First-Round Job Interviews in Academia

Important advice on #academic #interviews.
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[@mayastiller]

very helpful but I find the background music a bit annoying...

[@tsmullaney]

Maya Stiller Thank you for this. I’ll fix that in the future!

[@mattprater8828]

@@tsmullaney I liked the background music, but it was a bit distracting :) I would suggest making it a bit quieter relative to your voice. Excellent video.

[@mameshiboleth]

Very helpful 👌 will come back when I am on the market. Thanks!

[@jonokadevelopmentsolutions6022]

Tom, thank you for this. You may not believe this, but this is the very first time i have watched a youtube video and felt inspired to leave a comment - i just want to thank you for the clarity, simplicity and beautiful presentation. Halfway in the video, i could not help thinking, I like this man. By the time i finished, I pronounced - infact i love this man. Thank you sir!

[@nashride]

Very refreshing approach! And loved the insha'Allah :) thanks for uploading!

[@xinyu163]

These tips are so helpful! Will definitely rewatch this video many times in the future. I especially like the one about preparing different sorts of anecdotes so that in every possible situation we can respond to questions with composure.

[@tsmullaney]

I'm so glad!

[@yangdai1376]

I really enjoyed the imagery language in the video. Thank you, Professor Tom.

[@ammarsal]

InshaAllah - It definitely is unforgettable getable! Awesome.

[@ericasempah6207]

That part caught me flat lol😅

[@travisseifman9731]

This will be an excellent resource. I'm going to save it and come back to it when I'm back on the market again. Thank you so much.

[@tsmullaney]

This is great to hear. I'm so glad it's useful.

[@yogeshsinha4032]

Hey Tom, what you said, in the end, is just perfect. Many on the interview board try to go overboard in impressing their seniors.

[@shuangfrost4251]

Thank you Tom! Those are really helpful insights! Really enjoyed watching your uploads!

[@joesmith9980]

The background music is horrible. It would be better if there is no background music.

[@jinhuiwu9057]

This is so helpful. Thank you so much Dr. Mullaney.

[@nka6226]

You are amazing. So sensible, clear, helpful and insightful. Thank you. I bet your research, writing, teaching and advising are EXCELLENT. Can't thank you enough.

[@xiaoronggu8502]

Thank you so much for the wonderful tips from the perspective of interviewers. I am just wondering if you could clarify what you mean by preparing "anecdotes" to make the process memorable. Do you mean that we describe our research through narratives? Or using humor? Sometimes I worry that too much informality makes me sound not serious enough. Thanks!

[@webapprequiringsign_in3406]

Very fantastic perspective. And you're funny without even trying lol...

[@ayses3851]

Agree😂

[@brunomazuquin4166]

Nice video, just a small point. I was a little bit distracted with the background music, I think the volume could be lower, it is repetitive and I started to get annoyed with it

[@tsmullaney]

Bruno Mazuquin This is helpful feedback thank you. It’s hard to judge in my headphones when editing so I’ll lower it next vid. Appreciate it!

[@KhardiataBa]

​@@tsmullaneyor you can simple put the video without any background music.

[@ManuelRelativista]

Excellent video. It gave me a lot of hints for my postdoc job talk, next week. Thank you.

[@tsmullaney]

How did it go?

[@ManuelRelativista]

​@@tsmullaney I think it was good! but I am still waiting news from the university -I guess the recruitment process still does not finish. In any case, I presented my talk considering most facts that you mention in this video. The most significant strategy that I adopted (and made smile some professors in the committee), was to include photos of mine dancing tango and playing board games, and connecting those hobbies with 3 key aspects of my research philosophy, as an elevator pitch.

[@schmetterling4477]

@@ManuelRelativista Why are you telling is that you failed high school? ;-)

[@bb2680]

Dear Tom, these days interviewers are not simply asking about the courses we might introduce. But also want to know the readings we will be using. To be sure SLACs are more fond of asking this question. Can you please make a video of how to prepare for this question and how to balance the course description with the actual readings? how do we structure a concise response for such a question, surely one can't spell out fifteen weeks' worth of readings! But then how do you mention the readings, what choices should you make in naming the readings, and how should you refer to the title of the readings (I am confused about scripting this kind of answer because hey, I did master telling committees short descriptions of courses, but telling them readings is what I didn't expect in a 25 min interview. Can you please simplify and help structure the response for it in your next videos? I would be so grateful.

[@mustafashamsi6426]

15:07 Dude Saying Inshallah was the best part

[@KhardiataBa]

Definitely!!!! 😊

[@diseno2040]

Fantastic video Tom, thanks for sharing

[@delgadinapinar]

Thank you. Your last comment was spot on. In my recent doctoral defense the junior sensei grilled me without reading my thesis, while others were kind.. I did not understand why. This video opened my eyes.

[@batmanonholiday4477]

damn, absolutely, how to deal with this? I am preparing for a job interview tomorrow and worried about these hungry and insecure types who would want to reinforce their position at my expense. I guess, first thing would be to compliment them for their amazingly smart question, so they feel reassured, and then try to figure something out... but then if they continue to grill?

[@RanjodhSinghDhaliwal]

This is really helpful. Thank you so much!!!

[@tsmullaney]

So glad to hear it!

[@anatmendel4025]

Very helpful, thank you so much! I've taken notes and saving the link for future re-watching.

[@zaiha82]

OMG !!! I have an interview soon and I have the last slot in the day. This video was sooo helpful. Thank you so much

[@tsmullaney]

Go get ‘em!! So glad this video was helpful

[@yaliling5356]

Tom🎉Thanks a lot!

[@elysegambino1597]

This is exactly what I needed. Thank you!

[@testxy5555]

thank you for this video. Very helpful to have these perspectives and definitely true based on my own interview experience, sometimes the grad students asked really hard yet good questions 😅

So helpful and clever!

[@SK-vs8us]

This is great. I love your first book, too, Dr. Mullaney

[@maddalenapoli5704]

how about some tips on interview on zoom, where the presence factor (body language too) is drastically reduced?

[@tsmullaney]

Great idea

[@officehourswithjuanmanuel2473]

I had not known about Tom's channel until just this minute, but here's this episode that I just created about Zoom interviews if it still helpful!

[@finaltheorygames1781]

This makes total sense. and I totally understand.

[@cindicita34]

Thank you so much for these excellent tips!

[@studios77]

Great video! Thanks

[@classic7577]

Thank you for the information. Very helpful but music is too loud

[@bridgetmartin4946]

Please turn down the background music, 😢 It's stressful.

[@bb2680]

Excellent insight!

[@finaltheorygames1781]

Actually this is a very transparent video because this is typically exactly what its like.

[@YuxiWang-tq7ek]

thank you！

[@mariodegrandis6036]

Great, very helpful! Thank you

[@timothypage8147]

Why is there music in the background?

[@weilai.linguistics]

Thank you so much!

[@ladankhaksar4889]

Really helpful and right to the point 👌

[@tsmullaney]

Getting to the point is a major challenge for me, so thanks! I tend to go on and on and on! Chipping away at that habit slowly :)

[@tsmullaney]

By the way I am starting up a new subset of the channel that something like an academic mentorship network. Not sure if you might be interested in learning more but let me know

[@greatpariscars]

How do we turn off the Tijuana band in the background?

[@oluremiabayomi5924]

It’s great

[@varelita1614]

Good video but take out the music

[@farhadalavy5019]

Half of the video is about being first middle or last. Something not really important in compared to thevreal questions and answers.

[@vmasci1212]

Can you interview for me? You are amazing! Thanks for the tips.

[@tsmullaney]

How kind thank you!

[@schmetterling4477]

Why would anybody want to hire you if you want your Mom to do the interview for you? Kid, you need to grow up. ;-)

[@lauramora5692]

Inshallah :-)

[@schmetterling4477]

Another person who likes to exploit your anxiety over the interview process. There are only two rules. 1) Only apply for job descriptions that you can actually do. 2) Be brutally honest about your skills. Never pretend. I interviewed exactly seven times in my life. I got the job every single time. :-)