Interview

Who to invite?

One-on-one interviews are arranged by admin support staff. People who should be invited include members of the search committee and the program director(s) who will likely supervise them.

Job talk

By tradition, the chair of the search committee moderates the job talk. The current format (Jan 2022) is a brief introduction starting on the hour, a talk that ends at 45 minutes past the hour, and 15 minutes of questions. All faculty (including lecturers) should be invited.

Recording and zoom

We have mixed views on whether these should be recorded. We have had candidates refuse to be recorded.

While zoom can be convenient, if a presentation is in person it is much easier for the candidate to focus on the room. If we do have a simultaneous zoom session, it might be best to have the moderator or someone else monitor zoom for questions.

Introduction

To minimize bias:

• Only a member of the active search committee should introduce a candidate.

• Only present the applicant based on the words used in the applicant’s materials. 

Timeline

Here is a guide for the moderator, using 9 am as a hypothetical start time, with a zoom meeting:

8:45 - 8:50

• Join zoom

• Check your own video and sound

• Have way of taking notes during talk; paper is simple. Best not to use typing as that’s noisy

• Touch base with staff support;

  • Get their cell number, or arrange other way of communicating

  • Verify that they will admit people from the waiting room

• Get made co-host

8:50 - 9:00

• Welcome candidate, chat informally

• Check their sound, video, screen sharing

• Remind them of the time: “finish at 8:45”

  • Tell them you will send private message via zoom if they seem like they may go over time

9:00 - 9:02

• Fill in time while people arrive

  • Make sure people in waiting room are being admitted

9:02 - 9:05

• Welcome everyone

  • Remind everyone that candidate will talk until 8:45

  • Discourage but don’t forbid questions: “Dr. […] will talk until 8:45. If you have a question you’re welcome to jump in or raise your hand, but we will have 15 minutes for questions at the end.”

• Introduce candidate

  • I’m thrilled to welcome…

    • Avoid judgments - no “he has done great work” or “she’s a wonderful scholar”

  • BS in Nursing from…, MS from…., PhD from…., post-doctoral training at….

    • Be very brief

    • Do not use dates

    • Briefly note any connection to UCLA

  • The title of Dr. […]'s talk is ….

  • Again welcome, and we look forward to learning more…

9:05 - 9:45

• Candidate talks

• Take a few notes in case you need to ask a question or two

• Keep track of time; if it looks like they will run over, private message via zoom a warning. 5 minutes if they are not on conclusions, then 2 or 3, and 1 minute.

  • Let them go late, say up to 8:50. Send messages telling them it’s time to wrap up. Once it’s after 8:50, prepare yourself to interrupt:

    • “Excuse me for interrupting Dr […], but I want to make sure you have time to answer questions, so if you could quickly wrap up that would be helpful.”

    • If they refuse to wrap up, let them go till 8:58, then you just finish the session

      • “I’m very sorry to interrupt, but we are now at the end of the assigned time, so we need to stop here. Unfortunately there is nto time for questions, but we look forward to getting to know you through the interview process.”

• If on zoom, monitor chat (or ask someone else)

9:45 - 9:59

• Prepare for questions: “Thank you Dr. […]. We now have [X] minutes for questions. If you have a question, please use the “raise hand” feature in zoom. If the does now work you can also wave, and I’ll look out for that!”

  • Avoid judgments - no “that was a great talk”; let others say that, but as moderator it’s just “thank you so much”, maybe “I really enjoyed your talk”.

• Moderate questions

  • Go in zoom order (the earliest to raise hand will go to the top of the list)

  • Avoid asking your own question unless there is no-one else. Be prepared at the start to ask a simple, quick question to give the audience time to formulate their own questions. Sometimes after a couple of questions there is a lull - jump in with your question, otherwise it tends to be the same people asking again

  • Do not add your comment. Just say “Thank you, next we have …”

  • As it gets close to the time, remind people of the remaining time. “Thank you. We have 3 more minutes, next is…”

  • For the last question, if there is little time, emphasize the limited time: “We have a minute to answer one more question…”

  • Aim to finish questions at 9:59

• Finish very quickly. “I want to thank again Dr. […] for our session today. I know they will be meeting with us throughout the rest of the day, so some of us will get the chance to meet you “in person” so to speak. Thank you everybody, and enjoy the rest of your day.”

• Don’t hang around chatting, especially not with search committee or admin staff