I'm Kent Morrison of the

American Institute of Mathematics.

In the next segment we're going to discuss

the campus interview.

The campus interview is the final step

in the hiring process.

Three, four, or five finalists are brought

to campus for a day of interviews with

various constituencies:

the screening committees,

the department chair, other faculty,

Deans, Provosts, all those involved

in the hiring decision.

During this day is your opportunity for them

to get to know you and for you to determine

whether this place is a good fit for you,

for your next job.

Helminck:  On your campus interview,

it is really a two-way street.

You need to convince the department

that you are the best person to hire,

but at the same time the department needs to

do the PR and sell you on the place,

that this is your ideal job in the world,

and after you have 50 offers of positions,

that you are going to come to the University.

They need to sell their University, and their

department.  And the other way around,

you need to convince them you're the

right candidate.

You have lots of meetings with faculty.

Usually you talk about your research,

and you might also talk to some

undergraduate advisors or graduate advisors.

Every interview will have a meeting with the

department chair or head.  That part of

the conversation, if it is a good chair

or head, there'll be an opportunity

for you to ask questions:

what's required for tenure,

what are teaching loads,

any question you might want to know,

what is the maternity leave policy.

Anything you want to know about the

position, you should ask the chair -

that is the appropriate point.

If you want to bring up at that point that

you have a need for spousal accommodation,

that's a good place to bring it up.

It really depends if you have done

your homework and that it is a university

or department that is friendly to this.

If they're not friendly to this,

then I would wait until they have an offer

for you in hand, and then you can negotiate.

But this is really the point, that you need

to assess that.  There is no golden rule,

you need to assess what's the best.

If you have already other offers, let them

know of your deadlines.  Don't hide that.

You're interviewing, you're on the market.

The more interviews you have,

the better it looks,

and that makes you more desirable.

If you have deadlines,

let them know, work with them.

If you have specific startup needs,

you can tell them.

It is often easier for a department chair

to ask the Dean for resources ahead of time,

rather than to go back to the Dean and renegotiate.

It is much easier to put the whole package

together and negotiate with the Dean upfront,

rather than having them make their initial offer

and then they need to triple your startup funds

because you need a thousand node computer.

They didn't know about it.

Knowing things ahead of time will help the

department put together a better package.

Part of the interview will also be

meeting with the Dean.

Usually that is not the place where you need

to convince the Dean that you are the best hire.

This is a PR opportunity that the Dean's office

will try to sell you on the University and

convince you that this is the best environment.

Higher administrators, the Dean might be an historian

or a chemist or anything,

it's usually not a mathematician.

If you would meet with me when you are

interviewing in Hawaii, okay then you

have a mathematician to talk to,

but that's usually not the case.

The job talk is going to be very important.

Make sure you ask the department whether

they prefer slide talks,

what the facilities are,

make sure that your computer works

or that you have something on the flash drive,

that you have several backup options.

Also make sure you can have a copy online

of your talk, that you have

one on the flash drive.  You never know if

technology is going to work and you want

a way to access your talk in many different ways.

You don't want to be stuck with

technology not working and you get nervous.

You want just everything goes smoothly.

In your talk, make sure you are not going over time,

to be exactly on time, be respectful for

people's time.  Make sure that

you fill the whole 50 minutes or

whatever time period, but don't go over.

Really keep track and practice.

There will be questions, so you need to know

in your talk if there are pieces you can skip.

Practice a lot.

Basor: When we did campus interviews, we always

had a host.  This was someone, might have

been two people if there were schedule problems.

This was someone to pick the person up

at the airport, take them to the hotel.

Perhaps the night before had dinner with them,

because they still were kind of alone.

Pick them up in the morning, brought them

to campus.  Someone, often from the hiring committee,

was given the task for a particular person.

I think it helps make the candidate

feel a little more comfortable.

They have someone to feel like

that person's looking out for you,

and getting you from one thing to the next thing.

Many of the things that Loek

just talked about was true in our place.

We also had candidates do a teaching demonstration,

in addition to a talk.

The topic was given ahead of time.

We just checked last week:  the topic now

is Green's Theorem.  So a little 20 minute

talk on Green's Theorem was expected.

Koutsoliotas: Who was the audience?

Basor:  I was just going to say that.

Usually a couple people from the hiring committee,

and if they could get some students in there

to listen, the students could just

just give informal feedback.  They weren't

on the committee, but we did listen to them.

That was an important part.

It was surprising how many people

do not prepare for it.

If you are going to do a teaching demonstration,

and I know these are done, I know somebody

who just did one at an R1 place,

but they were told they could do

any topic they wanted.

It was a little bit different because

their talk was actually aimed at graduate students.

But those do happen.

Another thing I might mention is you're going

to have meetings with the department chair,

probably some small groups of faculty,

maybe some groups of students,

a meeting with a Dean,

maybe they want to show you other offices

or other facilities: big rooms that have

computer facilities,

or maybe a Learning Resource Center

they're interested in showing you.

All those things can happen.

I think it's okay to say,

"I'd like a half an hour before my talk".

Maybe it can't happen exactly before,

but it's okay to ask for that,

and have some time to catch your breath,

go over your colloquium-type talk.

That's usually going to be in the later afternoon.

One other little thing,

when you're asking questions.

If you're interested, nowadays there's

all kinds of things online, but it's

also okay to ask about housing markets,

schools, whatever you're interested in.

You can ask the department head,

or just other people about that.

Sometimes people would ask us to arrange for

meetings with real estate agents,

and we would do that.

Helminck:  I forgot one thing.

Often in an interview there are meetings

with students, either undergraduate students

or graduate students, or a lunch with

graduate students.

They are asked to provide their own feedback and

evaluation of the candidates.

There's also dinners, of course.

That's actually a continuation of the interview.

So don't drink too much during dinner.

Basor:  Dinner is definitely a continuation.

Helminck:  One glass of wine is fine,

but don't make them have to carry you back.

Koutsoliotas: I guess things are

very similar at Bucknell.

In both the math department and

the physics department, they have

these one-day interviews

that are incredibly intense.

The candidate arrives usually the

evening before or the afternoon before,

and is met by one or two of the people

on the selection committee.

We have this incredibly tight schedule

of meeting people.

The math department is quite large, it has

more than 20 people in it.  They usually

allocate a schedule of

about half-hour meetings with a

couple of people at a time.

In our department, we have a smaller department

so we meet individually for half-hour sessions

with the candidates.

It starts off in the morning.

One or two people will come and meet

the candidate for breakfast.  We usually

put them at a nice bed and breakfast to

highlight how nice and cute our little area is.

We pick them up.  We have breakfast with them.

At that point we just walk them to campus,

so they get to see what downtown looks like.

They'll meet with the chair of the department,

and they'll have much longer meeting,

maybe an hour meeting,

where they can talk about things like

startup funds and facilities.

Talk about teaching load and logistical things.

And then the sequence of meetings begins,

where you have a half-hour with one person,

then half an hour with another person.

We don't have a host,

which I think would be a nice thing.

The person who's meeting with them

is responsible for taking the candidate

to the next meeting, and making sure that

they're on time.  Some people are better

about it than others.  I think this way

gives you a sense of the composition

of the department.  Some people will just

talk about their research until way

beyond their time, and the candidate has

to interrupt them and say,  "I think

I need to be somewhere else."

I guess that is not optimal,

but it tells you a little bit

about what the department is like.

Maybe that's a good thing.

Then we have our job talks,

which usually happen at lunchtime.

In the math department they have a colloquium.

But ours is a talk with

undergraduates present.

We expect you to talk a little bit about

your research.  It doesn't have to happen

at the at the beginning.   It is a

gentle introduction that leads to your results.

In the math department they really expect a

colloquium, where mostly it's faculty.

There might be some undergraduates,

some majors there, but it's really mostly

a talk about your research.

You would ramp up much more quickly.

That happens in the afternoon,

so that you've had a chance to have lunch

with some students and meet with most people

in the department.

Each person and department has

a certain thing that they like to do.

We don't tell people what they should

be looking for when they're meeting

with the candidates.

I think that's a good thing.

It gives the candidate a reflection of:

these are the sort of people you're

going to be interacting with.

Some people just want to talk to you

about their research, especially if

there's some overlapping interests.

Other people will be happy to tell you

about what it's like to teach here,

what it's like to be at an institution like ours.

We also have a meeting with a Dean,

which is a much longer meeting,

usually about 45 minutes to an hour.

We have an outside person on the committee,

someone who is not in the math department,

who you will meet with; I think that's

also another half-hour meeting,

where you can actually ask some

questions about what the department is like.

That's a good opportunity to find out a

little bit about what their view of the

department is.

We usually have a talk in the afternoon,

a colloquium talk that leads to a reception.

Then that leads to dinner,

and that ends the day.

Usually someone will come pick them up,

to make sure the car is ready to take them

to the airport the following morning.

Basor: When you're giving your colloquium talk,

remember keep in mind it's for the whole

department, not just people in your

particular area. You really want to make

the beginning general enough.

We've had people on this panel,

I remember Craig Tracy from UC Davis, saying:

the colloquium talk was the way

he judged the person's teaching.

That was his only way to see how people taught.

It's important from that point of view as well,

not to just get the research across,

but especially in the beginning

to have them get a sense of what kind of

teacher you will be.

Helminck:  It is in part about evaluating your

research and getting to know more about it.

But also, for them,

an opportunity to get to know you,

whether you will be a good colleague,

and whether you would fit in.

If you are not able to talk and have a

conversation with somebody, and sit there,

then that's not a good sign for them.

Most people want to hire somebody that

they can relate with.

Mathematics is a natural medium to talk about,

but more is being assessed than that.

They're basically assessing whether they like you.

Basor:  How you fit in the department.

But not just from the mathematical point of view.

Helminck:  You probably also want to know,

from your point of view,

how it is to work there.

You might not always get an honest answer,

or a feeling of the faculty.

Sometimes talking to the students

you get to hear whether this is a

good supportive environment or department,

whether there's a lot of friction,

because this can often be seen in the students.

They're often the victims of that.

Koutsoliotas: You need to think of it as:

it's not like you're the passive person

that's being met with.

It's a conversation, and so you need

to be able to hold up your end of

the conversation and not just be

answering yes/no to questions.

It's an awkward situation because

it's so contrived.  You're putting

these two people together in this room,

and they're expected to talk for 30 minutes.

You need to you know it's just part

of the the culture of academia

and you need to be a good sport.

Koutsoliotas:  My thing is, if you are unsure,

veer on the more formal side.

Basor:  I completely agree.  I think you

should dress professionally

and appropriately, whatever that means.

When you look around those departments,

there's nobody walking around in suits.

Helminck:  I largely agree, but I would

still bring a jacket and a tie for the

meeting with the Dean, or any equivalent person.

You can put that jacket and tie in a corner

for the rest of the day, but for the Dean

you want to make a different presence.

Basor:  Loek is a Dean, so he knows!

Helminck:  If you interview in Hawaii,

you wear a Hawaiian shirt!

Basor:  You should wear what you're comfortable in.

That's really important.  

It's the same kind of thing:

you should travel with clothes you like.

Helminck:  Usually avoid politics,

because you never know if

the person's standing is one way or the other,

and that could be very awkward.

Koutsoliotas: I'll give you an example

of a topic that you think seems harmless,

but wasn't really.  A topic you could ask

about is: what are the school districts like?

What is it like to live here?

That's a very fine question to ask,

because you're kind of curious,

especially if you have children,

or you're planning to have children,

so that's a fine thing.

But the question is: to whom do you ask that?

One thing that happened with me is,

after each candidate comes to campus,

we all have a meeting together,

and talk a little bit about

what our experiences are, so that

we can calibrate with each other.

It was during this meeting that we

talked a little bit.

"Oh, I talked about research."

"Oh, he talked to me about his research."

It came out that all the men in the

department were asked about their research,

and all the women in the department

were asked about the school districts.

At that point, we didn't have to

discuss the candidate anymore.

Helminck:  There could also be inappropriate

questions from them, and you need to be

prepared and have a good answer.

They are not supposed to ask any

personal information:  whether you're

married, or have a partner, or plans to

have children or anything like that.

But faculty are often inappropriate.

You need to have a good way of

responding to them and being

prepared that you can fend them off,

without really sharing the information.

You need to have a nice way of

telling them: this is not appropriate.

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