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Professor Interview Questions

When interviewing for a professor job position, employers want to know how you will contribute to their educational institute. They will likely be interested in your ability to create curricula, perform academic research, and educate students through lectures, assignments, mentoring, tests, and meeting with students one-on-one.

Top Professor Interview Questions & How To Answer

Question 1

Question #1: How would you describe your teaching style?

How to answer
How to answer: When an interviewer asks about your teaching style, they want to know about your approach to education. Additionally, they want to know how clearly you can articulate yourself. An interviewer wants to make sure you can explain ideas in a clear and concise manner that is easy for students to understand.
Question 2

Question #2: How would you contribute to our department?

How to answer
How to answer: As a professor, you have to educate students, work within the department to develop curricula, and perform academic research. An interviewer wants to know if you work well with students, but they also want to know if you're a team player who can work well with other department professors. An interviewer additionally wants to make sure you have well-developed research skills that can reflect positively on their institution.
Question 3

Question #3: Why are you interested in this position?

How to answer
How to answer: If an employer asks this question, they likely want to know why you want to work at their specific institution. This is your opportunity to share your knowledge of the institution to prove you have done your research.

8,252 professor interview questions shared by candidates

The department was very interested in receivintg creative ideas on how to increase math majors and how to create the new data science concentration while working with the one 'experienced' data expert they have on staff whose language skills were very poor. I was grilled for an hour during the first interview and hours during the all-day interview on how to help them with their math major - currently failing due to very low number of majors - 2 I think? - and inability to attract students to what they offer. I noticed during the research talk, which was thrown in the schedule later, that all but a few department members were not even paying attention, though my discussions during the previous meetings went very well and were full of good ideas. I received an email 1 week later stating: "I regret to inform you that we will not make an offer to you for the department head position. You may recall that this was an unusual search in that we would hire either an assistant professor in statistics/data science, or a department head. This is an exclusive or, and we have several promising candidates in the statistics/data science field, and we think we need one of those to help Bo Li build a program. Of course, another factor is that Mei can continue for two more years as department head, so that made the other position more pressing." At no time was I told that this was an either/or situation. Had I known that, I would not have bothered to apply nor spend my energy working to create ideas to improve their failing program. Once I received this email, I understood what they had done - false advertising to say the least. It is a pity that the administration at the Citadel allows the department to act in such an unprofessional and devious manner. Maybe that is another reason why the department is failing. Be careful if you apply here - make sure they aren't just trying to get you to do their work for them!
avatar

Chair Or Department Head/Assc Or Full Professor for Department of Mathematics

Interviewed at The Citadel

3.4★
Feb 27, 2021

The department was very interested in receivintg creative ideas on how to increase math majors and how to create the new data science concentration while working with the one 'experienced' data expert they have on staff whose language skills were very poor. I was grilled for an hour during the first interview and hours during the all-day interview on how to help them with their math major - currently failing due to very low number of majors - 2 I think? - and inability to attract students to what they offer. I noticed during the research talk, which was thrown in the schedule later, that all but a few department members were not even paying attention, though my discussions during the previous meetings went very well and were full of good ideas. I received an email 1 week later stating: "I regret to inform you that we will not make an offer to you for the department head position. You may recall that this was an unusual search in that we would hire either an assistant professor in statistics/data science, or a department head. This is an exclusive or, and we have several promising candidates in the statistics/data science field, and we think we need one of those to help Bo Li build a program. Of course, another factor is that Mei can continue for two more years as department head, so that made the other position more pressing." At no time was I told that this was an either/or situation. Had I known that, I would not have bothered to apply nor spend my energy working to create ideas to improve their failing program. Once I received this email, I understood what they had done - false advertising to say the least. It is a pity that the administration at the Citadel allows the department to act in such an unprofessional and devious manner. Maybe that is another reason why the department is failing. Be careful if you apply here - make sure they aren't just trying to get you to do their work for them!

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