Questions (and Suggestions)
- Tell me about your job market paper.
(Suggestion: Prepare multiple versions of your JMP summary, like 3-minute, 6-minute, 10-minute (or something), because you don't know when interviewers will first interrupt you and start asking questions. Some interviewers may simply listen until you seem done and stop talking; others may interrupt you very early. Because of this, you generally want to describe (briefly) your most important contributions first, then add secondary details if nobody has stopped you yet, then add tertiary details.)
- Do you believe the empirical results of your JMP?
(Suggestion: For yes/no or good/bad questions, a general strategy is to say Yes but with some caveats/nuances, and then give a couple specific examples supporting your initial answer, while acknowledging there can be arguments in the other direction.
So here, you can say "yes" but then discuss the biggest threats to internal validity, as well as why ultimately you still believe your results.)
- Why do we care about your JMP's results?
(Suggestion: Besides giving some "intuitive" reasons, also refer to the literature if possible; even if they don't believe your intuition, they will trust it's a question people care about if there are top-5/well-cited published papers about the same topic/research question.)
- To which journal will you submit your JMP?
(Suggestion: Ask your advisor, and remember this isn't asking if it'll be accepted, just asking where you'll submit it, so aim high! It's fine to say, "I know it's very difficult to get a paper accepted at QE, but I plan to submit there first.")
- What's your five-year plan for research?
(Suggestion: First, if you have publications or working papers besides your JMP, mention all of those first; for example, "Besides publishing my JMP, I have another paper that's R&R at ___ that I hope to resubmit soon."
Second, if you can give the impression of a "research agenda" that connects your JMP with future work in progress, in terms of using the same techniques/models or being on the same topic or whatever similarity, that is helpful; like, "I plan to continue my research agenda on methods to address sample selection in nonlinear models, building on the work I've done for my job market paper. Specifically, I....")
- Where do you see research in the field of ____ going in the next 5-10 years? / What will be the most important research topics in your field in the next 5 years?
(Suggestion: Can start with something like, "There's lots of really interesting research in this field right now. One particular area that I think will continue to be very important is ____ because..." and try to mention some recent top-5 papers on that topic.
You can think of this question as just a proxy for "Do you know the most recent research in this field?")
- What's the last research paper you read?
(Suggestion: Try to "read"/look through some papers in your research area from top-5 journals published this year, and/or working papers in your research area by famous researchers.
This can help you prepare for the previous question, too.)
- Who in our department would you collaborate with?
(Suggestion: Do not mention any specific individual, in case there's internal fighting and you make your interviewer upset by mentioning the wrong person.
That said, you should look through all the faculty websites to learn about their areas of expertise, so you can say something more general like, "I noticed your department is very strong in applied micro, and I'd be very happy to be around such a group of colleagues, whether formally coauthoring or just sharing ideas and feedback on our research" or something; so you show you looked through their website [positive signal], say something nice about them [so they feel happy], and say that you would fit in well and contribute.)
- How can you contribute to DEI / your personal experience w/ DEI?
(Suggestion: Presumably you already wrote a "diversity statement" and can summarize it here.
If you yourself are from an underrepresented group, then you can start with that, like "As a first-generation college student myself, I certainly understand the challenges..." etc.
Make sure at least toward the end to talk about how you could contribute as a faculty member, to help them picture you as a colleague and not just student.)
- What courses can you teach?
(Suggestion: Often the job ad mentions some courses, so start with that, like "I know your job ad mentioned a need for teaching intermediate micro, which I can definitely teach because I actually taught the same course here as a graduate instructor" or whatever short detail/reason related to your expertise and/or teaching experience.
You can mention the courses that you'd be best at teaching, like "I'd be happy to teach any level of macro, since that's my area of expertise."
But also mention other courses, like "Although I'm a macroeconomist, I have teaching experience with undergraduate game theory, for which I was a TA four times" or whatever.
And can also say that you would be willing to any other course if it's how you could best help the department.)
- Why do you think you're qualified to teach here?
(Suggestion: Describe your teaching experience as well as expertise from taking classes yourself and/or doing research.)
- How would you teach a course on ____? (big data, IO, etc.)
(Suggestion: If it's a specific course like IO, then hopefully they already mentioned this in the job ad, so you have time to think about it before the interview.
If it's a general course in your area, like intro micro/macro or econometrics, then you should be prepared for that before the interview, too.
Having the name/authors of a textbook is helpful; just a standard one is fine, even if you don't think it's the best, but it will help develop their trust that you know a standard textbook.
You won't be able to mention all the details, so just think about 2-3 of the most important ones you want to talk about.
For example, if you have experience with iClicker as a TA, you can talk about that, and how it helps keep students engaged through "active learning" during the class meetings.
Or if you think it's important to have lots of empirical exercises to get practice, then you can talk about how students can't fully learn something by just listening to a lecture, so it's important to have regular practice opportunities, etc.)
- Can you teach online courses?
(Suggestion: For yes/no questions like this where clearly the right answer is Yes, start by confidently saying Yes, and then continue with a couple reasons.
For example, if you have been a TA/instructor for an online course, that would be important to say, and you can mention some details.
If not, you can still say Yes, you just need to give different reasons.)
- Can you teach intro micro/macro well?
(Suggestion: Here too, first confidently say Yes, then offer reasons related to your teaching experience and/or expertise.)
- Why are you interested in our department specifically? Why are you excited to work here? Why do you think you would do well in our department specifically?
(Suggestion: This is your opportunity to show that you "did your homework" about the department, looking through their website including faculty pages.
Say a few specific, positive things about the department and your fit with the department.)
- What questions do you have about our department?
(Suggestion: You should try to prepare 3 of these for each interview.
Again, this is an opportunity to show what you have already learned about the department from their website and job ad, so a good question starts with something like, "I saw that your department....")
- Why do you want to live in [their city]?
(Suggestion: This is another opportunity to show you "did your homework"; try to find 2-3 nice things about the city that you would enjoy.
If you have already visited the city previously, or you know somebody who lives there, definitely mention that.)
- What questions do you have about our city?
(Suggestion: This is another opportunity to show what you've learned, so a good question starts with, "I know that..." [ideally something positive] before asking the question itself.
Example: look at Google Maps to see where the university is within the city, and see what's nearby, and say, "I was looking at a map and saw that there are lots of nice ____ [parks, museums, restaurants, etc.] in the neighborhoods near campus, and I was wondering where faculty tend to live relative to campus?")
- How do we rank in your preferences?
(Suggestion: This is a tricky one; probably you don't have a lot of other interviews, so by necessity they rank very high within your very small choice set, but you also don't want to say something that makes them think you have few interviews [that's a negative signal].
So usually you can honestly say that they rank very high, and then use the opportunity to briefly mention a couple reasons why, which ideally either signal that you've taken the time to learn a lot about them already or remind them of how much you can contribute to their department, which can be hidden inside something about "good fit."
For example, you can say you think the department/job is a great fit because of the opportunity to teach a course on Big Data through which you could help students gain really valuable skills; or because of how you think your research interests fit with the department's current strengths; or because your aunt/uncle live nearby in Maryland; etc.)
- What other jobs are you applying for?
(Suggestion: This is an indirect way of asking, "Why are you interested in us?"
You do not need to list every other job you're applying for.
You can mention that you are [primarily, if it's true] applying to other ___ jobs like this, as well as some ____ [another type] of jobs because the job market is very competitive, but you are especially interested in this job because _____ [short/1-sentence reason].)