M. Taylor Haynes welcomed Prof. Alan Kiste from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to start a series of events pertaining to the academic interviewing process.

The academic interview process can be difficult to navigate, even more so if there are other personal concerns such as finding affordable housing in expensive markets or finding job opportunities for a significant other. LGBT job candidates may have additional concerns about sexual orientation and gender identity issues and the role they play during the interview process. The focus of this discussion centered around how to address the “Illegal” interview questions that you may be personally invested in, such as considerations for a trailing spouse or assessing the climate of a department toward the LGBT community.

The nature of the academic interview lends itself to numerous opportunities to approach these subjects. Utilizing personal meetings to ask sensitive questions emerged as the most accessible strategy. Another key consideration as the interviewee, bringing up sensitive subjects is entirely to your discretion but after you initiate the conversation it is a viable discussion topic.

Inevitably, these “Illegal” interview questions will arise in various forms throughout discussions. Learning to respond can be challenging, but the best responses don?t alienate the interviewer while simultaneously redirecting the question. Lastly, the use of illegal questions can be telling of the environment of a department. When a sensitive question arises in a public forum, the reaction of the crowd can strongly indicate whether the environment is welcoming or not.

CSIE|UM would like to thank Prof. Kiste for his time and willingness to lead this discussion! In addition to this discussion on the personal side of interviewing, Prof. Kiste was also involved in a series of panels and workshops while he was here. Be sure to check out the news posts detailing these events on the CSIE|UM Website!