UK interview / presentation format

UK interview / presentation format

InternationalQuest (guest) 01 Apr 2015 10:10

Does anyone have experience with interviewing in the UK?

For an upcoming interview I have to give a 15 minute talk on my "plans for research and teaching" at the University. My impression is that this is a pretty standard presentation format for academic jobs in the UK, as I had an invitation last year (which I declined) asking for the same type and length of talk.

Since I only have experience with U.S. research talks, I'm deliberating how construct an effective pithy selling pitch. Although the talk is supposed to be framed with an emphasis on "future plans", I find it necessary to connect those future plans to my existing research (and teaching experience) and include some background about my research program. What would be your strategy if you had to give such a brief talk? I'm also interested in your thoughts on how to address the teaching component (beyond making connections between the content of existing or proposed courses with my areas of expertise).

Later in the day there will also be a panel interview. For that, I'm preparing for that as I would for any committee interview, in person or over the phone. Any further insights?

Based on the regimented schedule, I'm assuming that all candidates are being interviewed on the same day.

UKadvice (guest) 01 Apr 2015 11:30

Hi there,

As someone who was on the job market in both the US and the UK last year, here are a few notes/tips:

I had a really hard time getting my job talk down from 50 to 15 minutes, but I decided to briefly review the methodologies I use and the theoretical line of my research and go into a bit of detail about one study as an example and talked about future directions stemming from this (and noted that I'd be happy to talk about others during questions). For teaching, I just had one slide that noted courses I've taught/TA'd in the past and ones I would be interested in teaching in the future (and looked on their website for names of existing courses).

As for the interview, this will be with a range of individuals-both representatives from the department, at least one person from a different department (school), and usually the head or research and/or teaching and a higher admin (e.g., someone they call the Master in the UK). You'll want to be able to speak to grants- experience with them and which ones you'll be competitive for in the UK. They'll also want you to know about the REF (google this if it's unfamiliar) and how you'd contribute to "impact."

Yes-all candidates are typically there the same day. This means you'll likely have lunch and/or dinner with them and might see them in the hall while you're in between things. It was very odd to me, but I guess it's normal for them here…

Hope this is helpful. Good luck!

Anon85 (guest) 01 Apr 2015 11:47

I've interviewed once in the UK and the format was similar to what you described:

• I gave a 15-minute talk, but it was about research only. I gave an overview of my research program, highlighting past research and touching on some future directions. It was completely different from the job talk I gave at US institutions (instead of trying to condense my standard job talk, I prepared a new one from scratch). There was a general psychology audience consisting of faculty and students.
• I had a 30-minute panel interview. Only two of the four people on the panel were from psychology; the others held higher-up admin positions in the university. I had been "prepped" beforehand as to certain questions they would likely ask me, but I still found the experience a bit awkward.
• I was one of about nine candidates — from different areas of psychology — interviewed on the same day. The evening I arrived, we had a group dinner, and on the main interview day, we all had lunch together. Again, a bit awkward.
• The 15-minute research talk and the panel interview were the only events on my schedule (aside from meals), which meant I spent most of the interview day holed up in someone's office trying to kill time. Evidently, it was not typical to have meetings with faculty or students. (Also, candidates were not allowed to attend the talks of other candidates.)
• I don't know whether this is specific to the university where I interviewed, but I was a bit turned off by the excessive emphasis on reputation and the number of "4-star" articles I had published. I understand the reasoning behind it (REF system; national funding to the university is tied closely to research quality), but it seemed as though they cared more about an article being a 4-star paper than about the research itself. I also got the distinct impression that, if I were hired, I would be judged relentlessly in comparison with other faculty rather than on my own merits (i.e., they more or less indicated that they expected me to be like the "superstar" currently in their department who works in a related research area).

Personally, I prefer the US interview experience, but I acknowledge that my UK experience has been limited.

InternationalQuest (guest) 03 Apr 2015 11:31

Thank you for your input UKAdvice and Anon85—it's really useful. The process is indeed odd by American standards, and the obsession with rankings/impact in the context of REF evaluation is rather off-putting. But, anyway, it will be an interesting experience to have.