Interviews can be a preliminary discussion with a consultant, a search committee, or your next supervisor. No matter whom you might be talking with, every conversation matters!
First big tip, do your homework! Research, research, research.
In 2020 video interviews entered the mainstream for most interviews, and most likely they’re here to stay. Be familiar with Zoom, Google Meet, Webex, and Microsoft Teams to name the most popular. For video interviews:
- Check out tech issues well in advance of interview (i.e. reliable computer and internet service); be sure you understand the platform that is being used.
- Check out how you’re framed by your camera and check background, lighting, and sound level (virtual background can be a nice plus but be distracting depending on your technology). Be aware of other technology in your space; Bluetooth can affect speakers and microphones.
Interviewers are as influenced by how you answer as by what you answer.
- Listen carefully to the question, pause briefly before responding, answer the question directly and then add to your answer with examples. So often we hear, “The candidate didn’t answer my question,” or “S/he was evasive, kept talking around my question.”
- Your answers should be brief … but not too brief. You can ask if the committee would like examples if you think you may have been too brief.
- Don’t start answering the question if you are not sure you understood it. Ask for clarification.
- Lean in toward people, not away from them.
- Avoid starting response with “to be honest with you.”
- For in person interviews, make sure you are positioned to have eye contact with all committee members.
- Look for understanding in the face, posture of the interviewer(s), smiling, nodding, leaning in are good signs. Do not be afraid to ask if they would like any clarification, though don’t overdo it.
- Watch your cadence, tone.
- If the energy level seems low, it is up to you to raise it.
- Use humor, but not to the extent that you appear not to have the “gravitas” of a school head. Be careful about “flip” remarks; your sense of humor may be quite different from that of search committee members. Snide comments about students are a killer.
- You should be given time at the end of the interview for your questions. Be sure to have prepared several good questions. Thought provoking questions make a strong closing impression.
- Go back to #1 and remind yourself to answer the question directly. There may be time for (and interest in) examples and anecdotes and digressions after you answer the question. Do not start with them.
- Speak from both your head and your heart. You have passed the first few steps by being in the interview, so trust yourself and enjoy the conversation.
