Sample Interview Questions for Faculty
First, welcome and introduce everybody at the meeting/on the call. Ask if anyone has questions or needs clarification or elaboration on the candidate’s CV and let candidate respond.
Questions for candidate:
- How does your work fit in with the approach of the department? The college? UAMS?
- What interests you about this position? What motivates you to consider leaving your current position?
- How would your work expand upon the department’s current areas of focus?
- How will you balance all functions of a faculty member/administrator? What percentages of time do you envision in scholarly work, teaching, administration, research activities, and community engagement/clinical work?
- The college focuses on scholarly work, teaching, research, and community engagement, and some colleges, on clinical work. Tell us about:
- Your teaching experience. Specifically, tell us about your experience with [insert the specific types of students your department teaches; for example, medical students and graduate students].
- How you define your area of scholarship or research as it has developed over your career. Tell us about your work. How will it continue at UAMS? How would it be funded?
- Your experience working with the community or in clinical work. If you plan to continue, how will it be funded?
If the position involves administrative responsibility, it is helpful to ask:
- How do you describe your management style?
- How do you feel about being involved in “growing” a department or program?
- What was your most challenging personnel problem and how was it resolved?
- How would you characterize your work with teams? With peers? With students? Administrators? Staff? Community members?
- What, in your opinion, are some of the attributes of an optimally functioning academic department or college?
- What would you say are your administrative strengths? What about your administrative weaknesses?
- How have you supported the growth of your direct reports? How would you support the growth of junior faculty, including those outside your area?
- How have you supported the growth of women/underrepresented minority faculty and staff who report to you?
- Tell us about your past experiences, efforts and success to recruit, retain, mentor and promote women and minorities and about your involvement in diversity-related programs, committees or initiatives.
- How would you describe your commitment to goals of diversity and equity?
Offer the candidate the opportunity to ask questions. Conclude the interview by thanking the candidate for his/her time; provide a time by which the department will contact him/her about its decision.