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What to expect in meetings with faculty during on-campus visits?

In our new “how can we help you?” thread, a reader writes:

I am about to have my first campus visit. I am deeply unsure what to expect about the individual meetings with faculty. I’m usually an extrovert, but I have no clue what format these conversations take. Like a job interview? Like small talk? How does a normal conversation go? Is the expectation that I talk about research? That I ask questions about the university? That I signal interest in living there? How do I even open these conversations – or will I mostly be asked questions by the faculty? Any experiences of folks that have gone through these would be deeply appreciated!

Do any readers have helpful tips to share?

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9 responses to “What to expect in meetings with faculty during on-campus visits?”

  1. Anonymous

    It really varies, to be honest. Some faculty will treat it as a mini-interview, others an informal chat, and still others will want to give you a break during a long day of being a job candidate. I tend to be the latter, and so I view the meeting as a chance for me to give the candidate an unvarnished view of life in the department and at the university. So I would recommend just following the lead of the individual faculty member. (One warning: Some will have no plan whatsoever–they’re meeting with you because they’re expected to–so it’s good to have questions ready in case this happens.)

    During a recent search, one candidate came into their meeting with me seemingly determined to sell themselves to me, so they had a spiel, etc. I just wanted to tell them that they didn’t have to do this, but I couldn’t really get a word in. I didn’t hold it against them, but I did feel bad for them, as I imagined that way of approaching the meetings just made the very long day more stressful for them.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous

    Well, minimally, be your best self. And also remember that you are under scrutiny the whole visit. People will remember if you were rude to a student, or dismissive of a question in a talk (even if it was poorly worded). Often at the on-campus interview stage the department would be happy hiring any one of the three or so finalists. So this is the stage where there is a bit of a random element in hiring. All of you are qualified, on paper.
    If you have time, do a little research into what they do. A quick google scholar search will show you their most cited papers (probably the topics they are most interested in). You do not have to read a bunch of papers, but at least know who works on ethics and who works in history of philosophy.
    If things get quiet, you can also ask about the area (city, surrounding area, whatever). Ask genuine questions, things you want to know as someone who might spend the next 35 years there, and then retire and die there (that is probably the norm).

    Reply
  3. Anonymous

    I agree with the comment above. When we conduct on-campus interviews, it really depends on individual faculty members. This is partly because we are required to ask the same questions during the same amount of time for the first-round interviews. On-campus meetings are usually the only real chances for people to talk about what they are concerned with. People who care more about research might ask questions about your writing sample or other articles you published, and some people might be interested in how you teach a specific course.

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  4. Anonymous

    I agree with others that you want to follow the lead of the individual faculty members, but I’d also say that this is a chance for them to find out whether you’d be a good *colleague* – are you someone they’re going to want to work with and talk philosophy with for decades? So follow their lead, but also try to bring some curiosity and good humor. Talk about your own research, but also consider asking what they’re working on these days. If you know you have related research or teaching interests, ask about those – maybe about how you’d be able to collaborate in the future. And yes, ask the questions about the department/university/city that you really want answers to and that show you’re a real person who’s seriously imagining a life there – I was really curious about good coffee shops and bikeable neighborhoods on my fly-out for my current job, for instance.

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  5. Anonymous

    Maybe I am naive, but I have treated these as opportunities for socialization and see if you vibe. I was definitely relaxed. Mostly we ended up talking about their research, though some seemed quite eager to know mine. You can be extra tactic. That can be helpful but not necessary. (Data: I have never failed campus visits.)

    Reply
  6. anonymous

    I’ve only been on the candidate side at R1/R2s so your mileage may vary, but in my experience it varies hugely, exactly as the above commenters said. Some people are interviewing you. Some have printed copies of your writing sample and prepared questions on your research. Some expect you to steer, and see these meetings as a chance for you to ask questions of them (best to have some questions ready for this scenario, e.g. about this particular person’s work, the department, etc). Some people want to chat philosophically, just shoot the breeze about some big interesting topic maybe tangentially related to your work. Some people want to chat socially, maybe to assess your personality fit, or maybe they’re just being friendly and know this meeting won’t make a huge difference either way. Some want to do all of the above! If it didn’t become immediately clear in the first few minutes which kind of meeting this was (and it usually did), I’d just ask them.. something like “I know people have lots of different approaches to these meetings, how would you like to use our time together – is there anything I can tell you about my work, or teaching..?”. That way people whose attitude was “I don’t know what this meeting is for either” could pretty much say so. (I don’t know if this is good advice, and it was rare to ask, but I found it useful in case their expectations were hard to read).

    Just from the candidate side, I came to think that while one could lose a job in these meetings (by being dismissive, weird, rude, revealing big gaps in knowledge, etc), it would be pretty hard to get a job in these meetings. The bulk of the getting the job seems to come from the writing, the job talk, the cv, the teaching fit, and the priorities of the hiring committee. It can be easy to want to read the tea leaves and think “that was great, we got on so well!” or “that was a disaster, they barely spoke”, but I’ve seen many many friends surprised by the results of searches, in both directions.

    Reply
  7. Anonymous

    I’ve been on both sides of the table a number of times – and it really varies. Some faculty are all-in on research, some may have a few questions about your writing sample or talk, some might be keen to answer questions you might have about the job, city, or university, and some might just be tired and want to relax, have coffee, and talk about hobbies or movies or whatever.

    Whatever you do, try to be enthusiastic and positive – and try to find something you have in common with these people. I’ve definitely nailed campus interviews by finding common interests with current faculty (both in philosophy and otherwise), and I’ve also botched interviews by being a bit tired, negative, and grumpy.

    More than anything, faculty will be looking for red flags (a bad attitude is one), and green flags – things that might set you apart from other candidates. Having some idea about what the individual faculty members work on is a good start. Being a human and showing some general interest in the department, related departments, and area is also a good start.

    Reply
  8. Anonymous

    I am one of the commentators above, and want to add an interesting observation, FWIW. I have gone through 3 searches at my current institution (not that many, so very limited evidence). Although personal meetings almost never count for anything in the hiring decisions, yet how good these meetings were has been strongly correlated with whether the candidates were eventually hired by us or by comparable institutions. For example, one candidate was late for our meeting, because he was busy talking with those who he perceived to be more important. He was immediately ruled out (despite similarly stellar publications) even *without* me saying anything in the hiring meeting. The correlations are not obvious to the candidates though, because however I feel about them relative to other candidates, I would try to be as pleasant as possible and have a nice meeting. As another example, I didn’t have a meeting with this candidate, not in their area, and wasn’t particularly interested in their talk. But I really enjoyed the interaction with the candidate during the dinner. Soon they were hired by some department (one that is perceived to be better than us).

    Again, these meetings were not causally important, but somehow evidentially important. FWIW.

    Reply
  9. Anonymous

    I think within your capacity, be nice to grad students. Some departments (like the one I came from) value informal interaction with grad students. We sort of believe that much of philosophy happens during informal chats, and see things like afternoon tea as an integral part of departmental life.

    Reply

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