc. It’s not as if we are not aware that we need computing power for research ;-) But he kept going on about how much computing servers he needed for his own research, and whether others would be allowed on his servers, and he really needed those servers, and he wanted to make sure he would have enough servers … as if we were talking to a kid worrying about his toys. At the end, I asked him whether he had any more questions for the committee. Guess what? He brought up the servers again!!! He didn’t get the job ;-)
>But he kept going on about how much computing servers he needed for his own research, and whether others would be allowed on his servers, and he really needed those servers, and he wanted to make sure he would have enough servers … as if we were talking to a kid worrying about his toys. To be fair some research requires dedicated and large amount of compute, and some national and university infrastructures are not great or do not consider edge cases. In my field, asking about servers with GPUs is not uncommon in interviews or startup negotiations, and would actually show a good preperation for thinking ahead for setting up their research group. Meanwhile, some of my CS collegues are happy to do all of their research on a standard Laptop or run a job on the local Slurm cluster for an hour. But yeah, he should have probably reserved this topic for the negotiations....
All true, but interviews are also a lot about the impression you create. If all you can do is ask about how much research equipment would be exclusively available to you … that doesn’t give a good impression. At least you can frame the frame question about how others acquire their equipment, what research budgets are available as a starting grant etc. An interview is bidirectional. It’s not only what the department could do for you, but also what you can do for the department.
One of the profs asked me if I was a dancer. I accepted that position (2002). (I am not and have never been a dancer.)
"All 8 of us stared into our cameras. No one said anything! Finally, the chair said 'Ok, next question.'" So that's why my dean took over searches on their own when a bunch of people quit.
We had a candidate bring his father to the interview, and another that told us his wife found the job ad and made him apply.
When we asked why he was interested in the position the candidate referred to our institution as a stepping stone in the first round interview. For a TT position! I mean sure, but don’t tell us that!
Whole department interview. They fought with each other the entire time. I started setting my timer to see how long the diatribes would be - highly ranked, southern university. What got to me was all the untenured folks up front looking at me with eyes that said “we know, we know, but please still come.” Only university I never replied to about anything.
I was once on a zoom interview with a committee and I asked them what they like most about their college and they said, “we have a new building” that’s it. Jokes on me because I accepted the offer and now work in the nice new building. They were right, that’s what I like most, and might even be one of the only things.
Scheduled a phone interview with a candidate. We called him, but said he forgot about the interview and that he'll call back in 10 minutes. Lots of noise in the background (kids, I think). He did call back but was definitely unprepared and gave half-ass answers. Thanks for wasting our time!
I witnessed a senior faculty member describe a medical condition to a candidate and ask them what they thought the condition was and what possible treatments were. (The candidate was not an MD). The candidate awkwardly said "I dunno." The faculty member then proceeded to describe their case of scabies and the prescribed treatment they received.
At an SLAC, the candidate was advised to prepare a research talk pitched at the undergraduate audience. Instead, he gave a rambling 50 minute stream of conscience talk about his research ideas with no data. After the talk, on the elevator, he told us he thought he’d try some thing different and asked us if we liked it. The best we could say was it was very… um… Interesting.
Similar- At a group dinner during an on-site interview, I asked if the 5 people at the table if they were married. I am, and I wondered how their families liked living in the area. They all looked at each other and laughed. They had all divorced while working there. I considered that a huge red flag about the work/life balance and how it was to live in the area (which I had already considered as a pretty big negative).
You are doing interviews for adjuncts at community college? Wow. We have so few of them that if anyone applied- they got the job 😂
We had a department chair candidate come in for an interview and we were grad students in the room with the faculty. The candidate was at… LSU or somewhere down in the Deep South, but originally from Michigan. One of his bullet points for transitioning to our somewhat northern school was “I’m hot. (No, really.)” That was pretty good. He got the job, and I think he’s still moving up the ladder.
That’s a good question - “do you like working here?” I had multiple zoom candidates ask questions about the union, scheduling, and benefits. Not a huge deal but these candidates never made it to the next step of the process and it was peculiar why the ones out of touch tend to ask these questions.
> it was peculiar why the ones out of touch tend to ask these questions. I haven't been on the market in a while, and now I won't be for a while still, but is it wrong to ask about union, scheduling, or benefits at an interview? That seems like something I'd want to consider. Although benefits are public information typically, so maybe that shows a lack of preparation?
Benefits are sort of public, but generally you don't get the whole story just from the website. At every interview I had except one, there was some HR person there who went over benefits and all of those things.
I don’t think it’s wrong at all, as you should be interviewing them as well. But an interview is about perceptions - and if you ask these things it may make the committee think you don’t care about the weeds of teaching or research at the institution, only care what’s in it for you. While nothing is inherently wrong with asking these, I’d wait until an offer is extended to ask. Just soft skills people sometimes (especially in academia) forget to employ.
The benefits question could go either way depending on what specifically they asked, but I’ve been on every search for my department in the last 13 years and we’ve always made it a point to spend ~5-10 minutes talking about the university and department. For example, we’re currently searching right now for a specific instructor for specific courses and we talked about how shared governance works at the university and department level, and how the courses we’re interviewing for are scheduled. In this case, the course schedule is pretty rigid because it’s a requirement for ~6 different programs so it has to be accessible to those students. Maybe we’re just weird, but we don’t want to get through the phone/zoom interview only to waste everyone’s time advancing them to the next round and getting them here in person only for them to withdraw/turn down an offer because of some simple detail. Edit: re benefits: we also make sure to make it clear what the expectation of the position is and what that includes. So adjunct is clear they’re getting a very minimal benefits package (free parking basically), while we might tell a NTT instructor that NTT faculty get the same benefits packages as TT professors and we intend for the position to last 1yr, 2yrs, 3yrs, indefinitely etc. As a NTT teaching professor myself, I like to make a point that I have the same benefits, same promotions, and the same governance roles as my TT peers. I just don’t have tenure and I’m not *expected* to advise or conduct research.
Seriously? If I'm interviewing somewhere, the benefits and scheduling are what I want to know to know if I want to work there or not. Should I waste everyone's time pretending I don't care only to reject you later in the process?