The APA Best Practices for Interviewing and the APA Good Practices Guide, Chapter 5 on Interviewing and Hiring serve as invaluable resources for candidates and hiring departments. Nevertheless, the pandemic has thrown us all into a bit of a conundrum for how best to conduct interviews—especially the important second-round or “on-campus” interview—in spite of rather challenging conditions related to social distancing and travel restrictions. In a previous post, we offered some suggestions for re-imagining the traditional on-campus interview. In this post, we use the standard categories of activities during an on-campus or second-round interview to guide more specific suggestions.
Teaching demonstration: The academic job market is primarily about hiring teachers for our institutions. The teaching demonstration is one of the most important elements of the campus interview. Although, arguably, we are all better teachers when we are “live” and in person, the pandemic has taught us of the importance of being flexible in course delivery and introduced many of us to the possibilities abundant in online teaching. Candidates are always keen to demonstrate their abilities with technology and the current situation provides an avenue for that. Additionally, familiarity with online teaching in some form will likely become a necessity in the coming years.
Much of the available advice for teaching demonstrations applies also to online teaching demonstrations, but some consideration is needed for how to conduct the demonstration. Hiring departments still want to know that candidates can communicate course content in a way that builds connections with students and demonstrates flexibility and teaching aptitude. Hiring departments also look for the candidate’s ability to meet diverse student needs, to create an inclusive classroom environment, and to provide equitable treatment of students. Some ideas:
- Ask candidate to teach a session of a course via Zoom to a fully online course.
- Offer a teaching demonstration to a group of students via zoom and record for faculty evaluation later (i.e., exclude faculty from the online class).
- Have the candidate teach a session of a live course via remote presentation (i.e., the candidate is on the screen while the students are in a socially-distant in-person class).
- Ask the candidate to record a mock class session or make a quality short video for use in a class.
Job-Talk/Research presentation: The second major component of a traditional on-campus interview is the research presentation or job talk. This tends to take the form of a paper presentation followed by questions, but it also could be a conversation around a pre-circulated paper. These practices, too, can be adapted to fit the remote format. Regardless of which style of presentation format is selected, all candidates should be instructed that the same format will be used in order to ensure fairness. Consider these proposals:
- Candidate provides a prerecorded presentation of the reading of the paper; hiring department and candidate meet via video conferencing to discuss. Chair of session should maintain the list of the questioners so that the candidate is free to concentrate on responding.
- Candidate provides a written version of the paper which the department reads ahead of time. Hiring department and candidate meet via video conferencing to discuss. Chair of session should maintain the list of the questioners so that the candidate is free to concentrate on responding.
- Candidate reads paper over video conferencing and responds to questions, i.e., simply move the traditional presentation to the video conferencing format.
- Candidate provides a brief (~20 min) presentation with slides of a pre-disseminated paper. Questions from the hiring department follow.
Meeting with Dean, Associate Dean, Graduate Dean: On-campus interviews usually include at least one meeting with a college or university administrator. These meetings tend to be short (30 minutes) and take the standard format of questions and answers. In fact, these interviews usually involve sitting in an office or at a conference table and talking. Meetings with administrators in the traditional on-campus format sometimes spill overtime and schedulers have included ample “travel time” to-and-from the interview to allow for that contingency. These administrator interviews could easily be transitioned to the virtual format using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Skype. However, hiring departments should take care not to schedule them one after another, but should instead space them out with at least 30 minutes of down time in between each one.
Meeting with Chair: The department chair plays multiple roles in an on-campus interview. The chair is often the organizer and host of the campus visit. In addition, the chair plays a role in representing the candidate to administrators prior to, during, and after the campus visit. The chair also explains some of the more complex elements of a position to the candidate, such as research support or the requirements for tenure. The chair answers questions about teaching support, evaluation, and even local public schools. Usually there is at least one formal meeting with the department chair in addition to multiple informal meetings as the chair shuttles the candidate from one meeting to another or delivers the candidate from the hotel to the campus. On the surface, many of these are not easily replaced in a remote format. However, with some diligence and care, we think all of them can be covered.
- The organization of the interview itself should be communicated clearly and efficiently in email, with follow-up emails as necessary.
- Chair should meet with candidate (however briefly) before any other part of the interview so that the candidate has an opportunity to ask questions.
- Information about tenure, research support, and evaluation criteria:
- Departments ought to have written statements about evaluation criteria; universities similarly ought to have policies on rank and tenure review. The department chair can provide links or pdf of relevant documents and invite candidates to send written questions or invite candidates to follow up with a telephone call or video conferencing. (Offering resource information in written form has the benefit of removing one video conferencing chat from the schedule.)
- Department chairs can schedule a dedicated video conferencing conversation to discuss tenure, support, and evaluation. Given that there will be a lot of questions associated with this, the schedule should allow for 60 minutes.
- Chairs can prerecord a slide presentation with the relevant information and follow up with candidates for any questions via telephone or video conferencing.
- Information about local area (approximately 30 minutes)
- Chair meets with candidate via telephone or video conferencing
- One of the video conferenced social gatherings is dedicated to local area
- Chair provides links to local information via email
- Meeting with chair at end of interview for more information or questions
- Candidate and chair meet via video conferencing at end of all scheduled interviews.
- Chair provides information about the hiring and search process going forward via email.
Meeting with Director of Graduate Studies (DGS): Universities with graduate programs often have a dedicated interview session with the director of graduate studies so that the candidate may ask questions specific to the graduate program. The DGS also hopes to obtain a sense of the nature and variety of possible graduate courses the candidate could offer.
- Live meeting via Teams, Zoom, Skype.
- Email questions for written response (e.g., “what graduate courses are you interested in teaching at our institution and why?”). Any request for written responses should give the candidate a full week to compile responses.
- Telephone call discussion.
Social interactions: Social interactions (meals, walks between appointments, and receptions) make up a significant portion of a traditional on-campus interview. We can all agree that social interactions of any sort are more difficult in a remote context. Nonetheless, there are ways to meet the challenge. As a precursor for virtual interactions, we cannot underestimate the value of faculty having relatively up to date and informative webpages to provide a sense of the intellectual life of the department. Beyond that, the first step in replacing the traditional social interactions of a second-round interview is to think about what one hopes to provide from social interactions and what one hopes to learn about the candidate. Importantly, social interactions present the hiring department to the candidate as much as vice versa. In thinking about how to engage socially, departments might need to think about how to balance personalities so that dominant colleagues are balanced (or controlled!), and interesting aspects of the departmental community are highlighted. A number of possibilities spring to mind:
- Multiple video meetings between no more than three different faculty members and the candidate focused on predetermined topic, e.g., “how do you teach intro?”; “what do you enjoy when not doing philosophy?”; “the foodie/art/music/museum scene in our area”; “the support of philosophy in our college or university”; etc. The idea is to give the candidate a chance to talk to everyone in the department or in related interdisciplinary programs while not requiring the candidate to be the center of the “interview” all the time.
- Whether as part of the video meetings or as a separate, intentional activity, an icebreaker event as suggested by Jewkes et al. contributes to “openness in communication and rapport building between candidates and committee members.” They explain the value of social engagements as creating “empathetic joining processes.” Using lighthearted ice-breaker questions to which both committee members and candidates respond provides a virtual substitute for the in-person equivalent.
- Teaching tools like Flipgrid or VoiceThread might also be used. For instance, each faculty member could post a short conversation-starter and question via Flipgrid. The platform allows candidates to record short videos and preview the video to accept or reject their recording. This increases accessibility as candidates can record videos at times that are convenient to them, and to re-do a video as many times as needed. Further, although some care in the initial set-up is required to keep candidates from seeing each other’s postings, all faculty can review all submissions and make evaluations across all three candidates for the same questions. Conversations on Flipgrid are amazingly versatile and fulfilling, in spite of being slightly stunted. Some hiring teams are already using a similar approach with written questions to which the candidate provides a recorded response.
Interactions with administrative assistants: Some hiring departments put a premium on the interaction between the candidate and the department staff. For the traditional on-campus interview, those interactions have already moved to be primarily email but some in-person interaction is still involved and encouraged. The feedback from these interactions measures a candidate’s professionalism in working with staff as well as organization in responding to the necessary paperwork. Moving these fully online should be relatively easy but hiring departments will have to be conscientious in soliciting feedback about candidates from staff.
- Hiring departments could create a short survey that asks staff to evaluate candidates on a set list of traits: e.g., responsive to email requests, professional in correspondence, and respectful of staff.
- Administrative assistants could be asked to write a short report (one paragraph) about their interactions with candidates, emphasizing the positives.
- Administrative assistants could be provided a rubric to offer feedback.
- Administrative assistants could be asked to report to the department chair of any concerns.
Notice that the presumption is that all candidates will conduct themselves professionally and respectfully with the staff who are organizing the logistics.
Lunch with Undergraduate Students or Graduate Students: Although not part of every on-campus interview, there are usually some opportunities for more informal interaction with students or graduate students. Meals, receptions, teas, or even ferrying the candidate from one appointment to another are common in the traditional campus visit. Moving these online means thinking about what is of value in those interactions. Students and graduate students are often looking for a possible mentor. They seek a prospective faculty member who is approachable and open, while also able to offer (and communicate effectively) good advice. Creating an opportunity for the candidate and students to engage, as well as coordinating the feedback through surveys or rubrics, helps the candidate have a greater feel for the institution as well.
- Host a live lunch via video conferencing (limit the participation to 3-8 students) with each person providing their own meal.
- For undergraduate students: replace “lunch” with an informal conversation on “my favorite philosophy course and why.” The important thing is to create an environment where students and the candidate can talk; no faculty should be included. Stress to the candidate that this is not a formal presentation and that the aim is to allow students the opportunity to get to know a candidate. Departments should assemble a diverse group of students, perhaps including majors, non-majors, and students from different background and with varying interests.
- For graduate students: Replace “lunch” with an informal professional development presentation. For instance, the candidate could be asked to share “three pieces of advice for graduate students about to start a dissertation” or “what to think about in crafting a CV” or “writing a ‘philosophy of teaching’ statement.” The important thing is to create an environment where students and the candidate can talk; no faculty should be included. Stress to the candidate that this is not a formal presentation and that the aim is to allow graduate students the opportunity to get to know a candidate.
Tour of campus: The tour is an opportunity to “sell” the campus to the candidate, to allow the candidate to ask any questions that have developed over the course of the interview, to introduce the candidate to the student body or to display the unique characteristics of the campus and students.
- Ask undergraduate philosophy majors to share highlights from campus via Facetime. The students could be located at their favorite spot on campus and alternate explaining what they like about the spot and how it fits in their college experience.
- Ask the philosophy club to prepare a slideshow of a student-centered approach to campus. Students will have a very different view of what is important than faculty and it could be a fun activity for the club.
- Use a prepared video (Admissions offices usually have one) and send the candidate a link to view at their leisure. The department chair could follow up and ask if the candidate has any questions about the campus.
Academic hiring has most certainly been affected by the pandemic. Many colleges and universities remain in the midst of a hiring freeze. But as the freeze begins to thaw, creative utilization of technological tools allows hiring to proceed, even with travel restrictions or social distancing in place. Departments and candidates alike may also find the new hiring environment more conducive to achieving goals of accessibility and cost reduction while mitigating bias. The suggestions offered here and in the previous post are merely a starting point. We hope candidates and hiring departments will continue to suggest creative alternatives that maintain equity and fairness for the second-round interview.
The guidance is approved by and was developed in consultation with the APA Committee on Academic Career Opportunities and Job Placement. Peter Koch, Davey Tomlinson, and Sam Cowling offered helpful comments and discussion for this short series.
Sally Scholz
Sally Scholz is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Villanova University. She is a past chair of the APA Committee on the Status and Future of the Profession and Committee on Lectures, Publications, and Research, as well as a former member of the APA Committees on Women and Inclusiveness.
