Jessica Rabuck-Gibbons and Lily Hale welcomed Professors Alan Kiste (Cal Poly SLO) and Stacy Buchanan (Henry Ford CC) along with Professors Neil Marsh, Mark Banaszak-Holl, and Bart Bartlett from the University of Michigan for a series of panels and workshops centered on the academic job process.

SESSION I: Making the Short List
The morning panel focused on the application part of the process and was open to all grad students and postdocs. Professor Neil Marsh represented R1 research institutions for this panel.

Professors Kiste, Buchanan, and Marsh

Selected questions for the panelists:
What makes an application or CV stand out?
Describe the typical application to interview timeline?
At each particular institution, how much of your application should focus on research, and how much should focus on teaching?

A common theme for this discussion was to take the time to know the mission of the academic institute, and to make sure that the application packet addresses the mission. The panelists also recommended that the application and cover letter should be short, sweet, and to the point. Professor Marsh pointed out that the faculty search committee only has a few minutes to read each application and research statement, so the ones that stand out are the ones that can clearly identify their research goals in a short amount of page space. The panelists noted that there are drastic differences for how you approach an application for each type of academic institute, and the requirements for hiring at each institute were very different. For example, adjunct work helps when applying to a community college, but a strong research background is necessary for applying to an R1 research school.

SESSION II: Preparing for the Interview
The noontime panel focused on the Skype and on-campus interview process, and was directed at senior grad students and postdocs. Professor Mark Banaszak-Holl represented R1 research institutions for this panel.

Selected questions for the panelists:
What is a common mistake you see among interviewees?
What happens during a research chalk talk, and how can one prepare?
What separates an application/interview that is good enough to receive an offer from an application/interview that does not receive an offer?

The biggest take-away from this session was that preparation is key to the on-campus interview. Especially for a teaching demonstration or the research chalk talk, it helps to have as many people as possible critique your presentation. The panelists also discussed how to respond to questions that may seem hostile. The best strategy is to pick and choose your battles. Be polite about correcting people who are wrong about assumptions they have made about the research, but do not back down just because you feel threatened.

SESSION III: “Speed Interviewing” Workshop
The last session was a “speed interviewing” type session with Professors Alan Kiste, Stacy Buchanan, and Bart Bartlett. Each interviewee had 15 minutes with each professor. During that 15 minute time, interviewees had 2 minutes to give
either a research elevator pitch or a teaching philosophy elevator pitch. After that, the professors asked the interviewees typical questions that they would ask in one-on-one interviews. After the interviewees rotated between each of the professors, there was an informal panel. The professors gave advice based on what they saw during the “interview,” but stressed that this was a very artificial setup. Professor Kiste told interviewers to be themselves, and that he liked to see candidates that were excited and passionate about their teaching and research. Professor Bartlett told interviewees to be prepared to be professional all day long. Even lunches and dinners on campus are part of the interview process.

Selected questions from the “interviewers:”
What defines success for you?
Who is your biggest competition?
What is the first experiment you would do in your new lab?