The Philosophers' Cocoon

A safe and supportive forum for philosophers.

Owned & Moderated by Marcus Arvan (University of Tampa)

Contact: marvan@ut.edu

Blog mission & moderation policy

IMPORTANT NOTE on how to ensure anonymity in commenting
Job-Market Reporting Thread (2025-26)
Job-Market Discussion Thread (2025-26)

recent posts

about

Interview thread

Now that job-market interviews are being scheduled, I thought it might be a good time to open an all-purpose discussion on all-things-interviewing. I'd like to encourage everyone to post and discuss any questions or tips they might have in the comments-section below. Possible topics include:

  • Things to say or not say during interviews.
  • How to approach different types of interviews (R1's, SLACs, CCs, etc.).
  • How to dress/not dress for E-APA interviews.
  • What to expect–and what to do/not do–at the E-APA "smoker".
  • Etc.

Fire away!

Posted in

2 responses to “Interview thread”

  1. Anonymous

    I’m confused about what to wear for an APA interview. I’ve heard that men must wear a suit. I’ve also heard that one of the most important things is not to look like a desperate graduate student. But whenever I’ve been to the Eastern APA the job candidates wearing suits all look like desperate grad students to me. So should I wear a suit or not? Would a pair of slacks, shirt, tie and nice blazer but not a suit be too informal or would it make me look less like a desperate grad student?

    Reply
  2. Rachel McKinnon

    Anon: That would be totally fine. I think there’s something important in your thought: just wear what you think you’d wear if you were confident and just inhabiting the professional space. What would you wear if you were pre-tenure and interviewing a candidate? What would you wear if giving an invited colloquium talk or conference talk? That’s a good jumping off point for what to wear as the interviewee. Suit is fine; what you describe is fine.
    People tend to over-think what to wear. Just look put together. There are many ways to instantiate that. Women can wear skirts, dresses, pants if they want. There are no hard rules.
    If anyone wants to come say ‘hi,’ I’ll probably be at the smoker.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Discover more from The Philosophers' Cocoon

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading