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Academic Job Hunting Resources

Topics include:

Department Guidelines for Letters of Reference (.pdf)

Summary of Notes from Fall 2006 Professional Development Workshop.

Overview of Academic Job Process

Cover Sheet, Cover Letter & Curriculum Vitae

Teaching Statement & Teaching Portfolio

Editing your Job Packet

Interview and Job Negotiation

Interview Questions we've been asked


(Almost) Always Asked = "***"
Frequently Asked = "**"

  • First-round interview for a teaching-oriented school
  • --General Questions
    • Why are you interested in this position? ***
    • What do you know about our college? ***
    • You're really going to leave California? ***
    • Have you visited our (state/region) ?
    • Are you also applying for postdocs?
    • Would you rather have a postdoc or a tenure-track position?
    • Do you have any questions for us? ***
    • Tell me about (this item) on your CV.
    • How do you know this letter-writer (a friend of the interviewer)?
    • Besides work, what else would you get involved in on our campus?
  • --Teaching Questions
    • Describe your teaching. **
    • What do you like about teaching?
    • Which of our courses would you want to teach? **
    • What courses would you like to teach if there were no restrictions? **
    • This (teaching activity) you've done at Davis, would you continue it on our campus?
    • What student research projects would you propose to supervise?
    • What topics would you cover in (an advanced course for undergrads in your field)?
  • --Research Questions
    • Describe your research. ***
    • What are your research plans for the next 2-3 years? For the next 5-6 years?
    • How many papers will come out of your dissertation, and what are they?
    • Is there anyone near our school you could collaborate with?
    • How would you do research in this isolated setting?
    • What kinds of research resources (i.e. computing) do you require? ***
    • Are you ready to do independent research?
  • --Things that make you go "huh?"
    • Is there anything that would prevent you from coming here? (huh? perhaps trying to ask if I have a 2-body problem?)

  • Interview for a research-oriented postdoc
    • Many technical questions about research (during and following research talk)
    • What was your contribution to this paper you co-authored?
    • What are your research plans after your dissertation?
    • Do you think you would fit in here?
  • Interview for a position at a research-oriented industry job (e.g. national lab)
  • Interview for an industry job (e.g. Google)
    • Most interviews will have two parts: one very technical, the other a little less so.

      The less technical part of the interview serves to determine if you will be a good fit at the company; this is not a euphemism for "good enough". They want to make sure that you will be satisfied with the work environment they will provide. Since many (if not most) industry positions are not precisely defined, it is an opportunity to show your potential employer what you could do for them that they might not have considered. If they ask about an topic that you don't have any experience with, first acknowledge that fact, and go on to talk about related or similar problems that you have been able to solve. The most important things to address are:

      • You understand what their product(s) do***
      • You can meaningfully contribute to their team***
      • You understand their competition and revenue model**

    • The technical portion of the interview will be used to verify that you know what you claim to know on your resume.

      • You will be asked to write code on a whiteboard, both pseudo and syntactically correct ***
      • Know fundamentals of programming: pointers and references, data structures, algorithm run time (big O)

After you get the job...

Finding Open Positions

Fellowships and Other Funding Opportunities

Academic Resources

Finding Information about University Programs

jobhunt.txt · Last modified: 2016/02/12 13:41 by jasnyder